getting every closer
Tripled
Sat 28 May 2011 10:09
The cookie monster was out in full force yesterday and devoured a whole box of MY chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. The only reasons that we are still the triple Ds are 1) she's quite good at the old navigating thing really and 2) there was an extra box of cookies in the baking cupboard. I've hidden this box so she can't polish them off before I wake up again!!
Much the same as yesterday in that we kept on bashing into the waves, bang bang bang, it's amazing how strong the boat is! But in the afternoon we had a brief moment of panic when the engine dropped its revs suddenly, recovered, and then stopped entirely. No engine = not good as we can't charge our batteries, resulting in no navigation equipment (except a handheld GPS, but no radar etc), no navigational lights, no autohelm, no generator to allow us to watch Prison Break! We tried re-starting her but to no avail, checked the oil and the coolant and all was fine. At this stage we fired off quick emails to the wonderful men that are always willing to help out Triple D - Gerry and James - in the hope that they might turn on their sat phones soon and receive our emails. But in the end, help was not needed - we pumped through some fuel manually, gave the engine a bit of a rest and then restarted her, holding our breath and crossing our fingers as we did so. She worked and has been going for over 12 hours since then. She just has to hold on for just over 12 more hours....!!!!!
I mentioned the autohelm previously - our autohelm is brilliant, we have not steered once in two weeks. At the moment she is set to the wind, so steers us on a course based on the wind angle, and she steers just as well like this as she does when we set her on a direct course. Without her we would be screwed as steering all the time would be extremely tiring with only three people on board! Especially on conditions like this, where we tend to huddle downstairs in our thermals all day!!
Last night I was wearing: leggings, long-sleeved top, long socks, fleecy thermal bottoms, lightweight thermal jumper, fleecy thermal jumper, hoody, fleecy polar suit, oily jacket, scarf, hat, hood pulled up. It sure is cold out here!!
Tonight I plan to be tucked up cosily in my own bed without having to get woken at 6am, bliss. Then to have a shower that doesn't feel like I'm showering standing on top of a bucking bronco. Our ETA is currently 10pm - yet again we have not managed to make landfall in the light!!!