Position 29 18.35S 178 12.76E, course 065, speed 5.5 knots, swell 2-3m. 1100 NZT
After 24 hours respite, the wind and the swell are back and we are all slightly in survival mode. Eloise was sick first thing, but now has made herself a little nest in the shelter of the cockpit and is chatting ten to the dozen again. George and Jack are hunkered down on the low side in the saloon, watching Sean the Sheep, Ben and Holly and City of Friends on repeat on my phone. We are going in slightly the wrong direction - heading ENE, when we would rather be heading north to clear the weather system that is approaching. For now though, the wind and waves are from the north, so until the wind backs more westerly, we can't do much about it.
It was a quiet night, but from 0630 it has been pretty hectic. Angus woke me from my off watch at 0630 to put out some jib as we had enough wind to sail. We turned off the engine, which is in much need of a rest after so much hard work over the last couple of days. For a while things were lovely, but now the wind and the waves have built a bit. It's nowhere near the conditions on our first night.. yet.. The next event was Eloise reporting water sloshing up from the floorboards near her cabin. Angus soon found the culprit - the stern gland (the hole where the propellor shaft goes from the engine to the sea). We have an a set up where this has to be tightened periodically, which is very much Angus' department. Use of the engine solidly for a couple of days in sizeable swell would have worked things a bit loose, and there was a steady dribble of water coming in. After some spanner work and pumping of bilges we are all dry and water tight again.
The next thing was the self-steering turned itself off. I was on deck and it peeped a little alarm warning, so no problem, I just took the wheel for a while. Happily, the magic old trick of turning everything off and then back on again has done the trick - for now.
I hope our position is managing to update on the tracker page. We rely on making a long range radio connection to get our emails sent, and to receive our weather. This works pretty well at night, but is very temperamental during the day, hence we are not managing many updates in 24 hours,
All well on board, battening down the hatches for the next event on board. We're just eating crisps and finger food today as it's a bit of a mission to prepare and serve anything more liquid than that.
Sleep well in your flat beds, next post when we are able.
Love from all on the good ship Victoria
Comments
Post a Comment