night watch
Panulirus
CR and KN Williams
Wed 9 Jun 2010 11:37
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18.54S 169.18N
8th June
The sea is really calm and it is very restful not
having to hang on tight all the time. The downside is that there is not much
wind so progress is slow but we should be in Tonga in about 2 days.
After 5 days I am getting used to sleeping in 4
hour stretches but the 12 hour tropical nights do drag a bit. I have developed a
complete phobia of flying fish. One landed in the cockpit last night and I could
hear it thrashing around and letting off a horrible smell. Ugh! I am sure I
should try and chuck it overboard but I am much too squeamish and just sit there
hoping it will die quickly and not flap round my feet.
C
Engine gave a bit of a scare by appearing to
overheat to 240deg F. No other symptoms, sounds OK, no smell, no smoke, didn't
feel hot, plenty of exhaust water, filters clear, fresh water tank full, stable
for 48hrs. Eventually stopped it for 1 hr to find the gauge still on 100 with
the ignition off, rising immediately to 240 when I turned it on before I even
started the engine; must be the gauge. Hope I'm right and that the engine safety
cut-out isn't on the same circuit! As an anaesthetist one always had to
remind oneself that one of the, admittedly rare, causes of a straight line on an
ECG monitor, was asystole.
No usable wind forecast so looks like motoring all
the way.
K
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