Day 6 Tuesday 19th May-Day 10 Saturday 23rd May

Lowena
Michael & Amanda Dyer
Tue 2 Jun 2009 06:44
Day 6
At 0330 the wind dropped right off so we spent 3 hours drifting with the
main strapped in while we got some sleep. At 0645 we started motor
sailing. Handsteering and motoring in beautiful sunshine, averaging 3.8
knots. Once the seas calmed down our average speed increased to 4.8
knots. Our engine is not that powerful considering the weight of the
boat and needs a flat sea to do any speed. We motored all day until the
engine began to splutter and slow down, the old problem had returned.
Our heart's sank. At midnight it gave up completely so we heaved to for
the night.

Day 7
We realised that the lift pump has had it! We spent the whole day
trying not to go backwards. The wind was northerly so we steered 120
degrees with a reef in the main, no headsail and made 10 miles on
waypoint UK2. We discussed what we could do to set up a better gravity
fed system. The sea is flat calm, we are in the middle of a high
pressure system. Tomorrow morning we will set up and try out a better
arrangement that will enable us to run the engine to charge the batteries.

Day 8
We started at 0600 fixing three cans of diesel at the front of the
cockpit well by the little hatch that opens into the aft cabin. We set
the pipes up and tied them down. We tried the lift pump again but it
wouldn't pick up enough fuel. We were ready to try the new system but
the engine wouldn't start. It started but wouldn't keep running.
Michael tried and tried repeatedly turning the starter motor so I
thought the engine battery would be flat. We were at the point of
dispair. I was out in the cockpit revving the throttle as he checked
below. Suddenly, a whale surfaced near Lowena, blew a powerful blow,
surfaced and dived. There were a pair of Fin Whales. One about 40ft
and the other 35ft. They were amazing. They blew and dived around the
boat for more than an hour as we calmed down and watched in awe.
Michael realised he had connected the fuel pipe to the wrong inlet! We
tried again and she fired up. We ran the engine for two hours to charge
the batteries. Sadly, the whales left us once we started motoring but
they had lifted our spirits completely.
The sun shone all day and the wind picked up slowly and we made steady,
if slow progress just east of north. It turned out to be the nicest day
so far. During the night we carried full sail but had to strap the main
to stop it slamming and made progress north.
722Nm to Lizard.

Day 9
The seas are now choppy again and the wind has backed to SW. We can't
head our cours as it is dead downwind so we are steering 010 degrees and
are nearly at 47 degrees north. At 1700 the wind strengthened and
veered to west then northwest and it rained. Mike put two reefs in
main, furled in some jib and altered Robin (our windvane). We are now
heading 065 degrees and doing 6.2 knots-hey that's better.
We are now at the same lattitude as La Rochelle. 46 20 degrees north.

Day 10 Saturday 23rd May
Woke at 0455 to a glorious sunny day with little wind! We ran the
engine at 0545 for nearly two hours and just before we switched off Mike
saw Pilot Whales! We switched off and after huddling in a group of six
or seven to discuss if we were a threat, they came closer and behaved
quite dolphin-like! They played under the bow wave athough we were
going so slowly, I think they got bored!! We think they were
long-finned pilot whales. We drifted and the main slatted until 1300
when the wind increased from the south. At 1430 we gybed over to steer
070 degrees and Lowena seemed to say 'HOME' as we stole along at 5-6
knots to the east. With the full main out all night we covered some
miles. 517nm to Lizard.