Where did those two hours go?

Tasman Sea, (Lat 40 12S, Lon 168 36E), Course 70 degrees (compass)

Sunday 2 February 2020

It seems the northwest wind has been blowing for days now. Pushing us effortlessly towards our destination of Picton.

The sea was a bit higher through the night, but has quietened down now to a steady swell that moves our speed from around 6.5 knots to around 8 knots, as it passes underneath.

Being down to our last tank of freshwater, I thought it would be prudent to crank up the water maker in order to replenish supplies. All started well, the generator fired up, we were part way through the warm-up phase, then it decided to stop, just as easily as it had started. “Hasn’t done that before”, was my initial response. “Fuel OK?” asked John. “Maybe it’s electrical?” offered someone else. Before long we had the cupboard dismantled and the engine exposed to sunlight, as we looked in search of the most obvious …”ah ha, there’s the problem” … solution. Nothing jumped out. We checked the water intake and then in an act of pure desperation, I dug out the instruction manuals.

Around this time Gee, our onboard Aussie-of-Italian-background started fiddling with the engine’s wires, hoses and knobs. “It’s an Italian generator Gee!” I announced, in search of a response. “Then you should no bought him”, said Gee in his distinctive Italian accent. “Try him now”, said Gee … and hey presto, the generator motor fired up and what’s more it stayed running. “Three cheers for Gee!!”

Then, after a few ON and OFF tests, to isolate the source of the problem between the motor cut off lever and the electronic control panel, there came a point when no amount of button pressing was going to illicit any life from the motor whatsoever. What started as one problem, now seemed like two. “We should have left him running, while we had the chance…” I think the words might have been Gee’s, but the sentiment was universal.

Before we set about trying to “hot-wire” the unit with a length of Number 8 wire (a suggestion from our New Zealand crew member John, we will contact the supplier in Queensland (via email) and implement our “work-around” solutions … use the main engine to charge the batteries and be even more careful with the remaining water supply. In terms of a long-term solution, the smart money is on a replacement electronic control unit, or internal motherboard, but being Sunday, we won’t get much joy until at least tomorrow.

Realising we were getting very close to New Zealand and that the sun seemed to be getting up earlier and earlier, I asked no one in particular this afternoon … “What time is it?”. “Take your pick”, replied John. “It’s 2:00 o’clock where you come from, but 4:00 o’clock in the Land of The Long White Cloud, Aotearoa”

“Maybe we should make the switch?!” … so, even though every device onboard says otherwise, we are now officially operating on New Zealand time.

The captain’s call to change the time forward two hours to New Zealand time ended up having unintended consequences. It started with “Happy Hour”, which usually started at 6:00pm. “So is it six o’clock, or is it 8 o’clock”, inquired Jim, “because if it’s 8:00 o’clock then Sundowner time is past”. Well clearly, we weren’t going to miss Sundowners, so the time-change was changed to occur AFTER we’d had a drink and some cheese and crackers.

Then came the issue of “who’s on watch” … because at the end of Sundowners it was really only 7pm, but 9:00pm by the newly adopted New Zealand time, signifying the end of the first watch of the night hardly before it had started. Then ensue a long discussion backwards and forwards about who WAS on which watch and what time that now signified … so that getting up at 3:00am under the new time was really 1:00am under the old time and so on … and what do we do about the three hour shift at the start of the evening which miraculously turned into a one hour shift ???

In the end it all ended politely with Gee and Jim left in the cockpit to finish the bottle of Aldi Tawny Port and do their duty on watch

The satellite weather forecasts continue to be amazingly accurate. With the wind having slackened a little, we now have the full main back up, along with the jib and staysail. It’s expected to remain this way for the next 24-36 hours. Then there’s a predicted blow from the north, which is still a favourable wind, but we might shelter somewhere near Nelson Tuesday night, so as to avoid a night-time sail in strong winds through the approach to Picton.

As a precaution, we reefed the mainsail for the night and as 10:00am approaches (new time) all is becoming quiet onboard. The sea is calm, we are doing 7 knots +, and the engine is ticking over in the background charging the batteries and giving our speed a slight boost.

I’ve asked each of the crew members to write a “Post Card” from Chimere, so we’ll see who takes up the challenge.

Smooth seas fair breeze and where did those two hours go …

Rob Latimer