World ARC - Katarina tows Odysseus following engine failure

by World Cruising on 17 Sep 2016 On Sunday morning 11 September, World ARC yacht Odysseus reported both to Rally Control in Lombok, and on the fleet SSB radio net morning rollcall that they had engine failure. The fresh water closed cooling circuit was losing water, but it was not possible to detect the source of the leak. Filling the system and continuing to run the engine worked one time, but after the second filling of the engine it refused to turn over on starting suggesting a larger problem than had been initially anticipated.

Unfortunately the leg from Darwin to Lombok is characteristically light airs, and with most of the fleet motoring there was already some distance between Odysseus and the back marker of the fleet by the time the severity of the problem was identified.

With Lombok 360 miles distant there were only two realistic options – to turn east and head to Kupang West Timor or ask for a volunteer from the rally fleet to turn around and tow Odysseus in periods when the winds fell light. Katrina being the closest yacht some 75 miles ahead didn’t hesitate to volunteer and immediately turned round to close the distance towards the wallowing Odysseus.

Due to some communications problems on both boats the rendezvous was coordinated by Pat and Stuart on BriZo over a specially set up three hourly SSB schedule, and via e-mail by Rally Control to Odysseus. Blue Flyer and Into the Blue also offered to standby should their help be required later.

To help co-ordinate the rendezvous the YB trackers for Odysseus and Katarina were set to report positions hourly; further assistance was given from WRI weather forecasters who supplied routing forecasts twelve hourly directly to Odysseus to enable them to make the most of what little wind there was.

Late on Sunday the two boats met, and as there was some wind they sailed in company during that first night, covering some 100 miles towards Lombok. During Monday the winds fell light, and so a tow was set up. Having motored back to meet them Katarina was supplied with four jerry cans of diesel from Odysseus, and the tow got underway.

With only two aboard it was hard work for Gunilla and Tony on Katarina, whilst Odysseus had four crew to take watches to carefully steer the stricken yacht in the wake of Katarina for the remaining 260 miles to Lombok.

Whilst the remainder of the World ARC fleet were safely at Gili Gede their thoughts were with the two yachts still at sea, eagerly awaiting their arrival on Wednesday. Brizo and Into the Blue maintained SSB net chats with Katarina, whilst Rally control continued their email chat with Libor on Odysseus.

On Wednesday morning a local boat with Victor from World Cruising Club aboard set off south to meet the tow as they headed into the Lombok Strait, passing much needed extra diesel to Katarina. In the swell it was decided to maintain the tow until into the calmer water close to Gili Gede where a number of World ARC tenders came and strapped on to Odysseus to take her to a hastily readied mooring, courtesy of Secret Island Resort.

Tired by satisfied by their achievement Tony and Gunilla were pleased to have helped out; later that evening at a welcome function held in a local village of Gili Gede Tony remarked when thanked “It is what being part of a rally is being all about; if it had been me needing help I know someone would have come to my aid, so it is the least we could do. In fact it was fun having something extra to do on what would otherwise have been a rather boring leg of motoring.'

Having joined the World ARC fleet in Darwin Katarina have certainly made a lot of friends in the fleet very quickly, and now look forward to the remainder of the rally. Meanwhile Libor on Odysseus has the prospect of spending some extra time in Indonesia whilst his engine problem is diagnosed and then repaired, hopefully in time to catch up with World ARC in the not too distant future.