Sailing is a fine hobby, it gets you out in the sunshine gives you exercise and you get to meet lots of interesting people. But it would be so much better if you could just dial up the right wind direction and strength. Yesterday there was definitely too much and today there is not enough. Through the night we cruised along at a gentle 4-5 knots including a bit of push from our one functional engine (still got a rope or net around the prop and shaft) and this morning we hoisted the spinnaker (with slightly less cursing and confusion than I was expecting). Now we are whizzing along at... 5-6 knots including a bit of push... The apparent wind is only 7 knots so what can you do?
Early yesterday the watermaker decided to go on strike until I met its extensive list of demands. (We had a full tank in reserve so I put the job off until it got less bumpy). These included: scrubbing the strainer with my toothbrush to remove a thick coating of red algae or corrosion or something, changing the 50 micron intake filter, then changing the 20 and then the 5 micron filters. Unfortunately it is capable of only asking for one thing at a time so you do one, assume the problem is fixed, run the watermaker for a bit and then have it break down with a new fault code. While I was head down in the bilge doing this Jim noticed the generator exhaust was smoking a bit so as last time this was a symptom of overheating I went into diagnostic disassembly mode. First I removed the hose on the through hull to check water was coming in, then the one way valve then the impellor then the cover to the heat exchanger - absolutely nothing apparently wrong but when I put it all back together the smoke had stopped so my conclusion is that the generator got jealous of the attention I was paying the watermaker and had a tantrum.
Justin has made his contribution to improving the function of the boat today. The back of the helm seat has always been horribly uncomfortable as you can feel the metal bar through the padding. Justin's solution was to remove the cover and padding, wind thick rope around the bar, duct tape it in place and replace the rest. It works really well and the rest of the watches will be noticeably more comfortable.
I believe Louise to be sneakily studying in her cabin as she seems to know more about sailing the boat each day and I spied a cruising book in there while checking the through hull. She is now confidently taking a hand with reefing and sail changes as well as watches and has got the hang of steering into the wind and using the winches. Her seasickness has substantially diminished today so I think she is feeling more cheerful.
We had a go at fishing again and had a number of false alarms. We reeled the lines in to do a sail change and didn't have the heart to put them out again especially as Justin had already defrosted some prawns to put in a Pad Thai for dinner. In the end with the sea calm and not enough wind for either the Spinnaker or Genoa I could no longer put off going under the boat and cutting out the clump of fishing net and rope that was lodged there. Doing this in mid-Ocean gives me a feeling somewhere between having agoraphobia and being an expendable minor character in Jaws.
We've now eaten the Pad Thai which was very nice and are motoring along comfortably at 6 knots using both engines. Jim is sitting in back waiting to see if there is a green flash (Bahamas/Caribbean phenomena where the sun flashes green just as it sets) in the nice sunset we are seeing.
I never had the Sam Adams last night and am sleeping better for not drinking which is a real shame as I like beer almost as much as I like sleep. Anyway in the name of proper research I had one at 5o'clock today and I'll see how it goes. Jim saw me lying in the sun with my book in one hand and the beer in the other and said "hard life isn't it" - and really you know it's not, it's just absolutely great. Oh, we are now on "Atlantic time" so we are one hour later here than the US East coast.
Early yesterday the watermaker decided to go on strike until I met its extensive list of demands. (We had a full tank in reserve so I put the job off until it got less bumpy). These included: scrubbing the strainer with my toothbrush to remove a thick coating of red algae or corrosion or something, changing the 50 micron intake filter, then changing the 20 and then the 5 micron filters. Unfortunately it is capable of only asking for one thing at a time so you do one, assume the problem is fixed, run the watermaker for a bit and then have it break down with a new fault code. While I was head down in the bilge doing this Jim noticed the generator exhaust was smoking a bit so as last time this was a symptom of overheating I went into diagnostic disassembly mode. First I removed the hose on the through hull to check water was coming in, then the one way valve then the impellor then the cover to the heat exchanger - absolutely nothing apparently wrong but when I put it all back together the smoke had stopped so my conclusion is that the generator got jealous of the attention I was paying the watermaker and had a tantrum.
Justin has made his contribution to improving the function of the boat today. The back of the helm seat has always been horribly uncomfortable as you can feel the metal bar through the padding. Justin's solution was to remove the cover and padding, wind thick rope around the bar, duct tape it in place and replace the rest. It works really well and the rest of the watches will be noticeably more comfortable.
I believe Louise to be sneakily studying in her cabin as she seems to know more about sailing the boat each day and I spied a cruising book in there while checking the through hull. She is now confidently taking a hand with reefing and sail changes as well as watches and has got the hang of steering into the wind and using the winches. Her seasickness has substantially diminished today so I think she is feeling more cheerful.
We had a go at fishing again and had a number of false alarms. We reeled the lines in to do a sail change and didn't have the heart to put them out again especially as Justin had already defrosted some prawns to put in a Pad Thai for dinner. In the end with the sea calm and not enough wind for either the Spinnaker or Genoa I could no longer put off going under the boat and cutting out the clump of fishing net and rope that was lodged there. Doing this in mid-Ocean gives me a feeling somewhere between having agoraphobia and being an expendable minor character in Jaws.
We've now eaten the Pad Thai which was very nice and are motoring along comfortably at 6 knots using both engines. Jim is sitting in back waiting to see if there is a green flash (Bahamas/Caribbean phenomena where the sun flashes green just as it sets) in the nice sunset we are seeing.
I never had the Sam Adams last night and am sleeping better for not drinking which is a real shame as I like beer almost as much as I like sleep. Anyway in the name of proper research I had one at 5o'clock today and I'll see how it goes. Jim saw me lying in the sun with my book in one hand and the beer in the other and said "hard life isn't it" - and really you know it's not, it's just absolutely great. Oh, we are now on "Atlantic time" so we are one hour later here than the US East coast.
