03:28.70N 124:59.76W
Farr Gone Blog
Stuart Cannon
Tue 5 Apr 2011 21:22
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Sailing a little at last.
Have 5 knots of breeze and am managing 1.5 to 2
knots. The breeze is very holey. A quick squirt every now and again keeps up
forward movement. Last night and this morning were glass. Not a breath. When a
two knot wind came up from my aft beam I tried the motor and the headsail. Using
the motor shifted the apparent wind forward which put some drive in the sail and
I could lower the revs on the motor saving fuel. I think I was getting good
results. 4 to 5 knots was easy. In slightly more breeze I'm getting 2 knots
under sail only. An interesting game of fuel usage vs distance to travel. Fuel
becomes critical to charge batteries especially for night work so motoring needs
to be restricted to preserve fuel for such essential items as ice and cold beer.
Actually its for safety gear and navigation but why not worry about the side
benefits?
The glassy sea last night was not steady and the
boat flopped noisily all night. By 3am I had found most of the noises, enough to
sleep, and actually had a sleep in! I'm currently taking the boat to the
boatwash, aiming at a rain cloud to get a high pressure clean. If I soaped up
the laundry I wonder if the rain woud rinse it?
Bad news, I have somehow managed to put a twelve
inch t shaped tear in the Daisy drifter. Now I have sail repair tape somewhere
on board but I'm not sure if it can cope with that big a tear or if I'm
endangering the sail, which I think I would be. Any knowledge on that subject
out there? It's a shame because it was voted most popular sail for three days
running when I was using it as a double headsail before the ITCZ. The other
large headsails I've got are racing sails, not designed for long exposure to
sunlight and then I've got a couple of kites. I can get them up no problem but
am aware of the getting down disasters that occur and with the set up I've got
it would be risky. Probably a chicken but hassle free chook.
My heading is currently 198 but my course over
ground is 230. The current would be a large factor in that but a big deviation
nonetheless.
By the way have I mentioned the heat? Whew. Thats
why the search for rainclouds. That and a clean boat feels good.
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