Rafiki - Rafiki - A frustrating finale

Sunday 16th December

Phil writes:

Dawn came up at 09:10 (GMT) with no wind, so we were still motoring.
As the sun rose at 10:10 (GMT), it came up behind a bank of grey
cloud, which looked just like a wall of fire - very impressive and
memorable.

The day continued with no wind, so we motored all the time until 19:05
(GMT) when the engine wound down of its own accord with no warnings.
As lunch was on the table (tuna mayo sandwiches, with the mayo freshly
made from scratch by Emily!), we ate lunch while the engine cooled.

On inspection, the only problem appeared to be that the hand priming
pump was sucked flat, indicating a blockage of the fuel feed line.
Rob dismantled the pump to find the inlet non-return valve to be
blocked with a black gooey substance (possibly diesel bug). After
clearing it out, we restarted and motored on for 20 or 30 minutes
until it stopped again.

During these periods of no engine power, Andy managed to trim the
sails and helm to achieve a commendable maximum of 2.6 knots of boat
speed out of 4.2 knots of wind and was able to keep us going in the
right direction.

Meanwhile this time we removed the valve completely and pulled the
feed pipe out of the tank. We checked it was clear internally and
wiped a lot of the crud from its exterior.

We then restarted once more and motored for an hour or so, until the
main engine fuel inlet filter clogged up. After a quick filter
change, we set off again into a fantastic sunset - almost as good as
the sunrise, with a wall of red lit cloud.

So a frustrating day ended eating beef stew with rice as the sun sank
slowly in the west.

FOOD

lunch - fresh tuna with freshly made mayonaise and sweetcorn
sandwiches, sweet stuffed mini-peppers, olives
supper - home made beef stew and rice