Solid Downwind Sailing

3 Aug

The day kicked off with downwind sailing in 25-33 knots. It was fairly solid downwind running hitting 8-10 knots with a top surfing speed of 16 knots on Silver Fern. After running the batteries down overnight I started the generator only to have it stop again. After the issue happened again it became clear that my plan to run the water maker and top up the water tank had come unstuck.

With a large multinational military exercise that includes 13 , and 30,000 personnel on at the moment, we passed within 1.5nm of the Japanese Warship LST-4002 Shimokita. We encounter a lot of different ships on our expeditions but this is the first time we have seen a foreign warship in Australian waters. We wonder how their crew are enjoying being surrounded by hundreds of happy whales!

*Japanese warship in Great Barrier Reef*

*Crossing paths with Salt Lines on arrival*

My love - hate affair with the generator continues. I started by checking oil, coolant, salt water intake flow, in the rolling and pitching engine room, as we continued to barrel downwind in the 2-3 metre swell. After checking and bleeding air out of the fuel supply line with the manual lift pump, I narrowed it down to a fuel starvation issue and it appeared to be caused by rolling motion of the yacht. I decided to park the problem and tackle it again when we were anchored.

Salt Lines had elected not to stop at Lady Musgrave and had continued north towards Middle Percy, while we enjoyed our 3 hour stopover. We finally caught sight of them again, for the first time in 2 days as they sailed through the channel between Middle Percy and South Percy Island’s. We came in from the bottom end of South Percy and crossed paths as we rounded the point just 1nm from the anchorage.

In preparation for dropping the sails, I started the engine on Silver Fern. Within 60 seconds I smelt the pungent smell of burning plastic from engine room. I raced in their to see a cable sparking against the engine block with melting plastic dripping from it. I raced to the cockpit and killed the engine. When I went back to inspect the damage, positive generator cable had broken loose from its crimped fitting and had started shorting out against the engine block.

We now had no engine and it would be foolish to try and sail into a busy anchorage without an engine, to anchor in 20 knots. The irony is the last time I had to do that with Silver Fern, was 2 years ago in the exact same bay. The difference then was it was Silver Ferns 27 year old engine that failed and not the new one fitted just 14 months ago.

A quick diagnosis by texting Geoff at Whangarei Marine Services, with assistance from Tony and Taku onboard, identified a temporary solution and within 15 minutes we had it rewired and were able to start engine and enter the anchorage. We anchored around 2:30pm and ferried the crew ashore with a bag of drinks and nibbles to explore the Percy Island Yacht Club, the yacht plaques that lined the building and to relax after a 515nm ocean passage from Southport.

While Taku took the team ashore, I stayed onboard to charge the house batteries using the engine. Despite the failed attempts earlier, I bled and primed the generator again and finally got it started. I waited a few nervous minutes while it settled down. With a new lease of life, it went on to charge the batteries, chill down the refrigeration and then make 160 litres of water (in just 1 hour) thanks to adding a second water membrane while berth at the Boat Works.

*Crew going ashore at Middle Percy Island*

By now it was 5pm, so satisfied that we had recovered from no engine, no generator and no ability to make water, to life being under control again onboard, I ferried supplies ashore for a BBQ dinner. The crew lit a fire and we had a combined crews BBQ with the Salt Lines team and swapped stories from our passage so far.

There is a large tidal range in the Great Barrier Reef and tonight we were in for a 5m high tide. With a previous bad experience that resulted in bailing out a RIB full of water at 9pm at night, we were careful to drag the RIB’s up the beach and anchors well above the high tide mark.

By 9pm we were fed and happy and made our way back to Silver Fern. Onboard we had a birthday dessert of fruit and chocolate cake, heated with custard and ice cream to acknowledge Kirk’s 50th birthday milestone. Happy Birthday Kirk and thanks for sharing it with us. Tony set up a card game of 500 and set about teaching some new players the rules of the game. The laughter and sledging got louder as the game went on and card sharks rose to the surface.

David

Join the crew for a sailing adventure

Middle Percy Island

David Hows

Solid Downwind Sailing

Heading to Whitehaven

Lady Musgrave Island