PORT VINCENT/ADELAIDE/KANGAROO ISLAND/ROBE

Upon our return to Pt Vincent we discovered that our Westerbeke 240 volt genset was not generating any electricity. We also discovered that the water pump was leaking. This unfortunately led to another problem with a piece of plastic being drawn into the motor which wedged itself under an inlet valve causing it to be jammed open.

We decided after much thought to have the back end (the stator and rotor) of the genset rewound in Adelaide and use a mechanic in Pt Vincent to repair the engine. In hind site we probably should have bought a new genset!! Anyway after various road trips to Adelaide and finding that the backend was not rewound correctly we decided to sail across the gulf to Adelaide to have the rewind company use their own mechanic to save our cost and so they could establish the problem first hand. Unfortunately our auto helm decided to go crazy on the trip across, Finesse decided to do do-nuts in the middle of the gulf. So another problem had to be fixed whilst in Adelaide. It was found that our flux-gate compass had broken some internal wires.

Whilst in Adelaide we took the dinghy up the Port River to the Old Port, saw the Birkenhead Bridge open to allow a classic steam driven tug boat through. We saw the maritime museum, did a twilight race out of the Cruising Yacht Club with John Culshaw and ate in his central Adelaide “Culshaws Restaurant” in the Majestic Hotel. John also showed us much of the North Adelaide district and a number of his own property developments. We also explored Glenelg using public transport.

Mike and Maggie who worked for Australian Submarine Corporation (ASC) loaned us a car for a couple of days which helped with our shopping and to see a South Australian movie “The Boys Are Back”.

One our final trip back to Adelaide me met Anne & Cran from “Lettin’Go” who are also sailing around Australia on a Cat who met up with Peter Cartens when he was in the Kimberley’s and we are sure our path’s will cross again in Tasmania.

We finally had the 240Vgenset rewound and fitted correctly, a total of 2 complete rewinds with the backend on and off 5 times. We then sailed back to Pt Vincent for the final engine adjustment. This whole saga has taken 5/6 weeks. The night before we were leaving to head back to Kangaroo Island we discovered that our holding tank in the aft cabin toilet had decided to split. So again we sailed back to Adelaide. We were getting quite accustomed to the 5 hour sail back and forth across the gulf.

The people at the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron were also getting used to us coming and going and joked about giving us membership. We found the staff and workmen at the yard very helpful. This last problem happened three weeks before Christmas and we were very fortunate to have found a tradesperson able to make a new stainless steel tank at such short notice.

Finally on Saturday 12th December we set sail down the coast to Wirrina Cove to catch up with Songlines. We were able to borrow their vehicle and Sunday we drove to Victor Harbour then to Goolwa and the mouth of the Murray River.

We set sail on Monday 14th Dec with Songlines to sail in company back to Kangaroo Island. We were able to use some moorings in Kingscote and our intention was to stay a week there before sailing further east.

Unfortunately upon arrival at Kingscote we tried our genset and it wasn’t pumping water. So the next day, after our own attempts to fix it, we tried different people on the island and no one was available to help us. So the decision was made late Tuesday afternoon to sail back to Adelaide, this being on overnight trip taking some 11/12 hours. The sail up was just beautiful, the gulf being so calm and the coastline all lit up. We arranged for a marine auto electrician to meet us once again at the Yacht Squadron. He came down at 7.30am and the problem was fixed within 2 hours. The problem being a wire caught under the control panel box of the genset that was shorting out, causing the genset to stop.

We decided to stay overnight and sail late on Thursday evening leaving at 11.30pm for another overnight sail down the coast and this time going to the eastern end of Kangaroo Island to Antechamber Bay. This sail took us approx 11 hours and we dropped anchor (using our new stockless anchor for the first time) in the bay at about 11am. After a few hours sleep we again set sail at 5pm for a night sail to Robe.

This was not a pleasant sail as the winds forecast were stronger than predicted ranging from 20 to 30 kts with 3 metre swells. It reminded Peta of the bight crossing on the 3 day and she did not travel well. We made it to Robe in 18 hours and are now safely in the Robe Marina. We have found since we arrived here that the genset stopped pumping water again so we arranged for the local diesel mechanic to have a look. Well he found a problem with the water pump and has fixed it. The problem was initiated by Ron fitting a cork gasket which was too thick and did not allow the impellor to seal behind the backing plate. The genset is now working well and hopefully we will have no more problems with it.

We spent Christmas Day on board Finesse and have a lovely meal of local crayfish/prawns/oysters and some local South Australian wines.

Peta’s brother Robert is joining us on the 31st December to sail to Portland/Port Fairy/Apollo Bay then to King Island before reaching Tasmania. We intend to depart on Saturday 2nd January weather permitting.