28 boxes of crackers!

We arrived here at The Boatworks on April 25 and I know its hard to believe, but it is only now that I’ve managed to find time to put ‘pen to paper’ and update my blog.

First job … add our “the” … for our Aus rego.

Leanne off ET gave us a hand … they just sold their signwriting business

Everyone here, particularly the Go Easters, is frantic.  We have never seen The Boatworks so busy.  Many of the Go East Rally yachts are here, along with Sanctuary Cove Boat Show boats, plus the usual seasonal boats and also boats from the north who require repairs after Cyclone Debbie.

The Go East Rally was set to depart on May 11^th but this date was always weather dependent and we have just this morning received an update on the weather from the Rally organizer … we won’t be leaving for a week or so. There is a cyclone – Cyclone Donna – approaching Vanuatu and now New Caledonia.  So now the waiting game starts!

So, what have we been doing?  Getting The Bossa ready for the Rally.

Off to the work yard for anti foul

Our ‘dan buoy’ for our emergency at sea situation

So many boats here, particularly cats. Work, work and work.

Helping out ET with a last minute haul out to fix a motor.

Anti foul completed, back to the water

Always a satisfying moment when we get to the ‘end’!

Not to mention the odd bit of socialising with old (our sailing mates Easy Tiger are going east too) and new friends along with a few barbecues, coffees at The Galley and a few drinks after long days in the work yard.  It’s called ‘bonding’ with the other Rally participants and I suppose with The Bossa after six months away.  We have also had Rally info sessions and meetings.  Tonight is our Go East Rally Masquerade Party.

While The Bossa is well looked after with our annual maintenance here at Boatworks, we had to extend that long list of regular jobs with many Rally requirements, for example we have just installed a satellite system – an Iridium Go.

The Iridium Go provides us with voice calling, emailing and messaging from our phone and iPad.  It acts as a Wi-Fi hub.  Contact with the outside world.  We have installed an antenna on our targa with the cable running through our boat to the navigation station where the Go is mounted.  With our monthly plan we have unlimited data and up to 150 minutes of voice calls. The data will enable us to access weather emails from our weather router Metbob (who is based in NZ) and we can send and receive short emails but we will not have enough data capability to browse the web.  We will also be using Predict Wind for our weather forecasting and routing.  Lots to learn!  Fortunately, we had a three-hour info session on the Go (talk about overwhelming) and we have Brian off Zofia who is a techno wiz.  Not to mention our own Predict Wind guru John/crew. Are we experts?  Not yet!

On the water at last!

Go East Rally flag – 25 participants this year.

Spotted this craft in Sanc Cove this morning … not only a helicopter on deck but it is flying a Canadian flag. Our son who is in a Canada suggested it could be a nice retirement vessel … no thanks!

Cyclone Donna has arrived in the South Pacific and is now delaying our ETD. Better now than later we think.

Then there’s the provisioning.  Neville’s standard line after carting the numerous grocery bags from a visit to Woolies … “believe it or not we did leave some for you!”.  While we can’t take fruit and vegies or seafood in to New Cal, we can only take meat if it is vacuum sealed and clearly labelled with “Product of Australia”.  Our freezer is full!

Then there’s the other provisioning.  I counted 28 boxes of crackers!  10 packets of toilet paper, 4 kilos of ground coffee and 32 cans of tomatoes, corn, beetroot and beans.  We are taking much more food than we would normally, mainly because Noumea will be our only shopping port and we may be anchored a long way out from the shopping precinct.  I’m sure we’ll find a local croissant outlet close by though.

I think The Bossa may be a tad lower in the water.

It has been and will continue to be quite overwhelming, but exciting and definitely an adventure.

Note: If you touch each image you will get an enlarged photo along with a caption