Kamalii: Seasons Greetings

Merry Xmas everyone!

We actually managed to get away on time with all required jobs done - surely a first for a boat! It was only 20 minutes before we had our first drama - engine alarm going off and oil smoke coming out of the engine room as we gave the engine its first good hard workout after the off-season tune-up. Ever have that sudden sinking feeling..?

In the end it turned out that the engine was over-heating because the raw water intake seacock was so "free" that it had vibrated more than 3/4 closed under the weight of the handle, so a quick nip-up with a wrench fixed that. Better still, the oil smoke turned out to not be coming from the engine itself but from the stainless exhaust dry risers; it seems that the engine has never had a really hard run since the engine room was overhauled and it was the first time the dry risers got really hot, so all the oily residue that was still on the stainless under the thermal blankets started to burn off.

We've also had one genset go down due to a faulty circuit breaker, but that can wait till we get back. The inertial starter on our outboard also broke, but after a couple of tries with different materials I have managed to fabricate a replacement part that is working great. Beyond that, all pretty good.

The sail up the coast was variable but pretty good, broad reaching most of the way, with boat speed up to 10 knots at times, and for a little while down to having to use the motor. My brother Paul and his partner Rose joined us for the trip, along with my dad, and also Simon Jenkin who previously crewed with us down from Hawaii to NZ.

Paul, Rose and Simon left us in Russell and my mum joined us for Xmas. We then sailed up the coast to Whangaroa in what started out as a great beam reach and turned into a hard beat into 25 knots - Dad and I enojoyed it, not so sure about everyone else... Mum and dad left us in Whangaroa and now we are just relaxing and doing the holiday thing.

Here's a few pics...