Another week passes as we lie impatiently at anchor in Blackwattle Bay. I find myself wondering what to do next. It is of course difficult to find a challenge that comes close to sailing single-handed non-stop around the world, but life goes on. Macbeth's famous lines come to mind, "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow / Creeps on this petty pace from day to day ."  But we must shake off these narcissistic blues borne of too much time in harbour by oneself, and find something to look forward to.

As mentioned a couple of weeks back, for now I have in mind entering Sylph in this year's Sydney to Hobart yacht race. To that end I intend to remain in Sydney until I have worked out a plan to get Sylph ready for it. Clearly there is a lot of paperwork to be completed, mainly related to stringent safety requirements, which is fair enough. Accordingly, the first thing I want to organise is a preliminary safety audit to see what modifications might have to be made to Sylph and whether any of these might prove insurmountable. Ideally I want to find out whether there are any show-stoppers before committing too much time and money to preparations that I would otherwise consider unnecessary, in particular the stability measurement.

My original plan for this year was to sail up to Townsville to visit my brother Michael, but, regrettably, getting up there and back again in sufficient time to have Sylph and crew ready for the start of the race would be excessively tight. However, I figure that if we do encounter a serious roadblock for entering the S2H then hopefully we will find that out in sufficient time to still allow us to sail north before it gets too late in the season.

In the meantime, I progress tasks that need doing regardless. This last week I have replaced the two dying AGM batteries with a single 135Ah Lithium Iron Phosphate battery, along with a matching DC-DC charger. Hopefully the new technology will prove to be more efficient and cost-effective over the long run than the old lead acid batteries. And this coming week's mission is to put the liferaft in for servicing.

All is well.