Work and Sail

February 22, 2018;

Day 101;

Noon Position 45 36S 69 13E;

Course/Speed: E7;

Wind NW20;

Bar 1004;

Sky Overcast:

Sea: NW 5. Miles last 24 hours: 172. Longitude Made Good: 175 miles (more than 24 hour run due to troubleshooting chart plotter)

Total Miles: 13,561

The radar is back online as of this morning. The issue was the router, which had drowned in the deluge and has now been replaced with the spare I thought I’d never use. That’s the good news. The bad news is I’ve not been able to restore the AIS transmitter. At least not as of yet. My reason for trying to work through these electrical issues now, a difficult task in a seaway, is so that I know what needs doing when I make landfall and can thus keep the stop-over as brief as possible.

In the afternoon the wind swung into the southwest, this over the course of fifteen minutes, and accelerated to near 30 knots. I tacked Mo around and reefed down hard. By the time I’d completed these tasks and made up lines the wind had dropped to 10 knots, where it stayed for two hours and until I let out all reefs, at which point it slowly rose back to 20 knots. So some reefs are back in, and I’m just plain pooped.

Tomorrow I need to attack the tool bin, which is just inside the companionway hatch and was loaded with water during the knockdown. All the canvas tool bags have standing water in them, and if I don’t’ have at them soon with a rag and lubricant, I’ll lose 200 pounds of good tools.

All for now… (end)