A frustrating finale

Sunday 16th December

Phil writes:

Dawn came up at 09:10 (GMT) with no wind, so we were still motoring.  As the sun rose at 10:10 (GMT), it came up behind a bank of grey cloud, which looked just like a wall of fire – very impressive and memorable.

The day continued with no wind, so we motored all the time until 19:05 (GMT) when the engine wound down of its own accord with no warnings. As lunch was on the table (tuna mayo sandwiches, with the mayo freshly made from scratch by Emily!), we ate lunch while the engine cooled.

On inspection, the only problem appeared to be that the hand priming pump was sucked flat, indicating a blockage of the fuel feed line.  Rob dismantled the pump to find the inlet non-return valve to be blocked with a black gooey substance (possibly diesel bug).  After clearing it out, we restarted and motored on for 20 or 30 minutes until it stopped again.

During these periods of no engine power, Andy managed to trim the sails and helm to achieve a commendable maximum of 2.6 knots of boat speed out of 4.2 knots of wind and was able to keep us going in the right direction.

Meanwhile this time we removed the valve completely and pulled the feed pipe out of the tank.  We checked it was clear internally and wiped a lot of the crud from its exterior.

We then restarted once more and motored for an hour or so, until the main engine fuel inlet fliter clogged up.  After a quick filter change, we set off again into a fantastic sunset – almost as good as the sunrise, with a wall of red lit cloud.

So a frustrating day ended eating beef stew with rice as the sun sank slowly in the west.

FOOD

lunch – fresh tuna with freshly made mayonaise and sweetcorn sandwiches, sweet stuffed mini-peppers, olives
supper – home made beef stew and rice

Footnote

Grandpa Tim writes:

Contaminated fuel problems are not at all uncommon in yachts, despite the best precautions to avoid them. They typically occur after the boat (and therefore the tank) has been knocked about by heavy seas, which is exactly what has happened. Fortunately Rafiki has two grossly overqualified engineers on board, although Phil is rather more familiar with aircraft engines that have a lot more space around them.

The engine keeps on cutting out every now and then, but a gentle breeze has now picked up so that they should certainly be arriving in St Lucia today, probably around 6 pm our time.  When they are about 20 miles off St Lucia, it should be possible to pick them up from the land based AIS Marine Traffic system, which is updated much more frequently than the satellite based Yellow Brick.

Click here for access to the AIS system in a new window, or download the Marine Traffic App for the Ipad.

Finally, this is where I bow out as the elderly monitor of their great journey. They have not been blessed with the best of luck, but they have all demonstrated considerable courage and fortitude in very challenging and sometimes exceptionally frustrating circumstances. The real blessing (apart from Canon Barbara’s of course) will be the pride and satisfaction from a considerable achievement. Put that on your CVs guys & gal!