Update 6th January 2010

Now that Winter’s here, I find that progress through the jobs-to-do list
slows to a snail’s pace. Partly
because the wet weather halts any work outside and partly because it is
difficult to maintain one’s motivation when it’s cold, wet, dark and miserable,
and everyone else is at home by the fire with a glass of something warming in
their hand; there is nothing like a warm sunny day to put a spring in your step
and hurry the work along. However,
I am lucky that I work 400 yards away from the boat, so I can work on her every
night, motivation notwithstanding. Whilst contemplating the ever growing list, the thought occurred to me that there was still plenty of time, with winter and spring stretching ahead. A perusal of the diary quickly revealed that, social commitments aside, I have only four free weekends between now and delivery time to Plymouth to complete my preparation. That raised the motivational factor a bit. The boat was pretty well prepared for the Azores Challenge, but the three
thousand mile shakedown revealed more deficiencies and improvements to be
attended to. Leaking hatches,
leaking windows, loose rudder bearings, faulty autopilot (Raymarine ST2000,
completely useless, if anyone’s interested
- rubbish product, rubbish
service, no wonder their share price is in free fall), dodgy electrics,
ventilators that don’t, etc etc.
Nothing that would prevent me getting to Newport, but everything that
makes life easier. I’ve tried to
make the boat failsafe - as long as the mast stays up, the rudder
stays on and I’ve got food and water, I can keep sailing. Electrics, electronics, engine -
I can cope without them all, though that begs the question, why have them
then? Because I like to and because
the budget stretches to include them (and stretched it is!). I don’t even need accurate time because
a noon sight giving latitude (no accurate time needed) will mean that I can hit
America more or less in the right spot, as long as I don’t drop the sextant
overboard. As a friend of mine
succinctly put it ‘you’d have to be more pissed than usual to end up in the
Southern Ocean whilst on the Jester Challenge.’ I sail with a dry boat and leave
temptation ashore so I’d already covered that problem - it also makes the first
cold beer in Newport even more delicious, though not as good as the
second! |