Day 3 - Gave Lady Musgrave a Pass Today

Day 3 - Sunset as we head to Great Keppel Island

Monday, May 14, 2012

End of Day 2:

We continued motoring as the wind just wasn't strong enough to move us along. Our main was double reefed into the night in the event the wind picked up. As the evening progressed, the winds and waves did start to pick up. Our peaceful night on Day 1 was followed by a wild ride on night 2. There were no clouds, but up to 28 knots of wind across the bow, some swell coming from the east and six feet wind waves from the west rocking us to and fro.

We decide to spill some of the wind from the sail to heel less and continue to motor slowly to stay on our course and to help keep the boat more stable. I moved from the stateroom in the back to the sea berth mid ship, sleeping in bits and pieces. The wind was howling, the boat was creaking and groaning, so I put in my ear plugs.

Day 3 Begins:

Seas are a bit rough - Can Barely See Island in Lady Musgrave Reef

About 5:30 Russ woke me up telling me our engine alarm was going off and the engine was overheating. I staggered up to the pilothouse to see how I could help. First we obviously needed to turn off the engine, but that entailed me, stoppimg the engine (pushing a button and turning the key - the easy job), while Russ belly crawled across the engine as quickly as possible, to close the exhaust and engine thru hulls so we wouldn't syphon any water into the engine. After three previous engine de-waterings, we've been there, done that, and didn't want to do that again.

We got our gear on and went outside to adjust the sails. We were slammed with a couple of swells that drenched us as we made our way to the fan tail. After pulling out some jib, and setting up Hydie ,we came back in so that Russ could do some trouble shooting. The good news, there is no water or leaking coolant in the engine room. The problem is most likely the new impellor Russ installed. It doesn't seem to be able to reprime itself after a deep heel and the thru hull sucks in air, creating an airlock and preventing the cool water to circulate and come out. So in these extreme rolls, the engine is going to need Russ to help reprime. We need the engine to get into Lady Musgrave's narrow channel and to navigate around the coral heads.

Passing By - So Much Salt on Windows We Can Hardly See

We heave to on the leeside of Lady Muskgrave Reef, where we wait for the low slack tide around 10:00 a.m. In the meantime, we make a radio call to the boats inside the reef to ask the conditions. One boat has just left, and another boat answers back and says they too are leaving. Too much wind and chop. They are just waiting for the sun to come up higher for better coral head visibility and the chop isn't helping.

So we look at each other and say "Pass". Given the wind and wave conditions, narrow entrance, coral heads we might not be able to see, boats exiting, and a temperamental engine cooling system, we decide to sail around and change directions to Great Kepple Island, another 18 hour sail. We are not thrilled with another day and night on the sea, but we decide that's the best alternative.

The wind and seas are expected to calm down later in the day, and they do. We are now close enough to the shoreline that we are finally within cell and Internet range, so it's time to send this off.

It's almost time for Russ's watch. It's 12:41 p.m.

All is well with the 2 Sail R's on SV Worrall Wind