Passage to New Caledonia - Or It can only get better from here ….
11 October 2018 | Port Sud Marina, Noumea, New Caledonia
The night before our passage to New Caledonia, we had a potluck supper with SV Blue Summit and SV Intrepid Elk. The idea was to get rid of all the food that the New Caledonia Bio-security Officer would be taking from us upon arrival (assuming we hadn’t thrown it overboard prior to arrival - which is what we are supposed to do). It was a great evening, except latter that night my stomach was not happy. Sunday morning I felt a little better, but I knew I wasn’t 100%, so I took it easy with breakfast.
Our anchor came up and we were off around 8:30 Sunday morning. Our route to New Caledonia would be very straight forward - once we got out of Port Resolution and around the southern end of Tanna Island. Unfortunately we had to go straight into the seas (2 meters) and wind (16-17kts True) to get around the corner. We had all decided to motor-sail this first little bit (3 hrs or so). Less than an hour into the passage, the Genset shut down showing a temperature fault. We quickly went into sailing vs motor-sailing mode to conserve our battery state-of-charge, and then began to determine why the Genset had shut down. Given our recent experiences, the first thing I did was look for leaking coolant! The reservoir was full, and I could find no signs of a leak in the Genset. Next I checked the raw water strainer to make sure we hadn’t picked up something that was obstructing our raw water flow to the Genset. It was all clear. Unfortunately about this time I was starting to get a little - well a little sea-sick. Next I had to sit in the forward cockpit and check the raw water impeller. Three things happened at that time: 1) As I was removing the 6 small machine screws from the impeller pump cover I dropped one of the screws, 2) after getting the cover off I confirmed that the impeller had two torn vanes, which was likely the cause of the fault, and 3) my stomach got very, very angry at me for trying to do this! This was the longest impeller change that I have ever done. For every couple of minutes of actual sitting up and working, I needed 10 minutes of lying down telling myself that I would live through this. After going below and standing on my head in the bilge to get the spare impeller, my stomach did it’s best to convince me that no, I would not live through this.
Did I mention that I had dropped one of the 6 small machine screws that hold the impeller cover in place? After replacing the bad impeller with a new one, I started the Genset and demonstrated to myself that 1) the bad impeller was indeed the reason for the fault, and 2) that 6 little machine screws are needed to seal the cover of the raw water impeller and not have it leak! Over the next what seemed like eternity, I searched for the small machine screw (no I did not have a spare), using my very inefficient method of lying on my back 8 minutes out of every 10. By the way, these machine screws are not magnetic, making it impossible to use a magnet on a wand to retrieve a lost screw (yes I tried). Finally, I located the screw! Note that I said I located it, which is different than retrieving it and actually having it in your hand. After my stomach had one last laugh, showing me exactly who was in charge of my body at this time, I was able to get the screw into my hand and back in place.
I had told myself that if we did not have the Genset fully operational before turning the corner, we would return to Port Resolution, since I didn’t want to make the overnight passage with a known problem - well, actually there was my problem and the boat’s problem. The Genset was running and not leaking water from the cover plate - since there were 6 small machine screws in place - so we continued on. As we turned the corner the wind and swell moved aft, just forward of the beam, and the boat immediately had a better feel to it. Under normal conditions I would have taken out one of our reefs, however, I decided that with the way I was feeling the 6 kts we were doing was just fine! I wasn’t sure I had it in me to take the reef out, let alone put it back in if it was necessary.
By the way, Cindy did great during all of this manning the helm while we were sailing upwind in these uncomfortable conditions, and I was lying on my back. She then stood watch for the next 4hrs while I laid on my back some more. It wasn’t until early Monday morning that I actually felt like I could do something, so the reef came out and we sped up a bit as we approached the Loyalty Islands. By the time we arrived in Baie de Drueulu on Lifou, around 2PM the day after we departed Vanuatu, I was feeling fine, except for very sore stomach muscles! And in-case you are keeping score, the Genset is kicking my ass (3 times) this cruising season (spoiler alert - and we aren’t done yet!