Half way!!
Chelone's travels.....
John and Susie Blair.
Mon 3 Dec 2012 16:06
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N19:50.00 W38:00.00
Didn't take long did it? We're on the home run now
with a mere 1290 miles to go! As you can see from the position reports I send
via Sat phone we are beginning our descent in latitude towards 13 degrees with
our bow now pointing at Barbados. We'll soon feel the warm Bajun sand between
our toes and can't wait.
Well the weather had taken a nose dive since the
last report here with near gale force winds (and well over at times with rain
squalls up to 40 knots) we've been broad reaching with 20% Genoa and one
reef in the mains'l surfing down big seas at great speed with heavy rain wiping
out visibility so watchkeeping pointless and all crew below decks in the dry
while the electric pilot did the steering.
It was at the peak of these conditions at 3am this
morning that after nearly 2000 miles the autopilot broke! Ross hand steered in
the lashing rain while I attempted to rig the secondary autopilot, the Monitor
Windvane. I say attempted because it too had developed problems of it's own! a
tiny circlip had corroded causing a failure of mechanical parts that had me
hanging over Chelone's stern to remove. Anyway, after an hour of messing about
with it we finally had it working and steering beautifully so we handed the
watch over to Louise and hit the sack.
Later on in daylight I plundered the spares box and
replaced worn cogs in the electric pilots gearbox so it's up and running again
now though we've decided to give it a rest and continue with the Monitor
as it requires no electrical power.
So what else has been happening? Ross has been busy
compiling his CV ready to email off to agencies on arrival in Barbados, I had to
stitch another tear in the Mains'l, fish have been caught but not landed, Martin
baked a lovely huge loaf of bread, and talking of food all the fresh meat is now
gone, no more smoked bacon and the frozen chicken breast is a distant
memory.
We do however have enough tinned foods to continue
for a circumnavigation of the planet! Tuna, ham, soups, fruit, veg, beans
etc. Loads of Chorizo, Olives, cereals, Pasta and sauces, loads of
eggs..... though we're down to our last half ton of Rice!
As I write, Martin is kneading another loaf and the
sun is shining outside, the forecast is for this lovely fresh following wind to
continue for a day or so then fall away to around ten knots though southeasterly
so hopefully enabling us to set our third sail, the Stays'l or pole out the
Gennaker. Even if the wind dies we still have 370 litres of fuel which
gives us an endurance of over eight days motoring.
Flying fish have flown onto our decks and soon
we'll surely sight Tropic and Frigate birds as we near Caribbean waters, we'll
keep you posted. The evening check in with Herb is the focus of our evening and
every night more boats are checking in (at present around 25) the majority are
American sailors making their way south to the Bahamas and West Indies, some
making their way along the Columbian coast towards Panama another Cuban bound
etc. It's interesting to hear their check in and Herbs advice to them. One chap
who failed to get Herbs attention last evening we called and he said it was just
himself and one other delivering a 35 footer to the BVI sharing 6 on 6 off
watches in bad conditions 400 miles behind us after leaving the Canaries, we're
going to work a relay to Herb for him tonight if he's still
unsuccessful.
So there you go, another few days passed, catch up
again soon, JB.
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