Monday 10th of January 05
We cleared customs at about 10 a.m then packed more fresh stores. Every nook and cranny is now full and both Alex and I have to find somewhere to put our clothes etc. Jeanne and Alex Sutherland had been a tremendous help in getting fresh fruit, vegetables, cheese, salmon and meat. They also cooked and froze many curries and pasta sauces, which should see us through the first week. They cooked then dried some other meals, to supplement our dried foods. It should be interesting to try the result of this experiment.
At midday, we went to Bellerive Yacht Club, where many friends had gathered to see us off, had a few Guinnesses then back to the boat and we were off. Our friends had streamers to throw over the boat as we left, very colourful, a lot of fun, the young kids loved it.
Headed down the Derwent with the wind behind us, later we got a beam breeze of about 10 to 15 kn. so we put up the main and the cut down cruising number one. This gave us a good run to the Iron Pot. We then had to come up wind about 20° and the wind had also increased to 25 to 30 kn . Dropped the headsail and put two reefs in the main and the number four up. We are now heading for Cape Raoul doing about 6 to 6 1/2 knots and towing the propeller generator, this is giving about four amps output.