NO ENGINE AND INTO COOK STRAIT

At 04:00 we passed Castlepoint, still motoring without wind.  It must be quite unusual not to have wind at Castlepoint.

The engine stopped at 09:15.  The same problem as before, air in the fuel system.  I thought my fix of drilling holes in the filter had fixed the problem, not so, only a very temporary fix.  Once again I went through the bleeding routine and the engine started again.

The fuel problems continued throughout the day with multiple engine shut downs.  I became very good at bleeding the fuel system.  In the end the engine would only run for fifteen minutes before it shut down.  Basically, we were without engine until I could get somewhere and fix the problem properly.

Fortunately, a bit of breeze had sprung up and we rounded Cape Pallister around 21:00 and headed up towards Wellington with a light S’ly breeze.  Looks like I will have to sail into wellington, just hope this S’ly wind holds long enough to get us there before the forecast N’ly sets in.