Things that go bump in the night.

I hate the unnecessary noises of things in storage banging about, or sheets flapping or stays and halyards vibrating in the wind. One knocking nn oise seemed to come from a storage space right by my head when I lay down to rest or sleep and three times Ive shifted stuff round to try and stop it, or to find the source. I checked other places and moved everythig there around as well but to my intense frustration the noise continued unchanged. Eventually I relaised the stoprage compartment has some sort of false floor and theres a space between its bfloor and the roof of the compartment below but its not accessible except by cutting a hole inot it - aand in there some solid metalic object rolls about and knocks and taps and is driving me insane.

Another knock developed during the night, a much louder and heavy one that sounded ominous to me when I first heard it - something solid and metallic and heavy was creating a bang that went right through the boat. Eventually I tracked it down to the anchor locker and went out there , safety harnessed, at about 2am, got soaked for my efforts and found it was a heavy lead device - I think about 6kg - called an ANchor buddy thats lived in there since 2010 and never moved or created a sound - somehow it finally wriggled its way out from its cranny and started rolling and banging around. In the middle of the night. Oh and the anchor locker hatch fell onto my face when I first peered in and neglected to hold it open against the inevitable lurch.

Mother nature isnt giving me a nice easy time of this last day, though it looked as if she would early in the day, when there was full sunshine and I dried my dripped on sheet and damp pillow out in the cockpit, and the sea state and wind made the sailing really wonderful. What a great way to finish up I thought to myself. But since about 11am - its now 4pm - we have been asailed by a series of squalls moving over under their individual clouds, bringing rain and reduced visibility and wind increases from a pleasant 18 or 20 to 24 and 25 knots with their accompanying short steep bumpy seas and cold air. Some have passed in front and others behind but others we went through or caught the edges of, and then the boat gets splashed and wet again, the annoying drips return, moving about becomes hard and the direction we are heading also varies, usually in the direction of Lady Alice island and some nearby shallows which would be treacherous. In fact we are now past them, with about 35 miles to go, thumping along at 6.4 knots on the outskirts of another squall.

I hesitate to predict what may happen but my intention is to continue right in to Bundaberg, which is up a river. The river entrance seems very well marked with buoys from well out and the marina with the quarantine buoy is on the port side just round the first bend. With luck I will be there round midnight.

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