As we headed more and more offshore the seas began to calm. We left with speeds at around 20knots and as time went on we sat comfortably at around 27knots. Things were looking good, the seas had become a glassy smooth and the boat was balancing well. We saw very little ships and had the sea to ourselves and the dolphins. After all land had disappeared we watched the lights of the oil rigs approaching and felt as though we were in our own hidden town. The sunset within the oil fields was stunning, we were all on a high as the boat performed perfectly. The sun was only out of sight for moments and the full moon kept our vision up. As the hours past since leaving yell at 19.05 we plotted on the charts and were happy with our progress. As we approached the shipping lane the fog set in thick and we were thankful for the radar on board. The inflatable tank appeared to be drawing air so Daniel w sat on deck positioning it to get the last litres of fuel out. When past the shipping lane and only about 20 miles from the norwegian coast around 300 miles from our departure in yell, aiming for Osen while the weather was good, Daniel changed over the fuel tanks and we swapped shifts at helm, things seemed as if they couldn't go wrong. We were expecting to arrive in Osen around lunch time.
Suddenly though the boats engine came to a grinding hault and as we all turned to check the fuel had been swapped over correctly. we went to start the engine again, a pained clicking noise came from the engine and we quickly realised that this wansnt something that we could solve imediatly. Quick actions meant we had released the auxhillary engine from its strapping and had lowered it ready for use in under a minute. Knowing the dangers of floating at sea in the fog in coastlands that's we didn't know we were thankful to have a back up engine. Unfortunately the back up wouldnt take any load and a slight problem we were aware of seemed to have increased to a real fault and we seemed at the mercy of the sea. The battery was low and we were floating powerless in thick fog with no radar in an ever building sea. Looking at each other we knew this could very quickly become a disaster. A few moments later we had the auxiliary engine running albeit at half power. We were able to run the radar for a few seconds every 10 minutes and while the men worked on the engine Amanda attempted to find the closest marina and steer towards it. With sea sickness and the lack of power we spent the next 5 hours attempting everything that could be done to get the engine going, including replacement of starter motor amongst other bits. Unfortunately nothing worked and with increasing sea we struggled to keep a course. Knowing that we would face more dangerous seas before getting to safety and knowing there was a high chance we would not have the speed to fight against the tide we made the disicion to phone for a tow. 2 and a half hours later the crew of maersk part of the NRSS (Norwegian lifeboat service) arrived and towed us the 20 odd miles in to Harøysund boat yard. The crew were exceptional and offered us advice and a bed for the night. Their friendly nature gave us a great deal of comfort in what was a stressful ending to a beautiful crossing.
As we looked for a WC around midnight we bumped in to the boat yard owner who kindly left us a key to his workshop so we could use the facilities. Despite our disappointment at the last 20 miles we were once more overwhelmed by the friendliness of all we had met.
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