Solo-Around-Nonstop - Dee Caffari/Aviva www.avivachallenge.com - zur Übersicht 13.04.2006 Relief for Dee after serious watermaker failure is repaired In Brief • Dee and shore team celebrating today after potentially serious watermaker failure posed a threat to the record • Three days of extensive communication between Dee and the shore team results in successful repair • Project Director Andrew Roberts warns, “The success of the voyage is dependant on a very large number of small components.” Summary Three days of extensive communication between Dee and the shore team have led to a successful repair of Aviva’s watermaker, following a technical failure that posed a potential threat to the record attempt. At the start of the week, Dee admitted “bursting into tears” from sheer frustration, when initial attempts to fix the broken watermaker failed and the situation became serious. With less than 150 litres of fresh water in Aviva’s tanks, she did not have enough for the reindexder of the voyage, so a repair was vital. Without a solution, Dee would have faced the unenviable challenge of collecting rainwater to satisfy basic requirements, but Project Director Andrew Roberts warned that this is, “physically quite difficult to do and we can't be sure there will be enough rain.” At a time when she should have been enjoying the warm trade winds and pleasant sailing, she was enduring rising temperatures and difficult working conditions below deck, fighting to find a way to restore her ability to produce fresh water. The problem originated from corrosion of electrical components, but identifying a solution was a painstaking process, involving a volley of photographs, emails and satellite phone calls to the shore team, who were taking apart an identical watermaker in an attempt to guide Dee to a repair. Andrew explained at the time that it is a “complicated, technical piece of equipment and it's an expert's job.” Some of the spare components had already been used, and the shore team were extremely concerned. “In the end what happened was a four-way job with input from our engineer Peter Pierce, electronics engineer Keith Baxter and Matthew Ratsey," explains Andrew. "Peter and Keith took the same type of pump apart so they were seeing exactly what Dee was seeing and they talked through it all on the Iridium satellite phone." Despite the obvious sense of relief in the whole team at surmounting another serious obstacle, Dee and the shore team are very much aware of the challenges the last 4,800 miles could present. In the latest Aviva Challenge podcast, now live on the website, Elaine Bunting reports that Andrew Roberts is, “painfully conscious that it’s at exactly this part of the record that a crisis can occur over the tiniest component or electrical connection.” “The reality is that the success of the voyage is dependant on a very large number of small components,” explains Andrew. “The failure of any one of those components could have a major effect on the voyage.” Happy that she can take a shower and fill the tanks with enough water to ensure she has enough for the rest of the voyage, Dee is also keeping her feet firmly on the ground: “This episode has heightened the need for vigilance all the way to the end and not to risk everything by allowing complacency to creep in. It also goes to show that absolutely anything can still happen with the miles left, even though in relation to what has gone before it is a small amount of time and distance. It has also strengthened the team and we are together making sure we consider every possibility with our daily and weekly checks.” Follow your dream If you have ever dreamt of travelling round the world yourself, you still have time to enter the Aviva Challenge competition to win £5,000 worth of travel vouchers. Correctly predict the point where Dee will first cross her outbound track on the website’s interactive map, and you could be travelling round the world in a direction and style of your choice! To enter, visit http://www.avivachallenge.com/index.asp?pageid=57 (Terms and conditions apply) Quick Links NEW PODCAST NOW LIVE – Listen to Elaine Bunting talk to Dee as she recovers from the watermaker saga, with commentary from Project Director Andrew Roberts and Personal Coach Harry Spedding: http://www.avivachallenge.com/index.asp?pageid=32 Read Dee’s latest diary entry: http://www.avivachallenge.com/index.asp?pageid=6 Send Dee a message: http://www.avivachallenge.com/index.asp?pageid=10 Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE