Indefatiguable.
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Tue 5 Apr 2011 17:53
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Wednesday 6th April 0006 Local time 1706 (Tuesday
5th) UTC
07:22.13N 091:11.35E
Today, yesterday actually now, saw my repair plan
for the mast foil completed 100 per cent satisfactorily to
plan. Having been half way up the mast on Monday and had a long day I
was not sure how the back would be yesterday (Tuesday). Not sure that is;
whether I would be 110% or 120%.
Waking up confirmed my wife's worst nightmares
- I felt 150%. So I decided I could no longer let Murdo and Donald hog most
of the action with repairs etc and got stuck into the thick of the
action myself, only needing to go up the mast once again today. But it
was only half way and was no problems and nothing like the long time Donald
spent at the top on Monday.
We screwed and unscrewed dozens of bolts, hoisted ,
lowered, drilled, hacksawed, filed, ground, chiselled and rebolted the whole
day. We refitted the mainsail to the foil and hoisted it with battens refitted
for the fourth time in the last week. The plan worked well and we are currently
motor sailing with sail up.
Its spine, the foil, however is much like my own
spine - held together with a bunch of extra stailess steel bolts that weren't
originally there. It too is fragile and needing further strengthening before
being given a full workload.
This indefatiguable triumph of all aboard Rhiann
Marie was finished off coincidentally just after five o'clock, but not
before the Trish came out on deck to put the finishing touches to the job. Yes,
you guessed it she hoovered the deck! There was copious quantities of aluminium
swarf, filings and drillings all over the deck and she was having none of
it.
There we were putting the finishing touches to the
job around the mast with heels being nudged by Trish hoovering. "Feet!"
"feet!" she would call as we had to dance a jig around the critical finishing
that only vacuuming your deck can give! Now
listen to me, you can't say we aren't trying. Who ever vacuumed their
decks after a hard day rebuilding their mast and furling gear while
850 miles out from Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean? Eh?
This success snatched from the jaws of disaster
however is tempered with a new problem. Fuel. What on earth is going on? We
appear to be consuming over 22 litres per hour. Up from 15 per hour as normnal.
We have no wind. Last night the sea was actually
glassy, beautifully reflecting the stars of the Indian Ocean sky. Very nice but
as things stand we may well be rolling around a windless ocean for a few
days hoping for the wind we were concerned about last week! In the morning I
will investigate. Perhaps the guage is faulty but it is not the sensors because
we have already used two of our three tanks and two sensors would not go at
once. We have 650 miles to go. At this rate we will fall short about 350 miles
west of Sri Lanka. This is not even remotely close. Puzzling. I wonder if it is
to do with my servicing in Thailand, where we had the turbo off, the intercooler
and the heat exchangers too. The valve clearance was set and the injectors were
cleaned too. I actually expected an improvement in fuel efficiency! Any ideas?
Answers on a postcard please to Rhiann Marie somewhere between 300 and 650 miles
west of southern Sri Lanka.
Oh! did I tell you we are definitely going to Sri
Lanka now. We have to, to get fuel as there is no wind and also because I
would like to get parts or make parts to permanently strengthen the mainsail
furling gear.
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