Log Entry - Wednesday, Nov 16

Sailboat | Track | Log Index

Day 6 - Fuel and Wind Problems Engine/fuel problems combined with wind on the nose continue to plague us. Our expert advisors have ruled out dirty fuel, air in the line, or a clogged fuel filter. After consultation with a diesel mechanic via email and sat phone, he suggested that we had a plugged fuel intake vent, a plugged pickup line in the tank, or a kink in the line. We have ruled all of those possibilities out. We have enough fuel in our good tank so that if we switch on the fly to the good tank when the engine begins to die, wait one minute, then switch back to the bad tank, the engine will run fine for about 15 minutes until we have to repeat the cycle in 15 minutes. Does anyone out there have any ideas? We were only able to keep this up for a few hours before that quit working as well. We did run for a number of hours at 2000 rpm but only made 1+ knot progress. At least we charged our batteries and refrigerator. The swells are building so we experience more pounding as Full Circle slugs its way to windward. The course to Bermuda is 118·, and the wind is from 110-120·. The pounding makes working and cooking in tight quarters very difficult and somewhat hazardous. Additional time was lost yesterday hove to while we worked on the fuel problem. When we sail, The 50· tacks off our course only give 2.5 knots of forward progress. The strangest part of this whole trip is that we had the best sailing in the Bay on our way to the ocean. Our distance to Bermuda is approximately 200 miles. At 2 knots, this is 100 hours or 4 days, making our arrival Saturday, three days before we had hoped to arrive in Tortola. All this anguish and time and we end up in Bermuda rather than the BVI. Oh well, such is life. Maybe we were jinxed by the holy water that was sprinkled on the boat at our departure. We have learned the hard way that it is a mistake to make hard and fast plans on a schedule when embarking on a trip like this. There are way too many unknowns. Ted continues to cook us gourmet meals. The weather continues to be nice. The wind continues on the nose. Previous | Next