00:55N 85:46W

 

Why is it that things always go wrong at night?  We had a wonderful afternoon sailing yesterday – light winds but flat seas and Bandit just kept on trucking along with Harry (the windvane) in control steering us (mostly) on course towards Galapagos.  Just after dark the wind died which didn’t surprise us as on our evening net we heard a boat in the fleet ahead of us had motored for much of the day.   With no wind we started motoring but the engine overheated – which it had done as we left Panama City.  While David was down in the engine room (woken from his off watch) the wind came again so I unfurled the genoa and got Bandit sailing again.   Turned out the impeller had been chewed up (again) and poor David spent an hour or so sorting it out.  By the time he’d finished the breeze was back nicely and we’ve been sailing ever since.

 

With an interrupted sleep we’re both feeling a little tired today so don’t plan on any important board meetings, shopping trips or physical games of tennis – just a quiet day relaxing on Bandit as we slowly approach the equator.  It’s amazing how one day just melts into the next at sea.