At the moment we are motoring directly into a light headwind that is blowing directly from Fiji. It's only around 6 knots, but it doesn't take much at sea to slow you down.
Yesterday was mostly light and fickle wind from the north, and even though we didn't break any records, we made respectable time.
I jumped into the engine room and investigated the raw water issue and luckily wasn't followed by a wall of water. There are a few usual suspects to check, and when none of them turned up anything obvious, I had to slowly start looking at things less obvious.
Part of my investigation relied on the fact the engines had had a comprehensive service before we departed. So when the next few checks didn't turn up anything to explain the lack of cooling water, I had to challenge that.
I took out the impeller and immediately realised the engine had not, in fact, had a full service. It was intact, with no bent or broken vanes, but it was clearly used and didn't feel new in my hand. When I measured it against a new one, it was about 1mm less in diameter. Popped a new one in and Robert's your father's brother!
It's always slightly frustrating when you have to start questioning something you had been told was already taken care of. The good thing is that it was a relatively simple thing to check, and the new impeller is now in place. I will keep an eye on the cooling water over the next few days to make sure the problem is actually resolved.
The forecast is showing the breeze will start to fill in from the south in 24 hours, and we can start to crack on again. The sooner we get to Fiji the better because that means I can leave.
I also need to discover why the quality of the photos is so poor that I am uploading.