Again we had sun but shy winds to start with. We motored past wind turbine arrays and up the coast across the Wash, meeting a few commercial ships as we went.
About 16:00 the winds had strengthened to 15 knots and were from the East so we set the sails and retired the engine again. The silence is better anyway. About 18:00 the wind was almost directly behind us so we deployed the Cruising Chute again and sailed up the coast and into the darkness.
We had decided on 3 hour watches over night and Jana and I chose the early one as it got dark - to be followed by the 21:00 to 00:00 watch and then the 03:00 to 06:00 coming into the light.
About 22:30 we were still sailing south of Grimsby, it was now calm but dark and becoming bitterly cold and we were getting ready to furl the sails and motor on to Whitby. Jana was on the helm and we were skirting a large anchorage looking out for buoys and moving commercial shipping. The wind had dropped considerably and we decided to start the engine and round up to drop the sails. Jana tried to turn but could not get the Morse into gear and there appeared to be no power from the engine. So we’re bobbing about just outside the busy anchorage with no steerage from either sail or engine. Ummm.
Skipper Martin and I then tear the boat apart. Engine cover off. Two of us trying to diagnose the issue while Jana holds onto the wheel looking at the approaching coasters. The crew members sleeping are forced aside in their bunks as we have to open the access covers to the engine and delve into the machinery. As for me I’m looking at it like a car engine – where are the gears and throttle linkage. CB spots a ship nearing us and contacts them to ask them to give us a wide berth which they do. She is still motoring on and eventually loses sight of us in the dark.
I stretch into the engine compartment behind the gearbox and can manage to force the boat into reverse and then neutral – so it can be manually controlled into gear. There is still no power to steer so I trace the throttle cable and the two wires near the injectors. The first seems to be the accelerator but the second is unknown so I pull it – bugger that kills the engine. We re-start it quickly and I use my thumb to give Jana revs while the other Martin puts it into gear – so that part of the controls still seems to be working and we realise it is the throttle cable that is broken.
As my thumb is getting a bit stiff and the fumes from the hot engine are filling the cabin I decide that we need a bit of help keeping the power on. No thin screwdriver is available so I find a large flat metal cooking spoon and jamb it into the mechanism. Success – we have about 1000 rpm and I can close the engine cover.
The spoon falls out a few minutes later and the revs drop. I refine the technique and use a smaller spoon which fits better. Skipper Martin is looking for a course and ports we can make for that will still have water on the falling tide. Several are considered and in the end Grimsby looks the best - even though it looks like it will be close to low water as we get to the lock gates. The chart actually shows it drying - with little other information – but it seems our best bet.
Barrie is evicted from his cabin and helps us diagnose the problem whilst Karen is rudely evicted from hers and moved to the forepeak. I’m looking at how we control the engine revs – a small or a large spoon is not really a good long term solution. The problem is that to work the mechanism we need to pull it back towards the stern, but we only have access from the front. I work out that we can use one of the fittings in the engine compartment to act as a pivot and we use some thin twine rapped around it to act as a throttle cable.
This snaps almost immediately.
Luckily Barrie finds some thin rope which is stronger and we thread it through the fitting only for that to jamb, but re-routing it a second time gives a smooth control. We tie a loop in the rope to hold on to (another use for a bowline) and we can now work the engine manually. In order to maintain the revs without holding it we tie a screwdriver to the rope, and wedge two more under each end.
By about 00:30 we have it sorted and having now stabilised the revs we add a pack of cards under each screwdriver for more power, eventually we add two more packs for the 2000 rpm we want as we motor towards Grimsby. CE had lost sight of us but eventually finds us in the dark after some signals from the torch and falls in closely behind.
Jana has been on the helm all this time and is getting chilly whilst I am very hot having been in front to the open engine and crawling around. At 01:30 we both go below for an hour to try to get some sleep. We resume our next watch at 03:00 as we near Grimsby and discover that the next problem is that none of us speak the language. We’re told that there is no water, the gates are shut and we’ll have to be locked in. We assume that means we’ll have to wait until morning. There is also something about ropes – which we also can’t translate.
We find there is plenty of water as we approach the lock at Grimsby - which the chart does not seem to show. We realise that the ropes will be thrown to us if we go starboard side to and enter the small lock. CE rafts alongside and together we bob around as the outer gates shut - narrowly missing the stern of CE and as I fend off we gently tap the closed gates with the anchor in the swell. They open and we’re through, still rafted up to CE who helps manoeuvre us to the visitor’s pontoon with skipper Martin shouting instructions to Barry below who operates the makeshift accelerator cable by hand.
It is 6:00 and seven hours after the engine fault and we have sailed just short of 140 miles. We tie up and after making sure everything is ok by 7:30 we are all in our bunks to get some sleep.
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