It was all going so smoothly....

[CFarr]

Falmouth to Newlyn, then Newlyn to Kilmore.
Forecast was no wind at all (Wed 13th) which was a shame but as the idea was to get to the Irish coast safely we decided to go before the forecast front closed the Celtic Sea.
We motored out of Newlyn at 0930 and headed for L.End which we rounded inside Longships (Wonderful) then headed 350 deg at a steady 5.5knts preparing for the next 30 hours or so.
I'd just finished my watch at 0400 and my head had not yet touched my pillow when, after running for 19 hours... the engine died.
We were 45 nm South of Kilmore Quay, probably closer to Wales than Ireland.
After trying and failing to discover where the problem was ( we correctly suspected a fuel line problem) we called Roslare C.G. who eventually called out the Lifeboat from Kilmore to tow us in.
Never thought I'd become am RNLI statistic but crickey, it was fantastic to see that big orange shape appear over the horizon at 0900!
7 hours later (and that was after being towed at 8 knts!) we arrived in the harbour and tied up.
The Coxswain and crew of the LB were amazing and the only trouble we had was with their strong Irish accents.
I know the conditions were perfect for a tow and our biggest danger was sunburn but boy were we pleased they came for us.
A sailing wind didn't arrive until 1800 hours on Friday so we'd have been stuck drifting for 38 hours with a 9 or 10 hour sail to follow!
A big shout out to all LB crews everywhere.
we are re-writing our wills this week.

NB. how often do you think you'd be able to sail across the Celtic Sea with no wind and no swell to speak of... Ridiculous.

P.S. Tried to attach a pic but unsure if it's worked.

 

[Ludd]

Falmouth to Newlyn, then Newlyn to Kilmore.
Forecast was no wind at all (Wed 13th) which was a shame but as the idea was to get to the Irish coast safely we decided to go before the forecast front closed the Celtic Sea.
We motored out of Newlyn at 0930 and headed for L.End which we rounded inside Longships (Wonderful) then headed 350 deg at a steady 5.5knts preparing for the next 30 hours or so.
I'd just finished my watch at 0400 and my head had not yet touched my pillow when, after running for 19 hours... the engine died.
We were 45 nm South of Kilmore Quay, probably closer to Wales than Ireland.
After trying and failing to discover where the problem was ( we correctly suspected a fuel line problem) we called Roslare C.G. who eventually called out the Lifeboat from Kilmore to tow us in.
Never thought I'd become am RNLI statistic but crickey, it was fantastic to see that big orange shape appear over the horizon at 0900!
7 hours later (and that was after being towed at 8 knts!) we arrived in the harbour and tied up.
The Coxswain and crew of the LB were amazing and the only trouble we had was with their strong Irish accents.
I know the conditions were perfect for a tow and our biggest danger was sunburn but boy were we pleased they came for us.
A sailing wind didn't arrive until 1800 hours on Friday so we'd have been stuck drifting for 38 hours with a 9 or 10 hour sail to follow!
A big shout out to all LB crews everywhere.
we are re-writing our wills this week.

NB. how often do you think you'd be able to sail across the Celtic Sea with no wind and no swell to speak of... Ridiculous.

P.S. Tried to attach a pic but unsure if it's worked.

Sod's 2nd law----engines only work when it's windy!

 

[snooks]

Go to the chippy while you are there!

A large fish and chips is two normal bits of fish and a shovel full of chips!

The chandlery up the road is well stocked, and get your Euros for the stopwatch shower!

The Ice cream from the shop are also good when it's hot..

The day after our trip across

 

[CFarr]

Go to the chippy while you are there!

A large fish and chips is two normal bits of fish and a shovel full of chips!

The chandlery up the road is well stocked, and get your Euros for the stopwatch shower!

The Ice cream from the shop are also good when it's hot..

I'm back now but the yacht is still there with the owner awaiting a weather window.
Did the chippy - brilliant
Did the chandlery - as you say, extremely well stocked.
Discovered the stopwatch showers - definitely a 2 euro timer, especially when it takes half the time to warm up!

Had a lovely chat with the harbour constable too who told us;
"I'm here all the time from 8:00 till 5:00 except when I'm out"!

Well we thought, we are in Ireland.

 

[Pinnacle]

Purely out of interest, what did you make the tow line fast to?

 

[Plomong]

My path, going south on 170T, motorsailing, crossed with that of another yacht going northwards that very night, about 0300, if I recall correctly. Passed about 400 meters to port of us. Would have been at about 50N44 006W09. Could have been you ???

 

[CFarr]

Purely out of interest, what did you make the tow line fast to?

The LB crew told us to just loop their rope around our capstan. I wasn't sure about this but let the owner do as he was instructed. I stayed on the foredeck and saw the capstan lifting off and so halted the tow.
I made a bridle which I then turned around 6 cleats on or around the foredeck. Didn't look very pretty but it worked.
Pulling a 6.5 ton 33ft yacht a 8 knts certainly makes a sizeable stern wake!
I was surprised at the LB crew asking us to just make so simple a fastening, it seemed obvious to me that it wasn't going to take the cosiderable stresses.
All ended well though.

 

[CFarr]

My path, going south on 170T, motorsailing, crossed with that of another yacht going northwards that very night, about 0300, if I recall correctly. Passed about 400 meters to port of us. Would have been at about 50N44 006W09. Could have been you ???

Sure it was. I did log a sight about then I'm sure but I had a very annoying target fine off our port bow that I was concentrating on. Ruddy bearing wouldn't alter no matter what course I took (within about 20 deg)
Took about 45 mins for it to appear to going further astern of us. Still no idea what it was.
Beautiful night wasn't it with the very large moon lighting up a flat sea and the sky full of stars.
I was steering by keeping Polaris towards the edge of the starboard spreader. Wonderful.

 

[Plomong]

Sure it was. I did log a sight about then I'm sure but I had a very annoying target fine off our port bow that I was concentrating on. Ruddy bearing wouldn't alter no matter what course I took (within about 20 deg)
Took about 45 mins for it to appear to going further astern of us. Still no idea what it was.
Beautiful night wasn't it with the very large moon lighting up a flat sea and the sky full of stars.
I was steering by keeping Polaris towards the edge of the starboard spreader. Wonderful.

A short while earlier a huge trawler had been causing me some problems, so may have been the same vessel. Did some wierd course changes, flashed lights at me to warn me of something, maybe his nets, so gave him a wide berth. Was a really big one.

 

[Little Five]

Falmouth to Newlyn, then Newlyn to Kilmore.
Forecast was no wind at all (Wed 13th) which was a shame but as the idea was to get to the Irish coast safely we decided to go before the forecast front closed the Celtic Sea.
We motored out of Newlyn at 0930 and headed for L.End which we rounded inside Longships (Wonderful) then headed 350 deg at a steady 5.5knts preparing for the next 30 hours or so.
I'd just finished my watch at 0400 and my head had not yet touched my pillow when, after running for 19 hours... the engine died.
We were 45 nm South of Kilmore Quay, probably closer to Wales than Ireland.
After trying and failing to discover where the problem was ( we correctly suspected a fuel line problem) we called Roslare C.G. who eventually called out the Lifeboat from Kilmore to tow us in.
Never thought I'd become am RNLI statistic but crickey, it was fantastic to see that big orange shape appear over the horizon at 0900!
7 hours later (and that was after being towed at 8 knts!) we arrived in the harbour and tied up.
The Coxswain and crew of the LB were amazing and the only trouble we had was with their strong Irish accents.
I know the conditions were perfect for a tow and our biggest danger was sunburn but boy were we pleased they came for us.
A sailing wind didn't arrive until 1800 hours on Friday so we'd have been stuck drifting for 38 hours with a 9 or 10 hour sail to follow!
A big shout out to all LB crews everywhere.
we are re-writing our wills this week.

NB. how often do you think you'd be able to sail across the Celtic Sea with no wind and no swell to speak of... Ridiculous.

P.S. Tried to attach a pic but unsure if it's worked.

4 years ago on the delivery trip I motored from Mounts Bay all the way to Arklow. No wind to speak of. This was hugely disappointing but nothing compared to the utter joy i had in my first sole ownership.

 

[snowleopard]

Sorry to spoil the party but the idea of calling the lifeboat when boat and crew aren't in danger because there isn't enough wind to sail sticks in the craw.

Did you or the skipper ask for lifeboat/tow or did the coastguard insist?
Would you have asked for a tow if you had to pay the full commercial rate?
Are you comfortable with tying up an all-weather lifeboat for 8+ hours?

I speak from the perspective of having been in a similar situation. We had incurred some damage and when we informed the coastguard they insisted on sending the LB to escort us to safety despite us saying it wasn't necessary. I wasn't happy with the situation but they gave us no choice.

 

[colingr]

Sorry to spoil the party but the idea of calling the lifeboat when boat and crew aren't in danger because there isn't enough wind to sail sticks in the craw.

Did you or the skipper ask for lifeboat/tow or did the coastguard insist?
Would you have asked for a tow if you had to pay the full commercial rate?
Are you comfortable with tying up an all-weather lifeboat for 8+ hours?

I speak from the perspective of having been in a similar situation. We had incurred some damage and when we informed the coastguard they insisted on sending the LB to escort us to safety despite us saying it wasn't necessary. I wasn't happy with the situation but they gave us no choice.

I'm sure a large donation was made to the LB station to cover the fuel used (conservatively 30gph and probably quite a bit more)

A good couple of hundred would cover it

 

[snowleopard]

When the Humber lifeboat came out to us I was told by an RNLI man that it burned 100gph.

 

[CFarr]

Sorry to spoil the party but the idea of calling the lifeboat when boat and crew aren't in danger because there isn't enough wind to sail sticks in the craw.

Did you or the skipper ask for lifeboat/tow or did the coastguard insist?
Would you have asked for a tow if you had to pay the full commercial rate?
Are you comfortable with tying up an all-weather lifeboat for 8+ hours?

I speak from the perspective of having been in a similar situation. We had incurred some damage and when we informed the coastguard they insisted on sending the LB to escort us to safety despite us saying it wasn't necessary. I wasn't happy with the situation but they gave us no choice.

What happened to us was basically what you say at the end.
We offered to pay whatever they wanted but they wouldn't hear of it.
They said it was no trouble at all, that's what we're here for etc., etc.

They did tell us that if there had been another call they would have gone off to that but it didn't happen.
I get the feeling that because it was such a perfect day for a tow they had a few rookies on board and treated it basically as a training exercise.

We didn't actually call out the LB but were informed by the CG that it was on its way.

We did exchange everything in our wallets for Guinness that night though!

 

[NormanS]

Out of interest, it might be worth telling us what went wrong with the engine.

 

[CFarr]

Out of interest, it might be worth telling us what went wrong with the engine.

It was the first fuel filter, the one with a paper filter at the top and glass bowl beneath.
There were two screws securing this to a wooden block on the engine compartment wall which had become loose during the 19 or so hours we had been running. Might have been working loose for years actually. The boat is new to the owner who is on his delivery trip to Scotland.

Apparently, the vibration caused air to enter at this point, reducing compression and basically starving the engine of fuel.
The mechanic also discovered a kink on the underside of a 90deg bend in the metal fuel pipe which feeds this filter which wouldn't have helped.

The owner did as much as he could previously by having the engine fully overhauled before setting out and had a basic knowledge of bleeding the system etc, but I know we would never have found the cause of our problem without professional help.
In fact the Mech said as much to us which did make us feel a whole lot better.

I must admit, I fully expected the LB to put a crewman on board to check out our problem. The mechanic who came next day was one of the crew and it was so calm, I'm sure it wouldn't have been an issue to make a transfer.

 

[clyst]

A LB called out in a flat calm sea situation when life was not threatened nor boat in danger ?? I feel a bit uncomfortable with the fact the CG was notified by a delivery crew in such calm conditions . If it were 79 Fastnet conditions I could understand it.

Surely the answer should have been to check the fuel supply in any engine stopping unexpectedly . A short length of poly hose and a couple of clips to by-pass the filter would have saved the unnecessary expence of a LB callout. After all it was flat calm.

 

[NormanS]

A LB called out in a flat calm sea situation when life was not threatened nor boat in danger ?? I feel a bit uncomfortable with the fact the CG was notified by a delivery crew in such calm conditions . If it were 79 Fastnet conditions I could understand it.

Surely the answer should have been to check the fuel supply in any engine stopping unexpectedly . A short length of poly hose and a couple of clips to by-pass the filter would have saved the unnecessary expence of a LB callout. After all it was flat calm.

I tend to agree.

 

[CFarr]

Look, the owner is new to the whole boat owning thing and diesel engines are a bit of a Mystery to him apart from, as I said earlier, the basics.
I was asked along to help sail the thing across from L. End to Ireland.
Im not an expert on engines either.
I'm sure if we had people of your calibre on board there would have been no need to call anyone.
As we both knew we wouldn't be able to get the engine going, I issued a pan pan to alert other vessels in the area of a becalmed yacht while we pondered what to do next.
This was picked up by Roslare.
Perhaps you'd better phone the LB station and ask their opinion. Ask why they didn't put someone aboard with some poly hose while you're at it (good idea by the way, I'll log that in memory. Not sure if there was any on board though, or any clips).
So what would you have done assuming you couldn't fix the engine and couldn't sail and the CG told you the LB was on the way?
BTW The LB Station actually posted a short video of the approach, tow and arrival and were more than happy to have helped.
I look forward to you answers.
I'm always willing to learn from those more experienced than I and this has certainly been an experience from which I've learned a lot about diesel engines.
I'm actively looking for good practical courses so I'll have a better idea next time.

 

[dt4134]

I don't think that the OP should feel any guilt about this. If the RNLI want to use a broken down boat in calm weather as a training exercise that's their perogative.

There is a bigger issue behind it that skippers are encouraged to inform the CG of relatively minor issues but these days that is very likely to mean an unwanted LB callout.