Wednesday 1st June
We left Keppel early in the morning heading to Percy. The weather was forecast for 15knt to 20knt winds. After leaving the bay we did have 10knts for about ten minutes, before it dropped to 5knts. So we put up the Gennaker. That lasted three minutes when the wind got back up so we dropped that sail and went back to the headsail. After about 20 minutes it died again.
Ok, time to try again. This time it lasted most of the day. Eventually the wind went down to 2knts, so it was motor time.
Just then the steering went. Imagine did a 180 degree turn, the gennaker back filled and we needed to do something quick. Andrew raced downstairs into the back cabin and pulled the mattress off the bed and dropped the emergency tiller into position. To steer you need to stand on the bed boards, one foot on the tiller and poke up through the hatch like a meerkat so you can see where you’re going! Back on course Jack took over on the tiller while Andrew, Toni and Liz tried to pull the gennaker down. The gennaker jammed and Andrew had to go up the mast and free it.
Once that was sorted, it was time to look at what went wrong with the steering. Andrew and Liz started on ripping the floor up in the back cabin to get to the steering shaft. That part of the floor had been screwed, glued and fibreglassed. A couple of minutes with the angle grinder and the floor was up, revealing the shaft was a pipe that has rusted though.
Jack and Liz swapped jobs. Jack and Andrew found some hardwood and bolted it through the pipe to hold it together. An hour later we had steering. We have been lucky that the swell and wind were low and in the right direction that made fixing the problems a lot easier than it could have been.
Just to be on the safe side we headed to Pearl Bay for the night, and will recommence our sail to Percy in the morning.
We left Keppel early in the morning heading to Percy. The weather was forecast for 15knt to 20knt winds. After leaving the bay we did have 10knts for about ten minutes, before it dropped to 5knts. So we put up the Gennaker. That lasted three minutes when the wind got back up so we dropped that sail and went back to the headsail. After about 20 minutes it died again.
Ok, time to try again. This time it lasted most of the day. Eventually the wind went down to 2knts, so it was motor time.
Just then the steering went. Imagine did a 180 degree turn, the gennaker back filled and we needed to do something quick. Andrew raced downstairs into the back cabin and pulled the mattress off the bed and dropped the emergency tiller into position. To steer you need to stand on the bed boards, one foot on the tiller and poke up through the hatch like a meerkat so you can see where you’re going! Back on course Jack took over on the tiller while Andrew, Toni and Liz tried to pull the gennaker down. The gennaker jammed and Andrew had to go up the mast and free it.
Once that was sorted, it was time to look at what went wrong with the steering. Andrew and Liz started on ripping the floor up in the back cabin to get to the steering shaft. That part of the floor had been screwed, glued and fibreglassed. A couple of minutes with the angle grinder and the floor was up, revealing the shaft was a pipe that has rusted though.
Jack and Liz swapped jobs. Jack and Andrew found some hardwood and bolted it through the pipe to hold it together. An hour later we had steering. We have been lucky that the swell and wind were low and in the right direction that made fixing the problems a lot easier than it could have been.
Just to be on the safe side we headed to Pearl Bay for the night, and will recommence our sail to Percy in the morning.
Ohhhh noooo