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Starblazer - 01/06/2014 – Success



We have successes on several fronts to describe.

We arrived in Neiafu harbour on Vavu’a early on Wednesday afternoon, having
had to motor the last 6 miles to the finish line. If John had a fit,
enthusiastic crew he could have sailed all the way, short tacking the last 6
miles, however this crew was more than happy to motor in! The formalities
were completed on the customs dock where we had 4 smiling officials on
board, representing health, customs, immigration and quarantine (I think).

Thursday was a slightly destructive day, I unpicked the zips from the
sprayhood because one needed replacing and the newer one needed
strengthening work done to the surrounding canvas. John, meanwhile, sleeved
the boom end fitting where the stainless steel pin had worn away the
aluminium casting, allowing the boom to twist and rattle on the gooseneck,
where it connects to the mast. We ate ashore at the Aquarium Café after an
interesting talk by a couple of conservationists, one of whom specialised in
turtles.

Friday was a more constructive day. I replaced the zips in the sprayhood,
lining the canvas with some fairly heavy duty tape to prevent it tearing any
further. The problem arises from the old stitching which has left the
canvas perforated, allowing it to ‘tear down the dotted line’! John,
meanwhile, did a proper installation of the big (1500 watt) inverter as the
small 300 watt one was really only useful for charging the computer.

Saturday it rained on and off all day. This was the encouragement we needed
to complete boat jobs! Between showers I scrubbed the sprayhood then left
it out to get a fresh water rinse. Later on we reinstalled it. I then got
on with patching one pair of John’s shorts while John tackled the generator.
The manual we have with it is quite descriptive and John managed to trace
the fault to a condenser which typically has a lifetime of about 2,000
hours. Our generator has done about 2,000 hours, could the wretched thing
see the hours meter? Fortunately, we had a spare so John replaced it.
(Note: must buy some more capacitors, generator uses four of each of two
sizes). The next problem was that the engine wouldn’t run. That was easily
solved by bleeding the fuel system. We have a working generator again so we
no longer need to be quite as careful with our water supply as we can now
run the watermaker.

Last night, for the first time since we left home, we set up the television
and watched a video, The King’s Speech. It was excellent. I think we have
more than 30 videos plus a hard drive full of films and TV recordings
(thanks Richard) so, at this rate, I doubt we’ll get to watch them all!

Today it is overcast, the shops are shut as are most of the cafes though The
Aquarium will open for dinner. We have chosen to stay on a mooring and get
on with boat jobs until next week because we have more time available to us
here. We plan to arrive in Fiji at the last moment before the rendez-vous
at Musket Cove. Next week we will explore the Vavu’a group of islands.

Joyce



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