Jinxed it ! Yay !
Of course I knew that it would happen – but I didn’t expect it today already: The wind died and we were stuck in a calm with the old sea and flapping sails, making nearly no progress. After idling along with three then two and in the end just slightly more than one knot we decided it’s time for the engine. Yes – for once we started the motor, heh. But really: the banging of the sails hurts me in the spine. Every time it FLOPPS the Genua inside out it’s like a whip on my back. And even though I don’t like running under engine at all, we made the best out of it. We escaped some rainclouds and after three hours of burning diesel, the sea was calming down, the watermaker had topped up our tank and the wind was back. Not much but enough to do 3.5 knots.
Oh ! And I made a new wooden panel for the windsteering, increasing it by at least 50% in size. Otherwise steering would not have been possible in such light winds. Also: I’m sure the original boards are way too small. It’s takes endless fiddling and adjustment to finally get some good course. Now with the bigger ‘sail’ it works straight away and the windsteering keeps the course a lot better. Why didn’t I think of that earlier ??
Right now (as usually) I’m on my first watch while the rest of the crew is sound asleep. Gui felt a lot better today but the Sinusitis is not yet cured. Other than that there were no real highlights. – Just the usual hanging around and passing the time while we stare into the endless blue. When the engine was putting and vibrating I tried to cancel the sound out with Modeselektor at maximum volume but the only effect was old memories coming up… not bad ones. ;-)
Outside it’s drizzling and I guess that is why I had problems getting a connection via shortwave. I’m very fond of the new relay station in Hawaii (KH6UL) that provides quite reliable and fast connections. Heh. SSB rocks !
LATITUDE: 16-07.72S, LONGITUDE: 158-30.40W, COURSE: 253T, SPEED: 4.4, WIND: ENE3, TO GO: 898nm