15/1/08 14:20

Another “Lost GPS” alarm.  Also another hitch hiker. Same type of bird. This one had a shower.

Wind now NW Force 5, dead on the beam.

15:30

Another “Lost GPS” alarm

15:45

Another “Lost GPS” alarm

Wind has gone forward to WNW

16:00

Big rain squall arrives. Wind goes WSW Force 6. As the only course we can make to much too much East we decide to motor for a while so as not to give up any Westing.

In the middle of it all the bilge alarm goes again but there is no excessive water in the bilge.  There’s a little water in the engine room which is quickly hand pumped away.  This has no connection with the bilge alarm which is located in the deepest part of the boat.  I only had it installed so we would know if the bilge water level was rising and the pumps (there are 2) weren’t working… before the floorboards started floating.

The squall passes and we are left for the moment with 7 knots of wind from the West, so we keep on motoring.

17:00

So I’m making my afternoon cappuccino and the bilge alarm goes off again at the same moment Nik shouts “Dolphins.”  The Dolphins turn out to be half a dozen or so “Spectacled Porpoises” according to the book.  They are about  a meter and a half long with blow holes on their foreheads and pay a proper visit, frolicking on the bow for a good half hour before getting bored with us.  The West wind increases and we could almost sail again, but we would lose a few degrees of the precious Westing so I want to motor until the next major wind shift, it’s meant to go quite severely against us in the  next couple of hours.

17:20

Bilge Alarm again.

17:30

Wind  obliges for the moment and goes WNW so we sail again.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

20:45

We had a hearty dinner of steak and several veg. 

The Porpoioses came back for a supper visit.

Wind has gone WSW Force 6 and we can no longer make  even 180 degrees so I decide to motor. It’s pretty lumpy punching into it but at least we’re making

5 1/2 – 6 knots on course. No one will sleep well tonight.  If we weren’t on such a tight schedule we could have stopped ar Mar del Plata for a few days and waited for a  4 day weather window.

The sun sets tonight at 9:30 pm. The further south we go surprise surprise the colder it gets. Nik learned a new word today when I said I was going to dig out my duvet.

He had never heard the word “duvet” before although they certainly have them in Finland. 

10:05

Bilge Alarm again.

11:00

Bilge Alarm again.  Wind has gone SW force 6 gusting 7, truly on the nose now. Boat speed  barely 5 knots.

16/1/08  8:30 AM

About 3:30 this morning on Steve’s watch the Raymarine Raymarine System didn’t just winge “Lost GPS,” it died completely or at least the “Sea Talk” network did.  This meant no instruments and no pilot.  Steve hand helmed for the rest of his watch and when I came on at 6, I helmed for an hour and a quarter or so while Steve got some rest. While helming the porpoises came for morning tea, I hope they didn’t think me rude ignoring them. About 7:15 we hove to and started to look for the problem.  We removed, checked, and replaced the Sea Talk Fuses in the course computer, wiggled a few wires, scratched our head, considered replacing the course computer and a little after 8 it came back, and we don’t know why. 

13:00  What with the motoring into a gale, the hand helming and the heaving to, our 24 hour run was only 131 miles which by the way is a new record, but not alas for speed. There are 621 miles to go.  The wind is still on the nose but not so fiercely now.

 Since yesterday we have been followed by a number of Molly Mawks, a small Albatross.  This morning we saw our first proper giant Albatross with a 2 meter wing span.

I now understand the bilge alarm business.  I had assumed the Alarm installation was the same as on COMPANY where we had a separate sensor which triggered the alarm

if the water level got too high, a sign of pump failure.  This alarm is triggered if the pump runs for more than 30 seconds and the problem is that the pump can’t clear a little bit of water slopping around.  The trick is to turn it off for a while, let the little bit of water become a slightly bigger bit and then it can clear it.  A small amount of water must be getting in from somewhere and we will go on a treasure hunt on the next stop.I've tried to send a couple of pix but they don'w want to go today