rain!
Heerenxvii
Thu 2 Dec 2010 10:27
A bit later than normal. We shifted shifts again per yesterday, but in my 'sleep' shift I was needed on deck as safety dude, as the other 2 had to go on foredeck to put the PARASAILOR down. Not a lot of sleep for me, nor the others, as since it is H and A's shift, weather has gone rough, and we are bumping hard :)
Yesterday then, A went through a 'rust removal' session at everything that can be seen or touched from the cockpit. There is some wonder stuff aboard, and with some polishing it all goes away. Unfortunaltely not without poluting the nice white all around the Inox (rvs). But I hope yesterdays and todays rain will clean this up automatically.
E went through a rain-dance experience, butt naked (during his shift notably) he was enjoying the rain so much he used it to his benefit as a shower. He also though of putting buckets up so we had 'free' sweet water. Not that that has become a problem, we have used about 1/3 of the total amount of water in the tanks.
At the start of yesterday and almost the whole day, it was all motoring, as the wind had let us down, yet again :( But, with a relaxed 1600RPM we cruised 5+ knots in the sea, no other ships, no nothing. Then the fishing rod sarted to make noise, indicating something did bite in our hook. We then remembered we should already have made a 'gaf' (pikhaak) I think it is called, to hook the wish with and drag it on board. But we were too late, with the engine in reverse E tried to reel in the line, which succeeded, only to see that at the very last meters, the fish got loose, and we yet again had to eat pork, or was it chicken :) ? In a combined effort we did make the gaf, just in case, and Hn mounted it on the backstay (achterstag) so that we can quickly grab it once necessary again.
H just replaced the 1st gas bottle, we have 2 more. Also, H and Hn counted the alcohol... And yes, we are finishing it. Beers:62, wine:12. Just enough to keep our Happy Hour Happy :)
A then found half a ring, metal that looked liek it should be securing something. And yes, after a rigid rig check, we found a block that is missing half a ring. E patched the block so that IF it explodes, the line that goed though it will not rip of some of the boat, and he then applied superglue to hopefully keep both half rings on their place, nmely to prevent the bearings to pop out...
Yesterday, when we hoisted the mainsail while we were PARASAILING, we learnt we should not do that. Not only was it ofcourse not smart to hoist the mainsail while going downwind, but also, the mainsail generates turbulence, and soon after we had the PARASAILOR stuck in the radar dome. With some TLA, we managed to get it out, in one piece, and this is surely the last experiment of this kind during this trip, as we need that sail to work!
Yesterday was aso washing day, and numerous pieces of wash are hanging around, and have been taken in for each rainfall. But at least (some) things are clean again.
Btw, we disconneted the solar panels and the regulator, and are now trying to conclude if this regulator was drawing the batteries rather than charging them?!
And lastly, the shift and 'log' alarmn clock is broken. Apparently it cannot stand the rain, E tried to repair it by placing it on the breadmaker, and now it is 'kaputt'!