Sydney 23 April 2008

Wouldn't you know it! The winds have eased offshore from Townsville south - this is the time to go. However, illywhacker is in her berth with the main engine cylinder head away at the machinists. The mechanic discovered a blown head gasket between cylinders 2 and 3 and since the retaining studs were in varying states of tension this raises questions of distortion of the head itself. By the time new parts are sourced, the head reground and installed it could be next week before all is ready to go again. At this time of the year in the tropics, strong SE'ly winds begin to set in, blowing continuously until October. We thought we might just get illywhacker down before this happened. Every delay makes this less likely. How frustrating! But Lyndall is cool about it all. "There must be a reason for this, we'll find out soon enough", she says.