6.53S  102.41W  Thursday 13^th March – Day 6   Bennett is feeling a tadge better today but has still been confined to his bunk. We think he is on the mend thanks to the change in antibiotics. 

It has been the most glorious sunny day, not too hot and the elusive trades have finally kicked in for everyone, regardless if they are sailing the rum line or a more southerly course.  With a steady 12 to 15 knots of wind on our beam we are cracking along at up to 8 knots over the ground with the genoa and main.  We thought the wind would be directly from behind, as it was in the Atlantic, so we could use the Twistle rig but in the circumstances, with Bennett crook – and the Twistle quite a performance to rig up, we have been blessed with the easy option.  Obviously good news not to be running the engine anymore with the leaky gear box – we have used one tank of diesel but with our 12 extra jerry cans bought in Galapagos (strapped around the saloon table leg) we can refill this as required.  We have a little electric pump so no need to lift the cans.  The generator oil leak seems to have diminished but we still have water leaking from the crank shaft constantly confirmed when we hear the automatic bilge pump going off.

We have managed to run the water maker today as we are keeled over in the right direction for it not to suck air and have topped up the water tank.  Two machine laundry washes have been hatched and despatched, the kitchen has had a good disinfectant going over and we’ve just enjoyed a beef fillet in hoi sin sauce stir fry (shredded white cabbage, onions, green peppers and strips of carrot) with rice.  Bennett has surfaced and is kindly huddled in the cockpit to give us a couple of hours break so Paul has gone to bed – his first sleep since his four hours ending 1am this morning!  The crescent moon is shining and we’re stomping along chomping up those miles. 

The kindness on this Rally is staggering – Spectra hove to for twelve hours waiting for Happy Wanderer to catch up – Andy lowered his dinghy (no mean feat in itself in these swells) drove over and boarded Alan’s boat and fixed the auto pilot.  Mary was ecstatic on the radio today calling Andy her angel from the south – a long time since he has heard that analogy I suspect!!  Happy Wanderer in turn offered to sail close to us tonight and ‘ride shotgun’ so we could all get some sleep – i.e. keep a watch on our boat as we ploughed through the night with nobody on deck!  We also heard today that Tapestry’s gear box has had a fatal attraction to the place that gear boxes go eventually and that Tony Diment BWR is bringing him a gear box in his hand luggage to Marquesas – the man’s a saint!! And that is quite apart from all the other paraphernalia he is carrying for the rest of us……. Because most of us had a slow passage to Galapagos, and many of us were delayed in leaving, he has also extended his support dates in Marquesas to accommodate us all. 

We are spread out over 700 hundred miles now (not 300 as I previously thought) so no wonder the radio net is a bit of a struggle each morning at 1000am but with patience and perseverance everyone’s position is read out and relayed to the net controller of the day.  We are keeping this timing for the foreseeable future as it seems more convenient to the majority.

We will start fishing again tomorrow – our meat is now finished so a little fresh protein would be great on the menu……….and now I’ll go and relieve Bennett……..