Our DuoGen (big 12 volt alternator powered by a propeller in the water) is a bit of a drag! At speeds under 5 knots charging doesn’t produce enough and the boat is slowed down too much by the drag so I lift it out of the water. Above 5 knots the DuoGen works great and she is our prime power plant to keep our power-hungry fridge, freezer and navigational stuff including the autopilot well fed. It saves running the engine.

But as the speed drops we are forced to run the engine. This morning I started the engine and put it in gear to charge the batteries. Immediately I felt a huge vibration. Instantly I knew what that meant. The propeller was fouled.

Fortunately we carry a diving set. So Yannick had to gear up and jump ship to free Seawalk from a big woven bag. I was standing standby with our second set in case of problems. But the major problem was to slow SeaWalk down. Even bare poled and streaming long lines and with our sea droque deployed she was still doing 2 knots and that was too much for Yannick to swim against. Turning the boat parallel to the wind did the trick and soon the propeller was cleared.

Last night the speed dropped to 1.5 knots. Very frustrating. Should we run the engine or not? Isabelle decided no. Save our diesel for others days and hoist the Jenny. And so we did. Lower the Genoa (for the second time this day) and roll in the Jib, hoist the Jenny and sort out all the lines and preventers. Our speed went up to 2-3 knots, wow. At 03:00h this morning we had to drop the Jenny again because now the wind was picking up too much. Of course in the morning the wind dropped and we should have hoisted the Jenny again. But too much is too much. We are just running under a Genoa now. Another day with multiple sail changes.

Alec finally saw his Flying Fish. At first he saw it actually flying over the water and later on in the day I discovered a dead Flying Fish somewhere on the fore deck which I handed over to an excited Alec. He was looking forward to this for more than a year. In a Dutch little kids song Birds can Fly and Fish can Swim. I changed that as a joke: Birds can swim and Fish can fly! Alec laughed at that unbelieving. But confirmation by Mom made him want to see for himself. And today he did! How excited he was….