Phuket to Sri Lanka - Day 2
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Mon 5 Mar 2012 05:33
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8:02.167N 96:12.293E March 5, 2012 Here's the score for Day 1: Semi-calamities: 1 Hours motored: 13 Hours sailed: 11 Hours sailed veeerrrrryyyyy slowly: 11 Hours sailed in the wrong direction: 5 Ok, first the semi-calamity. Our new, very efficient, fresh water pump is set to a higher pressure than the old pump. One of the hoses came off the fitting it was attached to and we therefore pumped 200 liters of fresh water out of the tank and into the bilge before Don discovered what was going on. It would have pumped every bit of fresh water out of the tank and into the bilge if Don hadn't tried to wash his hands and found the water pressure was low. Upon investigation, he discovered the water pump was running (and thankfully, the bilge pump was too), and the tank water level was down 200 liters from where it was 40 minutes previously. Oops. When the engine is running, we can't hear the water pump, so didn't realize it was madly pumping our hard-earned water maker water out into the engine room, and down into the bilge, where the bilge pump dutifully pumped it all back out to sea. In the end, no harm was done except to our egos. We still have fresh water in the tank (and are making more at the moment), and Don reinstalled the hose easily enough. The engine room did get a bit damp (at least it wasn't saltwater), but thankfully the problem was caught before the tank ran dry and the new water pump burned out (that would have been a very big bummer). A new rule has been written into Harmonie's passage making regulations: keep the fresh water pump breaker turned off unless it's dinner or shower time. Now the sailing. As expected, there isn't a lot of wind out here, and when there is, it's not necessarily from the right direction for our westbound purposes. We sailed and motored a total of 114 miles (close to a new low for us), but are currently 20 miles north of our westerly course. No worries, Bruce the weather guy says we can expect a light northwesterly later today, which will force us to sail southwest. In the meantime, we have been enjoying the flat sea, the 360 degree uninterrupted ocean view, and the glorious sky full of stars at night (in between thunderstorms). All in all, so far so good. Anne |