Barnacles and autopilots

18 nautical miles

This was a gentle sail with just Tim and me sailing King Malu. It was good to see we could handle her easily with just the two of us. In the past we had a minimum crew of three.

Before heading out we went down to sea Costas as Raymarine. We wanted a 100 amp breaker for the winch motor. Cost 120 EUR and was made in Losotho. Surprised Tim to find that out and didn't exactly impress him. Tim lived in South Africa for many years and his reaction was that most people in Lesotho came to South Africa to work and he didn't know there was much industry in that country at all!

One of the other things we wanted to talk about was the way the autopilot didn't hold course to wind very well. He thought it could be a problem with the wind sensor not sending the right data to the autopilot. He gave us some tips and with those we got the autopilot to work very well. In particular I think it was not having a high enough sensitivity to respond to the wind in the very light airs we have in Larnaca Bay. The run back was about 120 degrees to the wind and the autopilot held it beautifully.

We finally moored just to the north of the port so we could try the winch again. Then Tim put on goggles, grabbed the waterproof camera and dived under the boat to see what growth we might have on her.

There is a significant growth of barnacles on the propellor - although they are all very small.

The hull in general is clean of growth except for this patch at the stern under the nape of the keel.

My guess is that there was growth like this all round below the waterline and that sailing her two weekends in a row has washed off most of it except in this place where the water turbulence is low and so the antifouling hasn't washed it away.

Along the waterline there are also very small amounts of growth. But considering she was just sitting there for six to nine months while we were struggling with motor problems its pretty minor really.

Weekend sail to Fig Tree Bay

Approx 60 nautical miles

This was to be out first weekend sail, leaving early Saturday morning and returning Sunday evening. I have prepared a passage plan, which meant we should leave by 09:30 to arrive by 16:30 and allow a couple of hours leaway in case of problems before we began to lose light.

This meant we needed to start around 07:30 to prepare the boat. There were two small jobs to do: Fix some extra marine ply on the outboard mount for the dinghy and fix the stern light on the stern! Surprisingly both jobs went perfectly and we left only about 10 minutes late.

The wind predictions were for light airs in the morning with stronger in the afternoon, with a repeat for Sunday. In fact the light airs on Sunday were almost non-existant.

By 10:40 we were sailing close hauled towards Cape Pila.

By 11:44 the wind was 7.7 knots and Tim and Sidney decided on a little fishing.

This was the first time the tackle had come out and there was some discussion about lures and rig. Never having fished I had no idea.

An hour later we were at Cape Pila - almost exactly on schedule and changed the waypoint to Cape Greco.

This was the start of the voyage proper. We had sailed the Wayfarer round Cape Pila but never to Cape Greco as it was too far for a day sail.

Tim and Sidney had caught no fish.

We started the generator to recharge the batteries and keep the freezer cold.

Yipes... when I open the sail locker there are exhaust fumes pouring out. It turns out that because we were on starboard tack, both the generator exhaust and the old engine exhaust were under water. The old engine exhaust was not fully closed and the exhaust gases were coming out of the generator and bubbling back into the engine exhaust!

At 15:00 we passed Cape Greco and turned into a dead run, then jibed in towards Konos Bay.

By 16:15 we were close to Fig Tree Bay so we started the motor and looked around the bay, decided that all night disco was not our scene so went the other side of the promontory to Panayia.

This was a beautiful bay with a couple of small sailing boats and a gullet moored. There was a someone snorkeling in the middle of the bay and an almost deserted and minute beach.

The sea bed was rock but we dropped anchor hoping to catch in a rock crevice. We watched the shoreline carefully and realised the anchor had not held and was dragging. So we moved out to the mouth of the bay where there was sand and the anchor held.

Anchoring is an art we need more practice at.

A catamaran came in with a wedding party dance on board. I must say I have never seen a wedding party in swim suits and bikinis before. Imagine the bride... yes she had a white net skirt... but a white bikini on her top.

Then later a second catamaran arrived, both of which moored alongside the gullet.

We hoisted our anchor light and I prepared dinner and we sat on deck as the sun set over the hills behind the bay.

The fear of dragging anchor woke me three times during the night with the sound of the anchor dragging... I would leap off the bunk and stick my head out of the hatch only to find I was disoriented because the boat had changed by 120 degrees and the shore was no longer where I expected it.

Each time it wasn't dragging and it was just the chain dragging across the rocky sea bed vibrating up the chain to the locker in my cabin resounding like a drum, each time the noise concerned me.

The following day we managed to get the Spot Satellite Messenger working better so below is the map of our route back. It didn't work quite correctly, as it should have plotted out in real time on the map at the top of the page. Oh well... next time.

As the sun rose over the sea we all woke and made espresso. Freshly brewed coffee to wake you up... nothing like it!

Then I found out that I had not been the only one up during the night: Tim woke and went on deck thinking he heard people climbing on board to try to steal our dinghy!

It was only the ropes chattering against the mast.

Looking round the bay we saw the catamarans from the night before and then brought up the anchor and motored northwards for a look at the coast.

Would have been trouble free except the windlass wiring got hot and the windlass stopped working so we had to pull the final 5 metres of chain up by hand.

There was absolutely no wind.

When we got a couple of knots of wind we raised every square inch of sail we could: Asymetric Spinnaker, Mainsail, Mizzen and Mizzen Staysail... and we got... 0.9 knots!

We tried the spinnaker pole and decided that our asymmetric didn't need anything as heavy as that and that pole would be a hindrance rather than a help with the sail. We did at least try it.

No wind meant... time for motor sailing. By 11:00 we were still motor sailing. Wind was up to 5.3 knots. Big deal! 

We tried turning the engine off and the navigation computer calculated it would take 20 hours to be back in Larnaca Marina!

By now we are just north east of Cape Greco again on our way home.

By 12:56 the wind is now 5.4 knots and we are south of Agia Napa, still motor sailing.

Just before 14:00 the wind was nearly 6 knots and we decided to try the Mizzen Stay Sail again. Instead of following instructions that we had read on the Internet we decided on following sailing intuition.

This time with some trial and error we set it beautifully and got an extra knot of speed out of the boat. 

It felt really good and enjoyable sailing across Larnaca bay with all sails set. Somehow a ketch with all sails set is an inspiring sight to a sailor.

Tim decided lying in the shade along the deck looking up at the rig... admiring the sails was the place to be.

I sat for a while on the shady side dangling my feet over the side. We were not heeling enough to cool them in the water though. But the shade with the wind was good and made us realise we need to get the bimini and spray hood finished to give us some shade.

Now with all this it must be time to catch some fish to take home for dinner? 

Sadly no luck today. It was a good job we were not depending on fish for supper!

We arrived back in Larnaca Marina between 16:30 and 17:00... almost on time again.

We took a first load back to the car... a quick beer and then we tidied and cleaned the boat and left for home.

Definitely the best weekend for a long time.

Sea trials for the Outboard

15 Nautical Miles

Today was sea trial for the new Honda outboard we fitted yesterday. The plan was to motor round to the other side of the harbour, drop anchor (to test anchor system). Weigh anchor and sail, testing the autopilot and the mizzen sail, check hove to... and return before 3pm... and... have a good time.

The new Honda started flawlessly, and took us out of the berth easily, and then the boat skewed strangely... we found that the trop line from the mooring line had en-cycled the outboard shaft (not the prop-shaft fortunately). Once free King Malu responded happily and we motored round.

It was beautiful dropping anchor in crystal clear water and seeing the anchor chain dropped across the sea floor. We do need some markers for the anchor chain to work out exactly how much we have payed out. Tim, Jacob and Mick went for a swim and then we tided the boat and set sail.

Working out which tankers were at anchor proved interesting. Sometimes even with binoculars it was difficult to see the anchor chains and impossible to see the black ball from the for'ard mast. I think AIS is a 'must have' in busy waterways.

The autopilot did its thing correctly, very smoothly but at times didn't hold course to wind as well as I would have liked.

Early on I was unhappy that it could hold a better course than I could manual steering, but this wasn't always the case and at other times I was slightly frustrated with the way it held course and I could hold the course better.

Part of today was learning more of the new boat handling - we put up the mizzen sail and we wondered if some of the handling differences are due to the mizzen sail.

The mizzen has a very big roach and setting this sail was not quite as easy as I think we expected.

After we had passed one of the tankers we went into the wind to try to furl the main sail. We quickly learnt that it's tonnes easier doing this with the motor running and you you are moving through the water.

'3 degrees to port Mr Helmsman...' On the way back to port Jacob had a go at helming this much bigger yacht than the 16 foot Wayfarer he normally sails with me.

Mick asked, 'So are you both happy with the new motor?'

'I'll tell you when we are in the marina...'

The wind was gusting about 20 knots but the Honda allowed us about 2 knots into the wind at about 2/3 throttle and 5 knots when we turned.

We were deliberately not pushing the engine as its new. The wind was much higher coming into the marina than we have done before, but the outboard performed beautifully with reverse thrust to slow us to a stop without touching the quay.

Walking back to the car along the quay Tim said, 'In answer to your question... 99.9%'

All in all we are both very pleased with the new motor... this is the third motor we have worked on to try to get King Malu sailing... had the first one worked we would be where we are today but six months ago.

Fitting the new Honda Outboard

Hearing all the horror stories of engines we had always anticipated having a backup motor. We had talked about a medium sized outboard. We didn't expect the Ford diesel to fail, nor the electric drive to have problems... so our backup plan was advanced to get the outboard as a primary drive till we get the electric drive fixed. We chatted to Dave at mailspeedmarine.com and after discussion he recommended the Honda BF20. We've used mailspeedmarine.com before and always found that their worldwide shipping is both economic and efficient.

The Honda 20hp came in a package about 85 kg. Not light, but not impossible either.

We borrowed Ken's stair-walking trolley to bring it to King Malu. Ken joined us for the exercise.

We have high hopes that this time we will be successful with the motor.

The stair walking trolley proved invaluable as we had to take the motor up over a sea wall to get to our quay.

Lowering it down we attached a couple of ropes to stop runaway motor syndrome.

Then it was just a push around to King Malu.

'Oh my goodness...' we have to get it onto the deck and we are moored bow to. We cannot change around as we don't have a motor!

Both Tim and I had plans to do this. We both were keen not to damage the new motor or the treadmaster on the deck.

Suddenly someone suggests removing the safety lines from the starboard side to make it vastly less distance we have to lift and control the motor.

That proves to be a master stroke and makes it radically easier.

We use a halyard attached to the motor to take the weight and two people guiding to move it gently to the stern.  Another halyard off the mizzen mast to lower it on to the plate that we have fitted.

Sounds easy?

In some ways it was easy, but a lot of very tiring work.

We then had to wire and fix the motor. The extension was too short so I had to extend the extension. We meant 20 wire splices.

By the end of the day we fired up the motor and... it worked. That was so encouraging. Though we were exhausted, it was that kind of nice tiredness that you get from a job well done and successful.