On October 17th, we departed Monterey on a foggy morning with an expectation of 4-6 foot seas and 20 knot winds on our way down to Morro Bay. Nothing we hadn’t seen or experienced on our trip so far, so we thought nothing of it.
4 hours into the trip, we had one may call “A Learning Experience”.
An alarm on our stabilizers panel informed us our hydraulic fluid was getting low. A quick look at the tank and connections and nothing obvious was jumping out at us. Seas had exceeded the called for forecast, and we were already healing and bouncing around quite a bit, making movement around the boat a challenge. With Jamie’s help, we refilled the reservoir, but it quickly drained out… with the loss of hydraulic fluid, the stabilizers shut down.
Six Flags ain’t got nothing on a 72 foot Nordhavn in 8-10 foot following seas with wind gusts up to 40 knots. The boat was healing from one side to the other, bobbing up and down, getting tossed about like a ship on the ocean. Thanks Kansas!
In an abundance of caution, with the loss of stabilizers, we contacted the Coast Guard to report we had lost a critical system. We were still navigating under power and in control of the ship, there was no urgency, just for peace of mind. The Coast Guard recommended we continue to try for Morro Bay as that was the first protected anchorage where we could repair the boat.
We kept on for a while longer, and then, the biggest wave yet raised the stern and made the boat feel like it was playing twister. Things were moving in directions and angles we’d never experienced. Our tiltmeter tops out at 25 degrees, and we were waaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy past that. I watched helplessly as our red kayak simply floated out of holder on the bow – normally 8-10 feet above the water. Water washed over the gunwale of the port side of the boat, flooding the walkway and cockpit and pouring into the lazarette.
High water alarms started going off for the engine room and lazarette. We turned the bow into the wind and decided to ride out the storm in the relative comfort of only pitching up and down.
I went down to investigate the high water alarms. On my way, I saw the disaster area that was the salon – it looks like I had relived a temper tantrum from my youth – furniture overturned, stuff all over the floor, broken spices (the boat smelled great!), etc…..
The engine room bilge pump had already cleared the water. I looked through the port hole to the lazarette and there was still water a few inches above the floorboards. The pumps did their job, and in a few minutes water wasn’t visible anymore. The high water alarm continued to sound though, so there was a problem somewhere.
We informed the Coast Guard of our excessive heal, that we took on water, and our decision to ride out the weather facing north instead of continuing towards Morro Bay. Because we took on water, the Coast Guard decided to dispatch a 47 foot lifeboat to assist us.
As we assessed the damage and cleared walk ways to the engine room, up and down the stairs, etc… the Coast Guard came on the radio again – this time, it was “PAN PAN”
I thought to myself “oh crap, someone else is having a bad night just like us”.
The message continued “A disabled 72 foot Nordhavn” and I thought “what a coincidence, 2 Nordhavns on the same night…….”
And then “17 miles north of Morro Bay” – crap! they were talking about us!
I never felt unsafe or that we were in any danger from forces outside of the boat (flying printers, different story!). Clearly though, the Coast Guard thought it was serious enough to dispatch a boat and put a call out in case our situation worsened. 90 minutes later, we were intercepted by the Coast Guard. They escorted us to San Simeon bay to anchor for the night. We continued regular check ins overnight and throughout the next day until we arrived in Morro Bay.
We hauled anchor early on Friday on a much calmer day. We made good time down to Morro Bay, healing to about 20-22 degrees on even the small 2-3 foot swells. The boat sounded like a Lego factory the whole way there. We pulled into Morro Bay, and spent a couple of days putting Humpty Dumpty back together.
The next day, someone returned our kayak! Humanity is amazing sometimes! A fishing boat went out of their way to pick up our kayak in the middle of the ocean, and bring it back down to us in Morro Bay.
