We spent most of today replacing the Starboard gear cable, which
parted soon after Panama. It wasn't helped by the fact that i dropped
an essential part down an impossible-to-get-to hole. Eventually Matt
found it and we were back in business.
Just as we began to do up our boxing bindings, the fishing reel began
singing - we had a fish! Of course no sooner than the bindings were
off and we busy reeling than the fish somehow unhooked itself! Ahwell
we have plenty anyway.
Boxing went well - Matt got me with a few good punches, but my ducking
and diving is much better.
Julian
Captain's corner:
It was definitely an excellent day today... Always more satisfying
to have spent the day be properly productive! So it's hard to tell
from the photos, but the first one is before Jules decided it would be
a good idea to chuck a crucial (tiny) part down into the back of
beyond, and the second one is him putting on a brave face while trying
to find it... In the first shot, he's using our very expensive,
highly specialised emergency Hydraulic rig cutters to snip the old
gear cable in half... Not much different than hunting squirrels with
an elephant gun! As for the second, he was looking in the wrong
place... The part had falled through a hole in the dvd cupboard, down
through little holes on both levels of the dry goods cupboard, and
lodged itself between the tangle of cables hidden behind his closet,
which is hidden by a second skin! Between the two of us, hours, (yes
actually hours) were spent to find the part, both of us giving up more
than once. At one point I spent a good while trying to figure out
exactly how I was going to jury rig a bit, and returned to my original
conclusion: Either I had to find the part or wait a good month with
no gear controls until a replacement part came.... I found the part!
So at the end of the day we managed to finish putting it all back
together, and test run the motor etc... After that, can you blame me
if I suggested we did a little bit of boxing? Would anyone begrudge
me giving Jules' nose a little tickle a couple of times? I think not!
A happy crew is a crew who can vent on each other!
Mattman
