UTC 1500 Local 0800
Latitude: 11 34.562 N
Longitude: 120 10.633 W
Conditions:
The further we travel south the warmer the days have been getting. Yesterday, we were in the low 80's all day, dropping a few degrees into the high 70's at night. We traveled 24 hours with our genny up until 3:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon. The wind had been very light and we only had gone about 50 miles in 24 hours. Not good,, but the best we could do given the wind direction and light wind. Had we not had the genny, we would have been sitting and not moving at all.
Late yesterday afternoon, we took down the gennaker and ran the engine for about 3 hours to move us ahead a little bit southwest to see if we couldn't catch a stronger wind and to add some amps to our battery. When the motor work was done, we decided we could get more mileage out of the wind if we ran wing on wing again. We go faster, but the boat rocks from rail to rail almost constantly making it difficult for those not on watch to sleep.
The constant rocking, rubbing and pressure required a few maintenance checks and work today. Our gennaker line was rubbing against an open stateroom window, nearly pulling the window out of its slider and fraying the gennaker sheet. Duct tape came in handy here. Hydie's (Hydrovane) nylon covered wind wing was wearing in some places. After giving her a little water and white vinegar wash down, Russ put sail tape on areas where she had been starting to wear and rub.
In the last few days, we haven't seen much wildlife, except for the suicidal flying fish that we find crispy in various locations on the deck and a few boobies. Russ spotted a sea turtle, and I thought I saw a single dorsal fin go by. Could have been a dolphin or a shark. So far we haven't done any fishing.
The moon is starting to fill in and light up the night sky for a couple of hours before setting. Our days are filled with reading, listening to music and audio books, doing little repairs, cooking, and cleaning. It's never quiet out here. The sound of water washing past or slapping against the hull, the wind in and out of sails, the rhythmic creaking and clanking of doors and other objects in the boat, and occasional boobie squables provide us with a symphony of ocean sounds. Sometimes, it's nice to put those I-Pod earbuds in and change the music.
Russ has another little project going this morning. One of the screws he put back in when he was re-installing one of the fuel injectors seemed to have lost its threads. He tried to fix it. He did a check last night after we ran the motor to see if the fix held. It did not and now there is some diesel leak into the oil. Russ is removing that entire fuel injector and replacing it with a new one. He is kicking himself for not doing that in the first place. WW will now require, yet another oil change. We had what we thought was a lot of oil, but this next change is going to nearly deplete the store. Glad we had it. Wish we had more.
All is well on Worrall Wind.
No comments:
Post a Comment