April 9, 2026
44d 06"S 73d 24" W
Today we have the luxury of resupplying almost anywhere thanks to supply routes binding the entire world together. Provisioning still requires some organization and attention but the variety of products and food available at the ends of the earth is truly amazing. Not so much in Slocum's day as he sailed alone on SPRAY in the very early 1900s. His diet as noted in Sailing Alone Around the World was basic, "My diet on these long passages usually consisted of potatoes and salt cod and biscuits, which I made two or three times a week. I carried usually a good supply of potatoes, but before reaching Samoa I had a mishap which left me destitute of this highly prized sailors' luxury." He loved potatoes but makes no mention of butter! We had plenty of potatoes on Ocean Watch and ditto on One Ocean. Our log entries attest to a different problem.
Thursday, September 3, 2009 End of Butter on OW
Log entry: There are two freezers and one refrigerator on Ocean Watch. The refrigerator and small freezer are in the galley. The second freezer is in the workshop space is large and deep, huge for a boat of this size. On tip-toes while bending over and reaching as far as I can while moving frozen fish, meat, vegetables, bacon, cheese tortillas, bear (yes, a gift) and then more of each, I'm just able to touch the bottom. I've discovered butter isn't there, nor is it in the galley freezer, ditto the refrigerator. We're out of butter! For a few of us this is very close to a crisis. Pancakes, popcorn, toast and countless other butter-dependent treats might as well be thrown off the boat. I know, I know . . . without butter we would all be healthier….
Thursday, April 9, 2026 End of Butter on OO
Yesterday we noticed our handy refrigerated butter supply was getting low but thought/hoped our seemingly bottomless freezer held at least one more yellow brick somewhere. I looked but didn't find any and today Tess confirmed . . . no butter. Lucky for us we ran out of popcorn several days ago or else we would truly have a crisis on our hands. Popcorn without butter is, well . . . popcorn without butter.
No worries here, we have neither. Be assured, I understand given the current global political situation no-butter is just what I've titled this little report - Trivia! I also know what you might be thinking . . . if running out of butter is a crisis then everything else on Oo must be working well. And we are, no doubt, becoming a healthier crew.
Now to more important details of onboard "drama" involving anchors, heaters and fixing something not needing to be fixed. Anchoring is a good place to start. Sometimes sailing into a bay and setting our spade anchor isn't completely successful. Here is a snapshot of successful and unsuccessful anchoring days on our way from Bahia Dosolada to Puerto Eden:
3/19 1900 hrs Anchor down, Caleta Brecknock
3/20 0830 hrs Anchor up
3/20 2200 hrs Anchor down, Caleta Gallant
3/21 1140 hrs Anchor up
3/21 1530 hrs Anchor down, Bahia Tilly
3/26 2015 hrs Anchor up
3/27 1730 hrs Anchor down, Caleta Darde (1)
3/28 0830 hrs Anchor up (gusting 30+)
3/29 0830 hrs Anchor down, Caleta Darde (2)
3/29 1400 hrs Anchor up (gusting 40+)
3/29 1430 hrs Anchor down + 2 tree lines, Caleta Darde (3)
3/29 1530 hrs Anchor up (tree lines snapped by wind) (wind direction change 180d)
3/29 1615 hrs Anchor down, +225' chain rode (4) (gusting 35+, swinging, solid)
3/30 0730 hrs Anchor up (leaving Caleta Darde!) celebrating
High lights . . . . and lows.
A few days and many anchorages ago Southern Chile air temperatures dropped to where our reliable Hurricane Hydronic heating system was once again our favorite piece of equipment. Warm air ducted to every cabin and almost instant hot water to all the sinks has provided months of delightful physical and emotional comfort . . . and then it stopped working! The system uses diesel fuel from a dedicated tank to keep a flame ignited in an internal heat chamber - providing heat to vents inside Oo while making as much hot water as required for a long soak. With some foresight and experience of things not working perfectly on boats we added a small electric heater to our container of spare parts for the Hurricane, hoping that at some problem/date that container would hold the solution to a 'no heat' issue. Turns out that 'problem/date' coincided with a significant drop in temperature accompanied by wind, rain, sleet and snow. Go time for the box of spares, trouble-shooting guide and, if necessary, outside consultation.
Thanks to Mike Beemer for his foresight on loading Oo with spares the heater might need over time and to our 'brain-trust' group of experienced volunteers at Marine Tech, I had all of the parts needed to fix the presenting problem - flame ignites for a few seconds and then extinguishes itself, repeatedly. It seemed obvious that fuel was not getting to the right place. Trouble shooting 101: dedicated fuel tank full (sight gauge on the tank), check. Air supply to the unit not blocked, check. Fuel igniter unit operating correctly, check. Internal optical sensor clean, check. Voltage to pumps, switches nominal, check. Heat chamber and nozzle clean, check. Sensors and nozzle replaced just to make sure, wire connections cleaned, etc. etc. Time to test . . . still no constant flame, no ignition, no good. And, just for good measure, the anchor alarm activated indicating a dragging anchor while I was contorted in the cockpit Hurricane closet. Oo has a very competent crew - both of whom jumped to the anchor issue while I continued to wrestle with the heater. No worries for me when Tess and Jenn are in charge of the more important issues.
After a few more unsuccessful attempts to resolve the heater issue I took a moment to think about our first diagnosis, i.e. no fuel. That triggered an overdue thought. All three of our fuel tanks have sight gauges for checking tank levels. The heater has a dedicated tank, using and returning fuel only to that tank. The sight gauge indicated a full tank when we last filled it . . . and after hours of use it still was registering a full tank! Sight gauges have external valves that have to be opened to read the actual level in a tank and some guy of a certain age simply forgot to open the valves when checking the tank level. Once opened they indicated the situation perfectly . . . the tank was completely empty. No chance a diesel furnace/heater can operate without fuel. The clues were all there, I just wasn't reading them. The good news, with fuel and servicing the heater works perfectly. Nice result after feeling embarrassed and annoyed it took so long and this many words to discover the problem.
Sometimes adventures aren't where you expect them to be and sometimes they are right in front of you. We have appreciated most of them! So far, most of our 'problems' have been trivial, thanks to all who have helped make that so.