Shelduck - Tue 26 Light Winds & Engine

Brendan woke remembering he’d forgotten his sister’s birthday – Happy Birthday for yesterday Maxine!

 

We removed the No 4 jib and reached with full main for some time.  We changed to polled out twin headsails for about 3hrs but the wind shifted so we reverted to reaching with full sail in very light winds.  With just 3 knots of wind the Autohelm had difficulty keeping on track so we hand steered again.

 

We had trouble starting the engine yesterday and because the wind was so strong (unlike today!!!) we decided to leave investigating it to today.  It is the first time in 10 years it has not started first time for Neil.  Thankfully Neil had installed an EFOY Comfort 140 Fuel Cell which has kept our batteries topped up so we could relax about the engine problem until calmer weather today. A fantastic piece of kit so far. We took off the engine instrument panel and although we couldn’t see any obvious issues, with several attempts at checking the wiring over a few hours we suddenly found it working again.  Fantastic news!.  We have been heading to the Cape Verde Islands just to be on the safe side in case we need to go ashore for repairs.

 

We also discovered quite a lot of water in the bilge which lapped above the floor boards when healing over.  It tasted salty and Anne has been bailing and monitoring the amount over each 12 hr period.  Will keep a close eye on this.

 

Sightings: a lone red buoy, not part of any nets; 2x dark short winged birds with white rumps, flapping and gliding low over the surface of the waves.