Almost to the Cape of Good Hope!
28 December 2015 | 34 49.12S:21 00.23E
Bill/partly cloudy
We are less than 80 miles from the Cape and closing in. So far we have been very lucky with the weathr we have had. Decent winds and average swells. That might change today as bigger winds and seas are forecast.
Last night got interesting. Through out much of yesterday, our volt meter for the boat kept showing us going up to 14.7 and down to 13.2, over and over. With the engine running, it should have run at the 13.2 when the reguator kicked in. At 2230, the alarm on the plotter went off that we had low power. I went below and the main meter showed us only working on our battery power, no new power was coming in from the alternator. I opened the door to the engine room and i found out why. The alternator had fallen off the engine and lay beside it on the floor. The bolt that fastens it to the engine had come undone and the bolt that holds it out under tension had also come off. All the wires were still attached and the fan belt was sitting against the opposite side of the room. OK, we have a problem! I let it cool down for a while and then Tracy and I went at the job of reattaching it. Once it had cooled off, I took off the positive wire and taped the end to avoid lots of sparks should it hit another piece of metal and then with the engine still running, shifted it around and snaked it back in place. We never did find the bolt that goes to the bar that keeps it pulled out under tension so i had to dig into my jars of spares till i got lucky and found one that would work. We stopped the engine, slipped on the belt, tensioned it and started the engine again. Voila, we had power back. We were good to go. Now i was an oily mess and my body felt it had been dunked in a tub full of sweat but the job was done and we pressed on. It's now 0540 and we are still heading west in almost no wind and about a meter sea. While we are using up a fair amount of diesel, we are getting closer to the Cape and Cape Town. Well, actually Simon's Town is our destination. We'll let you know how the rest of the journey goes. Several of the 15 or so boats in this group have p ulled into Mossel Bay to wait out the up coming blow or to get some rest. This is a stressful journey due to it's nasty reputation.