Day 13 - 14th June - First slow day
SY Saphir -
Jeff & Doreen
Wed 15 Jun 2022 01:07
Noon to noon of 138.3nm - which for the average we have been keeping is a slow day.
The wind continued to be light yesterday and throughout the night and with the direction being much more from the ESE it means the wind angle is quite well aft and we are having to sail downwind, something that is always a challenge in light weather. Nevertheless less we sailed all night at around 5 knots and it was very peaceful with a full moon so no complaints. It looks like the wind still might still be a bit light tonight but should be back up by midday tomorrow and seems pretty good for the rest of the way then.
The wind has dropped even further during today and we decided to motor for a while at 08.00 this morning. We have plenty of diesel and it was also good to be able to run the watermaker to top off the water tanks at the same time. We can run the watemaker off the batteries as it has a DC pump but it uses 10amps when running and that is about the maximum we can get from the solar panels on a really bright sunny day. Therefore we tend to make water when we are running the engine.
We took the opportunity to do some cleaning while we are motoring, topped up the fuel tank with another 40lt diesel and had showers etc. etc. I fixed the toilet pump which was quite easy because I carry a complete spare pump so it only took a short while to change it and then cleaned the deck. That may sound a bit odd being at sea but there were so many fish scales all over the deck it looked like a battle ground and was driving me crazy. We have a very powerful deck wash pump (courtesy of DM) and I used that to give the boat a scrub and get rid of the flying fish remnants. Very satisfying. It was also necessary to clean the aft bathing platform and associated fuel cans, Windpilot etc because we much had had either an Albatross or a flock of very large birds hovering at one stage last night because they left their calling card and a very large one at that!!!
We used up the last of our fresh salad at lunch time (in fact it has lasted so well we could have bought more) and I think I have enough vegetables left to make a vegetable curry tonight. That is the plan anyway.
As I write this we have just under 900 nm to go and all being well we should be in on Monday or Tuesday - I have probably just tempted fate.
Fishing - One of my experienced cruising mates emailed me today and explained where he thought I was going wrong… it seems I should not be using a fancy rod and reel but should have a lure out on a line with a piece of bungy attaching it to the boat so you known when you have a bite. Then you can casually saunter over to the line and simply pull it in around a winch. Sounds like a plan I thought so we are trying it right now, however nothing has happened yet so still NO FISH.
I had an email from another friend who left the Galapagos three days ago which was of some concern - He had only been out 1 day and he had two Mahi Mahi in the bag. We might just have to hove to for 10 days while he catches up if we get hungry - However even though the crew of Saphir are “shadows” of their former selves I don’t think a few days on half rations will do them any harm and as we have enough pasta to probably get back to the UK that will not happen.
We are going to add some tinfoil to the lure in a moment and send it back out for the two hours of twilight… Watch this space.
All well onboard
Cheers
Sahir