COG 34T

SOG 5.1kts

On Monday the new standing rigging was fitted and tensioned and on Tuesday morning we went for a test sail with the riggers Shawn and Jamil. All was good and it was great to have shiny rigging again. No response from Thailand or answer to my calls so I sent a more strongly worded email and will speak with our insurers about more formal action.

More testing of the wind instrument suggested our relatively new (Seychelles) transducer on the top of the mast to be at fault. One was tracked down in Nelson’s Yard and is now in place. As a result we have proper wind information again (and two spare but dodgy transducers)

We finally got away at 1600 and made our farewells at the marina and with Annie. Sadly this will be our longest period apart in 23 years together.

There is much to keep Olly and me occupied on board. It’s only when using a new rig again you discover the tangles and twists you tried so hard to avoid when setting up. We have put another half turn of tension into the forward lower shrouds after the leeward one was slackening as the boat pitched in 15kts+ wind. We need to replace the first reefing line that is frayed and looks like it has been gnawed. The anchor needs tying down more securely as it bangs around when hit by a wave. The wind is a bit erratic and we have reefed and unreefed the mainsail at least three times today.

The Sargasso weed is still abundant and so we can only use the Duogen in wind mode which means we cannot produce enough charge to keep the batteries full now we have the freezer going again. There is a hint of less weed this evening although we are only doing 5kts in 15kts of wind which suggests weed around the rudders. We really need the Duogen in water turbine mode!

We have enough chicken and prawns in the freezer to ensure non vegetarian fare throughout much of our predicted 18 days on passage. Despite this and the weed Oliver managed to catch a beautiful yellowfin tuna today. There is enough fillet to last for days so we may be a tad over provisioned now - or at least will need to keep the freezer running for longer than I had hoped!