Portishead
which was very frustrating, and in the worst possible place. Now it's happened again, but I think we've git to the bottom of it.......
The forecast was for lighter winds later in the week. I woke early and planned a trip North, up towards Ramsey Island or beyond. The 07:50 forecast mentioned fog patches and poor visibility, and they were not wrong:
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="St Anne's head"]
[/caption]I have to admit, fog is perhaps my least favourite weather condition. Even the most familiar landscapes seem foreign, and a GPS failure would be very worrying. With high pressure, light winds and warm temperatures forecast, though, I figured it would burn off. As we passed Skokholm, it already seemed thinner, and I estimated the visibility was maybe half a mile now. Staying close in near the islands should also ensure I'd encounter no shipping.
I knew I'd missed the Jack Sound slack, and the tide picked up as I motored around the West coast of Skomer, slowing my progress considerably until I turned into St Brides bay and out of the foul tide. As I switched to sail, the fog lifted, and I could see the tankers moored, waiting to be called into the Haven. I headed for Porthllysgi bay, pondering whether to head through Ramsey Sound at the next slack and then on up to Fishguard for the night.
I dropped the anchor at Porthllysgi and took Tigger ashore.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Porthllysgi"]
[/caption]Porthllysgi is a picturesque little bay about a mile or so to the East of Ramsey Sound, facing Southwest. There are a couple of wrecks in the bay, which we've dived many times, so I anchored under the cliffs. Tigger would like to point out that the bay has excellent facilities for dogs, sand, water, and a good supply of sticks.
We returned to the boat and finished off the last of the ciabattas, tomatoes and goat's cheese. The wind picked up from the North and, as Porthllysgi is in a shallow valley, funnelled towards us. It was only three o'clock, and as soon as the idea entered my head, the thought of a lovely downwind sail back to Dale won me over, and we set off.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Downwind"]
[/caption]As I neared Skomer, I knew the tide would turn Northwards again, against us. We'd been tearing along at over 6 nots through the water, near Ishtar's hull speed, but that halved as we approached the island, so I switched the engine on, intent on motoring around the corner into Broad Sound.
When the engine suddenly died, right on the West tip of Skomer, in the strongest part of the tide, I was dumbstruck. It had happened again, at the worst possible time. Several attempts to restart it failed. I was still sailing at 3 knots, and that started to increase as I turned into Broad Sound. My options were clear, sail back to Dale and sort the problem out there.
The tide was picking up against me, but there was plenty of wind, and I turned onto a broad reach sailing SouthEasterly towards St Anne's head. At 5 knots over the ground there should be no problem. When I passed St Anne's I'd have to sail upwind, but the tide should help, taking me into the haven. As I approached St Anne's I heard a huge 'thump' of an explosion. I thought it was something on Castlemartin firing range, until I saw the cloud.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Bang"]
[/caption]I found out later that it was an explosion at the Chevron refinery, and that sadly, 4 people had lost their lives. Made my position seem trivial, though I didn't know it at the time.
I entered the Haven and made good progress towards Dale. I could not believe it when, within sight of the moorings, with less than 400 yards to go, the wind died completely. By this time the tide was going out, and I started to drift away from Dale.
I shouted to some dinghies and their safety boat to no avail. Quickly I fitted the outboard to the inflatable, but only succeeded in towing Ishtar around in circles. I could not believe I had failed, and would need to call the coastguard. At the last minute, I spied another yacht and Kevin, Chris and Kath, aboard their yacht Kaiku, kindly towed me the last few yards, just as, ironically, the wind sprang up again. I took Tigger ashore and had a beer. The problem would wait until tomorrow.
I'd resigned to spending the whole day trying to find the problem, but in the end I found it quickly. No diesel was reaching the engine. The pipe that was blocked last time seemed free - this time it looked like the filter. My heart sank as I stripped it, and saw lumps of black slime blocking it. It seemed we had the 'diesel bug' and it was probably this, not a lump of black rubber that caused the problem in Portishead.
I spent the rest of the day cleaning all the pipes and changed the filter. I used a diving cylinder to blow lumps of slime out of the pipes. Eventually, the engine started again and ran well, but I still had the bug and it would surely recur. I did some research on the Internet (via my phone) and decided to try one of the treatments. Whatever I could get my hands on for now, and then maybe a better solution when I could do some proper research.
The following morning I rang Dale Sailing in Neyland. They had a couple of products so I drove there. They had a copy of a magazine review of diesel bug killers, and I bought the recommended one, 'Marine 16'. I dropped a dose in the tank and let it do its work. I didn't want to risk leaving the mooring with Ishtar, and probably dragging more slime into the now clean pipes. I settled down for a bit of reading, Thoreau's 'Walden', listening to the cricket, a king Prawn curry and a bottle of Crabbies alcoholic ginger beer. Life isn't that bad really.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Dale"]
[/caption]On the pontoon later that evening, I spied this beautiful vessel. Not sure what she was, possibly an old lifeboat?
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Pontoon"]
[/caption]Tigger had had a good run on the beach, and was tired.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Tired"]
[/caption]The following day I ran the engine for a 15 minute trip around to Castlebeach bay. I thought that the diesel treatment had had 24 hrs to work on the main tank, and pulling some of the treatment through the filters would make sense. Tigger had a run on the beach and we were joined by a couple of other yachts.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Castlebeach"]
[/caption]A few hours later we were back on the mooring. I decided to leave the diesel treatment in the tank for a week and review the situaution next weekend.
