Life of Pi, sans tiger.
Fleck
Wed 27 Mar 2013 12:34
|
Wednesday 27th March 2013
Position 27:28S 12:39E
Calm sea, alive with a huge shoal of jellyfish, the
sky blue, and bathed in warmish sunshine; Liszt's Hungarian fantasy on the ipod.
So easy to forget that there is b----- a-- wind, and so we are going nowhere! No
wind forecast until Friday, so 'get used to it'!
Mixed fortunes yesterday, the wind continued to
drop after the gale on Sunday night, and so I was able to tack out to sea, away
from the costal shipping lanes. Decided to tackle the mast ascent before
breakfast, but retired at the first crosstrees: the violent rocking would surely
throw me out and over the side. Conditions had improved by the afternoon, and
with the sails sheeted in hard I was able to lie across the wind, making the
boat more stable. And I got to the top. Lovely ocean views (yes, big and blue!),
but I was hanging on for dear life and assessing the damage. Managed to tape the
VHF antenna back into position, and the See Me antenna is wobbly in its bracket,
but should survive for a while. the masthead lamp has been shattered, but the
base seems undamaged, and so a new one should bolt in in due course. I have
soldered LED bulbs into the 'downstairs' navigation lights, so I am legal again,
and not exhausting my batteries.
The bad news is that the port upper cross tree has
been damaged: bent downwards so that it no longer has the necessary angulation
between the cap shroud and the mast. What a good job I resolved to get to the
top on the second attempt. I have effected what I hope will be a satisfactory
temporary fix by joining a strong spectra rope between the masthead and the cap
shroud direcly beneath the cross tree. Tightening the rope pulls the crosstree
upwards into a better position. You may imagine that this was not an easy task:
amazing what you can achieve when needs must. Without this fix the mast would
have crumpled when the sails were hoisted and working hard on port tack.
Lucky indeed that Sunday's gale was from dead astern.
Absolutely knackered after that, so it was
wonderful to have a clear ocean around me last night.
French friends have invaded St Helena, water temp
there is up to 25 degrees, so something to look forward to. Don't know if it is
possible to courier stuff out to St Helena (anyone help?). My friend in Plymouth
will have a crosstree, but the anchorage in St Helena may be too rolly to fit
it!
|