Sunday 12th December 2010
A beautiful night, although I kept finding myself thinking about the VHF speaker wiring whenever I was awake! Up as usual for noon UTC (4am PST) position report & boat check - then back to sleep just after dawn... Sailing along nicely, due S, with Fred in charge.
Had a lovely relaxed morning - made some fresh coffee, found a nice fresh grapefruit (thanks, Susan!), had a leisurely breakfast in the sunshine in the
cockpit... Picked up several flying fish from on deck & finished placing anti-chafe tubing on shrouds. Pulled up the cockpit washboards and cleared the
drains - amazing how quickly fluff collects and clogs them - I want to be sure that any water getting into the cockpit will drain away fast...!
1pm - Was just looking at grib files and weather info over a cup of coffee when I felt boat beginning to heel over ... and then a lot more..... Wind was up ...
quickly on deck... ease mainsheet... take in first reef in the strong wind - a raincloud was just upwind of us!! A few drops of light rain... and then , when all
the excitement was over, the wind died right down to 4-5 knots... and we were struggling to make way ....grrr! Another cloud not far ahead - so time to
relax, go with the flow.... and not be tempted to start letting out that reef again, too soon...! Sky no longer clear blue - quite a few clouds had built up -
many with light rain falling...
By 3pm, all was over - very few clouds to be seen, although one or two cumulus piling up - but well off in the distance, not grey, nor any showers seen
beneath them.
In the meantime, I'd tried checking in with the M.M.Net on 14300 kHz - both Net Control and Gary could be heard clearly by me - but they could not copy
me. Fortunately, Jane, NH7TZ, in Kauai, was on frequency with good copy, so she took my details to relay to the Net.
Decided it was time to try getting somewhere with the VHF radio external speaker, yet again.... Got out the multi-meter, disconnected the speaker and
wiring to it, including a switch in the circuit and thoroughly checked out everything I could think of.... all parts of wiring, switch and speaker..... continuity,
resistance, voltage... connections to the radio unit .... Everything looks fine, and yet the speaker just isn't working when the radio is in use.... and I can't see
why not.... Time for an email to Navico UK, quoting the voltage and resistance measurements and asking for any useful suggestions......
I expect to stay in these nice sailing conditions for a few more days yet - lovely!!
24hr DMG to this morning: 121 n.ml.
Pitcairn 519 ml, due W; Easter Island 594 ml, 100T; N.Z. (E. Cape) 3140 ml, 241T; Cape Horn WP 2932 ml 145T; Chile 2460 ml