Did I mention the engine?
Sailing is a zen art form – working with the wind, feeling its direction, its strength, its pulse – riding the sea as she rocks and cradles you. Or sends you flying across the deck in wild parody of cradles gone mad. Flung from port to starboard, bracing bow to stern, every muscle in your legs charlie horses in agony.
Becoming intimate with the elements, reading the sky, full-on stars on a moonless night. Ah the romance, the glamour. But in the pub, over a beer or two, conversation inevitably collapses into consulting about water pumps or electrical wires or some noise in the engine that can’t be identified.
And with a 1972 engine there’s a lot of noises. Like the one that erupted from the engine block after Terry and I installed the carburetor for the 4th time and started it up.
“OMG WHAT WAS THAT????” Both of us jumped for the “kill” switch in horror.
“There’s an asthmatic weasel in there and it’s going POP!” I spluttered still shaken from the horrible clanking cough.
“That’s it. This time it’s a !#$! anchor!” swore Terry.
That was at the end of November. THAT was a sound I never want to hear again. Despondent and discouraged, Terry and I spent the next couple of months looking for other sailboats with skookum engines and more headroom (Terry is 6’4″) that we could afford to buy – none. And figuring out how much money we could get for the Parrot ship with a non-functional engine – none. We were at an impasse.
After New Years we visited the Parrot ship to mull things over. A few other skippers were puttering around their boats so we got brave and fired up the engine again, asking them to give a listen. The weasel had got over his death rattle cough and was banging around in the engine block with steel-toed boots on. It sounded like a thrown rod to me (who knows worse than nothing)
“Yah, could be” said the skippers.
Advice from the puttering skippers? “Run it till it dies.”
“How long will that be?”
“Could be a year or two”
“OK, but what happens then? It’s not like we can call a tow truck.”
“Coast Guard is always looking for something to do” offered another skipper.
We desperately needed somebody for a fourth opinion. And I knew just the somebody. Kim, our local sailing club commodore. I asked him if he would take a listen to “The anchor” and tell us whether it really was an engine or just ballast. The generous fellow agreed and arrived at the ship with a meter long piece of 3/8″ dowling which he used like a stethoscope to examine the sound of each cylinder and valve. Of course “The anchor” started up fine for Kim although he still couldn’t get a slow idle. Still, after running it for 20 minutes with varying amounts of throttle he diagnosed the problem as “Sticky valves from not being used. Seems to be running better now.” At which point “The anchor” stopped dead.
“That’s what happened when we were coming into the harbour last time” said Terry
“Start ‘er up again” said Kim
“chugga chugga chugga chug” said the weasel “chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga….” “chugga chugga chugga” “chugga chugga” …..etc.
“Are you giving it some choke?” Kim yelled
“Yah, it doesn’t start without it” I yelled back
“Don’t” yelled Kim “Maybe we flooded it.”
While we waited for the flood to subside Kim sprayed some WD40 into the cylinders, a tricky job. Choke full out we started “The anchor” again. After 15 minutes of running in neutral, forward and reverse at the dock Kim decided we should take the Parrot ship out of the harbour and motor around to test her under real conditions.
“Wow! we’re out of the harbour. I could enjoy this” Terry was at the helm as Kim, who was half inside the engine compartment, shouted out throttle and gear commands to him through the companionway. Blue Parrot was motoring through the tests. I was smiling. It wasn’t raining and we were motoring along outside the harbour breakwater – when “The anchor” lived up to its name.
“WTF?” said Terry “WTF?” said me.
“Quick! get me some of those oil cloths” yelled Kim. I grabbed a few and peered in the companionway where he was stuffing cloths into the flame arrestor which he’d just pulled off the carburetor and which was drooling pink gas. oh oh.
Kim mopped up the gas and put the flame arrestor back on the carburetor loosely just in case he had to yank it off again. “OK. Start her up”
“chugga chugga chugga chug” said the weasel “chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga….” You get the picture.
“The anchor” finally started but a wind was coming up so we opted to take her into an easier part of the harbour just in case “The anchor” cut out again. Of course it didn’t.
A few days later we prevailed on a friend with a dinghy to accompany us, just in case we needed a tow, as we motored straight back to our slip on a beautiful sunny day perfect for sailing. sigh…..
Back in our slip we were racking our brains about how to configure a mount for a reliable outboard motor. Meanwhile, Terry noticed some interesting configurations on the sailboat in the slip across from the Parrot ship. He struck up a conversation with Tony, the owner of the boat.
Tony is a retired mechanic who moved to Powell River last year. Aside from being a virtuoso mechanic and gardener he designs and engineers his own boat fittings from scraps of wood and metal he saves or salvages. He is also a very good teacher as we found out later. And his brother-in-law has an Atomic 4 engine in his boat that needs rebuilding. So he was very interested in our Atomic “anchor”.
“Can I take a look at it?” Tony asked
“Come in, come in” said the spiders to the fly. (He doesn’t know what he’s getting into we were thinking.)
“Can you start it up?” So we did. “Do you know how to adjust the idle mixture?” he asked
“We’ve tried and tried but it won’t go into the slow idle”. Tony tried but the engine revolutions wouldn’t slow for him either. And of course the carburetor leaked.
“Did you clean it?” asked Tony. “Only 3 or 4 times” we answered.
“These are simple carburetors but very touchy” he advised. “A tiny piece of sediment can clog up the float bowl needle or prevent it from seating. That will cause the carburetor to flood. Let’s take it off and check it out. I’ll get my tools. It’s a cute engine.”
“OK” Terry and I choroused happily. We could hardly believe it. A cute engine? Definitely a different perspective on The anchor.
A few minutes later the carburetor was off and Tony was cleaning it delicately with surgical precision. “See this piece of dirt?” I put on my reading glasses and could barely make it out. “It was in this pickup tube. That could be preventing fuel or air from getting through” he pointed to 2 microscopic idle discharge holes in the tube. “Now let’s try it again”.
We put it back in place, started “anchor” and Tony actually got the slow idle. But it was running a bit rough. How could that be?
“Let’s take a look” said Tony calmly and took off the carburetor yet again (6th time). “See this?” he said pointing to the throttle plate. “It’s just slightly out of adjustment and not quite seating completely” He moved it 1mm, replaced the carburetor and “anchor” fired up right away without being choked. The weasel jumped on his wheel and ran resolutely and rhythmically. The carburetor eased down smoothly into a steady slow idle.
“I don’t believe it Tony. You’re a miracle worker! Can we offer you lunch? A new lease on life? A lifetime of hugs?”
“Because of you we’ve decided to rename the anchor” we told Tony.
“Oh, what are you going to call him?” he asked
“Lazarus” we said. He laughed. “We should do the valves. I’ll show you how to adjust the valve tappet clearances”
It took a couple of hours to get the valves done. “Keep the feeler gauge level and feel as it just starts to get a little bit of resistance when you move it in and out” he instructed. It would have taken us a week to adjust the clearances and we would have been guessing. Youtube videos can’t give you the “feel” of when something is perfectly adjusted. Nothing like having a personal trainer.
“Let me know when you want to do the points and condenser. I’ll bring my timing light” Terry and I perform copious jumps for joy in our minds YES! YES! Tony, we worship you. After 2 1/2 years of constant frustration we can’t believe our good luck to have his virtuoso assistance.
I am happy to inform you that the weasel is currently doing a sly soft shoe shuffle as Lazarus is purring along. It feels incredible to be able to get out of the harbour with a reliable engine. We’re pulling out instrument manuals and electrical wiring diagrams. Finally we can start on all the other upgrades and minor repairs we’ve wanted to do but couldn’t because of – Lazarus.
Not much going on in whale world on the water for us these days. I heard reports of 4 or 5 humpbacks hanging out between Vancouver Island and Texada Island but we’ve been quite busy working.
Last month was about books to curl up and hibernate with during the dark days of winter.This month it’s time for cultural celebrations. And what better way to celebrate than by watching films about whales and interspecies communication?
Youtube is full of close encounters between humans and cetaceans, which I love. The excitement of the humans is in their voices. Even adult voices become squeaky as they leap up 2 octaves when confronted by the awesome presence of a 30 tonne whale approaching their boat. It’s a palpable primal reaction.
But there is little to fear. SLOW DOWN, don’t crowd, make sure you know where they are and they know where you are. It’s best if they can hear you so a slow or idling engine is helpful. If they approach you? it is an experience you will never forget and a story you will retell hundreds of times. Maybe you’ll even make a video!
Back to the many wonderful films about whales:
Of course any of the BBC series like “The Blue Planet”, “Planet Earth”, “Life of Mammals”, “Nature’s Great Events” offer state of the art production values and thrilling footage. The “making of” shorts they made of how they got the footage are fascinating too, especially for budding filmmakers.
National Geographic has become quite sensationalist in their approach to nature films since being bought out by Rupert Murdoch but this is a good one .
“Ocean Voyager” Whale Documentary – The Biggest Sea Creatures || National Geographic 2015
Story of a humpback mother and calf. The video repeats at 51:16
https://youtu.be/DWv8JRRl1s8
“The Birthplace of the Giants” in Northwestern Australia – Nat Geo 2015
https://youtu.be/7Q6rKN4Bc6U
Some other smaller productions companies produce great ocean nature films too
Ocean Stories 3 – “Dolphins and Whales” NONA NATUREDOCX and SEALIFE PRODUCTIONS 2011
“The Giants of Rurutu” Humpback Whales of Tahiti: SOUND & VISION/CINEMARINE 2011
The French Godfather of all ocean nature documentaries – Jacques Cousteau made hundreds of films. Find them in Wikipedia and Search for them in Youtube.
The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau – “Whales” rerecorded 1991
https://youtu.be/DlHDK-aq9vM
and “The Singing Whale” about Humpback whales rerecorded 1991
https://youtu.be/e7ZKdZaViFg
The English Godfather of nature films, David Attenborough is still making features for the BBC. Find his filmography on Wikipedia and Search the series “The Blue Planet”, “Planet Earth”, “Life of Mammals”, “Nature’s Great Events” among others on Youtube
Planet Earth about the Oceans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGdyezNZt20
The Life series about mammals includes cetaceans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv2oobRVeTk
Nature’s Great Events Series: Everyone feeds on Herring in the Pacific Ocean
https://youtu.be/QSiTumuzfeQ
and Feast of Sardines off the coast of southern Africa
https://youtu.be/UQGvhn1w65Y
Civil war in Sri Lanka protected a recovering population of Blue whales
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrWvkZjgrSk
Planet Ocean [UK]- by Yann Arthus-Bertrand & Michael Pitiot
Habitat of the Orca Killer Whales & Sea Creatures – Feodor Pitcairn Productions Ltd. 2000
https://youtu.be/rH5zO-EL5Fg
Intelligence and Communication in non-human species that may surprise you
https://youtu.be/Q-4w5xYLwiU?t=4s
And finally, humans who can communicate with other species:
“The Animal Communicator” with Anna Breytenbach and Jon Young by FOSTER BROTHERS FILM PRODUCTIONS for NHU AFRICA
https://youtu.be/S5vOgJAa6To
And how it might be possible
Halifax International Oceans Film Festival
Cuban Ocean Environmental Film Fest
Asia Ocean Film Festival (Hong Kong)
Celebration Time!! Whales! Two of them breaching
Photo of Breaching Humpback By Whit Welles
and tail lobbing on the other side of the inlet! Barking rifle shots of sound shoot across the water when their bodies crash down in cascades of spray. I can hear the guys who are working uphill from our campsite explode into shouts of exhilaration every time a humpback hits the ocean. Truly awesome beings.
What are they doing over there? Are they playing? shedding barnacle larvae off their sensitive skin? stunning a shoal of fish for dinner? They don’t look as if they are feeding. We watch as they disappear further into the inlet and wish they’d come our way.
But we are so lucky to be camping on the shores of Jervis Inlet. It has been quite discouraging not being able to get out in our sailboat to meet whales this year. So when Jamie’s phone call came through from Jervis Inlet our ears perked. Jamie is a wizard with wood who is living in his trailer at the local marina while rebuilding two abandoned plywood trimarans.
“Hey you two,” he greeted us nonchalantly, “there’s whales down here. They’re breaching and breathing and making trumpet sounds.” We were out the door with a tent and our camera and sound gear as soon as we could cram it all into “Goldish” our much smaller replacement for beloved Beluga.
Jervis Inlet is a very deep body of water: maximum depth 732 metres (2,402 ft), perfect for the large clouds of krill (tiny shrimp) that humpback whales love to engulf in their cavernous mouths. Humpbacks are rorquals like blue, fin, sei and Bryde’s whales. Flexible fibrous plates, looking something like vertical combs grow from their upper jaws.
Photo of Open Mouth Humpback by Francois Gohier
The plates, called baleen, consist of tightly packed fibres which fray at the ends into thick, brush-like hair. Baleen grows as long as 0.91m (3 ft ). A humpback can swallow gargantuan mouthfuls of ocean water containing the small fish and krill they relish. Then they use their tongue (about the size of a Volkswagon Beetle) to sieve the water out through the baleen leaving dinner trapped in the hairs.
If you are sailing or motoring in waters where whales feed, are you terrified about your boat disappearing down the gullet of a lunge feeding whale? Jonah aside, there are no known incidents of whales accidentally swallowing humans. But you may be relieved to learn that the opening at the back of a humpback’s throat is only the size of a grapefruit, rather too small for passing a human.
Did I mention that we are moving this month? We’ve been sorting, packing and giving away stuff since April. But it’s down to the crunch of yard sales and major cleaning now. Our new place is a gorgeous log house on a long, narrow bay occupied by oyster operations. The house has been well cared for but only used for brief getaways by the owners over the past decade.
A few things had to be done to transform it into the live/work space we need. We managed to get satellite internet by mounting a receiver on a steel pole which we dug into the ground and cemented. It took 450ft (138.5m) of cable to reach the modem in our basement. The satellite server only provides 300ft (92m). The staircase required 3 levels of bracing; a dozen 2 x 4s to support my baby grand piano and 5 of us who dragged, tugged, braced, pushed and slid it up the stairs to its new home. I was holding my breath the whole time!
There is a sewage system which pumps sewage uphill to a septic field. It exudes stinky odours and will need a long hose to carry the piquant perfume away from the house and ground it in the forest floor. The downstairs toilet outlet pipe isn’t angled properly so it doesn’t flush completely. And log houses are so beautiful that everyone loves to live in them – including rats, mice, squirrels, and wasps…… and carpenter ants. In fact a colony of ants have eaten the supports for the back stairs. Oh joy.
Terry found a great recipe for making wasp traps out of 2litre pop bottles with vinegar, sugar and water. It works. The traps are full of yellow jackets. Nothing seems to work on the legions of mosquitoes though.
We’ve hardly had time this month to think about whales. We keep hearing that they are in the area but the closest we can get to the water is repairing leaks in our RIB (rigid-bottom inflatable boat). sigh…..
