Counting down the days N 45 30 53 W 015 29 60

Piccolo
Andrew Yates
Tue 2 Jun 2009 13:36
After 4 days of cracking sailing on course with force 4/5 winds and an average speed of 7.5 knots, we are reluctantly motoring as the winds have dropped substantially and gone onto the nose..... this was forecast for more settled weather and the rising barometer is matching the weather...........no idea what the forecast holds for the next three days but we are hoping to be in by Saturday.
 
A little engine maintenance again today as the engine is not charging batteries so well (fuel cell still not charging) and their was a little rubber burning smell and whirring noise from the engine....when investigated by Heidi and Sam,  (Mathew in bed and Katie doing extended watch to compensate for being late on watch again!) we found the fan belt to be loose....tightened and hey presto whirring noise and burning smell stopped.
 
Amazing sunrise this morning ....something has to make getting up at 4am worthwhile.   Since we are motoring, it is jobs day and Mathew and Sam are currently on deck trying to rig something to stop the copious amounts of water coming down the mast and onto Sams bed.....good luck boys.    Mathew is drying his bed out as when on Starboard tack he gets quite a lot of water in his cabin from the cockpit area as no drain holes in the corners.   And of course we have been on Starboard tack for 20 days out of the 22 days at sea!
 
Katie is rebelling at having to eat the fresh food first and wants to tuck into a nice healthy ramen noodle packet instead of the fresh salad we bought ("I would like more salad please"......was requested quite recently)  I think the two days of eating Ryvitas have done that but then she will not admit they taste like cardboard.....
 
The midnight chocolate muncher is having to work harder as the chocolate supply.....limited and depleting quickly, has been distrubuted in various hiding places around the boat so that they might think there is less and we all get to have some.
 
Sam had a shower yesterday but so far no one else has come forward and desiring one....I must admit I quite like the baby wipe baths and not having to change clothes too much as we all smell the same....except for Sam now.  
 
Life at sea huh!   so exciting.....will understand if you do not tune in tommorow!