It's a Wonderful Life
10 September 2014 | Day 5 to Suwarrow
Wednesday 10 September 2014
Had one of those wonderful episodes last evening that enhances the adventure, builds character and absolutely insures that the world will never be overrun with blue water sailors. Motoring along with virtually no wind across the deck in a sloppy sea, the engine, running on tank 3 with yet a fair bit of diesel, quit. Assuming sloshing sucked enough air to cause this infelicitous occurrence, full tank 4 was selected, manual bleeding executed (no one was tortured or put to death during this activity) and engine restarted.. it ran for 15 seconds. Further ministrations were unpersuasive and eventually the thing refused to even start. After a few hours, new filters and a regrettable amount of fuel deposited in inappropriate places while tracing flow (and lack thereof), a ceasefire was declared, fuel soaked crew showered and then slept through the night. Balance of complement stood watch and attempted with almost no success to keep boat stable, stay dry in the miserable weather and nap.
This morning, off-watch refreshed and caffeinated, applying last night's troubleshooting intelligence (perhaps a malapropos utilizaton of that word) and using spare generator pump to pound out mischievous air, got the operation back on track with shooting of unreconciled trouble in the offing. We proceed on toward landfall which will now occur tomorrow morning. The romance of cruising seeps slowly back in.
Have customarily attempted reply to every personal contact, but may have missed a few. As an email address is not widely or at least regularly made available, contact is often attempted through blog comments. Given often dubious internet, my haphazard consultation of the site and a rampant, congenital CRAFT condition, your input may evade impacting the relevant synapses (those few that remain functional). While not the fundamental inducement, I truly am pleased if anyone gets a chuckle from this foolishness and, despite what might be construed as a churlish snub, no slight is intended. To quote the Snapple advertisement guys (with appropriate bucolic inflection), "thank you for your support".
Jack