Tuesday 10 November 2009 Day 32
Hot sun during the day, not much wind, mostly downwind, often rolly, sailing .... pretty well sums it up since Saturday!! Lots of drying, in a hot cockpit, of items(including lots of rolls of paper...!) from aft cabin - now done as much as I can (cushions and bedding will need a thorough rinse in fresh water at a later date, but at least they're dry).
Had a lovely meal last night - tried something new (for me) - tuna and sweetcorn with pasta in a lovely sauce of salsa mixed with herbed cream cheese (Thanks, Suzanne!) - so simple but worked well!! All eaten sitting in the companionway, sailing gently under a dark sky full of stars... bright planet high up... my little Dolphin up there, too... And people ask me why I want to go sailing.....?!
While the aft cabin is still in total disarray, and while we're in calm conditions (maybe the last, for a very long time!!), I decided to have one more go at trying to mend the watermaker before everything gets put back together again.... So, for most of this morning, I've been busy bandaging!! I'd replaced one of the hoses BEFORE it split,quite early on in my repair efforts, and checking the length, I realized it would do to replace the newly-split hose that caused the deluge last Friday. Obviously I couldn't just use it as is - it would clearly split very soon. But by reinforcing it with lots of pressure tape, I'm hoping it might just be OK - It's certainly worth a try - although I don't fancy a repeat of last Friday's drama!! (I shall keep the top sections of the bunk in place when I start it up, I'm thinking, ... and stay VERY close by!!)I've wound the tape tightly up and back down the entire outside of the hose - it should be strong.... I hope!
So that's this afternoon's job - with plenty of PTFE tape on the connections... and we'll see what happens - keeping my fingers tightly crossed....
We've been sailing nicely downwind- mostly on a dead run, with the Hydrovane coping well in the light conditions. There had been a small shower early this morning, but otherwise skies over the last few days have been mainly clear and the boat is still covered in a sticky, crystalline coating of salt from the seas on deck n the lumpy conditions of last week and before.
Now and then, the wind has gusted up - to 16-18 knots (not always the result of a cloud nearby...)and I've had to take in the 1st reef - only to let it out again not long after.... Our track is NOT very straight due to the variable wind direction.. Today's daily 'noon' position & weather report to Winlink & Yotreps was:
TIME: 2009/11/10 12:10
POS: 26-21.41S, 025-37.35W
COURSE: 170T; SPEED: 5.5,
WIND SPEED: 15; WIND DIR: NNW
WAVE HT: 0.5m; SWELL DIR: NNE; SWELL HT: 2.0m; SWELL PER: 4s
CLOUDS: 10%; BARO: 1021; TREND: +1
AIR TEMP: 27.0C; SEA TEMP: 28.0C
COMMENT: Highly variable wind-light y'day & o'nt. DMG:81M By log: 93M!!
Time to send off my position report.. and this ... Wind has died right down now to 5-6knots.. SOG: 2.6 knots...! Pressure's up to 1022 mb....We're flopping about in the swell... in the St Helena High...