Still in Dun Laoghaire

9.6.2022 

 There is probably nothing more boring than to tell you that we are still marooned here near Dublin. Eleven days and counting… We have left twice and twice we had to return after only a few miles out. 

To cut the story short, the auto-pilot could not hold its course. In the meantime the electrician had located a rudder response unit and we were all full of hope that we could leave as soon as the wind eased a bit.

 The most maddening, frustrating, stressful and disappointing feature of these past days was that the electrician always promised to be with us just after nine and then we would be waiting all day, unable to move from the boat in case he came. Every time we tried to phone, text or e-mail, either he would not answer or he would say that he would be with us in the next twenty minutes, one hour or so. Many hours later we were still waiting and the tension on the boat was mounting. 

 When he finally comes, he is like a whirlwind. Yesterday evening he came at around 6:00pm armed with the new auto-pilot rudder response unit, dismantled the aft cabin at such a pace that it was difficult to keep everything out of the way. Then the moment of truth came when he ran the rudder test…it failed! 

One excellent thing about him is that he has a very good network of people at B&G in the UK and in the Netherlands with whom he can consult. After about half an hour of talking to them in the UK, we heard some loud banging in the cockpit locker. After giving the RAM a good whack with the spanner suddenly the rudder test passed. Now apparently it is the RAM motor which needs new brushes (or as he said, he would try and clean them). He dismantled the RAM motor, took it with him and now we are truly at his mercy until he decides to come back!

Our dismantled aft cabin...

This morning I was having a shower next to a very nice Spanish sailor who lives in Dublin and when I told her our plight, she just said: was it such and such electrician? Oh! he never comes. I suppose that we have to count ourselves lucky that he came at all. 

Now that we have very disappointingly missed the start of the Scottish Meet, we can try to relax and look forward to the next two months on the boat. We still hope to sail to the Faroes from Stornoway with 12 other boats from the RCC at the end of the month.