MUSINGS FROM BISCAY - THE CRUISING THOUGHTS

I was asked to write a few words about our journey from
Benodet and across Biscay..better late than never! After a couple of evenings in Benodet we left at the crack
of dawn, motoring slowly down the river towards the open sea. Tom managed to
steer Prim Teaze under the centre of the bridge this time so we had a bit more
room from the top of the mast to the underside of the bridge than when we were
on our way to the mooring buoy! The engine stayed on all the way to Belle-Ile just as it had
across the channel and it was an uneventful trip. We dropped anchor just
outside the marina at Sauzon where we stayed for a couple of nights and spent
the time there stocking up and preparing for the trip across Biscay. Tuesday 25th. Upped anchor at 6am and motored out around the
North of the island and headed South-West to Spotted the old belt in the bilge under the engine and
retrieved it to find it was still intact. When it was refitted, it appeared
that that belt was a little too big as it we could not tension it correctly. It
was our best bet at the time so it was left in place. The engine was restarted
by 08:30 and after 6 hours adrift and we set off again towards The old belt lasted another hour before it failed completely
and the engine temperature started rising again. Adrift again - albeit daylight
now. Time to put the thinking caps on! In the absence of ladies tights we tried
some rope from one the fenders in order to make a temporary belt but as soon as
the knot in it reached a pulley wheel it came off. Our second attempt was with
a narrower gauge piece of rope carefully stitched together by Deborah and was
much more successful. We also found that in addition to the belt failing the
engine had blown out a cap sealing a drainage pipe below the water pump, so the
contents of the cooling system were now in the bilge! That pipe was sealed with
a cut down soft wood bung wrapped in PTFE tape. The header tank was refilled
but the filler cap left loose to avoid building up too much pressure in the
system. The engine was restarted at 13:00 and maintained a normal temperature
for a while and then...... the wind picked up. At last! We opted to do some sailing as that's what we were out to do
in the first place and we weren't sure how long the temporary repairs would
last. If they were only going to last another hour or so, we'd need that while
entering the marina at Although we had some problems, we worked through them and
carried on. It was an experience I won't forget and I'm glad I was on the first
part of Tom and Colette's journey to experience it with them. I wish them and
Prim Teaze a safe journey on from Sada and hopefully I'll catch up with them
again on another leg of their adventure around the world. Bye for now, Andy |