Starblazer - 04/09/2015 – On passage to Lombok, Indonesia

First the good news. We were ready to enter the lock at 0640, 5 minutes
early, and had cleared the lock by 0645. There was very little height
difference either side of the lock because it was approaching a high water
of 7 metres, it had only been a high of 5 metres the week before when we
entered. That is probably the end of the good news!

We motored fairly slowly towards the anchorage close to the start line, the
prop banged about a bit but settled down until John pulled it into reverse
until he was sure a boat had actually started moving away from us. When he
pushed it back into forward it banged then vibrated the whole boat. We
slowly crept into the anchorage. The prop has been misbehaving for a couple
of weeks or so but when John swam under the boat to check the blades moved
freely when we were in the Whitsundays, there was no apparent problem. We
hoped the problem would clear itself. It’s always good to travel hopefully,
they say.

The wind increased a little and there was a healthy amount of current to
ensure we all sailed over the start line, I think we were 4th or 5th across,
quite good for us! It seemed to take forever to tack our way out of Darwin
harbour and by nightfall the wind had backed to allow us to set a course to
miss the shoals off Bathurst Island. We could see quite a number of the
boats on the AIS which meant they were within about 12 miles of us. The
breeze slowly died around dawn but we didn’t start the engine until after
the 0900 SSB radio net. Unfortunately Starblazer doesn’t like beating into
10-12 knots of wind and we were one of the back markers, if not the back
marker. Engine 0n, thump, thump, thump. By carefully adjusting the revs
the thumping stopped and the vibration was bearable. John wondered if we
had something caught on the prop so we dropped the sails, he donned
facemask, snorkel and fins plus a sharp knife and a safety line and I was on
watch for shark type fins. We had decided we were far enough offshore for
Salties not to be a problem! He lowered himself in, took a quick look
around then prepared to swim down to the prop. He returned very quickly,
not because of fish activity but because he had the answer. One of the
three self-pitching blades has fallen off, no wonder the propeller is very
unbalanced.

Options? We could return to Tipperary waters Marina and dry out in the lock
but, at a maximum speed on the engine of less than 3 knots, it would take
more than 24 hours, lock timing is critical and we could lose three days.
We considered stopping in East Timor, Rally Control could ask their agent to
sort out the paperwork for us but we could lose a lot of time with
bureaucracy then have to find a suitable bay to anchor in for John to change
the prop using his diving gear. We decided to press on, motor sailing
whenever possible. 8 knots of wind and a favourable current allow us to
make between 5 and 6 knots though not always in the direction we would wish.

Since the morning SSB net we have been motoring, largely in the right
direction because the wind is below 5 knots and there is no point having the
genoa out. Unfortunately there is no drive from the wind so we are making
just under 4 knots with a favourable current. The GRIB files suggest the
wind will back over the next 48 hours and increase slightly so we might be
able to sail. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

I have just thought of two other items of good news: the water maker is
behaving impeccably so we can enjoy showers twice a day if we want (motoring
in a flat calm makes taking a shower a comfortable option!) and we continue
to eat well.

Happy birthday to our friend John in Newbury.

Joyce