Drama at sea

The tide times offered us a pleasant 10h00 start to head of on our next leg towards Dover, and so we slipped into a busy lock at the agree time, and set off out to sea.
The wind had continued to moderate, and so we weren't surprised to see just 5 or 6kts of wind once we cleared the entrance channel.
So, with the main up, we motorsailed for a couple of hours.
As we got within 3nm of Dungeness, one of the major south coast headlands, I was enjoying the ride when there was a loud clunk clunk, and the engine stopped dead!
Oh crap.
We quickly unfurled the genny, and with the wind still quite light, was greatful for the tide with us..... still making 2kts over the ground.
I ran below and immediately started the normal set of engine checks.... first I pulled the impellor out.... ah yes..... first problem.... several missing vanes..... so we'd over heated...... but why hadn't the overheat alarm gone off? with that changed, I tried the starter.... clunk... no movement at all.... damn....
The engine had stopped very suddenly, as if it had seized.... I then checked the oil... a bit low, but not seriously so.... I checked the fuel filters, draining a little diesel off, and bleeding the system.... all clear.... oh dear....
So with little else I could do at this stage, I decided that the answer was to sail, and leave the engine to cool for a couple of hours to see if it would free off again...
I knew that any problem was likely to be the engine rather than the gearbox, and that we didn't have a fouled prop, as when I lifted the engine cover the shaft was merrily turning as we sailed, and when SWMBO put her into gear, the shaft stopped turning....
So back on deck..... sorry kids... we're going to have a slow passage to Dover....
And then the wind changed direction 180 degrees...... I silently cursed the gods, and we set the sails for a beat, in 5kts of wind....... in which Morgana isn't the fastest of vessels...
It seemed to take forever to just get passed Dungeness, and as we cleared it, and reached my next waypoint on the plotter, I was taunted by the darned thing, as it popped up with 22nm to go to next waypoint.... a very quick mental calculation showed that at 2kts, we were 10hrs away, with just 4hrs of supporting tide remaining..... whoops.
And then the wind vanished.... or not quite.... we had occasionally 1kt.
And so we drifted...
After an hour, we saw a black cloud over the land.... followed by obvious signs of rain in the distance. Heavy Rain.
I began to think..... "just what have I done to deserve this?"
And so, the rain started to appear.... the sea went glassy... and then.... out of nowhere, we had 20kts of wind again...... fabulous... a reef in, and we are making 10kts over the ground...... At last, things were looking up.....
But just 20mins later, the cloud passed on, and the wind again vanished.....
During the brief cloud burst, I had been wondering if we had enough wind and time to get round North Foreland, a further 18nm past Dover, and then we could sail through the night to make our home port,. where we could look at our options more easily.... and you never know... the engine might restart anyway
After 2 hrs, I decided to have a go at the engine again.... clunk... clunk... nothing.... damn it sounds like its seized.... both difficult, and expensive...
I pulled the cover again, and got SWMBO to kick over the starter.... and noticed that slowly, degree by degree, the front pulley was turning..... so I jumped up in to the cockpit, and fired the starter and kept it fired..... cluuuuunk whir..... clunk whiiiiiir, cherchunk. cherchunk.... bump bump bump, and off she ran..... phew..... but it was short lived.... the engine sounded terrible.... I was on the verge of stopping it before I did any further damage when she stopped herself anyway.....
So, we were engineless.
I called Dover CoastGuard and informed them of our situation.... just advising them that we were OK., but at the mercy of the tides.... They were marvellous. It was rarther salutory though to go through the list of questions that you hear on a mayday.... yes we have lifejackets, yes we have a liferaft, yes we know our position, yes we have nav lights.... etc etc
I kept in contact with Dover CG, and they gave some peace of mind in that they had us on radar, and also offered confirmation of our tidal calcs from their SAR systems.
By 20h00, we had closed to within 12nm of Dover, with just 1hr of tide left, so in rather a sticky situation when Dover CG called us, and asked whether we were OK, with young children on board, and whether we would like to request the lifeboat. I was delighted that they had showed concern, but also was thinking of the poor sods who had just settled into their Friday evening meal, and wouldn't appreciate the callout.. so declined... I am off the school of thought that suggests you should try your hardest to get out of your own mess...
And just 30mins later, the wind filled in a bit.... the nav lights were now on, and we were finally making 4 to 5kts over the ground again.....
I contacted Dover Port Control, and advised them of the situation.... theye were happy to send out their launch to assist, but only once we were within 1nm of the harbour entrance...
So we plugged on....
as the tide turned, our speed plummeted, and the last 2 or 3nm were painfully slow....
so, it was with some relief that, at 1.5nm off the western entrance, Dover Port Control called us, and asked us "if that was us 1.5nm off the Western entrance?" and "would we like a tow now?"
Just a few minutes later, we had a boat alongside, the sails down, and were under tow into the harbour.... our progress just slightly delayed by having to make a circle to wait for the fast cat to enter Dover port.....
As we entered the sheltered harbour water on a long tow, the boat dropped the tow and came longside for an easier tow, and then executed a bit of brilliant seamanship by taking us all the way into the marina alongside and finding a double empty berth up a narrow aisle and parking us perfectely on the pontoon.
So what had started as a straightforward 45nm from Eastbourne to Dover had turned into a 14hr marathon.
I was however,rather proud of us all for two reasons.... firstly there was no panic, and secondly, and most importantly, we solved our on problem. We could have easily have said "yes" to the offer of lifeboat help, but we stuck it out, and in my opinion, did the right thing by getting ourselves out of our own trouble.
It was, with hindsight, quite an experience... its seemed rather fraught at the time, but actually, at no time were we in any real trouble.
Another lesson taught us by the sea.

Miles logged 55nm
Miles this season 689nm
Miles this trip 296nm
Miles since this blog started 3,636nm