pm, made a good night entry and found a nice jetty we could tie on
to. What a relieve to just stand on dry land again. It was too late for
any shops and we had to leave the shopping for the next day. Just before
we turned south to head for the marina a mile away we had to drop the
mainsail and we had difficulty getting the sail down. Pulled a line over
the first car and pulling on both sides of the mast the sail came
down, bit for bit as we moved our line to the next car. A car is the the
fitting that slots into a track that runs up the mast and keeps the sail
against the mast. When we got all the sail down we noticed that the top
car was damaged, one of the sides holding on the tract was broken. Not a
trainsmash as we could replace the top one with the car with the bottom
car as we don't use the full mainsail. It turned out to be a bit more
difficult than anticipated but after an hour or two we had it sorted.
I went for a stroll through town on Sunday morning, lots of restaurants
open, found a fruit and veggie shop open by the supermarket was
closed. Stocked up on fruit, big time. Oranges, apples, pears and
bananas. As much as I could carry in my backpack. Spend the rest of the
day sorting out the sail, filling the water tanks, doing washing
etc. Looking at the weather it looked like we could expect a lull later
that evening. Just having fruit and veggies aboard was not ideal but we
could stop in Messina if we really wanted to.Everything was ready to go
and Sunday night at 10pm the wind lulled and we casted off. As we casted
off a gale warning came through on the VHF. We knew thare was a huge
system passing below Sicily and a bit further up north as well. We have
been hearing these gale warnings for a day or two coming into Sicily.
Five minutes later the port engine alarm went off, we are
overheating. Turned it off and turned back with one motor. Just as well
as ten minutes later a storm exploded on us, the lull was the quiet
before the storm. Wouldn't have made much progress. Bringing the
catamaran into the marina under one motor only is tricky to say the
least but fortunately we had enough room to manouvre.
Monday morning we started lookin at our engine problem. Felix
volunteered the night before that he would dive under the boat and see
if there is any obstruction at the water inlet that feeds the water to
the engine. Got a mask and snorkel and he went into the very cold water
and found nothing wrong. Systematically I went from the water filter to
the waterpump that works with an impeller and found the problem.
Impeller blades all off. The blades is what creates suction and draws
the water from the sea through the filter into the engine to keep it
cool. We always carry a spare one and after some fancy body contortions
to fit into the engine room and reach all the places I needed to reach
the impeller was replaced. Started the motor, no water coming out yet
and switched it off. Filled up the water pies from the hosepipe and
tried again. This time we had success.
We also found the supermarket open and Brad and Felix came back with
some meat, rice, chips, chocolates, cookies etc. The storm from the
night before had covered our boat in fine red dust and we washed the
boat down form top to bottom, nice to have fresh water on tap. Did a
thorough job, watering, brushing, sponging, we got it all off and all
sparkling clean. At about 5 yesterday afternoon the wind had died down
for quite some time already and it was good for us to go. Had a fair run
through the night, the wind sometimes from behind, sometimes from the
side and at other times from ahead.
At about 9 this morning I got up and switched on the gas to make
tea...gas finished! We looked at our ETA for Messina and at that time we
were doing about 3kts, no problemo, we will get gas there in the next 24
hrs or so. At 11am the wind picked up from the east and we are motoring
making 1kt and three days to get to Messina at this rate. Just then
Nicky phoned from the office to find out how we are. She informed us
that all the guys on the Med and coming into the Med has some adverse
weather and no need for us to rush, although she knows that we also want
to get this trip behind us. Looked at my electronic charts and saw a
small marina 14 miles on our starboard. Woke Felix up to help me raise
the mainsail and we are now heading for Cefalu and should be there in
the next three to four hours.Not what we wanted, not what we planned,
but fortunate to be close enough to be able to do it. Will get gas there
and see what the weather is doing before heading out again. Just got a
call from Pieter saying he is missing us, wish on the one side he was
here and on the other that he is glad he is not with the adverse weather
we are facing.
Our position at AM 11:30 UTC is 38*03'N/14*03'E.
Hope you had a wonderful time over the easter weekend.
Paul
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