Day 3 eventful
Kahia
Paul and Catherine Davis
Tue 5 Nov 2013 05:36
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25:54S 158:29E
Around 8 pm the engine stopped and the captain found
water in the fuel, which is bad news. Well, as the sea was calm, we drifted and
were able to empty and clean the filters out and drain 2 litres of diesel from
the bottom of the tank without making too much of a mess... there is always
motion at sea, even with a calm sea. Compared to my morning wake up to coffee,
the smell of diesel was rather unpleasant. Also the fact that my valuable sleep
was now interrupted. The good news, the engine worked again, although we
did not need to run it anymore, as meanwhile some wind had picked
up.
Well, one problem solving was not enough! An hour or two
later, I jumped out of my bunk woken by a bang, Kahia badly heeled over and a
stormy wind slamming the sails. A sudden wind shift of 30 knots and
rain brought the Southerly wind, we expected for later.
I grabbed the wet-weather jacket to pass to Paul
and saw water pouring through the sink into the head (our toilet-shower room) as
if someone just emptied a whole bath into the tiny space. After a quick
attempt to drain it off with no real success and the option of closing the
seacock too dangerous, not wanting to stick my head in the locker in this
violent motion and making my focus to help with sorting out the sails, I closed
the door to deal with it later.
I saw the captain battling with the elements. Thrown
around in the cockpit like a puppet on one string. I was relieved to see him
hooked on, trying to reef in the genoa, holding on to the rope, struggling to
climb up to the port side to reach the winch handle, bucket full of sea water
cascading into the cockpit, Kahia forced through the waves, healed over and
shaking violently with the sails.
It took a good 45 minutes to reef in the sails and
get the boat more balanced. No swearing, just excellent team-work.
Then Paul sat tight under the spray-hood keeping an eye on the situation, while
I went down below to check the damage.
The easiest way to drain the water out of the head was
by simply switching the shower pump on. (why did I not think of that before?)
Tea towels from the galley became mops for the floor,
where I also found some leftover vegetables that had been thrown
around.
Not for nothing does Paul call me "iron-guts" I am
blessed not to get sea-sick in those uncomfortable motions, sorting out the
mess. But I was tired and was glad to lay down for an hour while the captain
wanted to keep an eye on things. So I made him a nice cup of tea, stuck more
rugs into the vents that forced water into the for cabin and went back into
my bunk.
The night was exhausting for both of us, but how glad
are we with Otto, our auto helm, steering us steadily as close to the wind as
possible and we can change course from down below. This means we can stay
in the dry and just keep watch looking out the companion-way, which actually
is a good place to sit in these conditions.
The irony is that sailing in the same wind just a
few degrees off would be exuberant, but would not take us to
Brisbane.
Nevertheless, we are flying through the 2-3 meter
waves at a good speed of 7 knots and once in a while a large 5 meter
wave crashes into or over us and we are getting used to it.
72 hour log: covered 420 miles, 58 hours sailing, 14
hours motor sailing.
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