3rd Sept - Day 3
SY Saphir -
Jeff & Doreen
Sun 4 Sep 2022 02:24
13:08s 158:38w
Our noon to noon was 152.0 nm today. Up until midnight it was looking like we might have a really good day but once again the winds went a bit lighter overnight and slowed our progress. At least we did not have any rain squalls to contend with as per the night before.
The wind has been mainly from an easterly direction or slightly north of east today at around 14 knots. We changed from the jib to the Code 0 at about 08.00 this morning and have been running with this all day making respectable speeds. The updated weather forecasts still seem to agree that we will get a wind shift overnight tonight to the ESE at which point we will gybe.
We passed through a small fleet of Chinese fishing boats last night (not too close) and then another group of about 8 boats this morning at first light. These boats looked like they were in much better condition than the ones we saw previously on our passage from the Galapagos. We had to alter course for one boat but the rest were not in the way.
I have not been able to repair the Watermaker which started giving us trouble on our last long passage to the Marquesas so we are now without the ability to make water. This particular unit uses a Clark pump which is a hydraulically based pump that acts as a pressure intensifier to get the water to the correct pressure to go thought the membrane and hence produce fresh water. The idea with these pumps is that they use a lot less energy (battery power) to get the high pressure you need and thereby for a small boat with limited battery power and no AC generator are supposedly a good solution. I think the problem lies with the seals in the pump and also we probably need a new membrane both of which were going to be too expensive to have shipped to French Polenesia to fix it. So I decided to do without and repair it in Australia where I can gets the parts at a reasonable cost off the shelf.
This means that we have had to go back to basics for our fresh water usage onboard. I have converted a foot pump at the galley from fresh water to sea water so we can use sea water to wash the dishes in, we have started using 50/50 sea water and fresh water for cooking vegetables, potatoes and pasta and it is back to a good old bucket of sea water over the head for our showers. We have allowed ourselves the luxury of a fresh water rinse after the deck shower which we never had on any of my early offshore trips. In fact I remember being made to use salt water to wash your teeth on the way to Australia in the Parmelia race!!
Actually it is not too much of a problem - Doreen thinks it is becoming more like a camping trip than being on a luxury cruise which is how I sold it to her in the first place :)
The roast chicken went down well last night, the gas did not run out and we can have the same for dinner tonight which makes life easy.
We have about 1550nm to go and should be pointing in the right direction by the morning.
Another great day on the ocean…
Cheers
Saphir
