Albany - Tasmania Day 1 - Thursday, April 9th 2026

Today is a day I have been thinking about for at least twelve months. This time last year I was aboard Keshi Mer at Middle Island, approximately 80 nautical miles South East of Esperance.

I was working for a hydrographic survey company supporting their new unmanned survey vessel (USV) “Fremantle 01”. Spending time at Middle Island and surrounding Recherché Archipelago gave me an idea of the vastness of the waters south of Australia.

Crossing the great Australian Bite in my own vessel filled me with excitement and hesitation. Twelve months on, as I depart Albany to attempt this very journey, the feelings are the same.

We departed Albany at 08:40hrs, fully provisioned with over 300 litres of water, 230l of diesel, a tonne of food and enough chocolate to last us four months.  Darren from Emu Point Slipway and my good mate Brian from Fremantle Sailing Club cast off our lines. It was a typical overcast cool Albany day.

My crew is James, a good friend and experienced offshore sailor whom I met in Tasmania.

James is a keen racer both inshore and offshore and spends most of his voyages on the bow wrangling spinnakers. To say this voyage will be a change of pace for James would be an understatement.

Departing Oyster Harbour, we set course through Middle Channel between Michaelmas and Breaksea Islands. The breeze was a steady 15 knots other than a slight lul as we passed between the islands.

James took the first watch as I ensured our Starlink was operational and set to “ocean mode”, allowing us internet access outside of twelve nautical miles from the coast.

The wind was out of the SSW, steady at 15-18knots. A confused swell began to find its rhythm as Emigre slipped along at 6knots under double reefed main and number three headsail.

James spent the afternoon resting whilst I maintained watch. At 16:15hrs I called in to the Austravel Safety Net HF radio ‘sked’. Whilst propagation wasn’t open much to the base in Penong SA, my signal was booming into the  Busselton base.

I switched the starlink on to check the weather and make a couple of calls home. Looking at my phone screen didn’t help my gills that quickly turned green. After a quick spew over the side, I felt much better.

The morning brought lighter winds and even greater skies. We started the engine which quickly stalled putting out a cloud of grey smoke. Great…

Upon further inspection the oil level was well high and like a vanilla milkshakes. A familiar sight from a previous voyage.

James held the engine box, water Jerry cans and tools from flying from one side of the cabin to the other whilst I drained nearly nine litres of oily water from the sump into an ice cream container, decanting it into my waste oil drums.

I changed the oil filter, refilled the sump and then attempted to turn the engine over gently by hand. Unfortunately one of the cylinders must have water inside as I can’t turn it over fully.

I suspect this issue has been caused by a wave filling up the exhaust pipe, flooding the exhaust muffler and manifold.

I removed the steel pipes between the high pressure fuel pump and the injectors. Lubricating each one with WD40 to try not to damage the pipes with excess pressure.  Unfortunately I left my open spanner roll in Tasmania with the Landrover so I only had a few different sized adjustable wrenches to work with.

With an adjustable crescent holding the injector and a 9/16” deep socket on top, I managed to work the locking nuts for the fuel return rail loose on cylinder one and two.

Unfortunately, the lock nuts on cylinder three had other ideas. The crescent slipped and breaking  the fuel return rail, along with our chances of a working engine for our approach to Esperance.

A few words of frustration shared prior to the tools getting packed up and our course adjusted towards Esperance.

The wind was light and variable, and continued to die throughout the day. We limped along under full sail with the Aries wind vane barely managing to hold course in 6-8kn of breeze.

I fired up the Starlink and started phoning Kubota tractor dealers in Esperance. After no such luck with parts, I contacted Kubota Australia who gave me the number for a dealer in Perth who eventually tracked down the parts and had them air freighted to Esperance.

Fingers crossed they show up on Monday so we can get moving again soon.