3PM 9/12/07

The Raymarne system decided to play up. What happens is that you get a NEMA freeze in which the computer and the navigation think they’re getting a correct positon on  the network but  fact it’s not updating.   This is normally cured by the high tech expediant of turning everything off for a bit and then on again.  Not this time.

In the end I have to manually delete all the waypoint and route information in the Raymarine system on both the plotter and the repeater. Restart them empty.  Re download the route from the main computer and now it appears to be playing correctly except that this leg is over 1300 miles and the Raymarine system can’t cope with Waypoint range and Time to Go over that large a distance. The cockpit repeater does give the correct distance but the plotter itself  is frozen at 409.5 miles when it should read 1383.  The Raymarine technician in Gran Canaria did say all of our gear was  way behind on software updates but he wouldn’t advise changing it just before a crossing.

5PM.

It did it again.  It always starts with a Lost GPS error message.  There in nothing wrong  with the GPS.  But this time I restarted the Navigation program and it all came back. Don’t know if it was coincidence or what, but it sure was a hell of a lot easier and quicker than reprogramming everything.

It’s a hot muggy afternoon. The wind persists in staying SSE  which is not great for  either boat speed or comfort.  Sotiris found the halyard shackle pin on the deck hours after it had fallen out.

8PM

We have a visitor.  A small sea hawk(?) stopped to rest for a couple of minutes but he was just casing the  joint and when he thought we weren’t looking he came back.

I hope there’s not too much evidence of his visit in the morning.

The sea is getting up a bit so it’s not going to be a comfortable night for sleeping.

The wind is SE now and I hope it stays there.

4AM 10/12/07

The wind did stay SE Force 5 and I slept surprisingly well.  The stars are particularly bright  as there is no competition from the moon.  We are making a few degrees East of track, so should the wind go more South than we like, we will have some sea room to manoeuvre.

No sign of our visitor  on the poop deck.

We are sighting cargo ships every few hours.

It’s too hot belowdecks even for a T Shirt.

There’s a little water slopping about in the bilge which every once in a while sets off the bilge alarm. This is an especially virulent noise and although it only lasts a few seconds, it really gets everyone’s attention.

9AM

The wind continues at SE Force 5/6. Everyone slept well last night, and when I arose again at 8:30 everyone was up, the first time apart from day 1 that’s happened.

There precious little bird poop on the poop deck so he’s welcome anytime. He’s still around as Sotiris just spotted him flitting amongst the waves.  Ah, the waves, every once in a while one flicks up on board curling around the spray hood.  Bathing suits may become the order of the day for the watch. Actually Sortiris is one step ahead as he’s already wearing one, which is handy as he just got drenched sitting at the leeward helm.

We are 80 miles abeam of the Arquipelago De  Fernando De Noronha, a protected nature reserve about 200 miles offshore, which we visited in March 2000.  Dolphins go there by the 1000 to breed which is where they must all be now as we haven’t seen one for several days.

We haven’t touched the sails in a few days, the sail plan is a bit of reefed everything, yankee, staysail and main.  The running backstay is up for good measure.

10AM

Steve wants to vacuum down below and asks Nik to help by corralling the canister so it can’t leap about the boat while he’s vacuuming.  He then tries to persuade Nik to call it a VAcuum cleaner not WAcuum cleaner. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing they decide to call it a Hoover…even though it’s a Meile.

Noon

Daily run 194 miles.  I’ve just realized that by supper we should be half way. So I’d better put a bottle of wine in the fridge.