Dolphins and the pumps fiasco
Ninaofsouthampton
Wed 12 May 2021 23:17
To perfectly complement a ( single ) celebratory beer for getting 2/3 way to Bermuda, a huge school of Dolphins appeared. You never get tired of watching them play around the bow. They stayed 20 minutes and then all followed “ Mummy” away when she sped off. It gave us a lift after a dull motor through a windless high pressure ridge.
Washing up after our 2 course dinner -There have to be some advantages when the boat is flat - the tap suddenly stopped running. No water. Couldn’t believe the tank was dry after running the water maker all afternoon so first thought was that the water maker had malfunctioned. Then had a go at Bruvs who had just turned the navigation lights on. He’d obviously turned the pump off by mistake! Well, turned out the pump had given up; 10 years was just too long. Happily we had a spare so Matt enjoyed himself switching in the new one. All sorted. Washing up completed.
A few hours later I needed to transfer fuel to the consumption tank. The pump normally whirrs merrily. Silence. Now this is more serious. We can manage without washing but no diesel is bad news. Nick investigated as Matt asleep ( we carry a spare engineer too ) Wire connector turned out to be super hot. A simple job ( for Nick )to make good . Phew. We can access fuel in the main tank after all.
One pump failing is unlucky. Two in one evening is a fiasco! It remains a statistical mystery though there is a tiny chance that Bruvs may have brushed the wires while fixing the water pump. The 2 pumps do sit next to each other! Of course it is absolutely clear that the connection was failing and much more likely it was one of those 1 in a million chances that both pumps failed the same evening. After all it was me who unbolted the old water pump and took it out as Matt felt even I couldn’t mess that up
Good news is that we are sailing again. A light tail wind but the cruising chute is doing an awesome job pulling us along at 5 plus knots. It’s delightful on board gliding across a pretty flat sea. Are we really in the middle of the Atlantic?
Hoping to arrive in St George’s, Bermuda around lunchtime tomorrow local time just ahead of a lot of rain. Fingers crossed. Bruvs is chef of the day. Couldn’t be better.
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