We now have 120 Nauitical miles left to go.Yesterday night we had some
interesting experiences.Bertha woke me up at 01.30 because of a nasty
looking cloud approaching fast.We decided that it was a sqall with a lots of
wind,and conseqently reduced our sails.While doing that, the propellerrope
from our watergenerator got trapped around the paddle of our windwane.After
some acrobatic manouvers hanging down over the stern,we managed to sort it
out.The cloud passed without anything else than some rain and we decided to
reset the sails.Since the wind had died out,we needed the engine,but when
trying to start,the starter didn´t respond.After 2hrs of fault research I
found a defect contact,changed it ,started the engine,reset the sails and
kept on sailing.It was now 06.30 in the morning,and we were more or less on
the same spot as when it all started.Five hours of solving problems because
of a cloudpassage!
At the time being,we have 24 knots of wind from astern,and estimate to reach
the Ahe atoll around 20.00local time(GMT-10hrs).We will be to late for going
through at high water slack(15.05 local time),so the tactics will be to
heave to outside the atoll during darkness(regularly checking with the radar
that we are not to close to the reef), and wait for low water slack at 08.59
the following morning.If all works well,you will hear from us once inside
the atoll.
