Just drifting along...
Scott-Free’s blog
Steve & Chris
Mon 10 May 2010 12:35
36:44.676N
28:55.604E
As the sun came out
and warmed us up nicely we all went for a pre-lunch swim off the back of the
boat. As suspected the water was quite cold, but lovely
once we got used to it, so we made the most of our first dip and
stayed in a while. We were enjoying the chilling out so much that we
decided to stay in this bay overnight. There had been only one other boat
in the bay with us, so we were a bit dismayed when a gulet arrived and tied up,
but it turned out to be the quietest gulet we've ever seen with just a few
people on board, and by the time we got up the next morning they were
gone.
We had a relaxing,
chilled out day, watching the goats on the hillside and listening to the lapping
of the gentle swell on the rocks. It was amazing to sit in the heat of the
Mediterranean sun and look out of the bay towards the snow-capped
mountains. Mary declared that she could soon get used to this!
After a lazy
breakfast the following morning we lifted the anchor and set off for a sail
around the bay before heading for one of our favourites,Tomb Bay. We had
described it to Pete and Mary who fancied walking up the hillside to the tombs.
With a couple of tavernas in the bay,it also meant that my threat of
another tuna pasta would not be carried out! We sailed with the wind for a
couple of hours, letting the boat feel her sails again and giving Pete and
Mary a chance to become familiar with her at the same time as enjoying the
beautiful scenery. Eventually the wind dropped to nothing,and we wallowed
for a while hoping for it to pick up. A thunderstorm rumbled behind us and some
rain fell,and we decided to motor to the anchorage. Pete fancied going
through a small gap between two islands so we headed for that, and Steve decided
it was a good chance to check the maximum revs on the engine as we'd had both
the prop pitch changed and a new rev counter fitted and the latter was being a
bit twitchy.So he pushed the throttle forward, and instead of a lot of revs, the
engine died.
Aha! No
wind. No engine. Interesting!
Steve and Pete both
suggested fuel starvation, and went below to check the Separ filters. The
one we were using was chock full of rubbish,so they switched to the
second. The engine started but wasn't happy and soon died again.
There then followed several hours of headscratching below whilst Steve and Pete
tried to get the engine running, while Mary and I kept watch on deck and
tried to catch the occasional puff of wind with the headsail. Fortunately
we had plenty of searoom and there were not many boats out,so no
problem just drifting around.
Eventually the
engine burst back into life and we set off again,just as the wind also picked up
- to 20 knots! As we were now doing 6+ knots under yankee alone we
switched the engine off. Mistake. When the wind died again half an hour
later,it would not start again. We had alerted the marina we were heading
for that we might need a tow, and at that point their rib appeared to see how we
were doing. Their timely appearance meant that we were safely towed into
the marina in Gocek from which the Rally will start, so we are set ok if it
takes a while to sort the engine. The problem would appear to be dirty
fuel.
This morning
(Monday) Mary and I took the free shuttle bus into town for shopping and Steve
and Pete organised some chaps to look at the engine. It seems that the fuel pump
is nbg and needs replacing and the filters and fuel need cleaning. The
pump could not have been forseen but we are a little fed up about the dirty fuel
as we had the system cleaned out at the beginning of the winter and thought we
would be fine. Oh well, that's boats for you. The chaps will be back
tomorrow to fix the engine.
There are far
worse places to be - the marina is in a little bay just south of Gocek and
although it's a trek into town, the bay itself is secluded, peaceful and
has a beach. I suppose we'll just have to put up with
it...