Testing times and sharks

Diesel troubles continue while the wind continues to holiday in Hawaii.

Well, this little leg up to San Diego is certainly proving one of the most testing so far. I think we are all in agreement onboard that we’d rather be enduring a gale and making actual progress than dealing with the conditions that are currently being afforded to us.

The initial engine repairs, alas, did not prove sufficient for extended use, and it wasn’t long before we were once again spraying diesel onto a hot engine block. We had a good day of mostly sailing up until the evening, when the wind once again died, prompting us to motor, and uncovering the resurgence of the fuel leak. It was going to take a while to allow the engine to sufficiently cool down to work on, and then even longer to make a better repair. This meant that we had a night of slow progress with much work needed to keep the boat moving.

We cable tie on the genoa, hoist it and sail, but as soon as the breeze builds to a significant amount it has to come down, be cleared out of the way, the yankee 1 hanked on, hoisted, and trimmed. Then the genoa has to be bagged and cleared off the foredeck, as it’s a lot of sail to leave lying about if the wind were to build quickly, and it would soon become unmanageable to try and clear away in a strong breeze. This cycle seems to be happening every hour, with various other sail tweaks being made in-between, so it’s quite repetitive and draining.

I woke up this morning to discover a mixed set of circumstances. I walked into the galley to see a plate of pizza.

Pizza.

Pizza!

I looked at Ty and sleepily asked, “Why is there pizza in the galley? I don’t understand. How can there be pizza? It doesn’t make sense”

It turns out that Anna had had a wonderfully productive night and produced pizza for everyone. This more than made up for the bread apocalypse that had taken place previously.

Pizza 🙂

Big high to start the day off. Also during the night, our chief engine room ferret, Chief Ferret McCann, had been busy with epoxy-based pursuits, and a new repair affected on the offending fuel pipe. Regardless of wanting to motor through calm patches, this jumped to the top of the priority list as the generator has once again resigned from active service, the excuses given being a fault draining the start battery and a complete lack of raw water flow causing no starting, and then immediate overheating.

Luckily, I spent several months in a not dissimilar context undertaking the Steve Swallow Apprenticeship in Impeller Replacement and General Boat Engineering. This has both prepared me for fixing the generator, and more importantly, enduring hours spent in a confined space with an ambient temperature of over 40°C. More on that progress tomorrow, hopefully positive.

I’ve been asked to include the ‘shark’ incident of yesterday. It’s highly debated, and a contentious subject aboard. During the rudder and keel inspections of yesterday while the engine repairs were underway, there may or may not have been a shark. Ty reckons he saw a big black fin begin to make tracks towards the boat, and was out of the water faster than Mike Carter swimming in the Swan River with steak chops tied around his waist. For those that weren’t there, that’s pretty damn fast. The debate will continue to rage, but as everyone retains all limbs and life; it’s hard to prove either way.

In other news, Alex is continuing to grow what is shaping into a fine and healthy moustache, and Andrea has just produced a one of the best couscous meals so far. I love couscous, although I fear I may be the only one, and most of the rest of the crew consider couscous as it was once described by the one and only Lindsay Cousins – only suitable for feeding chickens, and never intended for human consumption. Possibly the one thing I’ll disagree with Mr. Cousins on.

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NAV STATION
Date: 6th March 2017
Time: 1859z
Position: 09°30.7N
COG: 086°36.2W
SOG: 6.5kts (motor-sailing)
Wind: N 1-2
Swell: NE 2-3ft
Sky: 0/8
Weather: Fair

With the support of our partner Weather Routing Inc. 

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