Disaster!

Philippides III
Chris & Carol Jackson
Fri 30 Apr 2010 07:33
Bit dramatic but what an evening we had! the trip from Palermo to Sardinia was going well, we had had some good sailing as well as the endless hours of motoring, we had seen lots of turtles, sun fish and dolphins, a good day, when around 1700, we were 4 hours out of Port Teulada when the engine stopped, we had had a plastic sheet around the prop earlier but had managed to free it without too much trouble, The engine refused to restart and we found fuel dripping from the bottom of the front engine casing, further investigation revealed an apparent leak from the point where the fuel pump joins the engine casing, not curable by me. We radioed for assistance and the harbour master said, tough mate, no tugs available, however, they got a private company to agree to pick us up, we were by this time out of wind and drifting slowly but inexerably toward a lee shore, the fee we had to agree was 700 euros!!! Eventually, after countless telephone calls and radio calls, they found us at around 2100, dusk, they towed us to port and made a good job of putting us alongside a pontoon, water and electric connected, so we had a bottle of wine and went to bed, now I am due at the marina office at 1000 and a mechanic is arriving around noon, this could be mega expensive. Its strange but yesterday Carol and I had, at last, come to a decision, which is to definitely sell P3, we have decided that the refit is going to be too expensive and we will be better going for a more modern vessel, or maybe having a break from it. At the moment we would take 5 bob for her!!! I am sure all will be well in the end, await tomorrows thrilling instalment.
Chris
 
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