FINNROSE 13.00 038:51:40N 052:36:30W THUR 04/07/13
Finnrose
Thu 4 Jul 2013 20:31
In the late afternoon, Ken W volunteered (or was volunteered) to brave the lazarette locker to look at the generator. The contents were decanted, a cover - what is this for? covering; buckets for bailing, boathooks for hooking, oars for oaring, flares for flaring, fuel tanks for tanking and a seat for sitting; all spread round on the deck. Carefully easing himself into the very confined space, Mark removed the generator cover and inspected the generator.
With all few heads together, the initial diagnosis of a blocked fuel filter was agreed. Even after consulting Stuart's inventory database, the spare fuel filter could not be found among the seven others or in the generator's spares kit. The lazarette contents were painstakingly put back (yet again).
In the meantime, Liz was working on trying to sort the printer/network problem whilst waiting to start to cook dinner. Unfortunately, the saloon clock had stopped, so the cook of the evening, absorbed in her task, didn't realise that in fact it was 7.50 pm and not the 5.00 pm shown on the clock. A supper of lasagne and garlic bread was served a couple of hours later than normal to three very hungry crew who just had to do with crisps, nuts, olives and a bottle of beer to keep them going...
In the light of not having the generator, the latter evening was spent trying to work out how to reduce the electric load, so dimness and silence were the order of the late evening. Light winds around 2 a.m. necessitated Ken W to switch the engine on again. With the barometer dipping, heavy rain on Ken M's watch between 4 and 6 a.m. gave way to a cloudy, dull morning - not what we have been used to. A steady force 4 this morning has allowed us to sail on a full mainsail and jib, slightly furled at lunchtime when the sea began to build. Flocks of great shearwaters have provided the afternoon entertainment in the intermittent sunshine. They swoop, glide and circle around shoals of fish that are being brought to the surface by the increased sea state; just hoping for a dropped fish on the deck for dinner this evening.
The air has lost the cloying heat of the Caribbean for the first time, and feels fresher. 733 nm done, 966 nm to go...