You've all heard the saying; "Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky at morning, sailor's take warning." Well there is a scientific basis for the first part of the saying, there is really none for the second. So, when I motoring out of Ingram Bay; back to the Chesapeake, I paid little attention to this sight.
It was pretty enough to snap a picture or two, but not ominous enough to cause angst over the weather for the upcoming day.
The wind was from the south, directly where I wanted to go. I'm on a time crunch of sorts. I wanted to make Hampton before sunset. There was a storm coming through later tonight and I wanted to beat it to Hampton. So, I motored... no sails. With this wind direction they would not help.
I was making good time. It was a little after 11 am and I had less than 6 hours to Hampton.
As a pilot you are trained to scan the instruments. While sailing, I still make regular scans of the engine instruments when the engine is running. That is in addition to the sailing instruments. On this latest scan, I noticed the engine temp was elevated, and not just a little. I eased the throttle, but kept going at a slower speed. I wasn't overheating yet, which gave me time to troubleshoot a bit. The temperature started to drop.
I wasn't pushing the engine hard; certainly not hard enough to cause it to run hot. I decided to idle down and to neutral so I could have a look. There was no water in the upper reservoir. I went to the galley and filled a gallon jug and filled the reservoir
I started moving south again, at a slower speed. The temp was perfect, but I just added water. In the back of my head, I was wondering... where did the water go? After a while Increased the speed, and then increased it again. Once again the temp started rising.
I couldn't find any leaks, although I could smell antifreeze. I thought the odor may be coming from the exhaust; meaning the heat exchanger had a leak in it. The heat exchanger is the equivalent to a radiator in your car, but instead of using air to cool things off, it uses the sea water.
Then, not being the eternal optimists, I was thinking head gasket.. a simple, but costly engine repair. Costly in both dollars and time.
I decided to turn around and head for Deltaville, which is known to have excellent service facilities. There was no way at my present safe speed I would make Hampton before dark. With all the Naval ships in the area, and total lack of familiarity, turning around was the safest option in all regards.
I anchored out across from the Deltaville Marina.
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