NOON POSITION 19:37.14N 31:03.49W
Aurelia
Shirley and Michael Webb-Speight
Wed 20 Dec 2006 14:07
LAST 24 HOURS : 103 NM!!! - 1684 miles to go
SLOOOOW PROGRESS
we motored again yesterday for about 4 hours just to make some progress in very light winds. Once we had found 8 knots of breeze we flew the code zero and at times hit 4 knots - mainly 3, as the breeze was mainly 5 to 6 knots! At least the weather is very pleasant and the sea smooth, and wthe wind is finally coming from the NE. the breeze was up a little at dusk and we left the code zero up all night.
During the day I spent an hour up the mast applying anti chafe patches to the mainsail where the spreaders have started to wear the sail. The captain returned to the deck a little battered and bruised, and quite sea sick- this will definitely join the list of jobs to do whilst in a marina.
a very quiet night with all parties reporting good sleep.
All roused at 0810hrs this morning when Skippy's MOB Lifetag alarm went off. this has happened about 4 times now at more or less the same time of day, and we all scramble up in full MOB mode. Sure enough there is Skippy's smiling face safe and secure in the cockpit. S and I were thinking that he does this deliberately to ensure that we all enjoy the sunshine bright and early together! However, in deference to Skippy I have now changed the batteries in the lifetags. We will see tomorrow!
Butter chicken curry for dinner last night - very well received. Hamburgers again tonight as the remaining burger buns a on their last legs.
The Genset is burbling away on the leeward deck powering the huge array of electronics we carry. the ship consumes about 4 amps per hour in night mode (nav light, instruments, central nav system and fridge) - so we need to generate about 50 amp hours for that. In day time we seem to use more energy with computers, games, etc thrown on top. the Genset runs for about 6 hours on a 5l tank of fuel and will produce about 10 amps per hour on top of what we are using. we have enough fuel to run this for 9 or 10 days plus we have about 58 hours of diesel remaining on the main engine. when we make water we need about 4 hours on the main engine to make 200l. we can make that last about 5 days and are rotating the tanks with 400l kept in reserve at all times.
this energy production is all good, but the noise is annoying. I can imagine Maurice and Katie shaking their heads reading this! not much brushing teeth in salt water going on here! have managed to restrict showers to about every third day though!
Yesterday we gave the kids one of their Christmas presents, another nintendo with a game called Brain Trainer. Oliver and Jamie can network the nintendos together and have duelling competitions with maths basic facts (times tables, addition, etc). Best thing we have on the boat! We think it is school and they think it's fun!