I had a slight panic today when I thought I ought to check the fuel gauge and saw to my horror that it was reading empty. Oh no! How could that have happened? Actually come to think of it I do remember smelling diesel yesterday evening and noticed that the bilge was pretty full so pumped it out. Could that have been all my lovely diesel spewing into the Atlantic?
Further investigation was needed to I set to work unscrewing the sender unit from the top of the tank so I could dip it and see if it was really empty. Just as I got the last screw undone the gauge suddenly popped up to just under half, which is where it should be. Phew! I don’t know why it was playing around like that but maybe all the rolling around got the sender stuck. Anyway, thankfully I should still have enough to keep my batteries charged and fridge cool.
Power is a little bit of a worry at the moment as there’s virtually no wind so my wind generator isn’t producing any electricity and I rely on what I put in with the engine each evening, which is only just enough to replenish what I use at the moment. The main draw is at night when I have the navigation lights on, and the radar comes on every 15 minutes to check for hazards.
Yesterday we made good progress in the afternoon as the pleasant little ESE F3 kept us moving at around 5knots, heading pretty much due north. However it died away in the evening to no more than 5-7 knots, but I was pleased to find that we still kept ghosting along at 2-3 knots in the flat calm. This continued all night and this morning, but by lunchtime it died away completely and we’re now just bobbing gently in the tiny swell.
Luckily we seem to have hit the southern edge of the Gulf Stream which is propelling us slowly but surely north-north-east at around 1.5 knots, and every now and then a little gust of wind gets us moving at 2 knots or so, meaning that at least we’re making some progress in the right direction, albeit at half the speed I’d like.
I continue to be impressed by Odyssey’s performance in such light airs. In a flat calm like this with the wind on the beam it only takes around 2.5 knots of breeze to get her moving, and she’ll then drift along at around half the apparent wind speed. Unfortunately the Monitor can’t cope with such slow speeds so either Alan or I have to steer. Since Alan needs power I’m doing most of the work at the moment which makes a change, but actually I’ve given up now since we’re not going anywhere and have just left her to her own devices.
One important factor in our performance is probably the Autoprop, which I have now got to feather properly thanks to an email from my ex-neighbour Ray of SV Doric in Fort Lauderdale, who gets the gold star for being the first to reply to my question of yesterday with the correct answer. It seems that when motoring I need to stop the engine while still in forward gear at a speed of at least 4 knots, which leaves enough pressure in the hydraulic gearbox to lock the shaft in position, thus allowing the blades time to feather properly. By the time the gearbox pressure has gone the blades are in the correct position so the shaft doesn’t turn.
Actually it does still rotate a tiny bit every now and then, I think possibly when the boat rolls, and it produces a very strange low groaning sound which at first had me jumping up and looking around to see if there was a wounded whale wallowing nearby. Further investigation soon revealed the source, and it’s a vast improvement on the rumble of before so my aft cabin is now a very pleasant place to spend the night. Thank you, Ray!
I’ve also been continuing with my celestial navigation which is a lot easier in a flat calm like this. Taking one sight of the sun with the sextant can’t tell you where you are, but gives you the angle of the sun in the sky. Combining this with the precise time and lots of calculations comes up with a circle on the surface of the earth, the centre of which is directly beneath the sun. Your position is somewhere on the edge of the circle but there’s no way of knowing where, other than where you think you are because like all good navigators you’ve been keeping track of your movements.
This morning’s sight produced a ‘line of position’ which was just 3.5 miles from my actual position as indicated by the satellite navigation system, which is pretty good. This afternoon I plan to take another sight which should combine with this morning’s to produce my position rather than just a line. All exciting stuff, and nice to know I now have two independent means of finding out where I am.
Other than this there isn’t really a lot to do apart from lounging around in the sun eating, drinking and reading, so that’s exactly what I intend to do for the rest of the afternoon. Even if the wind never comes back the Gulf Stream should eventually get me home, although right now it feels as though it would be quicker just to stay here and wait for the movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates to bring Europe to me!
And before I forget, I saw my first dolphins of the trip last night as a herd of them came sweeping majestically over the plain. Or was that the wildebeeste? I’ve been at sea so long now I’m really not sure what’s what any more…