Coast of Death - Costa da Morte
Sham Insha'Allah
Graham Vickers
Sun 31 May 2009 11:37
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Last night Frosty and I had a brief look at the
motor and are both convinced that there is a definate fuel blockage near the
tank.
The old-boy engineer that visited yesterday said
that often, when the tank is installed, swarf from the PVC tank can become
trapped in the pipes and as we had a rough ride this may have caused our
problem. Thinking about it though my engine seemed to cut out going into
Plymouth, the alrm came on but the revs were still there when I reduced
speed.
Even a full engine service prior to the passage
would not have prevented this.
On further inspection it was noted that all the
welds in the ships wheel had snapped but thankfully the autohelm ring had held
it in position until our arrival.
The rigging is excellent and the sails are good and
the boat was dry so once the engine is repaired she will be ready for the next
adventure.
She is to be taken to a near-by marina to be
repaired monday or tuesday.
Crew
The crew soon got into the local way of life, what
with the local cerveza from iced glasses, fine riojas and ham to die for
both evenings were spent drinking and eating from 5pm until 2am. However, the
second night the crew decided to stay out until 5.30am and one of them paid the
price for it.
Cape Finisterre
The next leg of the journey commences with the
coastal sail around Finesterre itself but we have seen just how quick
the sea mist descends. Within ten minutes you can only see a few hundred
metres. The difficulties at sea are obvious. What compounds the problem is that
it occurs randomly throughout the day not just mornings or evenings. So
a good lookout and a flat sea for the radar are essemtial.
Out
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