Monthly Archives: January 2015

4. Key West to Panama

Still Counting the Days

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Four Days to Scheduled Start

Let’s start with the good news. I found the cause of last night’s alarm. It was a faulty engine-stop button/switch that we replaced last month. Easily fixed. And not a sign that the boat is bewitched or cursed.

The bad news is that the cylinder head for our port engine rebuild is not available (backordered from Japan). So the old head must be sent to Miami to be reconditioned. This of course adds days that we don’t have. We tried to rent a car to drive it to Miami, but we found that there weren’t any rental cars available today in Key West. So it is shipped overnight. Our mechanic got the shop in Miami to promise to move it to the front of their queue. But I think it is safe to say that our departure will not occur on Saturday. I’m gradually coming to terms with that thought.

We are on the hard again, so the saildrives can be worked on. Frustrating, but lucky that we could schedule this on short notice.  Tim guides a repaired saildrive back into the engine room:

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Two Days to Scheduled Start

No chance that we will make the Saturday start. The cylinder head that was sent to Miami was found to have a crack. Luckily our mechanic had the foresight to also sent our old engine head (from the starboard engine, where we bought a new one). It was inspected today and passed muster; it should be back to the mechanic tomorrow. With only a little luck we will get back in the water Monday. Then we need to give the engines a thorough workout before we leave the area. If everything works (does it ever…?) we might start chasing the fleet Wednesday or Thursday.

Nice photos of the Blue Planet Odyssey boats/people/preparation are on the Cruising World magazine web site at http://www.cruisingworld.com/countdown-blue-planet-odyssey-rally/?image=0.

And a shot of the other boats at the marina, in formal attire with their signal flags.

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3. East Coast USA, 4. Key West to Panama

Counting Down the Days

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Saturday is The Big Day, culminating almost two years of preparation. All but one of the boats leaving from Key West are here, and the last will arrive shortly. Jimmy Cornell is here, with his boat Aventura, and his wife and daughter and crew. We’ve had our first briefing, plus a social gathering. I look forward to getting to know the other crews better. So far I’m mostly trying to remember names and who’s on what boat.

Two boats have just withdrawn. One due to health issues of the owner, one due to lack of funds. Both crews are here, and delightful people. Very disappointing that they won’t be voyaging with us. The size of our fleet is much smaller than originally planned. We will have 7 boats leaving from here, if we include Jimmy, who will be sailing on a different schedule, but meeting us in Tahiti. There will be 6 boats leaving from Martinique, and joining us in Panama. Two or three other boats are leaving from other points, and will join the fleet in the Pacific.

We still have issues to deal with. Number one on the list is of course engine-related. In our last episode we were rebuilding our starboard engine. That was completed, and the boat returned to its liquid element. But, believe it or not, on the sea trial to test that engine, the other one started to smoke and make unsettling noises! So the port engine is now in the shop being rebuilt. Can we get it back into the boat and tested in time for Saturday’s start? Stay tuned…

Some think our engine rooms are cursed, and we are going to suffer ongoing problems. I prefer to think that, like getting my appendix out, we are doing some serious preparation, and things are going to be better for our efforts. It would be naive to think all the problems will suddenly stop, but I do think we are doing everything we can do now to improve the situation.

Lots to do this week. Today we started finding places to stow some gear that has never had a proper home. That makes me happy — finding places for things. And, in fact, finding out exactly what things we have. We discovered that we have 6 inflatable life vests with safety harnesses, plus 2 more without harnesses, plus 4 additional harnesses (not inflatable). Of the twelve total, we gave 6 away to the boat next door. Better to have less stuff, and be clear about what it is and where it is… Much more to do along these lines. We’ve done an initial big shop for non-perishable food; we will of course have to do another toward the end of the week for perishables (though not much room left left in the galley to stow them).

Another potential hurdle is our safety inspection to be done by Jimmy Cornell. I think we’ve done all the right things to pass this inspection, but a lot is open to interpretation, and Jimmy will be doing the interpreting.

Things are going to start happening in rapid succession, and I’m sure that many smaller items will get pushed off the list as Saturday approaches. All part of the fun. 🙂

Here we are, with our Blue Planet Odyssey flag flying.

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