Made It to the Chesapeake

On Monday afternoon (May 15), Peter finally solved the mystery of the engine, why it wouldn't go into high revs and why white vapor spewed out the exhaust pipe when the engine was out of gear and the revs exceeded 2200 rpm. Taking things apart and investigating the turbo charger and the exhaust elbow, he had found that they seemed to be fine. He had already put cleaner in the injectors with no improvement. We had resigned ourselves to leaving the boat in Beaufort, North Carolina instead of Oxford, Maryland, and Peter had spent the morning and early afternoon making phone calls and arrangements for storage and work. (Beaufort does not provide as good as hurricane protection as Oxford, so this was a major concern as the season approaches.)

When we returned for a walk around 4 p.m., Peter decided to try one last thing, checking the engine's fuel filter (not to be confused with the Racor filter--although I don't know the difference--which had recently been replaced). Lo and behold, problem solved! He called the mechanic who was scheduled to look at the engine on Wednesday morning, and he agreed that sometimes something simple like that could be the problem. We ran the engine at high revs for a quarter of an hour and decided we could depart. I checked Chris Parker's synopsis, and the weather window was still open. 

Quickly we battened down the hatches, stowed things down below and got everything ship-shape for a passage in record time. Before 6 p.m., we were off the dock and on our way! As soon as we could, we hoisted the main and the genoa and killed the engine, sailing with an easterly 10 knot wind on a port tack, close-hauled. We were averaging 7 knots speed over ground. 

By 9 p.m., the wind had shifted to the ENE so that we were forced to motorsail almost directly into wind. Later, it clocked to the south but was under 10 knots, so we had to keep motoring. I tried to sleep early in the night but could not. Peter lay down for about an hour, but then he was up again. Between 10 and 11, I fell asleep and Peter (my hero!) stayed awake all night. I do not know how he does it. At 5:30 a.m. (Tuesday, May 16), I took watch and Peter spent the morning sleeping for less than an hour, then getting up, then going back to bed, then getting up and on and on. By mid-morning, he was up for the day.

Sunrise on the Atlantic of the coast of North Carolina

By 11 a.m., the wind had shifted to the SSW and we were once again sailing, averaging 8 knots speed over ground on a port tack, broad reach. About a dozen boats were racing to the Chesapeake along with us, trying to get in before the predicted thunderstorms and squalls. Most of them were keeping up with us, but they were using their engines (cheating). Mantra was flying with the power of nature. 

By 7:30 p.m., we were following the main channel into the Chesapeake, hearing distant thunder to the north. The mouth of the bay is huge, so we had to travel some distance to reach an anchorage protected from expected north winds. As we traveled beside the shipping channel, I tidied up down below and washed the dishes we had used on the trip, mainly because flies were starting to be a problem, although I think the proximity to land was more of a factor than the miniscule amounts of food on plates and bowls. Before we anchored, I had killed dozens of them. They are not particularly quick insects. 

We dropped the hook in a pouring rain just east of Langley Air Force Base 20 minutes before midnight. Peter put out the sacrificial zincs and we closed up the boat and went to bed. The water is not as warm here as it is farther south, so there was no symphony of sea life. 

Today, Peter worked on the engine again, finding that an O-ring was missing from the fuel filter connection (and had been for a couple years). He put in a brand new filter and spent some time pondering and finally identifying when exactly a filter had been installed with an O-ring--by a mechanic, not by Peter. He is surprised that the lack of proper installation hadn't caused a major problem before this time.

After breakfast, I got to work cleaning the boat. First, I got a blade and acetone to scrape and clean off adhesive from tape which had been used on the bottom side of the table to affix a plastic cover over the real wood. The previous owners had probably done this because the hatch above it leaked, but we have new hatches as of last spring, so we decided to remove the cover earlier this year. Peter was puzzled about what I was doing under the table, because he had not noticed the sticking residue.

Before we leave the boat the middle of next week, I need to thoroughly clean the boat--ceilings, walls, shelves, doors, floors, cockpit. Even though in February I meticulously removed the small amount of mold and mildew that had accumulated over the winter, new fungi had appeared, particularly on the ceilings. Peter had not noticed this either. Today I tackled the bathroom, and I am happy to report that all fungi has been eradicated. 

I also cleaned the refrigerator and made a list of all the food that needs to be consumed in the next week. We have been working toward getting through all the perishable food for the last couple weeks, and I think we will be able to do it!