Position 15:18.00N 37:38.39
PASSEPARTOUT
Christopher & Nirit Slaney
Tue 28 Dec 2010 18:39
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Drama on board Passepartout!
Just after Chris wrote in the blog about how well we eat I had to draw his
attention to the fact that the freezer didn't seem so cold any more. He
gave it a boost by running the generator for two extra hours but it just got
warmer. Conclusion, freezer malfunction. Chris, Shmulik and Gabriella dived
under the floor into the bilge and started ripping something apart, handing each
other tools and generally getting hot under the collar. After two more hours of
this they found the problem, a twelve volt pump that feeds seawater into the
system had stopped. Kaput. No spare on board.
A quick calculation was made to see how much of our food
would have to be thrown to the fishes.
With my Warsaw heritage you can imagine the
amount of frozen chicken, meat and various pre-cooked meals were
in that freezer.
However, there is another side, having a Polish
background also means that whatever little space we have on board is crammed
with dry and caned food, spreads, part-baked bread, long life milk and
eggs.
No, we will not starve, especially considering that
a fresh fish every other day is not too much to ask for..
There was some talk between the engine room crew of
rerouting a shower drain pump to do the job of the freezer pump, but the
problem was put aside for the night while the contents of the freezer
carried on thawing. Night was one hell of a ride with waves as high as buildings
and no shortage of wind. No one got much sleep.
I got out of my pyjamas and into a life vest and harness
for my last watch just as dawn was breaking. The horizon was a long line of
squall clouds and looked quite frightening. One of our main worries is being
caught by a squall with too much sail up.
Shmulik proudly announced that
his watch had been easy and uneventful and went to sleep. And
then it arrived, driving rain, heavy and fast. In a couple of minutes I was
soaked and Passepartout was clean. After ten minutes
the sun pushed his way through the black clouds to announce the day.
Nature at it's best!
I was steering downwind but not sure what would be best.
Should I try to look for more rain and steer around it? (Our radar shows
heavy rain as green and purple blobs).Or should I just watch the sun go up and
wait for the rainbow. Yes! This is what I came here for.
So far the wind and swell combination have been too much
for us to contemplate flying the spinnaker. Our foresail design makes it hard to
go 'wing on wing', so we are gibing every twenty-four hours making our voyage
longer but at least we're a bit more comfortable. And what is another day or two
on a journey like this?
After all we do have food for a months at least, even
after giving up the freezer..
The good news is that after rebuilding the broken pump
and spending most of the day using every single tool in the box, it looks like
Chris and Shmulik have got the freezer working again. As I write I can hear
the generator humming as they give it a few hours of power to re-freeze.
Gabriella and I sorted through the contents and threw
away whatever looked or smelled suspicious. The damage seems to have been
limited to a couple of frozen chickens and a few kilos of ground
beef.
Tomorrow we celebrate Chris's birthday and I'm
optimistic the champagne will be cold after all.
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