Any Forum members in Sardinia please?

Sandyman said:
Is she in immediate danger ?
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You should know me better that that? If she was in danger, I would not be chatting to you I would have contacted MRCC Rome and they would have been involved before now.

The yacht is drifting, no wind, and the HP return pipe on the top of the 46HP Merc has burst and she can't fix it.

She is tired, having been on the helm since leaving port yesterday morning.



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Just checking :D

Time for a Pan Pan ? ? ?

Keep losing WiFi connection here hence time delay.

SitRep as & when.
 
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Sandyman said:
well well and.................is she safe ?
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Oh yes, she is safe, of that there was never any doubt.

She is sailing south as best as possible under very light and variable airs and during the night her speed was between zero and one knot.

She has picked up a zephyr and is now making about <2 knots escorted by a pod of twenty plus Pilot whales.

Her next waypoint is ten hours away assuming no change of wind speed and direction. She has no engine although the solar panels alone are only giving 1½ Amps.

The last comms I had via satellite phone was about seven hours ago and she is hopefully is going straight to Gibraltar where she hopes to effect repairs before the Azores - UK return leg.

Apparently there are two diesel pipes "on top of the engine" (Merc 42hp). The rubber pipework seems to be perished because she states "the nearest one is leaking where it goes over a nipple" and the "one at the back is just gushing out"!

Seems like they were not checked before departure but it is so easy for us 'Arm-chair sailors' to state the bleedin' obvious when seated a thousand miles away. :(

During the night, she removed the nearest pipe and warmed it in boiling water to soften it to try and push it further over the 'nipple' without success. All this time she was dead in the water on what turns out to be quite a busy seaway with shipping running up and down the east coast of Sardinia! I noted at least three ships alter cause to skirt around her position and she had to ask one ship to change course as they obviously were not keeping a very good watch! One ship passed within 500 metres of her position. Fabricating some some of "Johnsons Coupling" was suggested as was using cling-film or electrical insulating tape but apparently, nothing worked.

The wind is expected to increase on Wednesday with an easterly at 25 to 35 knots to push her along the north African coastline towards the west. :)



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It is a long way to Gib.

Would she consider the option of Palma? Perhaps contacting one of the many marine engineering companies to forewarn of arrival.
 
chinita said:
It is a long way to Gib.

Would she consider the option of Palma? Perhaps contacting one of the many marine engineering companies to forewarn of arrival.
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As it is one, possibly two lengths of 6mm hose pipes which are perished, today on the satellite phone I have suggested that all she needs to do is to go into the nearest marina or anchor off and dinghy ashore carrying the broken pipes. There she will find fishermen or the local garage mechanic who will certainly be able to cut a length of pipe to fit. Any harbour anywhere in the world has a motorboat owner or fisherman who would know exactly where to obtain a length of small hose? :(

Currently she is becalmed 10 nm off shore right in the middle of the shipping lanes and has not really moved all day.



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