Weaving my Way West - 19:11.5N 34:13.5W
syladyshamrock
dmccarthy
Thu 10 Feb 2011 21:08
|
The wind is up again and blowing 20-25 knots from
the NE and the waves setting ENE and These conditions are not suiting the
boat. Again the waves are catching the stern and causing a broach either
to windward or leeward. Broaching to leeward is obviously far more
worrying and as the foresail whips across it fills with a huge bang.
Sometimes the shock is so violent that the jammers for the vane steering slip
and the boat is left hove too and pinned.
This makes life pretty uneasy, with the
boat healing to port and starboard to both extremes. But the real problem
is getting rest. It seems that no matter how long I sit at the wheel and
nurse the vane steering into a steady pattern then I go below and within five
minutes something has happened. There is no quick fix remedy for this that
I know of other than just to keep doing it. Thatâs not a problem either as
I am still in good shape, very well fed and in good spirits (So well fed in fact
that I will have to radio ahead to arrange a chainsaw to cut a new companionway
to get me out). I am more worried about
trying to give the boat a relatively easy ride, and itâs not my
forte.
I had a look at the charts today and decided on a
half way mark. Somewhere about 46 deg 20.0 minutes west, I figure would be
about right. At the moment I am still 700 Nm away from this but would hope
to make it by the end of the week. I have marked it on the plotter as a
waypoint and named it âhalf wayâ. At least this shows up on the same page
as my track when fully zoomed out.
So off I go again, itâs going to be a long night,
absolutely everything in the boat seems to be rattling and I wonât rest until I
know what each noise is. Not to mind keeping the boat upright and
moving.
Note to self:
Things to do in Antigua
#1 get a dingy and go screaming downwind for a
couple of miles just to remember how it should be done.
*wash, food, pints, doing the chicken dance on
the bar etc. are not mentioned as they are part of the usual
formalities.
|