Yesterday a message came through from a boat behind us that his engine cooling water intake had been blocked by growth and he had to snorkle under his boat to clear it.
As winds were very light and forcast to increase we decided to take the opportunity to stop Shimshal and check our own hull and water intakes. Cooling systems are under enough pressure with water temperatures approaching 30 degrees without restricting water flow.
It was also a good chance for Heather and I to have a mid ocean swim, another box to tick!
So, we put away the jib, turned into the wind, and stopped Shimshal. You can never entirely stop a boat in mid water, but she wasn't moving forward, just bobbing up and down.
It is no small thing to get off a boat mid ocean, we were 900 miles from the nearest land and in water around 4250m deep. There is no swimming home if the boat goes away. So one at a time, and with a dedicated, throw line wielding, crew member watching the swimmer, in we went.
I went first and quickly established we were in no danger of having blocked water intakes, there was some light growth which was quickly dislodged but a surprising number of passengers considering we scrubbed the hull before leaving Galapagos and it had been pretty clean then. Also Shimshal was freshly antifouled only 10 weeks ago. Apparently the goose necked barnicals just drop off after a few days at anchor, perhaps they like a moving boat as it provides them with a ready supply of water to filter their food from. Once we anchor their days are numbered though.
Once I was safely back on board Heather took the plunge, the chance to swim in the middle of the Pacific too good to pass.
The water was such an intense blue, increadably clear and clean. Looking down it just went on for ever getting darker and darker.
Swimming in such deep water was a strange feeling, over 4km to the bottom, we saw no fish or other animals but know they are there somewhere. It realy makes no difference how deep the water is when swimming as you only need the top few meters but it realy is something you need to get your head around before jumping in.
With us both back on board we got Shimshal underway again, the skipper breathed a sigh of relief to have all his crew back where they belong
Tim