Day 4

Day 4

All well and crew happy.

We received the following message from Rally Control Yesterday:

Quote – Dear ARC Skipper. We hope you are now settling in your Atlantic routine and the chefs amongst you are keeping the crew happy with culinary delights. The first 72 hours has certainly been eventful with a number of boats either returning to Las Palmas or diverting to other marinas in the Canaries. Two have returned to Las Palmas, hoping to restart soon and of the four that turned into Pasito Blanco three are on their way again after swift repairs. A few boats with breakages or power problems have decided to carry on south and are now heading to Mindelo in the Cape Verde Islands for repair. Of those delayed at the start, all are now on their way westwards and with an encouraging forecast the scene is set for a classic trade wind crossing. ….. Sail safe, ARC Rally Control – Andrew – End Quote

So we”re doing better than some!

Winds have dropped and moved too far N (NNE) for us to keep our desired track. Is this the outer edges of the Azores High and the dreaded doldrums?! So at our 3 am watch change, Pete and I doused the BWR and redeployed it as a single light wind sail on the starboard side and turned further south seeking out the E’ly winds. Dennis slept through it all, which was impressive as it took us two attempts and we weren’t moving around like mice! We are fortunate to have great deck lighting. A strong LED on the mast forward and an even stronger light on the radar mast at the back so we don’t need head torches. Since then we have covered 55 miles, so slower than we had hoped. The detailed weather forecast suggests that we need to drop at least a further 50 miles to pick up winds of 15kn. We have 10kn atm and whilst we can convert that to 5kn of boat speed its not optimal.

We are in grid BB of the international weather co map. Here is the forecast we received;

BB FORECAST:
24/06 GMT(T + 0): WINDS ENE-ESE(68 – 113) 07-16G19KTS. SEAS 1-3 SWELLS NW-N
BUILD 6-11FT (13SEC). SKIES PARTLY CLOUDY. ISOLATED SHWRS/SQUALLS*. CURRENTS
FROM NE @ 0.5KTS.
24/18 GMT(T + 12): WINDS NNE-ENE(23 – 68) 08-17G20KTS. SEAS 2-3 SWELLS NW-N
8-11FT (15SEC). SKIES PARTLY CLOUDY. ISOLATED SHWRS/SQUALLS*. CURRENTS FROM
NE @ 0.4KTS.
25/06 GMT(T + 24): WINDS ENE-ESE(68 – 113) 09-18G22KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS
WNW-NNW 7-10FT (13SEC). SKIES CLEAR. CURRENTS FROM NE @ 0.5KTS.
25/18 GMT(T + 36): WINDS NE-E(45 – 90) 12-21G25KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS WNW-NNW
6-9FT (13SEC). SKIES CLEAR. CURRENTS FROM ENE @ 0.4KTS.
26/06 GMT(T + 48): WINDS NE-E(45 – 90) 10-19G28KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS NW-N
5-8FT (12SEC). SKIES CLEAR. CURRENTS FROM NE @ 0.5KTS.

Takes some concentration, but its all there and is pretty impressive! We move to cell CC tomorrow, but there is little difference in the next 24 hours.

We had an issue with the engine during the day. Operator error in readying the engine in case we needed it for the sail change. Unfortunately it was not put in neutral and we had a massive knocking noise before it was. Testing it later, the engine could not rev above 50%. Potential causes included damage to the transmission, damage to the shaft, damage to the stern gland which seals the shaft (to which the prop is attached) and the hull, and stops water coming in, damage to one of the blades of the prop (it has 3 blades that fold away when sailing) or even something wrapped on the prop! There is a lovely yacht on the market famous for clever innovations, a great one of which is a glass viewing port through the hull, above the propeller. So easy then to discount certain possibilities. We don’t have that! What we do have is a GoPro on a long stick, but it can only be used below 3kns as the drag is to great, so that option is out for the moment. We could dive on the prop but we are drifting too fast, let alone sailing, so that one’s out. We can leave it until we can anchor in St Lucia – which appears the best option for us. But we are lucky to have a sat phone which can send small emails (and blogs) and can make calls. So I called my friend Vince, who used to be the senior engineer for Sunseeker and we went through various procedures to isolate the cause. It was like he was next door, the quality of the call was so good. In the end, he helped us conclude that either a blade on the prop was jammed (by the sudden force) or we had a wrap of some rope or fishing net. When we went through the restart procedure we were able to restore forward propulsion to full power. We can’t properly test reverse as we are travelling too fast, but engaging reverse to fold the prop seems to work, so I think we’ve sorted it! A dive in St Lucia will confirm but I’m feeling very positive that we are in the clear.

Despite being more rested, we had a debate yesterday about whether we could be bothered putting the fishing rods together. We are still all a little tired. I suggested we do it, but save the fishing until the next day. Anyway, Pete ignored me, and put both lines in. In less than 10 minutes both lines went! We had no kit ready to land or dispatch any catch, but we were in action and had no choice. We landed two 2 ft Dorado, after a long fight with them. We don’t have much room in the freezer and had left over cottage pie planned for dinner, so we put one back and had the other for dinner! In less than 90 mins from swimming in the sea, to swimming in my frying pan. I did a Caribbean rub, fresh peppers, tinned peas and rice. So good!