En route to Cocos Keeling
Anastasia
Phil May and Andrea Twigg
Sun 23 Sep 2012 14:42
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10:57.8S 100:45.3E 290 miles covered, 237
miles to go
We are just over half way from Christmas Island to
Cocos Keeling. The start of the passage was a continuation of our arrival
at Christmas Is, with good winds and current pushing us along at 11 to 12
knots. First we lost the current and then the wind died away so now we are
plodding along at 6 to 7 knots, due to arrive in the early hours the day after
tomorrow.
It is actually quite lucky that we have slowed down
because yesterday the prop shaft brake on the port engine failed and the prop
started freewheeling. This is only a problem when we are sailing at over
10 knots through the water, when the prop spins rapidly enough to unfold
completely and then the transmission starts to complain. It is too
dangerous to work on the spinning shaft at sea so it will have to wait until
Cocos Keeling for investigation. I think the brake plunger is just rusted
up so hopefully some prising and WD40 and will sort it out until we get to
Mauritius. We don't want to have the shaft spinning all the way across the
Indian Ocean.
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