FINNROSE 14.00 039:17:76N 039:37:86W TUES 09/07/13
Finnrose
Wed 10 Jul 2013 00:19
poor visibility. We still had problems with the AIS and Mark and Ken played
'groundhog day' with the radio panel, but it still wouldn't work. At 7 p.m.
Mark and Ken W put our usual two reefs in the mainsail, but left the genoa
as the winds picked up. We were able to stop the engine, which allowed us
to hear ourselves talking whilst eating a lasagne for supper, the engine
being directly below the table in the saloon. Even though we weren't
running the engine, we switched the radar on; this draws a lot of our
battery power, but the consensus was that it would be well worth it in the
circumstances. The night sky cleared around 10.30 p.m. and the sea state
gradually settled.
Ken W's watch became a tad exciting at 1 a.m. when both the radar and AIS
packed in; lucky for us he eats all his carrots... The wind decided to give
in too, so aided by Liz the genoa was furled, and the engine started. We
continued to steadily motor sail at 5 knots through the night; our only
company being a cargo ship around 5 a.m. bound for Rotterdam on Ken M's
watch. Dawn brought an overcast sky, but before long the sun broke through
which heralded a beautiful, calm day, so different to yesterday.
Liz and Ken M did a 7 a.m. check of the ropes and rigging - the mainsail
topping lift was found to be badly frayed where it had been catching on a
batten; we also had to re-position the preventer on the mainsail boom and
tighten the boom brake to prevent some other ropes being damaged. The
morning developed into the chance for washing to be done, hung out on the
mizzen and mainsail reefing lines. The wind steadfastly refused to get
beyond 2 kts so we had to continue motoring. Mark continued his 'groundhog
day' battle with the AIS. Lunch was provided by Ken M and eaten out on deck
in the sunshine - he decided to make savoury pancakes, which progressed to
lemon/lime/marmalade once all the bacon, onion and cheese was finished...
absolutely delicious... 1190 miles done, 509 to go....
ps Doh! I think the wrong email address was given - try finnrose {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com x