There was silence and bowed heads as the team arrived at the marina in Plymouth. Was it a problem that could be fixed, or was it a terminal problem?
It had been an early start after a very late finish for the first day of the GB RIB Challenge. The boat was ready and the first thing was to get her into the water. While trying to extract the RIB from the barn it became apparent that the Ford Galaxy we were going to use for towing had a bit less traction that was required to put the RIB in the water at Torquay, unless we wanted both of them to get rather wet and so we opted for the shallower slipway at Totnes. This meant that we would emerge into the Channel at Dartmouth but so long as we finished there, it would be fine.
Slipping into the water we were plesantly surprised that things were now turning in our favour. We loaded up with the days kit, said our goodbyes and pushed off into the river Dart.
Observing the speed limits going down the river gave us some time to organise the kit on deck, tie down the anchor and the spare propellor and generally prepare ourselves for the challenge ahead. As we came into Dartmouth we drew up alongside the fuel barge and started to fill up the tanks with diesel. We have a main fuel tank under the deck which is about 90L, three 90L fuel tanks strapped down on the bows on the boat which we have to pump into the main tank when it gets low and 2 jerry cans for emergencies. As we continued to fuel up the man on the fuel barge said “Where are you putting all of that? Are you pumping it straight into the bilges?” We laughed it off at the time but little did we know that those words would come back to haunt us within the next 3 hours.
And so we set into the open sea. The weather was perfect as we headed out into the sea past Start Point (Yes, that’s actually it’s name). Sunny with light winds blowing just in our faces we got underway. Simon at the helm showing the rest of us how it should be done -gliding down the back of the waves instead of slamming into them. The speed into the weather was about 20 knots and so slightly slower than the best we could expect but everything was fine and spirits were high although we had to communicate by shouting over the noise of the engine and so banter and idle chat were thin on the ground.
It was almost like being alone. Everyone’s seat except the driver faces outwards and so you get a lovely view of the Devon coastline or of the Channel depending on which side of the boat you’re on. You can’t see any of the other members of your crew unless you look sideways. The constant hum of the engine does get wearing rather rapidly and I slipped back into the process of thinking about things that had occupied my mind during the Atlantic.
As fuel was used up from the main tank George turned on the fuel pump to move diesel from the external fuel tanks into the main tank. We’d calculated that we’d need to turn it on for 30 minutes in every 90 in order to keep the main fuel tank full. However, after half an hour or running the pump the main tank wasn’t shoping any signs of being full. We carried on pumping.
90L of fuel had gone into the main tank and we hadn’t gone any appreciable distance. Where had the fuel gone? Was the engine really that inefficient (it was rated as 1.1nm per litre of fuel) or did we have a leak? A quick use of the bilge pump showed that the engine compartment was full of diesel!! Not what we wanted. Taking the quick decision to make for “any port in a storm” we immediately made for Plymouth.
George’s comment was “I’m not one for soundbites but I can feel the hand of history being removed from our shoulders.”
After some diagnostic checking of the boat’s systems (driving around a bit in the harbour) we found out what the problem was. A hole in the fuel tank.
After a cup of tea and a chat we looked at the options.
-Carry on regardless
- Carry on by using the existing external fuel tanks (less range and more fuel stops)
- Carry on after adding an extra fuel tank externally (same range but less safe, take another day to add the tank and have problems with getting fuel into the engine)
- Mend the main fuel tank (massive job, probably take at least 5-6 days and cost a lot)
- Charter another RIB
- Go home with our tales between our legs and a good pub story.
Well no one was willing to go for either of the first 3 options…it’s one thing being in the middle of an ocean and having to make a decision to get you out of a situation but when you’re in port there is no sense in putting yourself in harm’s way unless you have to. We don’t have to. It’s a gutting decison to have to make but if we had problems in yesterday’s lovely weather then the story could end rather more nastily if we had pushed on with it up to the bad weather that’s in the Irish Sea and North Scotland.
We searched (and continue to search) for another RIB with the right fuel range and at reasonable cost but the window open to us for the RIB challenge is rapidly diminishing as people have to return to work in a weeks time.
So we did the only thing that can be done in this sort of situation, head for the pub and laugh about it. It’s a real shame to have done all the work that we have, only to fail quite so rapidly. This is a problem that we would only have noticed if we had done a fully loaded fuel test prior to departure. Should we have done that? Yes, but as always with this sort of adventure, there just wasn’t time.
So what now, we’ll go back to Plymouth today and pick up the RIB, the fuel tank will need to be fixed and then do we try again? I guess that question remains to be seen. I’d like to thank my fellow ribbers especially Georgie who’s currently in Cardiff with a car full of our posessions. Having a land support vehicle is a massive part of the challenge and without her help we wouldn’t have been able to go at all. Thank you too to those of you who have followed our preparations and our first day of the challenge, I’m so sorry to be letting you down. Let the banter begin.
We’re looking for a soundtrack to the challenge. Which song best describes our journey. The best comment gets a play on the next boat I get on. But having had my first experience of a boat with an engine to end like this I feel I may stick to the variety with oars. There seems to be less to go wrong.
Rib on ribbatears.
