End Day 5...swabbing the deck?
31:49.8N 71:12.8W As we end our fifth full day, we have now logged 970 miles (167 in the last 24 hours)...mostly sailing with the spinnaker and main, and during the night motoring with the genoa and main. Last night we had a great dinner, prepared by the Galley Captain, Chef Rich....salmon with capers (with a little help from Miss Penguin our supplier of pre-prepared meals...but with a lot of personal additions by Rich), rice, and broccoli, preceded by a fabulous fresh greens, tomato, peppers, and onion salad. For the first time, conditions were steady enough to open the cockpit table and eat on it (see picture below). After dinner, the kite was taken down for the night, and onward we sailed. Today started uneventful, with winds about 14 knots, and good conditions for the kite. As we have each gained experience with the kite rigging, we had it up in about 15 minutes. And a pod of about 10 dolphins were jumping on both sides of the boat...were they watching us hoist the kite? Then, with the engine off, the captain and Nick lined up to transfer fuel from the forward tank, through the fuel filter, to the main tank (the engine and generator runs only on the main tank). Half way through the transfer, fuel droplets came in from the "open saloon window"...how could diesel fuel be above the deck? We stopped the operation and checked carefully...it turns out that the main tank vent is on the port side above the deck, and we are on a port tack (with the fuel tank on the starboard low side, and fuel sloshing to clog the vent line), so as we transferred, we forced fuel up the vent line and onto the deck....diesel fuel on a teak deck is a real "no-no". Ralph and Nick ran topside, while the captain secured the transfer lineup below and provided soap, brush, and bucket to start diluting and scrubbing off the diesel fuel. I think Rich was standing by watching! The crew was moving fast, "swabbed the deck" with Joy dish soap and salt water (see Nick dropping the bucket over the side to scoop up salt water), and all was restored to normal. Once again, this episode drove home the old adage from our sailing mentor "Captain Ron": "If anything is gonna happen its gonna happen out there!" Every day we have 2-3 big or little challenges...and we love it as we analyze and solve them! And now the spinnaker is down, and we motor into the night....and squalls with wind gusts to 45 knots...all in a day sailing of "bluewater sailing"! Captain Mike |