Natal: Farewell and thank you

On arrival at the Brazilian island of Fernando da Norona, we finally had the chance to diagnose the cause of Saecwen’s mid-Atlantic engine failure. Working in close contact with the team at the Elephant Boatyard back home, the news was bad.  The raw water pump, which provides the principal means of cooling our engine, had systemically failed. Crew mate Jem, who through herculean effort had disassembled the pump, was able to identify that the critical stainless-steel shaft that drives the circulation in the pump, had suffered irreparable damage.

Saecwen at anchor in the Potengi River, Natal

We were in a bit of a fix. The news from home was that our pump was a “one off” and the engine manufacturer therefore did not have a spare which could be flown out to us. We would therefore have to start from scratch to rebuild the entire unit. The one problem was that we were a long way from home. Information on the facilities and services offered by the various ports along the NE coast of Brazil was sketchy at best and most significantly finding anywhere with English speaking capabilities seemed almost impossible.

Thankfully, however, on her various night watches over the 3,500 miles we had sailed since leaving England in May, Heloise had taught herself Portuguese! Her ability to master the language was no doubt helped by the fact that she was already a fluent Spanish, Catalan and French speaker – but this incredible feat of teaching herself a new language in three months (at sea) was literally to save our bacon.

Celebrating successful tow into Natal

Conversations she then had with various marinas and yacht clubs on the mainland identified the port of Natal on Brazil’s NE corner as (apparently) having an excellent mechanic, the necessary engineering facilities and a friendly local fishing boat who could tow us up the river to the anchorage. So after sailing off our anchor at midnight in classic style we made a fast passage from Fernando da Noronha over to the mouth of the Potengi River for a dawn rendez-vous with Best New Brazilian Friend No 1, Cristianos, who was waiting for us in his 35ft sports fishing boat to escort us into the estuary. Within an hour of anchoring we were joined by New Brazilian Best Friend No 2, Martim – the mechanic. Soon to be known by Saecwen’s crew as “Martim the Magnificent”, he took a quick look at our unfortunate water pump and took it ashore promising to be back in a few days with a solution.

Then we waited. We had been warned not to leave the boat unattended at anchor (although at no moment did we ever feel remotely threatened) so we employed for a few “watchy men” to guard the boat when we were all ashore. One of these Camerão (or “The Shrimp” in English) soon became New Brazilian Best Friend No 3. He had worked on boats all his life and he was soon enthusiastically stripping down both our marine toilets (or Heads, to use the correct nautical term) to completely service them and clear an blockage in one of water input pipes.

Martim the Magnificent (mechanic)

Settled into our spot in the Potengi river with daily tos and fros  in the dinghy to escort people over to Saecwen, we soon lost count of our New Brazilian Best friends. The team at the yacht club (led by Damian the chief steward) looked after us royally, plying us with an incessant flow of Caipiriñhas. Camerão’s niece did all our laundry, Jaja the sailmaker took away our sun damaged sails covers and repaired them beautifully and Heloise even found a surf guide to help her catch some waves over on the seaward side of the town. We also became great friends with the crews of visiting yachts from Argentina and Southern Brazil.

Party on Saecwen with neighbouring yachts

The incredibly welcoming Iate Club do Natal became our base and second home. With great wifi and a laid back open air bar, both Heloise and Charlie were able to catch up with their shore-based affairs and with the club being the focal point of much of the comings and goings of the local community, we found ourselves embroiled in never ending stream of birthday parties, weddings, school outings, Sunday church services – and so forth.

Celebrating the fixed engine (Martim, Charlie & Jem)

After a few days Martim the mechanic returned. He had completed re-machined the shaft and bearings of the pump (which in itself was a major feat of engineering). To our relief the engine restarted – but our joy was short-lived when we came to restart the engine the next day and the pump failed again. Having wrestled half the front of the engine to pieces, ably assisted by Jem, Martim then pronounced that the coupling into which our brand-new shaft fitted had also been seriously damaged with the thread having been totally stripped. He now undertook to  re make the entire unit and disappeared into his back street workshop over the weekend to return with a now completely re-built pump the following Tuesday. It worked brilliantly and our engine was once again fighting fit.

Camarǎo servicing the heads

Although we never really intended to go there, our stay in Natal has been one of the highlights of our voyage. We met some of the nicest people imaginable who went completely out of their way to help us. We also all fell in love with Brazil and her people and vowed that we must return one day to explore this incredible country with much more time on our hands.

With many hugs and fond farewells, it was time to move on – and on the 29^th of October Saecwen headed back out under the Potengi Suspension Bridge to resume her adventures on the high seas.

Leaving Natal