The next to last day and onwards
Cat-man-do
Wed 12 Dec 2007 20:34
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I wasn't going to write a blog today, to be honest
I wasn't sure I wanted to. However, as you've been following us so far, it's
only fair I guess to let you have the rest.
The Tuesday dawned pretty windy and with a fairly
large swell following the boat. Ideal conditions for maintaining pretty high
speeds all day, but at the expense of the crew, there's no way the Auto helm
would cope, so it was hand steering all the way. We took turns to do 30 minutes
at a time and I, as usual, donned the headphones and revelled in the rough seas.
I always like it like that, I find it quite a challenge somehow, and love the
feel of the boat surfing down the front of the swells.
Later in the afternoon, we were just talking about
taking the"hot dog" down for the night, something we usually do, for peace and
quite and to make the boat more manageable, when there was a rather large
bang.
One of the blocks at the front of the boat (pulleys
that the ropes pull through) had, for want of a better way of putting it,
disintegrated allowing the rope to run free upwards. Luckily there was no one
near it when it went as the forces behind these ropes can be huge. We all
rallied and got into what have become our normal positions to take it down, when
the block on the other side gave way too, obviously taking the strain of the now
missing block on the other side was all too much for it. To cut a long story
short, after a lot of shouting and pulling things about, we finally managed to
get the thing put away. It was however to be the lesser of our
problems.
When we take that sail down I like to have the
engines running just in case we need them to manoeuvre the boat whilst we are
doing it. We've never needed to yet, but it's a sort of safety blanket, though
probably unnecessary. However on this occasion our Port engine (left hand side)
refused point blank to start. This is very unusual to the point it's never
actually happened before.
So, after recovering from getting the sail down we
set about having a look at the engines.
Initial thought were that maybe the starter had
jammed or there was a bad connection. But after checking all these there was
nothing untoward found. Peter and Robert worked away on the engine for a good
while in absolutely roasting temperatures, with sweat pouring off them but to no
avail. We decided to send out a few E mails and see if anyone had any ideas. It
was now going dark, and not expecting a response till morning set about sailing
the boat through the night. Unfortunately, with the wind where it was, the sails
we have didn't allow us to head in the direction we wanted and so we had to
head South towards Barbados for a few hours. Progress after the days high speeds
was somewhat "sedate" but we plodded on through the night.
Morning found us still very much in "slow" mode but
heading almost in the right direction.
As soon as I got up at six (local time) I logged on
to check the E mails. There were two replies, one from Stuart at Broadblue
Catamarans and one from Shawn at Fowey Maritime Centre. Both gave similar advice
and ideas as to what the problem may be, so whilst Pete and Rob slept, I set
about taking the fuel system apart on the engine whilst Howard steered and
looked after things "up top" Shortly after Pete and Robert got up and continued
with the disassembly job. It's very hot and working almost hanging upside over
the engine of a boat that's rocking about "all over the place" isn't the easiest
thing to do.
The plan was to take the injectors out and try and
turn the engine by hand, as general consensus appeared to be that it may have
taken sea water in through the exhaust and into the engine. The injectors were
to put mildly "a sod" to get out but after a hour or so we finally got them out.
The plan then was to turn the engine by hand to force any water out of the
cylinders themselves. We tried all sorts including a huge metal pole normally
used for emergency steering to get the engine to turn, it wouldn't budge. I then
got a tie wrap (what did we do before they were invented?) and stuck the length
of it down the hole where the injectors had been. It wasn't good, there was
definitely water in the cylinders. Wanting to find out if it was sea water there
was only one thing for it, taste it. The curious mixture of diesel oil with a
strong tang of salt on my tongue confirmed the worst, there was sea water
in the engine.
There was nothing more to do but fill the bores
with as much diesel oil as possible to try and prevent any further damage,
though the fear is, the damage may have already been done.
We are fortunate that we have two engines unlike
most yachts, so we can still charge batteries and have some forward
propulsion.
The thought of berthing her with just one engine,
on one side only doesn't really appeal. All the pushing and pulling will be on
one side of the boat, we'll have to wait and see how it goes.
I must take this opportunity to thank Stuart and
especially Shawn, who's been in contact on and off throughout the day and
chasing advice from others back in the UK. Thanks lads...
This trip has often been described as a Milk run
for an Atlantic passage, but reading through the large amount of damage to
a big number of other boats out here, I would suggest there's no such
thing.
We are within about 60 miles of St Lucia and
progress today has been painfully slow and at times in the wrong direction but
we are getting there. The "Hot Dog" couldn't be used as we'd run out of
spare blocks which is shame, it would have been ideal.
Personally I approach the end of the trip with
mixed emotions. Quite excited at having nearly completed the trip and a sense of
almost foreboding at the end coming. I personally feel very relaxed and happy
out here and would happily carry on until food/fuel ran out. I don't want this
to end.
It seems strange to think that when Peter first
invited me on this trip I'd never sailed and didn't know one end of a boat from
another. Quite why he asked me, you'd have to ask him. As for who's daftest, him
asking or me saying "ok then" I'll leave you to decide.
We should arrive in St Lucia in the early hours
tomorrow morning.
Finally you may remember that a crew member on the
yacht Avocet was hit by the Boom and suffered a serious head injury. He was
taken off the yacht by a cruise liner and is now in hospital in Barbados where
he is described as "critical"
Our thoughts, and I'm sure those of all the crews
on this event go out to him and his family, we wish him well.
The sea, for all it's majesty and at times beauty
can be a dangerous and unforgiving place.
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