June 10 Noon 43:05.0N 41:28.37W

Ellatrout3
Thu 10 Jun 2010 21:40
Day 19, June 10th, report from ET3, dictated over satphone
 
The chart plotter re-booted three times during the night and once yesterday, a total of 10 times this trip (Dublin Comcen: obviously the skipper's sums have gone a bit awry - it was 7 times up until yesterday's report.  7 plus 4 usually equals 11 !!!!).  A bit worrying.....
 
24 to 28 knots of wind most of the night, put 2 reefs in at 21:00 and the 3rd reef went in at 02:00.  At 10:00 this morning the wind dropped from 22 to 6 knots in the space of 5 minutes (exactly as forecasted by the amateur weatherfolks .... we do get some things right!).  Shook out 3 reefs all in one go, very strange, never done that before in 30 plus years of yacht sailing.
 
Drifted about all morning in the pouring rain (is he hiding somewhere in Dublin?), refilled 3 water bottles with rainwater.  Weather gradually cleared to give a fine evening, currently pootling along at 2 to 3 knots.
 
Checked the towed generator during the calm period only to discover that the coupling and shackle was nearly worn through.  Good job ... I would have lost the lot into the deep and been very limited in ways to keep the boat batteries charged.  I have been trying to put the "windmill" together while it remains calm.  I'll probably have to drop the generator mast to assemble it.  (Note from Dublin Comcen: for those of you who saw Roger off at Plymouth, you may have notice a couple of poles, one sticking up at each corner at the back, one supports the radar (very fat plate on a stick), the other houses the wind power generator - that's the generator mast).
 
Skipper feeling fine, just woken up from a long and very deep sleep.  Being accompanied (Dublin Comcen: or perhaps stalked) by a Petrel - which is flying about at great speed very close to the water, rising and falling with the swell.
 
Dublin Comcen:  We then had a discussion about the weather overnight and tomorrow.  ET3 is in for a smoothish night, 6 to 8 knots of wind, then it all goes pretty quiet tomorrow.  Skipper is intending to check out bits on the boat and do "maintenance" tommorrow.
 
ENDS