30th November 2007

 

Well the 'Ball bearings on the deck' story. Justin was doing his last light deck check and collected half a dozen ball bearings from the foredeck under the Facnor Electric Furler for the genoa. Phew the last thing we needed was a genoa that wouldn't furl. Took some immediate pictures and shot them off to Robert Sturch at Vicsail our Beneteau agent in Sydney. Spent a nervous night but the response was waiting for me in my morning emails......

 

 

Thanks Robert for the prompt attention.

 

But it is not over yet. The rotating tack fitting had obviously loosened and somehow we had to get it tight again. The maintenance manual seemed to show this was all one piece but something had let go. Eventually Justin got out the big persuader monkey wrench and took hold of what appeared to be a solid fitting above the tack ring and started turning. Hallelujah it turned an he managed to get everything lined up again albeit with out a bunch of ball bearings. We have some aluminium turning on aluminium but it should get us to St Lucia OK.

 

We had a great 24 hours last, I think we made over 200nm and we now feel as though we are moving in the right direction at a respectable speed.

 

Today is my birthday and the last time I crossed this bit of ocean I was 21 years old and today is the 46th anniversary of that birthday. Boy where did all the time go so quickly.

 

Sometimes I think wishes she wasn't here, it's as boring as !!!. Ocean sailing is pretty flat and the scenery doesn't change. Food has been great and we are now in rhythm with the trip.

 

Cheers

 

JH