36:32N 08:27W Approaching the Straights of Gibraltar.
The Snark on The ARC
Ben Little
Fri 3 Jun 2011 15:35
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Hi there,
230 Nm to go and we will have crossed the entire
Atlantic Ocean. Now sadly we have had to turn on the engine and motor
sail, the good news is that what wind remains still helps us on our way and
we are motor sailing at a respectable 7.5 knots (currently I guess the
current is also helping us a little) toward our goal on minimal revs.
Despite quite a bit of traffic last night and a few today there has been none on
my watch this evening (thankfully) all I have had to contend with is the Damp
and the lack of entertainment (no wind to sail by). The dew is incredible,
the deck could not be wetter if it was contently raining and it is quite
slippery as well inside as you come down the companionway stairs. More
potential bruises to keep me black and blue.
We went fishing today and at the traditional
fish-o-clock just as dishes have been washed from dinner and the sun is sinking
toward the horizon the reel started to scream and I really mean scream. I
tightened the brake and the rod bent double then the reel started screaming
again. It must have been quite a fish, sadly too much for our
tackle. It broke the line with about 80% of the line out and we lost our
lure, weight tracer and spinner. Will try again tomorrow and hope to catch
something we have a hope of landing. I would like to try some more sushi
before we get to Gib!
Busy compiling video clips, dolphins
whales and sailing, and trying to decide which background music to
use. We have done "I'm on a boat" last year and the other
comedy suggestion is probably even more rude than that so looking for
something suitable for junior audiences as well. Any suggestions
welcomed for consideration.
Getting to the end of my watch now, time to put the
kettle on for a cup of tea for Mike, I have put out the cashew nuts and choco
ration, maybe I need to hide the condensed milk as he seems to have
developed a taste for that!!
___________________________________________________
Now morning and we have survived another night with
just one more to go. Sadly the wind has deserted us, rather it is blowing
around 6 knots on the nose, there is nothing useful forecast on the GRIB so we
are just motoring into it with 185 miles to run roughly.
Luckily we have something new to entertain us,
Chris has managed to fuse his toilet this came to light as we noticed
he had been using the main heads rather than the guest heads in his bedroom
(noticed for all the wrong reasons). So I have spent a good portion of the
morning in the front locker diagnosing the problem. It seems that due to
our improbable angle of heel some bilge water still coming in through the mast
boot has made the wiring behind the toilet damp. In the process of fixing
the problem we were hit by a huge wave which broke across the front of the boat
and dumped about 5 litres of water over me through the front hatch (which I had
opened foolishly for fresh air) and all over the exposed toilet circuits.
The are now drying out and I hope they are not completely fried. The
clever chap who fitted it originally had considerately put all the wiring behind
the toilet which means that to access it you have to actually remove the whole
toilet bowl or re wire elsewhere with completely new wiring (which is our
plan). Enough of this as no triumphant conclusion as yet.
We are now crossing the shipping lanes just outside
Cap St Vincent. We have been studying the charts (Mike has been
immensely helpful with this) with interest and I am rather glad given
the quantity of traffic that we are doing this now and not on a later
watch! Also of interest are the tidal flows indicated around the
approach to Gibraltar, we are certainly going to be slowed by heavy winds
against, possibly tides and waves. The sea action here as we cross the
lanes is taking 3 knots off out boat speed! Not very good progress.
Lets hope it improves as we move inshore. Going to check email now and
hopefully we will have the data we need to make a
calculation.
Wish us luck for the last 24 hours (or more) of our
epic journey.
Ben and the Crew of The Snark
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