We have Wind! Praise Heinz!
Serai
Jason and Emily Willis
Sun 8 Apr 2007 18:25
After motoring for 50 hours we have finally been able to turn off the
engine, and for the last 27 hours have been sailing. After such a long time
away from it, I'd forgotten what to do, but as you can imagine, Ems soon set
me straight!
We are now underneath the ITCZ, which in the good old days was called the
'Doldrums'. Not sure why we needed to change the name; perhaps 'doldrums'
means something terrible in Swahili so it had to be changed so as not to
offend. Anyway we now have wind and are averaging around 6 knots. We have
blue skies and a smattering of fluffy white clouds. All very nice.
Of course all this niceness was lulling us into a false sense of security.
That's the thing with boats - its never 'if' but always 'when'. B.O.A.T.
BROKEN OR ABOUT TO. I guess that's a fundamental difference between boats
and caravans; that and that caravans dont float!
So imagine my surprise when I ambled to the side of the boat to 'drain the
proverbial dragon', only to discover that the paint on the starboard hull
had decided that it preferred a life on the ocean wave to life on our hull!
Great swathes of it were missing and other bits were only hanging on. After
questioning Ems if she had thrown anything chemical overboard, we
established that there was no-one to blame. Damn!
Now this could have happened at anytime in the last 2636 miles since we
applied the paint, and indeed anytime would have been very much preferable
to now. Galapagos is not known for its large West Marine store. Darwin did
not discover the joys of white polyurethane gloss paint whilst sizing up
various species of Finch. The Origin of the Species was not a book about
paint...unfortunately for us! So, if Galapagos is not the paint mecca we
would have liked, then this leaves only another 3000 miles until we reach
another place that does sell paint! Yipped-do!
The good news in this sea of...in this sea of... well this sea of our hull
paint as it happens, is that we have 2 quarts of said paint on board. And
the reality is that this will have to be enough for now!
So whilst everyone else enjoys the mysteries of the blue footed Booby, I'll
be painting Serai's hull, and Ems will probably decide that while we're at
it, we might as well put on another coat of varnish!
As I write this we have around 300 miles to go. Its all gone pretty well. We
have wind now, and long may it last. We struggled a bit with sleeping and
the watches, but have now settled into our routine and dont feel tired
nearly as much. Each night gets easier and easier. We have begun to set each
other little trivia quizzes to help pass the time. Its fun and keeps us
awake - what else could be fun and keep us awake in the night? Hmmmm.
The fishing has been a disaster. Not one single fish to date. But at least I
now have a reason; the fish could not be bothered to dodge chunks of our
hull paint in order to grab a meal out of mightily realistic lure!
Anyway, thats it from us - I'm off to bed to dream about fibreglass!
Till the next time.
Lots of love
J and Ems xx