Losing Our Rudder To The Sea D23 01/06/21
Day 23 01/06/2021
We lost our Babord (left) Rudder at sea, don’t ask how, fuck do I know. The rudder for those who don’t know is the is the part of the ship under the boat that guides the boat’s direction. The day following our short stop in Vigo, we struggled to maintain our course in a straight line when sailing without the use of the engines. The potential causes were the rudder or auto pilot messing up. Given we continued to struggle after disactivating the auto pilot, the logical cause would be from the rudder. In spite of that, we doubted the problem could come from the rudder given the boat was brand new and we hadn’t felt any significant impact (I did but apparently it’s because I’m a noob).
After we settled into our birth in the Marina of Las Palmas, Thomas immediately dived into the water to diagnose the rudder’s condition, within two second he saw it had disappeared. This was a big blow to the crew given the delay could mean Els would be forced to leave early due to personal obligations. Our options were limited to depending on the dealership sending us a new rudder or building an approximate steel replica in the shipyard using the rudder tube that had remained.
After contacting the dealership to inquire if a new rudder was available to be shipped, which it wasn’t, we got started on removing the rudder’s tube which remained. The rudder tube holds the rudder, it is also what rotates and orients the ship’s direction. The technique to remove it whilst on water was very interesting (I’ll make a video explaining the procedure with a visual to aid my explanation), we started by disassembling any connections to the ship in the engine hatch in order to tie a knot to its top. This would enable us to slide it down slowly under the boat using a thin rope, however this would only allow us to sink it slower. We could try to swim under water and carry it to the surface, but that would only increase our chances of sinking with it. Instead we swam under to tie a solid knot that would allow us to pull it out from the outside as we slowly sank it below the boat.
For obvious reasons I wasn’t eager to take on this role, however as many of you know I hate missing a chance to be the hero. I also knew I would regret not being the one to do it because it was a great opportunity to learn and push the boundaries of my comfort. Furthermore Thomas’s nonchalance made me wonder what bothered so much… other than the dirty, oily, toxic fish infested waters of the largest cargo and private Marina in the Canari Islands, in the end what was the worst that could happen to me.
It was a very elegant solution that worked very smoothly and would allow us to use our back up plan. We are currently working on building the rudder’s replica using the remaining rudder tube, a simple task that should take 24h-48h. Once the rudder is ready we will have the slightly more difficult task of sliding it back up the ship using the same method. Best case scenario, we sail out in on the coming Thursday or Friday. It’s a pain for the crew but isn’t it making for a colorful adventure?
