41:53.888N 24:47.235"W
SV Eleonora
Michael A. Andronov
Thu 5 Jul 2018 05:07
UTC & local time 0346.
Computer is trying to boost my spirit by telling
that only 948 miles left to go... I want to believe him, but
not so much for the number as for how it is going down since turned
yesterday on more northerly !course... However, everything has its
price... Since then -- the folllowing seas has also grown
up quite a bit... making from the boat the 3D rollercoaster
capsule... Everything is trying to fly outside the boat, everything
is trying to fly inside...
If I do not find the solution -- how to slow those
motions down -- in the morning, after the dawn, then the forecast is -- I
have to live with that as minimum 24 hours more...
Then I should have a stable boat again, but no wind... No, you can not
have everything at the same time... ;-)
Yesterday day has been 'routine' and
interesting at the same time. For the first time, as I remember it,
the only thing which has been working as planned -- was the weather. It
was a sunny beautiful morning... Do you know those late September or early
October days is Montreal ? Yes, Indian Summer... When you have
a strange feeling that the summer came back ? Yes, that is it!
That was my yesterday morning... ( Oh, boy, where am I going ? It is
colder and colder with each hour, forget the days.... ). With sun,
with crispy air, with refreshing and waking up temperature! (
Try to take the cold water shower on the deck ... and you will know why
I'm no so enthusiastic... )....
The wind started to change to W, then SW... and to
pick up... Ok, that is predicted... Time to change the sails, as we
are nearly on the run now... and to put the pole for the yankee...
Small front sail going
down... Easy... But as I was inspecting the front of the boat
-- I've noticed that the furling line for yankee has chaffed severely at one
place... nearly gone... It has probably happened on previous day, when I
was running with partially furled yankee for a while... Hmm... first
things first -- I have to close yankee if the line would allow... It
did... and give up right at the last moment... But the sail was closed
already... It has been a good line... A new one, I would
say... On a positive side, now I have 2 peaces of that line... But it does
not help at the moment...
Hopefully, when I splice it, it will still go
through all blocks...
I have a repaired old furling line... So, I
put it back... Fixed...
But now, the wind changed too
much... and it has picked up even more... There is no point to add
yankee... With only main with 1st reef -- we are doing 7.5 kts... If
I change the course to use yankee -- we would cross 42N too
quickly...
And frankly, I've feel a bit tired to
play with pole at that moment...
Ok, boat! Can I go and rest a
bit? No... the generator took a nice wave, and decided --
enough, that is it!
Why everyone is so grumpy today? It
looks like I'm the onlry one on the board, who keeps going no matter
what...
Ok, negatiated a deal with a
generator... The batteries are charging now... ( The sun disappeared
an hour or so ago, in middle layer greyish clouds... )
Working with weather, fixing lines,
messages, some cleaning, cooking... discussion with
Chris Parker the weather and the route for next days...
In short -- a regular, 'routine' day on
board...
Why did I call it interesting above ? I
notice that I'm not treating the broken parts or equipment as 'something going
wrong'... I'm treating that as 'normal sequence of events', fixing
right away if I can, looking for ways around -- if I can not fix
it... and preparing leave without broken part when both previous options
are not working... This attitude of mine went to some new level --
the fact, that the part is broken -- does not bother me at all... None, nada...
( Michael, be carefull with that... there are parts, and there are parts... you
know... watch what you are saying... )
Somehow, at the end of the day, rethinking
about what had happened during the day... brought the question(s) I started to
hear more and more often... ' What are you plannig to achieve with that
trip? What is your life ? ' I do not know why those
questions come back to the head today... May be I'm just a
little bit too tired...
I'm actually... I would like some sleep,
and day of sailing without 'events'...
We will see...
Meantime -- as I'm typing the message
-- a new fenomen... The fog... The fog fog... Which
all around the boat... which is inside the boat... Which is
condensating inside the boat on everthing.... And now everything is
wet.... EVERYTHING!!! I've never seen something like that before...
And, of course, the wind is vanishing... Just great...
That is all my news for now.
In short, - we are OK, we are moving forward!
Talk to you soon,
M.
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