*Gromit, black triangle in the centre, heading to Les Isles Glorieuses (small dot in front of Gromit), 220 miles ahead.
*Madagascar (large orange patch) in bottom right corner.
*Mayotte, small island on the left lower side.


We'd heard and read that when going around the northern tip of Madagascar, which we had to do to get to Mayotte, you must round Cap d’Ambre at either ½ a mile off shore or be 100 miles north. We, coming from Chagos, which is north of Madagascar, decided on the 100 miles off option.
We passed north of Farquar Island – 140 miles north-east of Madagascar – which gave us a short reprieve from the swell from the south and then continued on about 100 miles west to maintain that distance when we turned south to head for Mayotte. It was a good, solid plan on the chart, but what we hadn’t factored in was the very, very strong equatorial current which blasts north-west over the top of Madagascar.

As we progressed south, more and more, we were being swept west. This is manageable, if you have good winds to move you forward, but the winds started diminishing. This had us going more west and less south. The east of coast of Africa was less than 500 miles away! We stayed with our chosen course and also tacked towards the east a couple of times and were slowly making our way south. Then the winds pretty well left us so we ended up motor sailing to Les Isles Glorieuses which lie about a 180 miles north-east of Mayotte.

Les Isles Glorieuses, really just one big island, one small island and a lot of rocks at low tide, are a part of France and offered us a nice 3 day respite, but not before we experienced a considerable amount of stress. As we were anchoring, Michael motioned for me to stop Gromit’s forward motion, so I put the engine in reverse. He motioned again. I nodded and then when he motioned again I realized that there was a problem. I looked over the side to see if there was the usual turbulence that is created by the propeller when in reverse. There was none and I saw that we weren’t moving. Oh-oh, not good. At least we were anchored and in a fairly protected area behind the large island and extending reef, but something was up with our propeller.

Immediately, Michael went below to look at the prop shaft and saw it wasn’t turning - it had pulled out of the engine coupling. I turned the engine off. It was very hot in the engine room so Michael gave it a few hours to cool before investigating more closely. In the meantime, I dove down to see if something had caught on the prop – a piece of line, a fishing net – which would explain our lack of motion. I found the prop and shaft backed out and sitting against the rudder. But, there was no line or net.

Below in the engine room, what Michael found was that the set screw tips that hold the shaft in place had sheared. He unscrewed them and reshaped them with our grinder. He then got into place by lying across the top of the warm engine, head and shoulders down over the back. These set screws are in a very nasty location. They can only be tightened one wrench flat at a time before re-positioning the wrench. I was in the water to see if I could push the shaft back in. I took a piece of wood to use as a pry bar and was able to push it fairly easily. It took a few tries though because I could only hold my breath for 30-45 seconds at a time. I pushed it in too far and the set screws that Michael was trying to put back in were not lining up with the dimples in the shaft. So this time, with a pry bar in hand, I dove down, backed it out again, and luckily in one single try, got it to the right spot so that Michael could put the set screws in. Thanks to Dennis for being verbal relay and tool go-for.

Whewwww!!! This whole prop thing could have been way worse. We were very fortunate that it was such a relatively simple fix.

We were watching the weather very closely with the help of our friends Graham and Rich back in Canada. They sent us lots of information including wind outlooks so that we could make a plan of when to leave to be able to cover the last 180 miles to Mayotte. Things always look better on paper, as the saying goes. The forecast did not materialize and we ended up motor sailing 80% of the rest of the way. Thanks for your help Graham and Rich!!