Day Five

Bob
Sat 29 Oct 2016 00:19
Position 26, 37 S, 78 48 W
2030 

Friday October 28 1700

The majority of boaters, especially those that travel any distances on the water, have affectionate names for their autopilots. Some go with the unimaginative but wildly popular, “Otto.”  Some name them after their grandmother, favorite aunt or whatever. Ours obviously needed to be named “BOB.” Well, BOB it is then, and we have established a relationship of mutual respect thus far. BOB allows us to exist on a much more humane level and we treat him very well.

The other morning, I can’t remember which morning, (we have to look at our phones to figure out what day of the week it is), Bob went on hiatus with Furuno, our GPs, and VHF, their radio friend. It is shocking to come up in your pajamas and have the crew discussing why all the instruments just went blank. Turns out it was just a loose wire on the electrical panel, probably from four days of rocking and rolling. So, coffee was happening in fifteen minutes, BOB was back on the job, and life as we know it onboard was back in place. I elected to put on some casual loungewear until the weather warmed up enough for shorts. The boys go right for shorts and sweatshirts in the morning, but I like to ease into it. Every day it gets warmer as we head towards the equator and Panama. 


After four amazing days of surfing down the front of waves and scooting up the back of the next one with winds between 20-39, this morning brought us 12-15 knots of wind and significantly smaller waves. It is a break for tired muscles to be able to move about without having “one hand for the boat” mentality. Not leaning against the counter while doing food prep is equally refreshing. Today we cleaned thoroughly, made water while we had to use the engine, did laundry and fished for the first time on this trip. We have been sailing too fast to effectively attempt to fish. Today was not a fruitful one in that department, but tomorrow we will be back on the case.

We had some salmon fish tacos anyway with fresh tortillas and fish from Valdivia. Hot showers all around tonight! We are choosing our watches, a daily routine after dinner. 9-12, 12-3 or 3-6. Depending on who is awake, who had a long nap etc etc. That way we can each enjoy the moon rise, the sunrise and the midnight sky.  All’s well aboard BOB.

That’s all for now

Dale John and Dave