Day #13, Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Time of Report: Have not received an "official report", i.e. a call from Woody
Position: 39.64,-73.42
Heading: Towards Nantucket
Speed: Not reported
Woody & JD are back at sea! As of their latest Spot Finder tracking, they're heading north. They must have found a window in the weather as from what I can decipher, they left yesterday afternoon, with the ebbing tide, bound for Nantucket.
Based on a post Woody submitted on the Flicka site, he shares some of his learnings:
"We have learned that passages in a Flicka are better done in 3 or 4-day segments. This way, weather is reasonably predictable and fuel consumption is not an issue. We now plan to depart Cape May this afternoon with the ebbing tide, bound for Nantucket wich we should make in 3 days. Then it will be 4 more days to Nova Scotia with arrival there expected to be June 17.
We have learned that our Airbreeze wind turbine and our solar panels are not sufficient to make us independent of the engine for electricity. The Airbreeze starts putting out a trickle at 10 kts of apparent wind. At 15 kts our experience is that the output is only 2 Amps. We the wind behind us at 15 to 20 kts and our speed at, say, 5 kts, the output is just enough to maintain basic instruments and nav lights. Not enough to support the autohelm. It takes 25 kts apparent to really do its thing."
Communications Crew (Tracy Tumlin Allardice) and Weather Reporter (Bill Tumlin) are hoping to hear from him this evening with a report.
“Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.” ~ August Hare
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Race Won to Cape May - Just in Time...
Day #11, Sunday, June 6, 2010Time of Report: 2200 Z
Position: 38.95, -74.91
Heading: AT PORT - Cape May, NJ
Speed: Woody & JD are exhausted, but very happy and physically moving at snail speed on the ground!
Woody & JD made it into Cape May, just in nick of time. As you can see from the attached map, there is severe weather and a Tornado watch has been issued until 2400 Z tonight.
The arrived around 2030 Z this evening and the boat has been stowed safely. By the time I talked with Woody, he had gotten a shower and they were heading out for some grub. Spirits were quite high, there was a real sense of relief and both guys are truly exhausted. They reported the last four days have been the most incredible sailing days of their lives. With the winds coming out of the Southwest, the last two days they were on a port tack quarter run. With the wind in this direction, the swells were gianormous (gigantic/enormous combo word) and had the boat pitching and rolling. This movement did not bode well for sound sleeping as the sound of the cold drinks in the ice box rolling back and forth was quite noisy. Also, the last report about the stowaway fly having walked the plank, apparently he did, but sent about 10 of his friends into the cabin. So 10 buzzing flies, a noisy ice chest and Woody's aggravated herniated disc in his neck have left him with very little sleep over the last 48 hours. Both guys think they'll sleep a solid 12 hours tonight once their bellies are full.
What is next will be determined by the weather. There are a lot of weather systems heading in their direction and they think the earliest they will be able to head back out to sea will be on Friday. If they do, and it looks like they'll be able to make it to Nova Scotia by the 17th, they'll go for it. If they won't be able to make it to Nova Scotia by the 17th, they'll get as far as they can and then fly there. JD will say goodbye to Jubilee and do some traveling around, and Woody will reunite with Alice and some great friends - and will start house hunting. I'll let him tell us all more about that, as we can expect some blog postings from him this week.
Woody & JD - all of us that love you and know you are glad you are SAFE!
"We rest here while we can, but we hear the ocean calling in our dreams,
And we know by the morning, the wind will fill our sails to test the seams.
The calm is on the water and part of us would linger by the shore.
For ships are safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for."
~ Song "Ships" by Tom Kimmel & Michael Lille.
Tracy
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Racing Weather to Cape May
Day #10, Saturday, June 5, 2010
Time of Report: 2130 Z
Position: 37.26N , -73.57W
Heading: North, Northeast
Speed: 6 knots over the water
The last blog posting "Slicker than Chicken Teriyaki" was a little late in getting reported, my apologies for that. The race is on to Cape May as winds are expected to be between 20 and 25 knots by the time they arrive tomorrow. Winds at the time of this report were South, Southwest from 10 to 15 knots. They are sailing with full sails (they took out the reefs) and are about 100 miles from Cape May and expect to be there in the morning.
Dinner was simple - Veggie Soup.
Woody reported that his best purchase and most highly used item is his GO ANYWHERE chair that he bought from West Marine. He referred to it as his "BarcaLounger". Note the difference between the two!
Looking forward to getting an update directly from Woody tomorrow or on Monday when he settles in to Cape May! And I'll close with this fine quote, by Mark Twain:
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Tracy ;)
Time of Report: 2130 Z
Position: 37.26N , -73.57W
Heading: North, Northeast
Speed: 6 knots over the water
The last blog posting "Slicker than Chicken Teriyaki" was a little late in getting reported, my apologies for that. The race is on to Cape May as winds are expected to be between 20 and 25 knots by the time they arrive tomorrow. Winds at the time of this report were South, Southwest from 10 to 15 knots. They are sailing with full sails (they took out the reefs) and are about 100 miles from Cape May and expect to be there in the morning.
Dinner was simple - Veggie Soup.
Woody reported that his best purchase and most highly used item is his GO ANYWHERE chair that he bought from West Marine. He referred to it as his "BarcaLounger". Note the difference between the two!
Looking forward to getting an update directly from Woody tomorrow or on Monday when he settles in to Cape May! And I'll close with this fine quote, by Mark Twain:
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Tracy ;)
Nothing Slicker than Chicken Teriyaki
Day #9, Friday, June 4, 2010
Time of Report: 2100 Z
Position: 35.67 , -72.94
Heading: North, Northeast
Speed: 6.3 knots, on a port tack reach, with a lot of help from the gulf stream
Woody & JD reported electrical problems and are heading towards Cape May, NJ to get it fixed and should be there on Sunday. There's such little electricity at this point, they are not able to run the GPS. Part of the challenge is the wind is coming over the stern and the speed of the boat isn't generating enough "ummph" to produce the electricity. The solar panel is generating a little, but not enough. The engine is running fine though. They will likely stay in Cape May for the week, as a bad weather system is forecasted, and both the weather router and weather man (BT) advised he stays off the water for this type of storm which is estimated to have winds of 40+ knots, coming from the wrong direction and huge waves.
Thursday night Chef JD made Chicken Teriyaki. Woody ate his portion and JD decided to hold out on his as he wasn't feeling particularly well. He left his portion in the pot, on the stove and not long after, Woody headed into the cabin for his 4 hour sleep. The place where they sleep is on the floor, in the cabin which is about 7.5 feet long and 1.5 feet wide. The winds started to pick up to about 20 knots and there were thunderstorms happening all around, and they were trying to dodge the lightening too. Jubilee started rockin' and rollin' and the JD's chicken teriyaki slung out of the pot, all over Woody and the inside of the boat. As Woody was recounting this story, in between laughs he said "if you ever need a good lubricant, try teriyaki!". Chicken and Brocoli was on the menu for Friday night.
Woody did note that being out in the big ocean, in the middle of the night, when it's pitch black dark, with nothing in sight and hearing the rumbling of the thunder and watching the lightning in the sky can generate some anxiety! Overall Captain and Crew are doing well!
For the record, and as a follow up to the last blog posting, the stowaway "walked the plank" yesterday.
More again soon! Tracy
Time of Report: 2100 Z
Position: 35.67 , -72.94
Heading: North, Northeast
Speed: 6.3 knots, on a port tack reach, with a lot of help from the gulf stream
Woody & JD reported electrical problems and are heading towards Cape May, NJ to get it fixed and should be there on Sunday. There's such little electricity at this point, they are not able to run the GPS. Part of the challenge is the wind is coming over the stern and the speed of the boat isn't generating enough "ummph" to produce the electricity. The solar panel is generating a little, but not enough. The engine is running fine though. They will likely stay in Cape May for the week, as a bad weather system is forecasted, and both the weather router and weather man (BT) advised he stays off the water for this type of storm which is estimated to have winds of 40+ knots, coming from the wrong direction and huge waves.
Thursday night Chef JD made Chicken Teriyaki. Woody ate his portion and JD decided to hold out on his as he wasn't feeling particularly well. He left his portion in the pot, on the stove and not long after, Woody headed into the cabin for his 4 hour sleep. The place where they sleep is on the floor, in the cabin which is about 7.5 feet long and 1.5 feet wide. The winds started to pick up to about 20 knots and there were thunderstorms happening all around, and they were trying to dodge the lightening too. Jubilee started rockin' and rollin' and the JD's chicken teriyaki slung out of the pot, all over Woody and the inside of the boat. As Woody was recounting this story, in between laughs he said "if you ever need a good lubricant, try teriyaki!". Chicken and Brocoli was on the menu for Friday night.
Woody did note that being out in the big ocean, in the middle of the night, when it's pitch black dark, with nothing in sight and hearing the rumbling of the thunder and watching the lightning in the sky can generate some anxiety! Overall Captain and Crew are doing well!
For the record, and as a follow up to the last blog posting, the stowaway "walked the plank" yesterday.
More again soon! Tracy
Friday, June 4, 2010
Record Breaking Speeds on Jubliee!
From the beginning of the trip, on May 27, 2010, here's a view of where Woody and JD have been so far: 
I don't have the typical stats that we've been posting on the previous blogs, as I was so excited to hear from them, I forgot to ask - oops!
On my commute home this evening from Decatur, GA to Marietta, GA, my new Android phone started buzzing and I was delighted to hear Woody on the other end when I answered. Like Woody has been a bit challenged with some of his technology devices, I too have been with my new phone and it feels like a great success when I can simply answer it with ease. As we talked, Woody and JD were speeding through the water at 8 knots and over the water at 5.5 knots – a record speed on this trip, and maybe ever on a Flicka? The wind was blowing between 12 and 15 and the seas were 4 to 5 feet. They were sailing happily in the Gulf stream and had covered 170 nautical miles (nautical miles are longer than statute miles. For the record...a statute mile is 5,280 feet in length and a nautical mile is 6,076.11549... feet in length) since leaving Southport, NC. Upon leaving Southport, they cleared the first buoy which was 90 miles out in less than 24 hours, and then over the following 12 hours covered 80 miles. Spirits were quite high as Woody was recalling their experience to me and JD was chiming in with tidbits of information in the background. Thunderstorms were all about last night but they managed to dodge them. A school of porpoises followed them for 45 minutes as they sailed through the Gulf Stream and graced them with their presence on both the starboard and port sides of the boat. JD and Woody both enjoyed the visit from the porpoises. Dinner last night was Shepherd’s Pie, prepared by the renowned REI freeze dried food trained chef, JD. For the ladies that are reading this, JD is a single man – and at the moment, “looking for love in all the wrong places” – being at sea, but you now know the man can cook, and he is “sea-worthy”. JD is 26 years old, ridiculously smart, very handy, a hairy hottie (as you can tell by his picture) and obviously has an adventurous side. He talks like a sailor but can clean it up too and from the little time I spent with him, he was someone our family looks forward to learning more about and getting to know better! Here's a picture of he and his father, Joel Shiver, who is a Public Defender Attorney, in a number of counties in northern GA. It was Joel who heard of Woody's passage and connected Woody, and his son JD. Joel is a lover of fine beer and was delighted to find his favorite Micro-Brew at a reasonable price in Beaufort (Joel, please post a comment and let us know what the name of that beer is!)
Back to the food – so I asked Woody what was for dinner this evening and he said “well Bugs, what ever we pull out of the bag – it’s a surprise every time”! Love it and look forward to reporting what they had for dinner tonight, in an upcoming blog post. Speaking of food – while they were in Southport, they headed to the grocery to stock up on more supplies, as their first estimate of the distance to Nova Scotia proved to be off a bit. Instead of 700 miles, it’s 940 miles so they anticipate that it will take 11 or 12 days which puts them there somewhere around the 14th of June, give or take a bit.
Woody described the sails and said they had put two reefs in the main sail. He had caught a weather report from his VHF and they expect the winds to increase to up to 25 and seas of 9 feet in the coming days. They’ve been heading East for a bit and will be turning North shortly. One of the challenges they’re having is they’re not generating enough electricity which means they are having to do a lot of hand-steering (no auto-pilot). Though there is plenty of wind, the wind-generator isn’t doing its job so with the trickle of a charge it is producing, they’re using it for the navigation lights.
A stow-away was picked up in Southport and has settled comfortably in the cabin of Jubilee.
It’s a very active and noisy Fly that tests both JD and Woody’s ability to drift off to sleep or remain asleep. I asked if they had named the fly yet and the name that came to mind from Woody was “DEAD”. DEAD tickles their noses, buzzes in their ears and kisses them goodnight or good morning, depending on their watch. More in my next report about DEAD, they Stow-Away Fly.
The speed at which JD and Woody are moving is different from most trips that most of us have taken in our lives. They made an analogy to help us understand. So imagine traveling from Atlanta, GA to New York City. Got it, can you imagine it? Ok, now, imagine getting there by bike. While at the moment, they’re moving faster than a brisk walk, they’re not moving much faster than an average Joe could ride a bike. So, sailing from Beaufort to Nova Scotia is similar to riding a bike from Atlanta to Nova Scotia - a long way, and slow - but wow, a beautiful journey on many fronts.
Captain and Crew sounded like they were having a fabulous time. As Captain Woody said “there’s still a lot of water and weather ahead”. We’ll look forward to reporting more soon! Stay tuned! And in closing, here's a picture of my Mom, Beth Norwood Tumlin (Woody's sister) and Woody at the Bon Voyage party in May
Tracy
I don't have the typical stats that we've been posting on the previous blogs, as I was so excited to hear from them, I forgot to ask - oops!
On my commute home this evening from Decatur, GA to Marietta, GA, my new Android phone started buzzing and I was delighted to hear Woody on the other end when I answered. Like Woody has been a bit challenged with some of his technology devices, I too have been with my new phone and it feels like a great success when I can simply answer it with ease. As we talked, Woody and JD were speeding through the water at 8 knots and over the water at 5.5 knots – a record speed on this trip, and maybe ever on a Flicka? The wind was blowing between 12 and 15 and the seas were 4 to 5 feet. They were sailing happily in the Gulf stream and had covered 170 nautical miles (nautical miles are longer than statute miles. For the record...a statute mile is 5,280 feet in length and a nautical mile is 6,076.11549... feet in length) since leaving Southport, NC. Upon leaving Southport, they cleared the first buoy which was 90 miles out in less than 24 hours, and then over the following 12 hours covered 80 miles. Spirits were quite high as Woody was recalling their experience to me and JD was chiming in with tidbits of information in the background. Thunderstorms were all about last night but they managed to dodge them. A school of porpoises followed them for 45 minutes as they sailed through the Gulf Stream and graced them with their presence on both the starboard and port sides of the boat. JD and Woody both enjoyed the visit from the porpoises. Dinner last night was Shepherd’s Pie, prepared by the renowned REI freeze dried food trained chef, JD. For the ladies that are reading this, JD is a single man – and at the moment, “looking for love in all the wrong places” – being at sea, but you now know the man can cook, and he is “sea-worthy”. JD is 26 years old, ridiculously smart, very handy, a hairy hottie (as you can tell by his picture) and obviously has an adventurous side. He talks like a sailor but can clean it up too and from the little time I spent with him, he was someone our family looks forward to learning more about and getting to know better! Here's a picture of he and his father, Joel Shiver, who is a Public Defender Attorney, in a number of counties in northern GA. It was Joel who heard of Woody's passage and connected Woody, and his son JD. Joel is a lover of fine beer and was delighted to find his favorite Micro-Brew at a reasonable price in Beaufort (Joel, please post a comment and let us know what the name of that beer is!)
Back to the food – so I asked Woody what was for dinner this evening and he said “well Bugs, what ever we pull out of the bag – it’s a surprise every time”! Love it and look forward to reporting what they had for dinner tonight, in an upcoming blog post. Speaking of food – while they were in Southport, they headed to the grocery to stock up on more supplies, as their first estimate of the distance to Nova Scotia proved to be off a bit. Instead of 700 miles, it’s 940 miles so they anticipate that it will take 11 or 12 days which puts them there somewhere around the 14th of June, give or take a bit.
Woody described the sails and said they had put two reefs in the main sail. He had caught a weather report from his VHF and they expect the winds to increase to up to 25 and seas of 9 feet in the coming days. They’ve been heading East for a bit and will be turning North shortly. One of the challenges they’re having is they’re not generating enough electricity which means they are having to do a lot of hand-steering (no auto-pilot). Though there is plenty of wind, the wind-generator isn’t doing its job so with the trickle of a charge it is producing, they’re using it for the navigation lights.
A stow-away was picked up in Southport and has settled comfortably in the cabin of Jubilee.
It’s a very active and noisy Fly that tests both JD and Woody’s ability to drift off to sleep or remain asleep. I asked if they had named the fly yet and the name that came to mind from Woody was “DEAD”. DEAD tickles their noses, buzzes in their ears and kisses them goodnight or good morning, depending on their watch. More in my next report about DEAD, they Stow-Away Fly.
The speed at which JD and Woody are moving is different from most trips that most of us have taken in our lives. They made an analogy to help us understand. So imagine traveling from Atlanta, GA to New York City. Got it, can you imagine it? Ok, now, imagine getting there by bike. While at the moment, they’re moving faster than a brisk walk, they’re not moving much faster than an average Joe could ride a bike. So, sailing from Beaufort to Nova Scotia is similar to riding a bike from Atlanta to Nova Scotia - a long way, and slow - but wow, a beautiful journey on many fronts.
Captain and Crew sounded like they were having a fabulous time. As Captain Woody said “there’s still a lot of water and weather ahead”. We’ll look forward to reporting more soon! Stay tuned! And in closing, here's a picture of my Mom, Beth Norwood Tumlin (Woody's sister) and Woody at the Bon Voyage party in May
Tracy
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Sailing Again
Day #7, Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Time of Report: 2100 Z
Position: 34.17 , -77.84 (from the spot finder at 1825 Z)
Heading: East
Speed: Heading East @ 6 knots, 5 over water, On starboard tack reach, Winds SW @ 12 expected to increase during the night.
Departed Southport, NC at 14:30 Z. Motored to Masonsboro, NC and cleared the cut at 1900Z.
Now in open water, and the boat is really sailing well. They are on their way to Nova Scotia. The wind generator doesn't seem to be turning fast enough for the wind conditions but hopefully it will improve. Captain and crew are very well and enjoying the beam reach. Will probably reef the main tonight.
As an FYI, shorter blogs like these are typically when Bill Tumlin (BT) talks with Woody, and provides the report to Tracy. When Tracy is lucky enough to talk with Woody, the blog entries will be a bit longer. I think we'll have a good mix of both of both reports. We're all super glad that they're back on the water and looking forward to more reports!!
Tracy
Time of Report: 2100 Z
Position: 34.17 , -77.84 (from the spot finder at 1825 Z)
Heading: East
Speed: Heading East @ 6 knots, 5 over water, On starboard tack reach, Winds SW @ 12 expected to increase during the night.
Departed Southport, NC at 14:30 Z. Motored to Masonsboro, NC and cleared the cut at 1900Z.
Now in open water, and the boat is really sailing well. They are on their way to Nova Scotia. The wind generator doesn't seem to be turning fast enough for the wind conditions but hopefully it will improve. Captain and crew are very well and enjoying the beam reach. Will probably reef the main tonight.
As an FYI, shorter blogs like these are typically when Bill Tumlin (BT) talks with Woody, and provides the report to Tracy. When Tracy is lucky enough to talk with Woody, the blog entries will be a bit longer. I think we'll have a good mix of both of both reports. We're all super glad that they're back on the water and looking forward to more reports!!
Tracy
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Engine Problems Solved, we think
We were experiencing engine problems and electricity generating problems on the way to Bermuda. If it had been just one of these problems we might have pressed on, but the combination persuaded us to turn back toward the USA at about 11:30 AM Sunday. We decided to go to Southport, NC, ironically the departure point of Charles Huneycutt abord Flicka "Ranger". We mere mostly through the Gulf Stream and so had to make our way back through a lot of lumpy seas, but the SE angle of the wind, which had been on the nose ever since we got started, was finally excellent for the diversion to Southport which was essentially northwast from our turning position.
The sailing was wonderful until about 10 PM. Then it stopped. For the next 13 hours we had only zephyrs up to 5 kts. In 5 kts of wind a Flicka barely has steerage. Without the engine we could not generate electricity...it was night so the solar panels were useless, and the wind was too light for the wind turbine. We used only the navigation lights in order to conserve electricity.
Finally a little breeze began to develop around 11 AM Monday, and by noon we were again barreling towards Southport, arriving at 4:30 PM. This being Memorial Day week-end, shore accommodations were tight but we found The Riverside Motel, a room with two beds with a view of the dumpster, clean sheets, and a shower and TV for $83. The proprietor, Jeramy, came to the Southport Marina to pick us up and diagnosed the engine problem on the way back to the motel, about 3 blocks distant. Fuel contamination.
This morning, Tuesday, I was at the marina's office when they opened at 8. Their man Sean walked to the boat with me, and after finding that the fluids were fine sheckked the Racor (primary) fuel filter. Sure enough, bad stuff (algea and sludge) in the filter. We also checked the secondary filter and found just small traces of bad stuff. We drained the fuel from the tank and inspected the inside of the tank. Small scaling, not bad, and a bit of sludge on the bottom, again not too bad. We put 2 gallons of fresh fuel in the tank, let it settle, and tried using the boat's electric fuel pump into a bucket to see the contition of the fuel. Well, the fuel pump worked only intermittantly. A tap with a wrench would cause it to work for a while, irregularly. Sean checked for blockage in the fuel line coming from the tank (in the bow) to the engine (in the stern). You won't believe this. Sean sucked on the line until a blob of something other than fuel entered his mouth. He spit the blob into the bucket. "Well there's the real problem" he said casually as I handed h9im a Wint-o-green breath mint. There is a 90 degree elbow in the fuel line where it emerges from the tank, famous for creating blockages. We figured the blockage in the line, combined with the contamination in the fuel, had stressed the electronic fuel pump and wore it out. So we replaced the fuel pump and replaced both folters and bled the air out of the line, and the engine cranked up and sounded perfect. We let it run on high idle for a while. We think this is fixed.
We checked the output of the wind turbine generator, and it is fine. I have an on-off switch for the generator in the head, and inadvertantly the switch had been turned to the off position, causing an unexpected and unexplained drain on the batteries. They are now re-charging.
Our plan is to depart tomorrow (Wednesday) for Nova Scotia. I will lay out the route tonight. I expect this to take 9 or 10 days. We have not been achieving the 3.5 kts that had been built into my plan. Several factors. First, the wind has been consistently on our nose. A Flicka is a fine boat, but going to windward is not its long suit. In the lumpy seas associated with the Gulf Stream it is necessary to let this boat "foot". We are sailing to windward at about 45 to 50 degrees from the apparent wind. The true wind is about 60 degrees. So, tacking takes us through a 120 degree arc from port tack to starboard (and vice versa). Second, the wind has been exceedingly light, mostly zero to 10 kts. We celebrate when we are moving 3.5 kts to windward. Third, we are loaded with more weight than in a normal sail. We started out with provisions for 18+ days, a big inventory of sails, and lots of gear.
Nova Scotia is about 700 nautical miles from here. If we can make 80 miles a day we'll make it in 9 days. The wind direction and velocity will be the determining factors. We'll get off to a good start tomorrow with 10 to 15 kts from the SW.
I am relieved that the engine and generating turbine are again working, and I look forward to having a good passage to Nova Scotia. JD and I are both disappointed to not make it to Bermuda.
Woody
The sailing was wonderful until about 10 PM. Then it stopped. For the next 13 hours we had only zephyrs up to 5 kts. In 5 kts of wind a Flicka barely has steerage. Without the engine we could not generate electricity...it was night so the solar panels were useless, and the wind was too light for the wind turbine. We used only the navigation lights in order to conserve electricity.
Finally a little breeze began to develop around 11 AM Monday, and by noon we were again barreling towards Southport, arriving at 4:30 PM. This being Memorial Day week-end, shore accommodations were tight but we found The Riverside Motel, a room with two beds with a view of the dumpster, clean sheets, and a shower and TV for $83. The proprietor, Jeramy, came to the Southport Marina to pick us up and diagnosed the engine problem on the way back to the motel, about 3 blocks distant. Fuel contamination.
This morning, Tuesday, I was at the marina's office when they opened at 8. Their man Sean walked to the boat with me, and after finding that the fluids were fine sheckked the Racor (primary) fuel filter. Sure enough, bad stuff (algea and sludge) in the filter. We also checked the secondary filter and found just small traces of bad stuff. We drained the fuel from the tank and inspected the inside of the tank. Small scaling, not bad, and a bit of sludge on the bottom, again not too bad. We put 2 gallons of fresh fuel in the tank, let it settle, and tried using the boat's electric fuel pump into a bucket to see the contition of the fuel. Well, the fuel pump worked only intermittantly. A tap with a wrench would cause it to work for a while, irregularly. Sean checked for blockage in the fuel line coming from the tank (in the bow) to the engine (in the stern). You won't believe this. Sean sucked on the line until a blob of something other than fuel entered his mouth. He spit the blob into the bucket. "Well there's the real problem" he said casually as I handed h9im a Wint-o-green breath mint. There is a 90 degree elbow in the fuel line where it emerges from the tank, famous for creating blockages. We figured the blockage in the line, combined with the contamination in the fuel, had stressed the electronic fuel pump and wore it out. So we replaced the fuel pump and replaced both folters and bled the air out of the line, and the engine cranked up and sounded perfect. We let it run on high idle for a while. We think this is fixed.
We checked the output of the wind turbine generator, and it is fine. I have an on-off switch for the generator in the head, and inadvertantly the switch had been turned to the off position, causing an unexpected and unexplained drain on the batteries. They are now re-charging.
Our plan is to depart tomorrow (Wednesday) for Nova Scotia. I will lay out the route tonight. I expect this to take 9 or 10 days. We have not been achieving the 3.5 kts that had been built into my plan. Several factors. First, the wind has been consistently on our nose. A Flicka is a fine boat, but going to windward is not its long suit. In the lumpy seas associated with the Gulf Stream it is necessary to let this boat "foot". We are sailing to windward at about 45 to 50 degrees from the apparent wind. The true wind is about 60 degrees. So, tacking takes us through a 120 degree arc from port tack to starboard (and vice versa). Second, the wind has been exceedingly light, mostly zero to 10 kts. We celebrate when we are moving 3.5 kts to windward. Third, we are loaded with more weight than in a normal sail. We started out with provisions for 18+ days, a big inventory of sails, and lots of gear.
Nova Scotia is about 700 nautical miles from here. If we can make 80 miles a day we'll make it in 9 days. The wind direction and velocity will be the determining factors. We'll get off to a good start tomorrow with 10 to 15 kts from the SW.
I am relieved that the engine and generating turbine are again working, and I look forward to having a good passage to Nova Scotia. JD and I are both disappointed to not make it to Bermuda.
Woody
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