After a relatively successful day fitting the new depth sounder
and speed log, installing the recently repaired wind indicator and wiring the
instrument panel so everything all worked properly with the autopilot system,
I decided to nip out to test everything was working and perform an instrument
calibration.
A light sixteen knot breeze off Southampton Dockhead was blowing the last few
clouds of the afternoon in a westerly direction, chasing them over the Horizon
and leaving behind a perfectly clear blue sky.
I cast off Enigma's lines and backed her out of the berth just before 18:30
on Sat 8th April 2006, heading out of Ocean Village Marina and down the River
Itchen for the half mile toward Southampton water to perform my calibration
runs.
With the main VHF in the cabin tuned to Vessel Traffic Service on channel 12
the usual radio conversations were flowing freely, with ships of all sizes checking
in with the traffic controllers sat high up in their tower at Dockhead keeping
a watchful eye on all shipping movements in and around the busy port of Southampton.
I was occupying myself adjusting the autopilot settings and scrolling through
the menu display, instruction manual in hand, trying to ensure that my afternoons
efforts had not been fruitless and that the yachts instrumentation systems were
providing me with accurate information.
"Southampton VTS VTS VTS this is yacht ‘Look a like’ "
said a panic stricken voice over the radio.
There was a very brief silence and then with barely enough time for the controllers
to reply the voice was heard again, this time with even more urgency
"VTS VTS VTS this is ‘Look a like”
"‘Look a like’ this is VTS, Over" came the calm sounding
response from the duty officer
"VTS, this is ‘Look a Like’ I am the little sailing yacht just
in front of your office, there's smoke coming out of my engine and so I had
to turn it off and now I’m drifting" his voice was clearly filled
with fear "I don’t know what to do... Can you help me?" he pleaded.
"‘Look a like’ this is VTS. Yes we have a visual on you sir.
Could you go to Channel 14 and stand by."
I reached for my hand held radio and flipped it to channel 14, so I could listen
to the drama unfolding less than a mile ahead of me.
“Look a like’ this is VTS, are you there sir?" this time a
different voice came over the air waves, this one equally as calm and professional
as the last.
"Yes I’m here"
"What is your situation?"
"I was on my way back to Town Quay when the engine over heated and smoke
started coming out of it. Now I’m drifting, I think the water strainer
is blocked, I’m trying to clear it but I am on my own. Are there any ships
coming?"
"Look a Like, I can confirm there is no traffic at this time. We have alerted
our patrol vessel who should be with you in about 10 or 15 minutes and he will
tow you back to Town Quay. I can see that you are currently drifting towards
shallow water, do you have an anchor aboard sir?"
"There is one on the front of the boat, but I’ve never used it. When
I bought the boat, I didn't ever think I would ever need to use one"
"If you could prepare to deploy your anchor sir, in case you start drifting
toward the shallows before the patrol boat gets to you, and if you could remain
standing by on this channel and await further instructions."
"Ok. I'll do that. Thanks"
I looked ahead to where the yacht should be. Enigma was just passing the entrance
to the Empress Dock. Just ahead a large car carrier, the Tristan, was busily
loading Mini’s and Range Rovers for export and further ahead the smaller
bulk cargo vessel Oleksii Didkivskiy stood silently moored alongside the grain
silos of 36/37 Berth. The dark tinted windows of the VTS control tower were
just visible above the ships and dockside buildings, but there was not as yet
any sign of the stricken yacht. I squeezed the grey transmit button on the side
of the hand held
"VTS. VTS. VTS. This is Yacht Enigma. Yacht Enigma. Over."
"Enigma, this is VTS"
"VTS this is Enigma, I’m currently just off the Empress dock heading
toward your station and would be able to stand by or give assistance to the
yacht, over"
"Enigma this is VTS that would be greatly appreciated sir, our patrol boat
is on its way but if you could stand by in the meantime that would be a great
help"
"VTS this is Enigma, that’s all received, Enigma standing by and
listening fourteen"
I rummaged around Enigma's capacious cockpit locker and quickly pulled out my
longest warps, grabbing extra fenders whilst I was about it, the autopilot handling
the steering as the boat motored along at full speed to reach the casualty.
As Enigma cleared the quay the wind was a little stiffer away from the sh
elter
of the buildings, ahead was a small yacht, drifting gently sideways to wind
and current, its mast leaning slightly in response to the breeze. I slowed Enigma
and stepped on deck, rigging my fenders as I approached the casualty.
"Enigma, Enigma this is VTS" the radio burst into life again
I finished my clove hitch and threw the fender over the side, and as it bounced
on the end of its line I moved swiftly back to the cockpit and grabbed the hand
held again.
"VTS this is Enigma, over"
"Enigma this is VTS, I can see your busy sir, but if you can just stand
by and wait until the patrol boat arrives, we will tow the boat back to Town
Quay. He should be with you in around ten minutes"
"VTS this is Enigma that’s all received, Enigma standing by."
Ahead I could see the Skipper of ‘Look a like’ through the open
companionway. On seeing 'Enigma' approaching his head popped up, a relieved
grin on his weathered face.
"I’ve dismantled the strainer and I can see it’s clear, there
is nothing blocking the water intake" he said by way of introduction, the
panic still clearly present in his voice
'Enigma' nudged alongside and the fenders of both vessels squeezed together.
‘Look a like’s' decks were lower than 'Enigma's' and so the two
of us began adjusting fenders to keep any contact to a minimum as I took ‘Look
a like’s' warps and made her fast alongside, ahead and astern.
Most small marine diesels draw seawater to cool the engine from an opening in
the boats hull, the water is sucked in using an impellor pump, usually powered
from the engines fan belt. This 'raw water', as its called, is then pumped through
a heat exchanger, drawing the heat away from the engine in the same way that
a car engine uses a radiator. The heated seawater is then combined with the
exhaust gasses, being literally blown out of the back of the boat. The most
common cause of a yacht engine overheating is as a result of the disruption
of this cooling water flow, commonly caused by debris or weed floating in the
water being drawn into the system and blocking the intake pipe.
"The engine was overheating, but I can’t find any blockage"
"Perhaps you have cleared it” I suggested “it might have been
a plastic bag or something, they sometimes just drop back into the water the
minute you stop the engine"
"Do you think I should try starting it again?" said the Skipper, his
greying hair windblown and his hands marked with the tell tale black smudges
of someone who has been undertaking emergency mechanical repairs at sea.
"If you think you've cleared it then it should be fine. Even if its still
blocked it will be ok if you only run it for a few seconds"
‘Look a like's' Skipper fiddled with his engine controls and with very
little effort the diesel quickly rattled into life. I looked over the boats
stern, the exhaust clearly visible on the boats flat transom a few inches above
the water line. There was no seawater coming out, just a light trail of black
smoke.
"Nothing" I said "no water at all, I think you will have to turn
it off and wait for the tow"
"But there's nothing blocking it, I don't understand."
"Maybe your pump impellors failed, do you have a spare?"
"No, I don’t have one and thinking about it I don’t think its
been changed for a couple of years….. Perhaps that’s it”
Very likely I thought. I usually service Enigma's engine twice a year, and the
more you perform the procedure the easier it becomes. The sea water pump impellor
is a small star shaped rubber wheel which, with a little practice, takes only
a few moments to replace, they are an inexpensive consumable item that I always
carry as a spare, and if breaking down at the junction of two major shipping
lanes in sight of the traffic control tower is not enough to convince you to
always carry one then it is unlikely anything will.
‘Look a like’s Skipper killed the engine dejectedly.
"I had a bloke look at it a while back, I can’t understand it."
he said excusing his actions as guilt slowly began to replace his earlier panic.
As we waited for the Patrol boat I suggested rigging a towing bridle across
his deck in preparation for their arrival. This simple technique is to use a
strong line attached tightly around each of the main deck cleats, thus spreading
the dangerous snatch loads that can occur when a vessel is under a tow even
in calm conditions.
“Nah, I don’t think I’ll need to” he said more confidently
“last time I broke down in December the bloke towed me all the way up
the River Itchen just using the front one” he pointed to the large single
cleat on the middle of the foredeck.
At this point my sympathy for the Skipper of ‘Look a like’ began
to drain away rapidly and I surveyed his boat from stem to stern. She was about
26 feet overall, maybe a shade longer, and made to an older design from the
days when boats were built for sturdiness and with good sea keeping abilities
in mind. She had a high stout looking coachroof, a bluff bow and a squat hull
shape, perhaps hiding a long keel or maybe twin bilge plates. Her deck stepped
mast was quite short compared to more recent designs and she looked like she
would be quite comfortable for one person to sail.
I noted the simple to operate roller-furling gear on the headsail and looked
at the light, easy to handle main sail. The sixteen knots of breeze would have
made for good sailing conditions I thought, taking a second to glance upward
at the masthead and checking the direction on the windvane in relation to where
he was headed.
"You had a good sail?" I enquired
"Oh yeah" he replied enthusiastically "but I reckoned this last
bit would be a dead beat up the wind and so I thought the engine was a better
idea."
At the time I didn’t judge him, single handed and tired after a day on
the water with the prospect of that last laborious stretch home, back and forth,
barely gaining ground across a narrow river busy with an almost continuous stream
of ships and ferries that you have to avoid, I too would have chosen the engine,
but as the ABP Southampton Patrol launch arrived and I cast off my lines and
motored clear, the incident took me back to the numerous occasions when I myself
have been in similar situations.
Most have been water intake blockages causing the engine overheat alarm to sound.
With a crew the sails can be hoisted, the engine stopped and the blockage cleared
quickly without any fear of damage to the engine or danger to the boat and its
crew, but one time when sailing single handed in a rising gale in the Thames
estuary I had no choice but to battle on through the weather to a safe anchorage
in the Medway river before I dare leave the deck and spend the time below fixing
the problem.
Then there was the time aboard a 22' trailer
sailer on a foul black night, motoring home through rough conditions when
the outboard engine failed and we began quickly drifting toward a busy shipping
lane. After rapidly unpacking the sails that we had neatly stowed earlier we
were able to make sail and head for a safe anchorage to spend the night. The
engine problem turned out to be serious and way beyond the scope of a quick
fix at sea, so we spent a cold, uncomfortable, but safe night at anchor until
the following morning, and then beat all the way back home against a stiff,
cold and rainy breeze. We sailed right up to the marina entrance before we finally
radioed for the yacht club launch to tow us into our berth.
Perhaps the modern view of a breakdown is to call for help as a matter of course,
and perhaps being self sufficient is no longer a requirement in the modern world,
but the panic I had heard in the mans voice as he first called for help suggests
to me that some sailors are not capable of thinking around a basic problem before
raising the alarm and asking for assitance. Under the conditions at the time
all that was needed was a quick tug of his jib sheet and he could have easily
sailed out of harms way on his headsail alone, dropped his anchor safely in
shallower water and then assessed how best to tackle the problem.
If the Skipper of ‘Look a Like’ is the kind of boatowner the authorities
such as the MCA, the RNLI and in this case the ABP deal with regularly, then
you can hardly blame them for holding the opinion that some form of licensing
for all water users is required, and if we boat owners continue to act as irresponsibly
as the Skipper of ‘Look a Like’ then it is a fate we shall justly
deserve.
for more opinion on this subject see the Captains Blog
