Antarctica with Outdoor: Smoking across the Shaky Drake

On the way down to Antarctica, Spirit of Sydney's engine took up smoking and quickly developed the equivalent of a 40 a day habit or more specifically more than a litre an hour of oil. Although we had been able to use the engine throughout the trip, things seemed to be getting worse as the days went on. We had been able to trade favours for spare oil but out confidence in the engine was not high as we left Vernadsky for the return across the Drake Passage.

Now on our return on a stunningly fine calm morning, we crossed fingers and toes, fired up the generator and pressed the starter motor. Oil in the cylinders meant that compression was very high and every amp was needed to crank. Reluctantly the engine gave one revolution and then another and after a long spell of whining eventually clattered to life.

Untying the six shore lines at Vernadsky was briefly delayed by three crabeater seals basking on an iceflow by the line, but eventually we were on our way motoring back through a windless Lemaire Strait. Often called the Kodak Passage, it is a stunning fiord with numerous bergs and fields of brash ice, all glistening in the sun. Catching a whale logging (sleeping on the surface) was an added bonus.

In a slight breeze, we motor sailed into the Drake in enveloping fog. As soon as the wind was strong enough, we cut the motor. It restarted a couple of times when the wind dropped, but the last time it cut out as the wind rose. We all wondered if it had drawn its last breath.

Over the next two days the wind gradually rose. We were keeping as far west as possible for the expected strong winds near Cape Horn and were often sailing quite close hauled. Our confidence in Spirit increased steadily as we caught sudden wind increases with full sails set, at one point 30 knots with full Main, Stay Sail and Genoa. Spirit healed over hard but otherwise behaved impeccably. It wasn't quite so good for those sleeping below as they were now either lying on their lee cloths (safety nets on the bunk side) or on the side of boat. Sails were reefed several times and by the time we hit gusts of 48 knots we had three reefs in the Main and a partly reefed Stay Sail only. Throughout these conditions, Spirit took every blow like a champion and jumped back up for more.

I was struggling a bit with sea sickness as were some of the others. The sea were not big by Drake standards, at worst only a 3m swell (which is 6m from crest to trough), but the angle of attack sometimes made for an awkward motion. By the fourth day I was feeling pretty good and a day of mostly sunny, if sometimes squally weather lifted spirits all round. We had been having problems with the heaters since we started the crossing and were not using them, so it was good to dry out and warm up.

As we neared the entrance to the Beagle Channel we were suddenly becalmed. Caught in the strong current which was pushing us towards the shore we needed the engine and the engine decided it would not share the love. There were a few anxious moments as we brought the zodiac up on deck and started to assemble it (in order to fashion a tow or extra propulsion), but fortunately the wind came up and we were able to sail clear. When the wind later died we were taken in tow by a friendly fellow expedition yacht for several hours and eventually entered Ushuaia Harbour as a floating spectacle, propelled at two knots by our zodiac tied alongside.

A team of engineers was onboard a few hours later, committed to a complete engine rebuild within seven days. The cause appears to be a turbo failure leading to valve guide failure and so on. With any luck, Darrel will be able to put these issues to bed and get Spirit back down south as soon as possible.

We have been enjoying the extra two days in Ushuaia, visiting Glacier Martial yesterday and Estancia Harberton today. But they will be a separate blog. Its late.

Below are a few photos now that we have Internet access.