April 6, 2025
After a after midnight action that awoke the whole crew and sent everybody on deck and three to the furler on the foredeck at 2:45, we finally got the jib in.
A rain cloud had caused heavy gusts and the attempt to take in the jib resulted without a winch took the combined force of three and resulted in a Gordian knot (picture).
People should not have to run to the foredeck at night during bad weather so at the first daylight I extended the furling line and ran it through a temporary block attached to the port bow to be able to furl the jib from the cockpit and run the furling line over a winch.
Palmerton
Arrived at Palmerton at around 11:00. we were not sure whether we could pass by for some diving or snorchelling without engaging with some of the 35 inhabitants who live from breeding parrot fish. I looked too late at internet sites to get info on required procedures in time. Several sources said that ships need to pre-announce arrivals in advance, one said that each yacht is assigned to a family, and that yachts are asked to bring stuff from other islands because Palmerston is so remote.
Some of the crew were really keen to dive.
After many attempts via different channels Karen managed to get somebody on a landline through Viber phone. We discussed the procedure for docking, and the required biosecurity procedures. Basically we would have to stay a night, since it is Sunday.
The divers got excited when the islanders asked whether we have dive gear on board. They don’t have a mooring so they suggested that we should dive to check our anchor after dropping it.
They were about to send two fisher boats with people to instruct us where to anchor. The anchorage was very close to the reef, only 25-50 meters space between anchoring depth and the reef. The ground dropped very quickly. When trying to get Costa Rica into position with the motors, we found that the port hull would always go forward, also in reverse position of the trottle handle. The Carribean Deja Vu. We had no chance other than to abandon the anchoring approach. Without being able to maneuver with the engines at low speed we could just not control the boat for an anchor maneuver.
Fig. Approaching Palmerton. The light blue areas are uncharted with depth from 0-1000 meters. Yes, that still exists in this part of the world. Reminds me of Wolfgang Hausner ending on an uncharted reef with his self built catamaran Taboo around half a century ago.
Fig. The approach- several circles caused by the port engine stuck in reverse.
The islanders offered to help us if we could anchor somewhere else safe or if we could hold the boat in place, but that was just impossible. Over the VHF they said that they were sad to see us leave, since we were the first yacht visiting for a while.
Once a bit off the shore, we checked in the engine room and the gear cable was indeed detached from the throttle control, but at the throttle, not in the engine room. Either detached or broken. We set the gearbox manually on forward. This must do for now. From doing the inventory I know that there is a spare throttle cable among the spare parts. We will try to fix it on sea, when we can sail and don‘t need the engine. If that fails, Plan B is to use fishing lines for temporary speed control as we did 31 years ago with the our charter cat in the Carribean.
Other activities
It was Regis‘ Jr‘s birthday. The girls organised a cake from very limited ingredients we had on board. There was also a little candle on board. The delicious birthday dinner consisted of chicken from Brittany, Riesling and the cake.
Miriam, Aileen, Regis and Gael went swimming from the boat at 1,000 m water depth (according to the chart plotters).
More autopilot trouble
We opened up the autopilot reservoir. The screw is made from plastic with a bleeding hole, so the oil leak does not come from lack of pressure tightness, but rather from overfilling or expansion of the oil or air pockets. We removed some oil, initially it worked but after some time it leaked again. Emil answered an e-mail inquiry the day later suggesting that some air in the system heats up and expands.
So we are still without autopilot.