Bloodbath!

Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Mon 3 Oct 2011 19:01
Monday 3rd October 1815 UTC 1915 BST
 
00:11.563S 018:05.077W
 
Wind: SE 15 knots, COG 291 Deg True, SOG 7.0Knots 
 
The past 24 hours have been quite frustrating and I was having to work hard to minimise the rolling and slatting of sails. However forward momentum needs to be maintained and that is what i was working hard for.
 
There were several gybes put in and just at 0600 this morning when I had given up on any sleeping I put in another pointing us directly at the Canaries!
 
Until the new weather information came in it was as well to point home as anywhere else. Grib files are just over 6 hours behind so after 0600 you get last night at midnight and so on. I had decided not to take another file until after midday and continued to use and study yesterdays forecast.
 
So far on the way up the Atlantic I have felt that my game plan has worked out well and I have managed to get quite a few fruitful gybes in at the right time.
 
The current plan is to sail NW and into the void of the Doldrums. If I carried on further westand up the west of the Cape Verdes then I could pick up stronger North easterly winds which would mean a really tough upwind beat to the Canaries or sail hard on the wind reaching to teh Azores. This would be the Spring or Summer option. However at this time of year it is too risky to head right out into the middle of the Northern Atlantic and its October Gales. Also I must stay to the east of the Cape Verdes to avoid the new born hurricanes. 
 
I see and I recall that there were often offshore winds from Africa when nearer the coast. I can't however go too near the coast because of my safety and security but it may be possible to squeeze up an inside track between the NE trade winds and not being to close to the African coast.
 
That's my plan so for now it's NW to sail round the worst of the calms, try to pick up some light reaching easterly winds (my spinaker is still sitting on deck rigged and ready to go. When these winds run out I will use the engine as required to get through the doldrums heading directly north of the eastern side of the Cape Verdes. I then have a good chance of a close reach North Easterly towards the Mauritanian coast then tack onto Starboard to beat northish towards the Canaries. I feel there will also be coastal winds to use there. That's the plan for now.....
 
Through the night last night for the third night in succession the autopilot let go. This can be very dangerous when sailing to far down wind. Twice I had been sleeping but luckily the senses are so honed any change in noise or boat motion or speed is felt and i was able to dash for the wheel befor ethe wind got round behind the main and burst the preventer. This would cause th eboom to crash across and could be mast threatening but certainly would be a great risk to the boom or at least the fittings and hardware on it. I have already experienced this at night on the way to Fiji and need to avaid it happening again.
 
So what could be the cause? The first couple of times I figured it was just the course computer getting utterly confused with the sloppy flukey wind and conditions. I have seen it give up when it cannot make any sense of what's going on (I know the feeling!). The normal cause would be low voltage........
 
Then I wondered. My voltage guage was reading 24.9 Volts and I have been very good at keeping the batteries topped up. But the fridges were getting low voltage to them. I measured it - even when the guage was showing a much higher voltage. So I wondered if the voltage was really as the guage said. I put my theory to Discovery by e-mail and asked for the best sequence and locations to test the voltage to home in on the problem.
 
They were back promptly and there underneath the floorboards in a heavy load connection box I found the problem. One of the supplies was only measuring 23 Volts. All other read 25 and the guage read 25V! On closer inspection I could see that the heavy duty 200A in line fuse was blue on one side and roasting hot.
 
Quickly away with the sails locked the wheels and replaced the fuse. Bingo! 25V. I am not certain but i think being plugged into shore power for so long in South Africa with my whole system at 28V, exposed a poor connection and the additional resistance that gave caused the degradation of the fuse connection without blowing it leading to higher resistance. A virtuous cycle! 
I am not sure though obviously I am not an electrician and I await an answer from the experts.
 
So ............. that meant I could undo my temporary repairs the the fridge and freezer compressors which had them working but at 60% speed.
 
I have been nursing them along keeping the voltage high, and running the generator several times over the day including in the heat of the midday to keep the compressors running.
 
Alas. I went to check the freezer and started digging my way down into it to sort it out now that it was going to be back to full power. Yes, alas.......
The bottom of the freezer was a veritable bloodbath. Obviously some of th emeats had defrosted and leaked blood and meat juice in to the freezer underneath the stuff that was still frozen or semi frozen. Not one to waste anything I syphoned it out and drank it.
 
Just joking! Uurghh! Disgusting. I even had to throw some of the stuff that was sitting in it over the side. I was devastated. Oh well there are a lot of hungry people in Africa. Hopefully all the fish can eat that stuff up and there will be more and bigger and stronger fish for the west africans to eat - when they are not sending every business in Europe e-mail offers and scams, offering to drop £10million in your acount - if only you will send them the details........    
 
I rescued most of it though. I am now on a diet of fillet steak for the next six meals, followed by two meals of sirloin steak then two of wahoo. All this is the really dodgy stuff and has to happen in the next three days. The marginal stuff which I figured is about 16 meals will probably have to happen in the following few days.......
 
Don't worry though. I am cooking three meals at a time. Everyday the food is tested. Tonight i am testing for breakfast and breakfast I am testing for lunch. So hopefully that will limit things to only one doze of the runs. Well ..... one per raw ingredient.
 
I tell you this if I don't get food poisoning through this I can promise you it doesn't exist. It is just a giant scam to keep Home Economics teachers and Tescos in business.
 
On the other hand if I do .......... well you can see I am actually putting on weight on this trip so  - maybe - well we'll see.
 
I am currently only nine miles south of the equator. Earlier today I was in shallow water - 1350 metres. In an hour or so I will have 7,000 metres under the keel!
 
e-mail me with your food hygene tips and I promise not to send you mine! rhiann {DOT} marie {CHANGE TO AT} gaelforce {DOT} net Yeah! come on, get e-mailing - they're drying up a bit. I'm working hard here you know. Show some appreciation!