Week 2 - Going Nowhere Fast

Anybody want a toolbox? Eight available!

Remember the expression that a week is a long time in politics? Well its seems like it is a long time in the sailing world too! To summarise, at the end of the last blog, we had just sent Zacc and Finley home, having booked Zacc’s flights for his return on Saturday 14th January. (Finley was heading back to Uni)

With the lads gone, MacMac all of a sudden looked even more spacious down below. She can sleep nine aboard, but I don’t intend ever to fill these (well not at sea anyway). It was time to tackle the tool boxes and see if I could find homes for all the gear and then memorise/remember where they had been stashed.

It felt like trying to complete a 1000 piece jigsaw, I had to try a few different options and storage “holes” before the “flat edges” were all in place and it was just a case of trial and error, to see what could and would fit where, whilst trying to keep some sort of logic to the various categories. Wrenches and spanners, electrical, power tools, batteries, screwdrivers, hammers, saws, specialist etc etc etc. There is plenty of storage on board, the bugger is trying to memorise where I put X Y or Z. We will get a storage plan drawn up as it settles and storage “holes” are confirmed.

I can tell you, it took most of Sunday before the final box was emptied and sitting on the dockside!!

After Mark saw the updated weather forecast, he advised moving MacMac from an alongside berth (as in the photo at the top) to a stern-to position. Rather than 30+ knots of southerly winds blowing us hard on the beam and pushing us against the quay, it would be safer, more comfortable and avoid unnecessary wear and tear if we moved her to the other side of the jetty and moor up as described. Turned out to be a great call by Mark!

Monday morning at 1000, Mark and I had a meeting with the boss and owner of Danese Yacht Services, Giovanni, in the biggest corner office I have ever seen in a boat yard! It was well seen it was January and there was little work on, as we had the engineer Piero and another manager Stefano in attendance too. Time to get down to the “nitty gritty” and get this engine leak repaired.

We talked the options through from best case to worst case and agreed to get Piero back on board immediately to start examining the engine and remove and investigate.

Before lunchtime, we had a pretty positive idea of what the problem was. In none engineering terms, the oil cooler inlet and outlet pipework was choked with salt deposits and the intercooler turbo was black and clogged with carbon deposits. The combination of the two we believe had raised the internal oil pressures and the seals started to fail.

Having removed the intercooler and the oil cooler for refurbishment, we didn’t expect to have a working engine until Thursday if all went well. We decided then to remove both steering wheels and get the spot welding on the inox (high quality stainless steel) spokes re-done again. So being engine-less and wheel-less, it was a good time to organise a rigger (for the second time) to complete the tuning of the rig (which was supposed to have been done in Croatia).

Rig expert Francesco from Za Boat couldn’t make it until Thursday, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise! The weather in port deteriorated quite quickly and as forecast.

Tuesday was a fairly miserable day and we contented ourselves with working below, combining some more storage and organisation challenges alongside a few domestic chores (eg running the washing machine for the first time).

By the time it got dark around 1630 we had had enough anyway and decided to figure out the DVD player which played onto the originally installed 4:3 screen from the mid noughties! Now whether or not it was luck or good fortune, Mark managed to get everything fired up and working pretty quickly (Zacc and Finley had tried the previous week without luck - perhaps too retro for them). There was a Sopranos box set on board, so a BIG bowl of Spaghetti Bolognese was produced to enhance the experience as the winds continued to build outside!

The wind consistently remained over 40 knots for most of the night and all held firmly for us as we had prepared the boat for the weather. Another yacht owner on the other side of the Marina di Brindisi was not so fortunate.

We had noticed earlier on, that the Genoa (front sail) of said large yacht was not secured properly and was inching open. Mark and I ventured out and around the marina to see if we could do anything, but disappointingly that part of the marina was completely locked up and we couldn’t get access.

In the morning, the wind was still blowing, all be it at 30 knots rather than 40 as I looked through the binoculars to see how the sail had faired. Absolutely ripped to shreds and nothing really left of it. Probably a £5k-£7k cost to replace. An expensive night for someone!

There was a bit of a lull on Wednesday morning when Piero returned with a fully cleaned oil cooler. Gone were all all the lumpy white deposits of salt and minerals and we were left with what we hoped would be an oil cooler ready for another 1000 hours or so. The turbo had not come “back from the cleaners” yet and they were now estimating that it wouldn’t be fitted until Friday morning and then we could start sea trials of the engine. Very frustrating indeed and cutting it fine for Zacc’s return on Saturday with our intention to push on over Saturday night!

Forecast for Tuesday 17th January 2023

Mid-afternoon on Wednesday everything changed - again!

An updated forecast which had shown us a weather window opening on Saturday afternoon had changed completely!

There was a huge high pressure system about to dominate the entire width of the North Atlantic which in turn would drive the mistral.

The Mistral wind takes place each time there is an anticyclone, or area of high pressure, in the Bay of Biscay, and an area of low pressure around the Gulf of Genoa. When this happens, the flow of air between the high and low pressure areas draws in a current of cold air from the north which accelerates through the lower elevations between the foothills of the Alps and the Cevennes.

You can call it want you want and believe me I called it a few things, but I knew instantly we had lost another sailing window.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, were to be great sailing days, but we had no engine, no wheels no rigger yet and no Zacc, so we were not going anywhere fast!

Francesco from Za Boat doing his thing - 22m up!

The weather was to turn against us at some point on Monday/Tuesday for a week, so with heavy hearts we made the decision then to make a retreat back to our bases at the weekend and return in 7-10 days time, when hopefully a new opportunity would open and we could get the show own the road again!

Thursday as forecast was a stunning day, clear blue skies, no wind, (still no engine) no rain and a bit of heat (just a bit). Perfect for Francesco the Rigger.

He turned up bang on time at 1015 for his 0930 start!!!

No worries or concerns at all. Francesco and his mate worked very hard until just after sundown, having dropped the Genoa to make some repairs at the head of the sail, dismantled and serviced the electric furling gear at the tack, re-taped VHF connections, repaired the radar protector (which was a little loose) and tuned up the backstays and shrouds. You could nearly hear the rigging sing it was so well tuned.

Delighted. A tidy man who knew exactly what he was doing! Well worth the days pay it took.

Late on Thursday afternoon we got our wheels back and reattached them. I signed a contract with the Marina for a months berthing, (just in case) rather than working on a more expensive daily rate AND we got a call from the boat yard to say that the intercooler was complete and that it would be fitted on Friday morning - one week after arriving in with a little too much oil in the engine well for our liking!!!

Mark and I had booked our flights home to Barcelona and Dublin respectively on Wednesday night.

It was one one of those should we or shouldn’t we discussions - damned if we do and damned if we don't !

We deliberated, cogitated and digested (as Loyd Grossman used to say) until we were blue in the face. Looked at it from every angle and we were really between and a rock and a hard place.

Anyway the flights were booked and that was that!

Friday morning not long after breakfast, Piero climbed aboard with a beautifully cleaned and repaired intercooler.

As he started to refit and get the engine ready for start up, Mark and I sat on deck to reflect and discuss our last weeks activities “stuck in port”!!!!

And that as they say, was that week wrapped.

Following our chat the engine was fired up for the first time, incrementally increasing the revs to warm her up.

Another 90 minutes in gear whilst tied to the jetty, before a couple of hours of sea trails “taking MacMac for a burn around the harbour”.

Glad to report that there wasn’t even a single drop of oil in the sump and we had actually run the engine longer on Friday 13th than we did on the previous Thursday 5th, when we spotted that the oil leak had not been repaired at all.

I also agreed that we might as well replace all the injectors next week as MacMac would be empty and available to work on

Safely tied up again (with a few extra lines), we spent a couple of hours preparing MacMac for the anticipated and forecast 50knot winds next week.

Removing the spray hood was the last item on the list before we ducked down below and Mark attempted to cook any and all food remaining. It was one hell of a mixed grill I can tell you!

Sunday 15th January 2023

Mark and I left for the airport at 0345 with Nico (the only taxi company in Brindisi it would appear). Very mixed emotions I must say! Correct decision, back in 7-10 days time I hope. To be continued…………………………