Day
5
12:01 20 November to 12:00 21 November 2006
Yesterday was not pleasant, from 7am to noon it was building up and was
bad enough. After noon I ended up
down to a very small piece of main, going due W in full F6, gusting F7 (28 - 30
knots) SW, S, SE. Until 9pm when
the wind dropped off. The wind
remained SE and I drifted at about 1 knot.
05:30 I put the engine on for an hour to top up the batteries and the
wind is very light, but still SE.
The
result of no wind is twofold: 1 – it takes a very long time to get anywhere, 2 –
it is calm and you can do everything in comfort.
I
was busy as soon as it was light. I
tidied up and am continually developing the stowage plan, which was perfect, but
needs constant revisiting. I don’t
know where it has all gone, but both cabins are usable and the saloon seems
empty.
Tidying has its uses, because I have found where the Torch Fairy has been
stashing all my torches, sometimes I have had to get out up to 3 a night; but I
have them all back for now.
I
cleaned the bilges again. The
engine bilge only had a dribble in and that was after several hours of motoring
since I last cleaned it out, so I am happy with that. The saloon bilges were worrying me as
there seemed to be a lot of water in there, but it was just the big sea sloshing
it about, my feet got wet when it came out the side, which is the top when
level.
I
did the washing, not that there is much, only the things I was wearing on
Thursday before I left. Everything
else is not expected to survive, it is less ‘wash and wear’ more ‘wear and
throw’. I must be regaining my
sense of normality because I found myself scrabbling in the peg bag for a red
peg to peg out the pink floorcloth.
Don t you just hate it when you have something pink pegged out with a
yellow peg, if you run out of the nearest colour peg then white is ok. Standards have to be maintained, this is
necessary for morale.
I
had a lovely hot shower, this is also very necessary for morale. All my water is potable, but my drinking
water is stored separately to my general water, so I do not have to worry about
that, and there is always the water maker.
I
thought I knew where the water was coming in from and as everything was tidy I
could get to it. The transom where
one of the brackets for the hydrovane is bolted on. It says in the instructions ‘ to be
bedded on a layer of sealant’, so when fitting I said this, but was told it was
not needed, it would be so tight nothing would get through. Newsflash - The Atlantic gets
through. I had tried sealing it
before I left, but I could not quite reach properly. I have mopped up the water and done what
I can. This entails an old T shirt
and a boathook to push it into the space, maybe it will help. The bracket will have to be taken off
and sealed when I am somewhere static; when will that be?
The
weather has improved, there is thick blanket cloud, but it is warm, just the T
shirt today. Hopefully I will be
able to top up my tan soon.
The
good thing about getting the boat set up correctly first thing is that when the
wind picks up, which is now has, the boat just sets off on its own. I do check that we are not about to run
into anything, all clear.S
Unfortunately the wind is still SE and close hauled in 20+ knots is a bit
fast, 7+knots SOG, to be trying to keep the computer safe. Any less of an angle and I can t
maintain my track. I might review
keeping quite so close on track if this keeps up for too long. If the wind kept one direction it would
also help.
So
everything is done, is this where I get bored and read one of those books we
were all busy swapping before leaving.
Perhaps when I am not so tired I will think about that.
