Light winds through the morning, spinnaker conditions in the afternoon, then the wind died away to 3-5kts and the motor was switched on. This revealed a problem with the port engine. We started it up and put it in gear to heavy vibration, and then a whining noise which sounded like a slipping belt. So, turned it off and went into the engine room to investigate. I found a sheared-off bolt which was (not) holding the alternator in place. We can’t run the engine without fixing it, because the alternator and raw water pump for the engine share a drive belt. Given the position of it, drilling out the section of the bolt that’s stuck in the engine would be, errm, a little awkward. It’s not a job I was keen to do at sea. So, we were down to one engine. Thankful for catamaran redundancy here as we only use one engine at a time on passage anyway!
Kids were being awkward in the morning, which is funny as there was virtually no swell, we had all slept well, and they had no reason for being awkward little… boys. Apart from the fact they’re kids, of course, and kids have days like that. So, in the afternoon we kept them busy with some painting (on canvases we had picked up in Arrecife), making train sets and generally doing “stuff”. We also caught up on the washing.
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