Day 3 Noon position 24:47.738N 021:15.486W
SeaTrek
Bill and Judy Stellin
Mon 3 Dec 2007 14:18
|
Three hundred miles under our keel over the past 48 hours
and all is well.
Winds out of the NNE about 18-20 kts and manageable
swell.
Trade wind sailing is really the berries. We have
our 155% Mylar genoa up and that's all. It is poled out and we haven't touched
it or the sheet since it went up over day and half ago. For over a
day, I have been contemplating putting the main up, but our speed is good
the way we are so we will probably sail with just the headsail until we need
more speed. The boat is on the pilot and handling the swell from astern
with no problems whatsoever. On the first day, when we had such miserable
sailing conditions, our main and boom were pumping viciously and on one
particularly bad one the boom vang failed. The vang is ok but the wire
inside that makes up the block and tackle snapped. I have jury rigged it
back together and I am sure it will be ok, except we have only a two part
purchase instead of a 3 part purchase. Now for some of you not familiar
with boating terms and your eyes are glazing over, just go to Google and look up
boom vang, it's too hard to try and explain here.
There are at least three high frequency radio nets going
on this passage, so we know where several other boats are and their weather
conditions. Not like the first crossing, were we were alone with no one to
talk or listen to. Here, it is like a small city all migrating to warmer
climates. Chatter on the radio is about some high winds coming later this
week. Sometimes I think we are better off not knowing so much. It just
gets the worry molecules going in my brain. I'll let you know if it
materializes.
|