No real dramas
Fleck
Wed 29 May 2013 16:34
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Wednesday, 29th May, 2013
Position 2:46.3N 46:45W
Despite the trials of yesterday things have not
turned out so bad! Managed to keep the boat moving during the rest of the day
and night, and apart from one dismal period of rocking about around midnight,
the balance between wind and waves was tipped in my favour. After midnight there
were no more squalls, and so the sea flattened out, and apart from a couple
of visiting tadpoles straying into the centre circle of my AIS display, thereby
triggering the alarm, there was relative peace. Today after a brief squall
at dawn, the wind has come in from the north east, so the mainsail is hoisted,
and we are making good progress across the swell in about ten knots of wind, and
with only the occasional boom crash as a big wave tosses the mast to
leeward at a speed in excess of this. Good sunshine as well, so the batteries
are fully charged, and my towed generator is having a rest: its bearings are a
little tired. I don't thinlk I will bother with a 'GRIB' weather forecast
today, they don't give any clue whether it will be a squally day or not, just an
average wind strength, so better to take it as it comes.
Now in the last 10% of my ebook, so the denouement
must be as close as some of those tadpoles last night. Which of the three master
miniaturists will turn out to be the murderer? Will Black consumate his rather
strange marriage to the lovely Shekure? Or will he fall prey to the Sultan's
torturers? Will save it all up for bedtime reading tonight!
PS I have been trying to work out the time in
Trinidad (to avoid the overtime payments to Customs), and despite helpful
suggestions from home I still had my doubts. Now I find that my lovely
ancient computer has all this stuff stored inside itself. So, assuming that West
Indies time is the same as Eastern USA time, that will be UT minus
five hours, or British Summer Time allowance minus six hours. My boat is still
running Brazil time, UT minus three hours. So I need to move the ships clock
back by another two hours. Anyone disagreeing, by all means get in
touch!
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