Well, dear readers (a la
Charlotte Bronte) we have finally made it out of Sicily! But it has been a very frustrating
experience. As I said before the
boatyard said that they would have the part on Monday or Tuesday. But this is Sicily and of course it did
not turn up on Monday. In fact, it
did not turn up until Tuesday afternoon when it was too late to fit it!
With all this delay we are
desperate to get away. The next
leg of the trip was supposed to be to the first port in Calabria, a trip of 70
miles. That will take at best 12
hours and probably 14. So the
original plan was to leave the marina just before daybreak so at to get in to
the next port in daylight. However
with all the delays we made a plan B.
That was to do an overnighter leaving after dinner and arriving at
breakfast time the next morning.
But I remind you again, we
are in Sicily, so nothing works out as planned. As promised the engineer, Francesco, arrived just after 9am
with the part. I was rather
surprised to see this so important part.
It is a small piece of curved rubber pipe, about 7 inches long. Nothing else, no ends, nothing. How it could take that long to get to
us I cannot imagine. Anyway, it is
fitted and the engine is ticking over and seems fine. However, Francesco does say that we should have a test of
the engine before setting out. So
we decide to have lunch first and then just motor out of the marina for half an
hour’s trip around to see that all is well. And that is what we did, BUT, after 15 minutes the
overheating alarm came on again.
So we limp back into port, calling the men to manoeuvre us into a space
by the office. We call the
mechanics and they come on board.
They cannot understand what is wrong. They come out with us again to see for themselves and again
the alarm goes off within 15 minutes.
After a lot of conflabbing
they say the only thing left that can be wrong is that the pipes inside the
engine are clogged up. They have a
special machine that cleans the engine (the heat exchanger) out and will take
and hour or so. We may then be
able to leave tonight as planned.
So we get towed to a berth at the boatyard and the cleaning begins. It is now getting very late but at last
the cleaning is done. So again we
motor out and yes, again, the alarm goes after 15 minutes! Francesco is completely stumped. He has checked the water intake and the
impeller and they seem fine. But
changing the impeller is just about all that is left. There is no use trying to do it now. It is very difficult to get at and the
engine is very hot. So we agree
that he should come back in the morning to change the impeller. In the meantime we are stuck in the
boatyard with no access to the outside or to toilets and showers. It is all very miserable. I am convinced that the boatyard
doesn’t have a clue and I cannot see this getting better soon. Oh as an aside
with all this going on the rev counter has miraculously started to work
again! Why??
So in despair I insist that
Richard phones the local agent from the Cruising Association who we met last
year and who said that if we ever needed help we should contact him. He is very kind. He says that the boatyard are not the
best. If they can’t sort us out
tomorrow he knows a specialist Yanmar engineer who should be able to help. He contacts the engineer and tells him
we might be in touch.
On Wednesday morning
Francesco turns up just before 8am.
He struggles like mad to get to the impeller (a problem everyone who has
ever worked on our engine complains about). The impeller he takes out is in perfect condition and cannot
possibly be the cause of the problem.
So we are now all in despair, when suddenly Richard has an idea. No one has checked the freshwater
cooling system. All the trouble
has been with the seawater part and it was assumed the freshwater was fine. I mentioned this to Richard yesterday
and asked why that wasn’t being checked, but he said it was not touched by the
other problems, so shouldn’t be the source. Well, they were all wrong! The whole problem was that the freshwater system was nearly
empty, having been drained by Francesco.
Richard filled it with at least 4 pints of water in. Now Francesco is certain it will
work. But we must take it for yet
another test out. The weather is
not being kind to us and it starts to rain quite hard. So we go to turn on the engine to leave
for the test and…nothing. The
damned thing will not start. It
isn’t making any noise as if it had electricity going to it. We are at the end of our tether we
cannot believe this is happening.
So Francesco goes off to
find an electrician. But then he
comes back with a volt meter to test the battery. We know that is not the problem. We have all this new equipment for the solar panels which
tell us the batteries are full of charge, as his meter confirms. It is clear that when working on the
engine Francesco has dislodged a wire and he finally finds that is the
case. The wire is put back in
place and off we go in the rain to test the engine yet again. I am certain the marina are right fed
up with rescuing us every time we go out!
But way hay! It all works. Only would you believe it the rev
counter has given up the ghost again!
Clearly a loose connection.
That will have to be dealt with at another time.
It is now about 10am, too
late to go to the next port in Calabria.
I suggest to Richard that maybe we should just get on to a berth and go
out for a nice lunch, finish the shopping a go tonight. But Richard has a different idea. He wants to go right away. I don’t understand, that means we would
get to a new marina in the dark late at night. But no, that isn’t what he has in mind, he is suggesting we
go on to the next port, 120 miles away.
That means a 20-24 hour journey, but the weather is improving and he
wants to make up some lost time.
So I agree. I have not been
able to prepare and shop as I would have wanted, but I can make do. We will
stop at a harbour which the book says has a good supermarket and a
launderette. The latter is getting
desperate. Both of us we are
running out of underwear and I only have one set of linens left!
So we prepare to go, but
just before find yet another problem.
The engine is not heating up the domestic hot water supply. We have no idea if all this fooling
around is the cause. Since we set
out we have been on shore power every night, so we have had hot water without
considering how it was made. We
have no interest in waiting around to get that fixed. It will have to wait, but we will need it in Greece, so not
for too long. Maybe the next port
can help.
We set off at 11am. The rain has stopped, although it is
quite cloudy and it is cold! We
both need to wear layers and fleeces.
Not what we expected. The
wind starts off very light and we put up the sails, but only to push the engine
on a bit. But after a couple of
hours, as we approach the Messina Straight, the wind starts to build and it is
a force 5. So the engine can be
switched off. The only problem is
that we are running close to the wind and healing a lot. I nearly slip from one side of the
cockpit to the other. I persuade R
to take in a reef even though it isn’t blowing a constant 20knots, just
occasionally. She then is sailing
much more upright without any real loss of speed. In fact for a couple of hours we are averaging 7-8knots! But all good things must come to any
end. As we approach Capo
Sportivento the wind dies and starts to jump in every direction. Just before this started I made us tea,
so we take the opportunity to heave to and have our tea before going back on
engine.
But it gets worse; as soon
as we turn past the Cape, the wind shifts and it is now on the nose! But at least the wind is very light,
only a force 2 and the sea is not bad.
It stays that way for a couple of hours. In the meantime the radio is broadcasting what they call a
gale warning, but which is only a strong wind warning. The whole of the Med is apparently
liable to thunderstorms with a force 7 under those storms. So we must be on the look out for dark
clouds and prepare if necessary.
But no such clouds appear.
Just before the sun sets the sky clears. We have been cold all day, but now there is lovely late
afternoon sun in the cockpit and I am relaxing in a smooth sea before
considering what to make for supper.
So after the heat of the sun
goes and I go below to prepare a simple pasta dish, cheating and using
readymade sauce. But would you
believe it, just as I start to cook the wind picks up to a 5 and the sea
becomes very lumpy. Nonetheless we
manage our bowl of pasta each in the cockpit and settle down to an
uncomfortable slog into a headwind.
This is also slowing us down, so the journey will take 24 hours, not 20.
At 10pm we start to do
watches. Richard starts with a two hour
watch, and we continue like that through the night. I wind up doing the 4-6am watch which is dawn and I love
that. I try to get a photo, but I
am not adept at using R’s camera, so it really doesn’t show up as lovely as it
was.
At 11am we arrive at La Castella,
a small seaside resort named after a large ancient castle at its entrance. The harbour is very small and is run
down. We are berthed safely, but
are very disappointed with the facilities. The showers don’t have hot water, the toilets have no paper
and worst of all there are no laundry facilities (the main reason we chose to
come here). The launderette
referred to in the pilot has closed down.
We later discover that there is a washing machine, but it is very small
and it is broken and does not spin.
There is no way I can use that to do the ton of washing I have. So Richard phones the next port up,
Crotone. They confirm that there
is a launderette in the town, and they have a washing machine, (but no dryer);
they can give us a berth for tomorrow night, so we will move in the morning.
Other that that the town is
sweet. The supermarket isn’t bad
and I do stock up on food which we will need. The plan now is to try to make up the week we lost. So after I have got the laundry done,
instead of working our way up the heel of Italy and over to Corfu, we will sail
direct to Cephalonia, 170 miles, which should take about 36 hours. Wish me luck!
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