It was my shift, 3am - 7am and I had made the executive decision to whack the motor on and power through the hole into which we had sailed. Moral has been low after all the breakages, the last thing I wanted was to slosh about all night with the sails banging so no one could get proper sleep only to wake up the next morning and find we are still exactly where we were when they went to bed. So on it went, course was altered to head directly to our way point, Rodney Bay, St. Lucia and I was powering through. It was all going swimmingly. Peak wind strength all night was about 9 knots so I was feeling very content with the decision.
Óisin woke at 6am as usual, and as Wolf was still sleeping made his way himself in the pitch black up the stairs into the cockpit and with a big smile on his face, standing behind the companionway, head just about peeping over says morning mama!! Ahh when he is like that I could just eat him up. As usual he was full of fun and chat and DYING for Cúisle to wake up. She did at about 6.30am and watched him whilst I put the kettle on and my favourite part of the day began, drinking my morning coffee whilst watching the sunrise with the kids.
Óisin has learned a new word, which had been greatly impressed upon him over the last few mornings, RELAX. So he enthusiastically jumps up onto the seat beside me and with legs excitedly kicking (about as far from relaxed as one can be) he says, Óisin pillow and then with a big smile, Óisin relax!! I put some bread in the oven to bake, as is our usual morning routine and when it was ready we sat in the semi light eating warm bread with lashings of melted butter and chatting away quietly watching the day break. It’s gonna be a great day I thought. I just know it.
Not long after sun rise with warm thoughts swimming in my mind, I was sitting by the wheel and all of a sudden the engine cut out. Just simply died. Oh no! I thought. We can’t take another breakage, and definitely not the engine, not if the forecast is right and we are facing 8 knots all day. The last thing I wanted was to wake the boys to more bad news, that was precisely what I had been trying to avoid but there was nothing I could do. Engines are not my area. So reluctantly I sent Cúisle down to wake up Wolf. He came up, looking tired and stressed, turned the engine on, it ticked over, tried to put it into gear and it cut out! He just hung his head, I hope it’s not the sail drive he says. We had to wait for Heiko to wake to access the engine.
Cúisle always full of encouragement and keen to help tells us she needs to help her dad and Heiko because people, we all know three heads are better than two (her words). She then tells Wolf that she thinks its better if she and he check the engine out rather than Heiko and he as it is tight down there and one big belly and one little belly would be way better than two big bellies in such a small space. Powers of persuasion eh? I could not have said it more eloquently or succinctly myself.
Once Heiko (luckily a trained mechanic) woke, Wolf and he had a pow wow in the cockpit and decided it was likely there was something caught in the propellor. So out came the underwater camera to take a look. Back up again, we hooked it up to Heiko’s iPad to get a better view and sure enough there was a huge net caught around the keel and the propellor. Can you believe it? In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It being around the keel could explain our shockingly poor speed over the last 24 hours even with 13 knots breeze. We could not understand it but now we saw this huge net it seemed so obvious we were all feeling a little silly for not checking earlier. Indeed one could look at the problem with the propellor as being quite fortuitous in that it forced us to look below the water line. In any event, it was clear there was only one way to solve the problem. Wolf would have to dive down and remove the net.
So out came all the diving gear, which absolutely delighted Óisin. It was clear there was something big and exciting in motion so he duly ran around in circles pointing and saying oh oh oh. Wolf proceeded to psyche himself up for diving down into the deep blue 4000 metres deep where all sorts of sea life big and small live. Cúisle was beside him all the time with words of support, telling him he was the best dad ever and could do it. He was less enthusiastic but needs must. When he was all kitted out, we heaved to and in he jumped. It wasn’t long before he was back at the dive platform, exhausted and shaking his head. The boat was still making just over a knot SOG, we were going too fast for him to swim to the propellor. A new plan was needed. So as the boys discussed the options, I went down to make lunch so we had the energy for the whole affair.
After lunch and with a new plan to pull a line under the boat attached to both sides for Wolf to hold on to, he was ready to dive back in. He would use the line to guide himself to the propellor (the net on the hull had freed itself when we changed course to heave to). Down he went and before long was back up with a smile on his face. We are free he announces proudly, and Cúisle jumps up and down clapping. I knew you could do it dad. You are really good at fixing things!! The whole operation took up the better part of the morning, about 4 hours but spirits were high. It felt really good to have found a working solution to a problem. Plus the time flew by with all us fully occupied with the task in hand.
Cúisle, who is always able to see the positive in everything then announces, and guess what mom, you thought we couldn’t watch any more movies because dad’s computer is broken but now we can watch our own home movie on Heiko’s iPad!! So that’s exactly what we did. Once we had ourselves back on course, we attached the camera to the iPad and all sat together in the cockpit huddled under a blanket to keep the glare off the screen watching Wolf’s diving adventure. Thereafter Cúisle spent about 2 hours with the hose rinsing all the diving gear out with fresh water with the greatest smile on her face that her favourite thing (playing with water) was now actually a job and she was helping.
Later as the clouds formed and it started to rain cooling us all down, we sat in the cockpit eating Cúisle’s favourite spag Bol, the perfect comfort food on a wet miserable evening. Not a word was spoken as we all practically licked our plates clean.
So, in the end, it was, as I had known it would be, a great day on the water.
Now with the back of the journey broken and the wind due to fill in over the next days we all feel like we are on the home stretch. Who knows what may happen between now and when we finally arrive in St Lucia but for the moment spirits are high and life is good. Now all we need are to see some more dolphins.
So that’s the Saoirse crew out until the next time.
Stay tuned.
By Aisling Fenix
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