Day 6 A day
off in London (0nm)
The crews
had two days off in London. The skipper of the Freedom spent the day searching for
the fault in his engine. My father and I went over and asked him what the
problem was. After he explained it to us, we were able to give him a hint: “You
have run your engine dry of fuel and you are likely to have an air bubble in
your system. Just follow the fuel line and pump the air out.” He didn´t take our
advice. On the second day, he got a mechanic to have a look, who just pumped
the air out the system. Well,……
So here is a
short summary of the day: Greenwich, nice, National Maritime Museum, very nice…
The Meridan
Day 7
Second day off (My Birthday)(0nm)
Well it was
my birthday. For dinner, all crews came together in a nice pub. Not just
because of my birthday, but also because the plan is to separate after the jump
back to the mainland, so we celebrated our small fleet. I´m not a fan of yelling out “It´s my birthday”,
I like to have my peace. What I didn´t count on was Hank, he organized for the
whole fleet to sing “Happy Birthday” in the pub, in Dutch. Imagine the scene: over
20 Dutch people, singing “Gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag”, in a British pub,
for a German guy. It was one of those moments you never forget.
Another
funny story is that my father and I tried to find a fuel station, wandering
around with fuel canisters under our arms in Canary Wharf. Well, funny is the
fact that we took the London Underground with our fuel canisters. On the way
back I realised that all people in the Tube kept their distance from us. Ooooppppsss. We are quite lucky that we
weren´t shot dead, really.
Day 8 and 9
London to Grevelingen (190nm)
Another
early start to catch the tide. Many boats of our fleet first went up the Thames
to Tower Bridge to get fuel and we were already on our way down. 14kn over
ground, we were flying down the Thames.
Coming up
the Thames : Grouprama
As the sun melted
into the sea once again, we reached the TSS. Nice timing, a crossing of one of
the busiest shipping lanes in the world, in the dark. And then the rain started.
So I switched on the radar. A freighter there, an echo there, is it a fishing
boat, give him a call? Yes, it was a fisherman, and he was passing right in
front of us. A freighter then passed directly behind us, you could only hear
his engine running.
And then a
Mayday, a ferry with a fire in the engine room, 40nm away. Now the adrenalin started
running through our veins. Sleep impossible, for everyone on board. I took the
helm, it was still drizzling and there was no wind at all, in fact none since
we entered the TSS. Our neighbour in the fleet, “Blue Peter”, mounted his 2
colour light upside down, funny. The rain water kept running down my feet and
they got cold and wet. And my boots still onboard Geronimo, better planning next
time, baby. A cup of soup and a cup of coffee, to raise the mood. Still this
drizzle and from below on the VHF Ch16 the rescue coordination for the ferry. You could hear the
noise of a big engine somewhere out there, no lights, checked the radar, an
echo passing behind us. Blue Peter suddenly changed her course directly towards
us. Yelling at them, they yell back to us to keep our course. Guys, you have
lost your course. They change course again, silence, no more argument. Had they
fallen asleep ?
Then my father
took the helm, still drizzle. After 24 hours without sleep, my feet were cold
and shoes were wet, no opportunity to change socks. A kingdom for my boots. So
I went down below, opened up the engine hatch, threw my shoes in it, a nice
warm air stream came out of the hatch. A look on the watch, 5 in the morning,
6° C in the cabin. The warm air streaming from the hatch, so I lay down on the
cabin floor, my feet in the hatch, they started getting warm,
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I woke up
in a rush, one of my socks caught by the engine belt, my feet ripped from my
leg. What a nightmare!! 7 in the morning,
my heart still hammering, cup of coffee, a small sandwich and I took the helm again, now with dry feet. The drizzle had stopped.
A grey day, no wind at all. A look on the GPS and the map, another 30nm until
Roompot. My father tried to get some sleep and so did my mother, but she
couldn´t find sleep either.
As we reached
the lock to enter the Oosterschelde the sun broke through the grey clouds and gave
us the heat to warm our bodies again. Marina Roompot, but no, we wanted a nice
shower so we decided to keep going, still no wind, but sunshine. A look at the
tide, yes it is with us. If not, it wouldn’t have mattered. So the engine kept
running. 4 hours later we were back in our marina, a nice lunch and a shower.
Journey over . More than 500nm in 5 sailing days , we were happy and very
exhausted.
Would we do
it again ?
Absolutely
With the Oceanpeople?
Not Really
Why ?
Because they demand a minimum speed of 5kn all the time at sea. So mostly you
have to run your engine to keep pace with bigger yachts. Not our style of sailing.
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