1/14/03:

Cosmos left Cape Town at 1100 this morning. I am not sure we all really wanted to. We had a good time there. We are heading for Luderitz, Namibia. Cosmos has a fresh, rebuilt, high pressure fuel pump on the port engine. It is 1510, now, and the starboard engine has been running since we left the Cape Town harbor; it is about to overheat. The engine's temperature was 198 Degrees at 1500 when I went off watch. My relief, Joost, will switch to the port engine when the starboard engine gets to 200 degrees. Then, I will replace the water pump impeller; that is most likely the problem. This has happened before.

1/15/03:

It is 1000 on our second day out of Cape Town. The sea water temperature is 57-58 degrees, no wind, smooth seas, and the sun is just burning through the fog. It was cold and wet on my 0100-0400 watch this morning. Wet from dew, not rain. We have switched engines a couple of times and both are running a little hotter than usual. We decide to keep a close eye on their temperature instead of replacing water pump impellers. It would be unusual for both impellers to go bad simultaneously.

It is 1345. I couldn't resist at least taking a look at the starboard engine. My curiosity was rewarded with the sheared off bolt head and accompanying flat washer that were laying in the engine room bilge. I soon discovered that these components had broken off of the alternator lower pivot mount bolt. As a result, the alternator was sliding off of the pivot bolt because there was no head on the bolt to retain it. This condition was creating slack in the v belt that turned the alternator and the water pump. This same situation occurred on the port engine early on in the circumnavigation. I lucked out and found a bolt in the Cosmos fastener collection but had to shorten it. I remounted the alternator, adjusted the belt tension, and we will test it later today. While I was at it, I checked the waterpump impeller and it had one vane torn, so I put in a new one. Gosh, these Volvo diesels sure like their attention.

It is getting warmer as we move North; more comfortable in the wind in the cockpit this afternoon. We have 328 miles to go to Luderitz. The wind is on our nose, and too light to sail anyway, so, we are motoring on one engine.

It is 1800. We got a 'no charging' alarm and check the starboard engine again. The alternator has sheared the new pivot bolt and is hanging by the top adjustment bolt. This condition caused the v belt to slacken, and slip, and the alternator was not charging adequately. This time I only had the next size larger bolt, so, I drilled out the alternator bottom mount pivot bolt hole and the mating mount bracket hole and used the big bolt. This arrangement looks quite strong; we might consider doing it on the port engine.

It is 2400. The starboard engine is purring smoothly directly under my bunk and I am dozing, smug in that I finally have this engine squared away. Suddenly I hear a thump and a disturbing vibration from below me. Upon opening the engine room, I see the engine rocking violently; to the point that the engine mounts will surely tear out of their base. I run up to Daniel, on watch, and have him switch engines. I felt sure that something had become snagged on the propeller and thrown the entire drive system out of balance. Cosmos' has saildrive units so the engine, transmission, and outdrive are assembled as one integral unit. When the propeller is out of balance it shakes the whole unit.

1/16/03:

It is 0500. I decide to start the starboard engine, during my watch, to see if whatever was fouling the prop has washed off during the night. The vibration has gone and I hear a squealing noise from the lower end of the outdrive. I decide to wait till daylight when we can dive to have a look at the prop and cut away any residual debris.

At 1030, Yost dives under the boat to check the starboard prop. He finds nothing. Then we ran the engine and the squealing has diminished greatly and the engine runs smoothly. The wind has finally picked up so we start sailing.

1/17/03:

Cosmos has been sailing with the genoa, only, until after lunch today. We then put a spinnaker up and have been playing with that all afternoon. Every 300-400 yards we pass a napping seal. They float on their side with one flipper sticking up in the air as if to say "Hey, I'm napping here, don't run over me". Sometimes they see us and sometimes they don't. When they do, they don't seem very impressed, and resume their nap.

The sailing has been ideal; bright sunshine, 8-18 knots of wind from behind, seas on the port quarter. I deployed the water generator yesterday afternoon and that, along with the solar panels, have been making enough power to sustain the needs of the boat. This morning we made a new water generator propeller retrieval device out of a traffic safety cone that we bought before leaving Cape Town. This device is a split plastic cone that we attach to the 100 ft. x 5/8" line and let it slide along the line to the propeller that we pull behind the boat. When it reaches the propeller, it enshrouds it and stops it from turning. We can then pull the propeller back aboard the boat with out twisting the tow line all up. The faster Cosmos is moving, the harder it is to pull in the line, especially if it is turning. So, this device saves a lot of wear and tear on our hands.

1/18/03:

It was colder last night. We kept the companionway door shut in order to keep some warmth in the cabin. The wind and seas were behind us all night and we had to shorten sail so that we would not get to Luderitz before daylight. This slowed Cosmos down to 5-6 knots. The land breeze warmed us as we came down into the harbor at the base of Robert Bay. This is a busy fishing harbor with boat engines, or generator engines, running all the time.

We tied Cosmos up to a pier and strolled into town at about 0730. The ATM's were working so we got a little local currency and found a restaurant just opening up for breakfast. Captain Grandpa Joe hopes to find a better place to keep Cosmos; this pier is pretty rough.