River Spui - a tangle then a dip

Sunday 19th June

A grand total of 5.4 nautical miles today but more trouble in that brief voyage than 300+ miles so far put together.

Q: What do you get when a loop of your shore power cable (not connected up) drops into the engine (in full swing)?
A: Destruction of the power cable and of the fan belt.

We left Hellevoetsluis  around 6pm after a lazy day in the sunshine and motored slowly to the mouth of the River Spui. It was just as we were eyeing up the mooring buoys there and deciding which to pick up that there was an almighty clunking and banging from the engine. Over before it began, we almost thought perhaps we had run over something, but lights came on on the engine panel and Howard soon identified the problem. Within about 3 minutes he had replaced the fan belt and the vessel was back under command - good idea to keep spare belts and tools so handy.

It seems we'll have to find another storage solution for our shore power cable, convenient though it was to keep it where we could reach it from the cockpit. Careless stowage (sack the crew!) had left a loop of the power cable dangling too close to moving parts. The result could have been far worse than this - no damage done to the engine thankfully.

Once over this and safely swinging from a mooring buoy we both plunged in to the refreshing water of the river to cool off. Bonus: it's not salty. Fresh water from the Rhine here.

Midges aplenty in this spot but they don't seem to bite. We haven't seen many mosquitoes but it only takes one in the boat to spoil a night's sleep. We will sleep better for having hatches open and air circulating below whilst unwanted visitors are excluded, so for the first time we rig up a series of nets. This netting was bought in Australia years ago when we were under siege in a camper van - very glad to put it to good use again having had it on board for so long.

Mozzie defence 1

Mozzie defence 2 - part 3 can't be photographed as of course we're inside the boat to rig it up

It's almost midsummer so the sunset is late - no other boats here tonight


Comments

Post a Comment

We've set this up so anyone can comment - though we'll see your comment before it's published on the blog - please comment away!

Popular posts from this blog

Inland Schleswig-Holstein

Image
Wednesday 19th July to Thursday 20th July - River Eider inland Reasons to take the River Eider route to the Baltic: 1. It's easier to get to from Heligoland (in the right conditions). 2. You avoid travelling (and crossing) the River Elbe with all its traffic and strong current. 3. You avoid the massive ship lock at Brunsbüttel where we have heard of yachts having to wait as long as 4 hours out in the Elbe before locking in. There are some issues with the locks and they are not all operating. 4. There's no commercial traffic, till you join up with the Kiel Canal 5. Once in, it's more interesting to travel along a river with small towns to visit than 100km of straight ship canal. So, Tönning was our first town with its small harbour a feature in itself overlooked by houses and cafés. When the tide went out overnight we didn't see the mud, we just floated in almost no water.  On Wednesday we moved on to Friedrichstadt, just 10nm further on, a pleasant short trip with withi
Read more

Denmark. Mission accomplished!

Image
Thursday 27th July Schleimünde to Sønderborg - 18 nm The final leg to Denmark is achieved under sail. Goose-winged to start with (from 7.30am) then pole down as the wind veered.  9.45: into Danish waters, time for a new courtesy flag. White cross on red ground duly hoisted. 11am: tied up on Sønderborg quay, prime spot with great view of the castle (Slot). We left the east coast of England back in May with the aim of cruising "towards Denmark" and now we're here. Mission accomplished. We've travelled about 830 miles, mostly with the assistance of the engine, especially inland in the canals, but we've also had some great sails on the way. We've enjoyed visiting Kent, northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands including the Wadden Islands, the German Watten, Heligoland, Schleswig-Holstein and now we're in Denmark.  Sønderborg on the island of Als seems to be the current mooring place for the Danish royal yacht so we're in good company. We've still
Read more

Sussing out the Schlei

Image
Wed 26th July Laboe to Schleimünde via Kappeln - 28 nm Thank goodness for a better day! We set off out into the Baltic Sea.  Wind is 16kts from the North (of course) but at least it's sunny and dry. We don't sail all day but we do enjoy a few hours of peaceful zig-zagging without the engine before motoring into the River Schlei. This is it!  This is Bonify's new cruising ground.  From now on we're on the lookout for a winter berth. We want a secure boatyard where she can be lifted out in September, mast still standing, and covered up until we come back again next spring. We're looking at transport links, prices (of course) and also hoping to find a place we like the feel of. There are some big marinas out here which feel a bit impersonal - small yards are often friendlier places, much more our thing as long as they have a crane or hoist big enough for our 12 tons. Smaller places tend to be cheaper too. The River Schlei has a few places for us to check out, an
Read more