Log Entry - Friday, Nov 18

Sailboat | Track | Log Index

Day 8 - Glorious Day of Sailing Additional Notes From Thursday I am writing this at noon on Thursday. We are having a glorious day of sailing. The wind has shifted to the SE (150-160·) allowing us to sail at 5.0 to 5.5 knots directly to Bermuda. At this moment, Bermuda is 98 nautical miles away. If the wind holds, we will be docked Friday afternoon. Finally some luck coming our way. This is why we are out here. It is beautiful with a clear sky, 80·, winds of 16-20 knots, one reef in our sail, and water crashing over the bow. For the time being, we can put our engine and fuel problems behind us. Right now, we are just relishing in the thrill of ocean sailing. Ted made us great sloppy Joe’s for lunch, Hugh is at the helm, and Bob and Mike are catching up on some sleep. More later. Back online 1700 - Fuel Problem Solved Thanks to Bruce Krause from the Eastport Yacht Club, we solved our fuel problem. Thank you Bruce. Thanks to everyone for your ideas and suggestions. He called the owner of Caliber Yachts who phoned me, and gave me enough hints to find the fuel blockage. We found a glob of fibrous material in the elbow of the intake side of the RACOR fuel filter. It was a simple problem, but hard to find. We had checked every path in both directions but did not expect a blockage at the intake to the filter. Fortunately, I have a very complete set of tools on board. After a beautiful day of sailing and the wind shifting against us, we have cranked the engine up with a new abundance of fuel and are motoring directly for Bermuda. At 79 miles to our Bermuda waypoint and making 5-6 knots, we should be in Bermuda tomorrow afternoon. Continuing Notes From Today - Light of Bermuda in Sight We have visual sighting of the lights of Bermuda at 0330 hours at position 32· 37’N and 064· 04W. We are motoring around the north end of the island to avoid reefs which extend 12 miles out. We will wait for daylight and good visibility before entering the harbor, which is still 30 miles away. We need to circle the north end of the island and enter St. Georges Harbor from the East. I have just made contact with Bermuda Harbor Radio, and we are cleared to enter St. George Harbor between 0800 and 0900 AST. Yesterday was the best day we have had since crossing the Gulf Stream. The weather is nice, we are well rested, the boat is working well, and we will soon be in Bermuda clearing customs and immigration. More once we are on land. I have two photos for this FLASH report: one of me taking apart the fuel system and a collage of four photos. The collage shows what a nice day we had. We had our second night of wine. Our first wine dinner was after we crossed the Gulf Stream and now after solving our fuel problem. All is well out here in the Atlantic. Bermuda tomorrow. (photos not received) Previous | Next