Oct 2017, Futuna Run part 3

Futuna and back, 2017, part 5
This is the last and the worst. 
We left Futuna at 5am under grey skies. Winds were predicted to be very light and we were expecting to motor much of the way, which just fine. Of course right now it is blowing 20k out of the south east, not what we want but we hoist sails and carry on. Except that the wind does not die. We are making good speed but not quite in the right direction and we are getting a lot of rain. Same thing all day and all night long, stars and squalls and heavy seas Winds up to 25kn and heavy swells. Jib and reefed main up. I take a longer watch over night so Alan can get more than a couple of hours of sleep. By morning we are back in Fiji waters and passing the first reefs. The clouds are starting to break ups little and there is some sun. it is amazing how much nicer a brisk breeze is when the sun is out. Wind is still from the south but at some point we should start to get some protection from the land. Meanwhile the deep ocean swells are breaking up into a confusion of smaller ones, thanks to the reefs.
We are definitely too far west but we had expected that and we are making good time. Early afternoon we turn the engine on, take the sails down and turn south to cut down behind Rabi Island and intercept the correct course through Somosomo strait. And this is where all of our plans come crashing down. In addition to the strong south wind we are now suddenly fighting a very strong current or tide. Speed drops from 6kn to 2kn. We spend all afternoon fighting our way along. Naturally this has completely messed up our plan to get through the pass in the daylight. Inch by inch we creep along. Alan goes up to the bow several times to try to tie down the jib better and also the spare anchor which is rattling around. About 4:00 our speed begins to pick up a little. The tide has turned
Alan is up front and I am on the tiller when suddenly there is a loud clunk and the whole boat shudders as if we have hit something. I suddenly flashed back to another boat which was making this same trip last year, hit something that broke their propeller. I slowed way down and took the engine out of gear and waited a few minutes. Alan can back from the bow with a hank of rope in his hands. The engine seemed to be OK so gradually we speed up and then there was a horrible grinding, shuddering noise from the engine. So we stopped, just stopped in the middle of the channel. Apparently Alan had dropped the end of the rope he was holding earlier and it had swepted back and gotten caught by the propeller. That was the source of the terrible thunk I had heard. There was not much choice about what to do now. Alan needed to go over the side and clear the rope off of the prop and see what damage had been done. Swimsuit, mask, snorkel, fins and a strong rope tied under his arms and secured to the boat. Over he went. And after a blessedly brief time, back up he came with a short piece of rope in his hand, the end all blackened where it had gotten caught in the prop and cut off. Another inspection to be sure and he announced that it looked fine. Gently gently we started the engine up again. Seemed to be fine. After about half an hour when everything seemed to be running fine I sent him below for a hot cup of tea and a nap..We now have to navigate Somosomo strait in the pitch black. No moon tonight.
The tide was in our favor and the winds were dropping and we were finally making good time when Alan’s head appeared in the opening of the hatch and he said quietly, “We have a problem”. When he got up from his nap he discovered the the floor of the cabin was awash with water. So, first thing is to run the bilge pump. Thank God that worked and within 20 minutes the water was gone. Next to find where it was coming from. Eventually we discovered that the leak, in the form of a strong trickle but not a rushing river, was coming from the packing gland on the drive shaft. Some experimenting showed that it actually came in slower when we went faster and came in faster when we slowed down. Running the bilge pump every 15-20 min seems to be enough to keep up with the leak.
Meanwhile we are coming up onto the Somosomo strait. I am all for stopping somewhere and waiting for daylight but It is pitch black and we know nothing about the shoreline around here, whether or not there is any place to stop and wait out the night. Alan decides that the best thing to do is to go ahead and get through and back to Savusavu.
Like a bad dream, here we go again. About 5 miles before the narrowest part we lose the navigation on the iPads. We are expecting this and have carefully noted the compass course but it is still nerve racking. It is pitch black. I go up to the bow but there is really nothing I can see. We creep along slowly Finally we are across the 180 and the iPads spring back to life and we see that we are right on course And then we realize that the tide has turned again and our speed has dropped down to 2kn. Almost there and it takes 2 hours to go the last little bit until we are finally back out into the Koro sea and can turn west towards Savusavu. Alan goes below to get try to get some sleep between pumping the bilge while I motor along.
By dawn the wind had dropped to 10kn and the sky is clearing. We get into Savusavu bay around 9:30. Surprisingly we cannot get an answer to our radio calls for mooring information. It is Thursday. Where is everybody? Finally, when we are just about into the mooring field we get a response. It is a public holiday, Diwali! Of course this means that we once more have to pay not only overtime fees for customs, immigration, bio-security and medical, but also their taxis and meals. Had we known, we would have anchored somewhere and waited to come in the next day. Actually, given the leak, we probably would not have. Anyway, eventually we are cleared to go ashore.
That night I slept on the couch and got up every 1 1/2 hour to pump the bilge. Next day Alan found a mechanic who could fix the leak. After quite a bit of research he has determined that the packing gland needs to be taken off, cleaned and reseated Neither of us is quite up to the thought of doing that ourselves. I had visions of taking it off and having water flooding in so hard we could not stop it, ending with Rhapsody sitting on the bottom at the dock. Our mechanic was a 7th day Adventist so he could not come tomorrow, Saturday, but would be there bright and early on Sunday. Another day and night spent running the bilge pump every 2 hours. At least it is not getting any worse. Sunday morning our mechanic showed up with his friend and the 3 of them went into the engine room to assess the situation. I left. When I cam back 3 hours later the leak was fixed and the bilge was dry.
The leak is fixed, or at least down to a very slow drip instead of a small river. We will give it a few days to see how often we need to bail it out before we decide if we are going on to Taveuni or back to Vuda. The weather is bad right now anyway. Since we cleared everything out of the back of the engine room to fix the drip I decide to scrub it all down before we put everything back, and while the water bladders are empty I can clean under them too before we refill them


 Of course nothing in this sailing life is simple. The leak filled the bilge which runs under our water tanks, 3 rubber bladders under the sole. After being wet for so long the wood was swollen so we could not get the hatches open. Once we finally pried them open the space needed to be cleaned of all the oil and debris that had washed into it from the engine room and then emptied with the hand pump. Finally done and tanks refilled but we cannot put the floor boards back until they dry. Once everything is clean we fill the water tanks and eventually the floorboards are dry enough to put back.  We won’t be able to get them off again until they really dry but we can’t run the water maker anyway so it really does not matter.  The weather has changed for the better and we decide to go to the Lab group.  We have been talking about it ever since we got to Fiji and if we do not go now we probably never will.  We have a least a month worth of water and cyclone season does not really start until November.