On lines
Skye Blue sailing
Stephen and Malene
Wed 21 Jun 2023 20:46
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Day 19,
No time for fishing? Usually we drag a line in the
hope of catching fresh fish (tuna or Dorado preferably) - but neither of us has
committed to getting the fishing line out and I think it is partly because
we have enough tasks on hand without the prospect of landing and dealing with a
fish. One of the main tasks is sleeping! Yesterday I had the better
shift in that I was off 0300 - 0700 and I notice the 0700 is becoming
more 0730. This means that M has been on duty for 4 and a half hours and
gets some needed sleep after 0800 once we have shaken out the nightly
reef. As it takes two to land a fish it would disturb her catch up sleep.
So from about 1100 we have time to do some jobs but fishing not a priority as
of yet. They keep jumping on board by themselves anyway, so more an issue
of helping them back in the water.
Yesterday we got hit by a gust that went from 19 kts to
29 kts in seconds. Flying along at over 9 kts M puts her head up and asks
" any help with reefing". We reefed both head and main sails
remarkably quickly and settled into still fast but more comfortable
sailing. Shortly after the wind then died but left a nasty swell so we
we bobbing about like a cork. Engine on! The engine gives forward
drive, charges the batteries and gives plenty of both fresh (when running
watermaker) and hot water - not bad on about 3 litres an hour.
We decided that when the engine was on we could change
the replacement furling line with a better one. We have some spare Dyneema rope
- it is expensive but incredibly strong and runs smoothly. We hoped that by
replacing the improvised line with Dyneema we might be able to reef the head
sail without needing both of us and all my considerable weight! M insisted I wear my life jacket as it was still bouncy so I
clipped on and crawled up to the front, and cut away the old furling line
and tied the new line through the wee hole in the furling drum with my knot just
tucked in (having previously spliced and stitched the ends to save any
unraveling). It then leads through five pulley wheels back to the cockpit. At
each pulley you have to decide if the new line goes over or under all the other
ropes - they are: headsail sheet and lazy sheet, staysail sheet and lazy sheet,
the preventer, the runner and trycing line, and the jack stays - that are
important as they stop you falling overboard if clipped on to them - then
through the jammer and job done! I only got the preventer wrong and managed
to re-string that fairly quickly. A quick test and all seemed well. However the
biggest sign of success was this morning when M said that she had furled the
headsail as a nasty cloud approached and then unfurled it once the
cloud had passed - all without waking me up! Yay!
We have now been at sea for three weeks and I have
stopped trying to predict arrival time - that could be in two or three
weeks! Still we are over halfway and the trade winds are with us, the sun is
shining and we are going well. It has also been much cooler than expected
so no problems with over-heating and we even need a blanket at night
- thanks to the current that comes from the Antarctic up the coast of
Chile. And we are still speaking to each other :D
Life is good.
2:04.0240S 111:07.5490W
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