What is history?

The BBQ was a great success despite the need to try to find all the gear we had taken ashore in the pitch black of a moonless night. Next day we Sailed off the anchor and headed into the eastern anchorage at Trogir to pick up three of the following week's crew, Melvin, Mike and Tim, and four of David Ashby's joiners, Mike, Steve, Kelsey and Julian. With this crowd onboard (excluding Tim who was scheduled to arrive later in the afternoon) we waited for David and Francesco to arrive. David was returning to Croatia from the UK via Brindisi where he had left Camilla.

Camilla duly arrived at about 1500 and Tim by 1630. From here we all (14 of us) set off for Necujam, in Solta for a departure/arrival celebration supper in the restaurant there. With the large number of people to land and only two 4/5 man dinghies it was always going to be a logistical challenge; when David's outboard decided to refuse to participate, the challenge turned into a nightmare. Suffice to say we made very few friends in the anchorage with the number times we passed to and fro with Kurukulla's dinghy towing Camilla's. With all back on board, by midnight'ish, the late night revellers decided that the night was still young. Next morning however we all felt our age! A swim in the cool waters of the anchorage was the only cure.

From here we had to be in Rogac, only one mile away, for the 1530 ferry departure; to dispatch Chris, Martin, Dom and Pete back via Split to UK. We arrived at 1200, refuelled, watered and the enjoyed a final goodbye lunch at the local restaurant before seeing them off on the ferry. The remainder of us set off for Luka Tiha where we planned to meet up with a large group of sailing friends who had chartered several boats from Kastela Marina near Split. Kastela was a place I was to get to know very well before many days had passed! Another late night party ensued and another early morning swim to clear the head!

Next morning we set off for Viz via a lunchtime swim stop in the St Klement Islands. Jerolim is slowly recovering from last year's fire. Amazingly, whilst at anchor, who should turn up but Michael Forest, a sailing friend from UK, in his newly acquired Contessa 32; this summer has been full of such co-incidences. Following lunch onboard Kurukulla, with Michael and his crew Pablo as guests, we were forced to leave them and set off for our overnight venue of Viz; they were destined for Split.

Viz has never been a favourite with David and Camilla and after this visit I doubt he will ever set foot on the island again. Having squeezed himself into a tight anchorage, requiring a line ashore to arrest the swing, a local fisherman took exception to the arrangement and cut David's shore line. Not surprisingly an altercation ensued between David, who is of not insignificant proportions, and the one armed local fisherman. Following interventions by harbour authorities and local police peace was restored but due to the low value of a mooring line (and one suspects the fact the fisherman was local) no further action was taken despite the potential for extensive damage to be caused by such recklessness!

By our arrival in Viz I was becoming increasingly concerned by the volume of oil appearing in Kurukulla's wake. Not unburned fuel but lub oil! Up until this season her engine has never consumed excessive oil. We were pinned down in Viz for two days by the Scirocco (strong south-easterly wind) but eventually left in a boisterous east wind and very lumpy sea to head for the eastern end of Brac. Departure was accompanied by the usual oily wake and I decided that over the next two days I would have to make my way back to Split and find the cause. After a brief look in Bobovisce, searching for a potable water supply for Camilla, we sailed down to Milna where I anchored in the roads to avoid having to run the engine whilst Camilla again went in in search of water. After an unsuccessful half hour they to anchored in the roads for the night, near us.

Next morning we sailed off the anchor and headed north. After talking to the various agents ashore, drawing heavily on the local knowledge of Velko, (a local friend who taxi drives in his spare time and has helped me considerably, last year and this, with getting crews to/from the airport to the right place), I decided to head for Kastella Marina. On arrival we were met by Velko and the local Volvo Agent, Petar; from there the saga started! There were only two possibilities to explain the oil loss, turbocharger or oil cooler (which for some strange reason is not on the fresh water cooling circuit!). An hour later the offending oil cooler departed in the hands of Petar and I breathed a deep sigh of relief; the much cheaper of the two potential repairs! That night 40 of us (the charter team had returned) set off for a meal in the ancient water mill at Trogir, the Mlinice Pantan, +385 21895095, to celebrate, amongst other things, Steve's 30^th birthday and the prospect of a reasonably priced repair to Kurukulla. A great night was had by all with the, by now, habitual sore heads in the morning!

After a day in port avoiding the Bura (Strong north-easterly winds) and with the offending oil cooler repaired and reinstalled we set off again in the company of Camilla. No oil in the wake, not a care in the world and then …........ the engine seized! A short dying burst of black smoke, a puff of soot in the water for old time's sake and silence! No warnings, no alarms. Camilla towed us ignominiously back to the harbour entrance from where we were escorted in by the marina RIB; back to the same berth from which we had departed an hour earlier! Camilla wished us well and went on their way, there was no more they could do. Petar immediately came back onboard to discover what had gone wrong. The oil pump had lost suction and the whole oil gallery of the engine was dry. Try as I might I could not link this to the work he had done previously, this despite hours of poring over the books and diagrams. We re-primed the pump, installed an oil pressure gauge, barred over and then re-started the engine (which by now had cooled and freed up somewhat), all done with our fingers crossed. Eureka, good oil pressure, good engine response and no smoke. Breathe a second, heartfelt, sigh of relief! Next day (Sunday) Petar came down to the boat we again started the engine, all normal, idled it for half an hour and then prepared to sail for an hour long engine trial. This time our continuous monitoring of the oil pressure allowed us to stop the engine just before it seized, again. The oil pressure collapsed after exactly the same period of running and ironically in exactly the same place! The engine would turn, just, but not start! It was “un-roll the genoa”, sail back to the marina in the light southerly breeze and make another phone call to Petar, who by now was getting to know us quite well! With no Camilla, and a very slow response from the marina to our request for a tow, we sailed into the marina (maintenance area this time!) and made a gentle alongside. Out came the books and there commenced a lot of head scratching. All to no avail! By the end of the day we had arranged to dispatch the remaining crew members to join other boats who had spare places and I had “gritted my teeth” and agreed to purchase €6100 worth of new engine. In the midst of all this Melvin had also managed to blow up the inverter by plugging the vacuum cleaner into it; he was not to know we had not yet shut down the inverter and shifted to shore supply!

That night we all re-grouped at Trogir for a dinner to mark Mike and Steve's departure. Our return journey to Kastella was nothing if not by good fortune. In the absence of any taxis we had walked to the bus station in order to attempt to catch a bus along the coast and we were rewarded for our efforts when a bus arrived very shortly after us; our elation however was to be short lived. It was the last bus to arrive at Trogir that night and the driver informed us in a mixture of broken English and Croatian that it was not going anywhere until 0400! With a beaming smile, he then announced that he lived in Kastela and would give us a lift. Amazing kindness and a sense of humour to boot; not commonly found in Croatia, they are a very serious people!

Yesterday morning the others departed Kurukulla to join other boats. By mid-day the new engine (a Sola diesel, Mitsubishi made) had been sourced and Petar and I set about removing the old engine; by evening it was ready to sling out. This morning I received a reply to my cry for help and advice to “Marine Engineering Looe”, Plymouth Branch; they offered a diagnosis of the problem, a failed “O” seal in the oil pump suction line; deep in the engine. One of their engineers had seen this problem before! Petar was “off the hook”, nothing to do with his earlier repair, pure coincidence. I was reminded of that great line in the film “The History Boys” …......... “ Do you know what history is? It's just one f....ing thing after another!” In the past few days the history of Kurukulla has been exactly that! To save my sanity the MEL engineer also said that repairing the old engine was not a sensible option. It is verging on obsolete, no longer supported by Volvo spares, and would cost 80% of the cost of installing the new engine. Phew, at least I got that decision right! Anyone with a Volvo Penta engine with problems, go to Marine Engineering Looe. +44 1752 226143. I certainly can't thank them enough for their helpful support. The situation now is that we are having the best sailing weather seen in the past fortnight, the old engine is sitting on the jetty and a shiny new one is residing in the engine bay waiting to be bolted down and connected up. Where do I remember doing this sort of thing before? Could it be in the RN? Further OPDEF Sitreps to follow. (For the non RN amongst the readers OPDEF is an OPerational DEFect signal.)