We awoke today to another blue sky day with 20 knots blowing across the decks. With the naked eye we could see fresh crocodile tracks on the beach, from the bush down to the waters edge. The was another reminder of the presence of these big beasts. Out of sight but not out of mind!

Our next leg across this vastly expansive country was 225nm to Croker Island. It was set to take 36 hours with yet more downwind sailing in 20-25 knots ahead of us. We have had an amazing run of weather and not sailed upwind since leaving Southport, 2,000nm ago.

Prior to departing Lena informed me the forward toilet was blocked, and despite my best efforts I was unable to solve the problem. We agreed to push off by 11am and I resigned myself to tackling the blocked toilet again once we were underway and everyone would use the aft toilet in the meantime.

The sailing was again excellent, with tail winds pushing is merrily along at pace and the miles ticking down. Australia has the 7th longest coastline of any country in the world and the top end of the country is a wide open space with very little traffic. The sea colour is more turquoise than blue and you can sail for days without the view changing much.

Sunsets and sunrises right on the ocean are stunning and the daily temperature and humidity is rising. We’ve mostly had low 20’s at night and mid 20’s during the day, so the SE breeze has really helped keep things cooler than I expected for 10 degrees south of the equator. Fiji at 17 degrees south was a lot hotter than this back in May.

Sharon and the crew navigated us into the 7m contour in Palm Bay on Croker Island by 2:30am and dropped the anchor and headed to bed for a few hours sleep. The crew steadily migrated to the cockpit between 8am and 9am looking rough, but ready for another day of adventure. Croker Island is a low lying island and while it provides protection from the swell, the wind blows straight over the top at full speed.

Due to outstanding land claim issues, no one is being issued new permits to go ashore on Aboriginal Land in this part of Northern Territory. While its disappointing, its an extra safety net for our crew, as it minimises the chance of crocodile contact. After breakfast was served up, the plan for both yachts was to motor around the coastline of NW end of the Cobourg Peninsula, so see the landscape up close and time or run to our next stop in Adam Bay (Code name: Crocodile Alley).

We set off around 10am and while the crew relaxed in the cockpit, I psyched myself up for pulling 8m of toilet plumbing apart to find the fix the blocked poo pipes. I’d done some soaking and flushing with Phosphoric acid 2 days earlier after a couple of minor blocks and this appeared to fix the issue. This time, there was no budging and the toilet bowl was full to the top with water. After pulling a joint apart (5m from the toilet) and having no black water dribble out, I figured the blockage in the pipe was solid.

Thats where Evolution Sails come in! They are the shit! (literally now too). Struggling to find something hard to push 2m down the pipe to locate the road block, I remembered I had my horizontal sail battens for my jib onboard. With 4 to choose from, the #3 batten became my weapon of choice. Strong, sleek and 2m in length, it was the go to tool for the next stage of my problem.

I managed to get enough angle to slide the first 1.2m of Evolution batten into the pipe and bang, there it was… the poo pipe blockage from hell. The batten would not slide any further, but after some repeated force, I had a break through and the batten busted through the blockage into freedom on the other side. I slide it back and forth a few times to loosen up what was then, before sliding my faeces covered weapon of choice, back out of the pipe.

The support crew kicked into gear with Jerzy pushing the flush button, me catching all sorts of stuff including several large pieces of calcified stuff in a bucket as it swam free and Sharon passing the bucket to Jo to empty overboard. We kept repeating the process for several buckets until solid stuff stopped appearing and the water ran clear. In all we probably cleared a quarter of a bucket of calcium pieces, with some bigger than the end of a desert spoon. We have been using phosphoric acid to soak and flush the pipes between trips, but that does not seem to be enough to keep my 8m black water pipe clear.

Back on deck, the crew had been motoring along the coastline and 3 hours had gone by since my plumbing work had started. Time flys when you’re knee deep in shit! Despite washing my hands 5 times, eating lunch was a challenge with the scent embedded under my fingernails, reminding me why I would never want to be a plumber. It was now 1pm and we had motored down into Port Bremer before starting to see marine farms laid across the bay. It was time to turn around and head back out and get sails set up for the fun race Sharon and Phil (Salt Lines) had arranged.

Phil offered up the major prizes for the winner - 2 Woolworths cakes (at least 10 days old) that the Salt Lines crew had not eaten (and I think were unlikely to). Sharon’s response was to compete aggressively for the prize, by hoisting a staysail only in the 22 knot breeze. Salt Lines took a commanding lead and we eventually responded by hoisting our mainsail with 2 reefs as well. Despite Ken’s best efforts on the helm and both yachts completely ignore the agreed waypoints to cheat badly and cut the corner as we rounded the island with rocks and sand bars to port.

Salt Lines were below us, then above us and then on the bow, but always a few boat lengths ahead. Eventually they crossed the finish line of the 15nm course as clear champions, forcing Sharon to concede defeat over the VHF. They got to keep their cakes and we all had a lot of fun in the process. We dropped sails and anchored between Smith Point and and Black Point for a 5 hour dinner stop, before departing at 9pm to time our run through Dundas Strait to Adam Bay with the fast running tidal flows. Crocodile Alley - here we come!

David