Hi all,
I've spent alot of time in Egypt , vacation wise that is, but always found smart local guys to have very nice conversations with
Usually those talks were about the situation of the country and it's politics & religion, and how both - sadly enough - effect each other.
I like very much to talk about politics , extremely interesting subject and it's so important for each and every one of us ( although many are uninterested and loath it) , because it determines how we live.
That's why I need to be very cautious not to get tempted every time a conversation slides or shifts to the topic that lies close to my heart.
Sometimes I have different views on political matters that do not coincide with the general idea ( forced or manipulated by the media and the ever present political cronies/journalists ?? ) or the opinion of some members of the company I'm in .
And unfortunately not all are prepared or willing to except a social approach which is not their own.
Infact , it is my believe and experience in life that most intolerance comes from those who claim to have a monopoly on tolerance., and demand a whole society to pay for their unrealistic believes.
On this last sentence Margaret Thatcher ones made a retoric that even up to this date still stands as a cathedral.
You see , here I go again.
Sorry for drifting away in this sensitive off topic area.
Back to Tunisia .
Chuck , what is your experience with anchoring on the Tunisian coasts ?
Do they let you be ?
Are there strict regulations ?
Would appreciate some feedback on that .
In the meantime we arrived at Lampedusa , anchored up in the little bay left at the port entrance and had a very good night sleep after staying awake the previous night during the crossing.
In that respect I would like to share a story that many of us will recognize.
It's one of those stories were the idiom ' it never rains but it pours ' pops up.
Well , ........also Murphy ( and his law ) had something to do with it .
After saying goodbuy to the family and kids last week we decided to remove the railing net .
I wasn't pleased with the quality of it as it was damaged in some places and started to look like a mess.
Bad move , that would prove itself later on !
Anyway , we left Gozo heading for Lampedusa ( again) last tuesday around noon.
I had the gennie up , and towards the evening the wind picked up so it came down as I did not want to take any risks with a rigged gennie and perhaps an even more wind increase whilst getting into the night.
Genoa and reefed main would take over .
As usual ( well most of the time ! ) I left the pulled down gennaker on the deck making sure the tack , clew and top were still fixed - ready to launch the sail again when needed and also to be certain no lines could drop overboard and get tangled in my freewheeling propellor ( been there done that ) - and the top and halyard connected to the railing next to the special gennie bag I have mounted there .
Yes, I have a bag to store the gennie , and after this story I will never neglect to do so in the future.
Heading west and slightly starboard of the bow we had , again , one of those marvelous sunsets .
This is part of why you do it , the sunrise and sunset on the open water with no land or other boats in sight.
The feeling of getting one with nature .
So sun gone , time to think about diner.
Being a kinda choppy sea , us going west-south-west and a wind blowing north-north- west with subsequently waves hitting us on the side , we decided to have a non cooked diner .
A huge greek salad and some creative extra's added to it.
Cockpit lights on , surrounded by dark , a half moon shedding that familiar romantic light and being powered by the elements .
What more can a person want ?
We would be in for a supprise.
You must know that I had three (3) lines out. A month and a half ago , Lampedusa >> Malta , halfway the track I was able to catch a 6 kg tuna fish .
It would be a tasty thing to repeate that moment.
One line will give you one chance , two lines will double the odds ..........
Please bear in mind that we only need 1 catch , after that the line(s) goes in.
Ok , we were having diner , sailing close to 6 knots when the stearing pilot alarm went off.
Off course !!!
Seconds before the alarm I noticed the very faint sunlight , that was hardly noticable on the horizon , was moving to port.
The alarm confirmed we got off track .
Soon after everything became a piling up of unexpected events.
Immediatly a buoy with affiliated fishingnet crossed my mind , no , couldn't be that . We had that before , and all it does is drag/slows the speed down .
I ran upfront and there it was , my gennaker had fallen overboard , was draging the boat to starboard and was impossible to get back on deck because of the amount of water in the sail.
That meant I had to slow down the boat even further , getting the genoa in would help , the reefed mainsail would provide us the manouvrability neccesairy to get the boat in a good position to haul the gennie in , and bring us back on track before getting the genoa back online.
Never ever start the engine with lines and/or sail overboard remember , infact I immediatly put the gearbox in reverse stopping the freewheeling.
For all I knew , something had already twisted around the prop , i would have to deal with later. But it surely didn't harm to stop the rotation of the prop , just in case it was still free.
It's not the first time I had to jump overboard to free the prop. But with this sea , and this wind ( it had run up to 16 knots) it would be a suicide mission going under the boat.
It never rains but it pours !! ,......whilst getting the genoa in , the gennies halyard ( attached to the railing remember ) twisted around the genoa thereby blocking the furling in.
It got to me as soon as the furler stopped halfway . That meant getting the genoa out again , running upfront , disconnect the gennie's halyard and fix it to the mast . Then running back to the cockpit , getting the genoa completely in .
That was done in seconds , goes to show that training does help ;-)
In case anyone wonders where my wife fits into this story , well ,...my wife has many talents , but sailing and dealing with issues concerning or related with this sailing is not one of them. She freezes up , and by the time I've explained here what to do I have done it twice . It's a fact of my/our life on board , others have a wife that simply does not want to be on a boat. Life is give and take I presume.
And As if that wasn't enough , without propulsion the boat was sacrificed to the mercy of waves , and horrible rolling started.
I had three 15 liter waterbags on deck lying close to the mastfoot , you know the black type used for showering . Together with the 550 liter tankwater that gets us through several weeks without having the use the watermaker.
One went overboard and slipped through the railing.
Bye bye !!
Inside tha boat all that wasn't fixed flew around , fortunately I make a habbit of closing all lockers , tie up the tv (swingable arm you see) , place all ipads , phones etc. Flat on the antislip mat on both tables during sailing .
Our diner and cutlery were also on the antislip and cups and glasses in a holder , so all wasn't lost.
Eventually we got the gennie in and after putting it safely in the bag it was time to get on the road again.
We thought it was !
The reefed main was not able to get me in the right position to set the genoa.
And I thought why not call in some brieve engine help .
Please note I have a permanent installed forstay ( see my project that in the H&t section) dont have storm gib yet , but as I explained to Hoppy on a personal note earlier it also rigged for security reasons. But never mind that.
This forstay prevents me from tacking the genoa. So I had to have the wind at starboard side before deploying the genoa. The waves kept us in the wrong position as the boat turned around retrieving the gennie.
So instead of getting the main out all the way , and because all lines were in ther was no excuse not using the engine for lift off.
Bear with me .
My towing lines are rigged with weights , this is to get the lure down and not having it dance and bounce on the surface.
It's a proved methode of seducing/reaching the fish , preferably tuna.
That means when the boat stops the lines go straight down , the prop will then push them away , no entanglement .
BUT !!!
How was I to know an 8kg tuna had caught one of the lures before or during our hassle with the gennie ?
Obviously it decided to fool around under the boat ( no speed to drag it along behind) , and there was Murphy again.
I started the engine , made a wide turning circle on stationairy engine revs not to get one of the lines in the prop , and by the time I was there I could hear the engine objecting for something.
Now in the past I have suffered a trauma with lines in the prop. Those interested can find my essay also in the H&T , " P-bracket repair " .
Staying very alert for complaining noises coming from the engine I just knew the prop was hit by something.
That means going in neutral and evaluate.
However we were in position , so first things first .
Genoa out , set the course and have the autopillot take over.
Time to adress the prop.
I checked all the towing lines , two were ok , number three was tensed like a violin string.
Will sailing , with engine running I put the gearbox in reverse hoping to pull off the fishing line.
All it did was break . That was that . Also a line , a lure , weight and a small paravane on the lost objects list.
Oh well. Win a few , lose a few.
But hey , wait a minute , what if the rest of the line was stiil around the prop ?
In between the line cutter , which I decided some time ago to remove next time I'm in the hard because of reason of being useless , and the cutless bearing ( P- bracket , you must check the H&T on that) ?
I took the boat hook and dangled and swung it behind the boat .
And yes , the other end of the line came up.
Wow the nylon line (very thick one) and all the other accessories could be saved.
Together with a bonus , look at that !
When I pulled the line in I felt a resistance that was recognizable to me .
This could't be true , while under siege and struggling for survival all that hardship was redeemed thanks to that tuna.
Next chapter , slicing and dicing , bag it and tag it , and cleaning the cockpit afterwards.
A story not to forget.
It's thursday now , and after having assested and inventoried the collateral damage due to that gennie ordeal it comes down to this.
- We lost a shower bag
- As a consequense of the enormous forces during to the drag of the overboard gennie one of the stantions has been severely bent .
- this morning after displaying the gennie to dry I noticed the sail has been torn.
Probably repairs in Tunisia are imminent
- Last night I had sushi and a large tuna steak as compensation.
More to come the following days .
Steps to undertake so this will not be repeated :
Install a new railingnet asap !!
Bag the gennie after use !
I just hope Chuck hasn't fallen a sleep after this posting
Still curious about the anchoring and diving you know.
Regards
Ps:
To illustrate the size of an 8 kg tuna.
I know it's dark , it was night , but also for reasons of privacy it's the intention to keep it dark . Sorry
?