A couple of the boats have hired a plotter to follow their course, the wind, weather, and know their boat's performance as well as the crew's goals (comfortable, fast, etc.). They were discussing on the net that they were going to go back north to an even 7 degrees latitude in order to have the wind coming at about 110 degrees off their port sides. The wind is coming around behind us at this point. They were going to need to drop their mainsails, but were supposed to be able to sail up there. We discussed it and decided not to back track. We decided we can spinnaker straight downwind and if we don't backtrack, maybe we can gain the advantage on the race?? Either way, we are good here.
The boat with the "advisor" is actually about 120 miles behind us, so they aren't the ones we are really racing. The one that just passed us was considering going north, but not totally sold on the plan. So, no problem, we can't really speed up and haven't really slowed down, so in general, doesn't really matter what they do or don't do, our course is set. Is fun to compare notes though. Sometimes when sailing, straight isn't the fastest or easiest way.
So, we are actively fishing. Rather than our rods and reels at these speeds, we have thick hand reeling lines out that the fish are going to have a much harder time getting away with. They don't have the mechanism to notify us of a catch though, so we check them periodically. During naptime, we didn't check it. After naptime, Courage pulled it in. We'd had a fish. The lure was eaten through on the head section with a chunk of wood missing. The midsection hooks were all bent halfway straight. That was a good bite for sure. I got a picture. Not sure if that means we can't use it again, I'm thinking so. I don't think it "swims" right.
We had a bodily fluid leak onto the couch cushion this morning. We also hadn't run the water-maker/generator in 6 days. It has to be run and/or back-flushed at least every 10 days. Since it's filters seem to be growing things, Courage wants to do it more often. So we ran the water-maker/generator and washing machine. We used the rainwater we'd collected in the 33-gallon drum for the wash, then water-maker water for rinse. Of course we hung it on the lines to dry. It’s nice to have a bunch of fresh things again. We're ready for rain again, so we can refill water. It's been gorgeous sunny for the past few days. Good for power though. It's nice to have the option for generator, making fresh water, and doing laundry. It's also nice we didn't need to run it because we were out of water or power, but rather because it was "time" for the filters and maintenance. I certainly would not have been inspired to do laundry, except we love sitting on the couch in the evening and the smells in the main salon are very noticeable.
This evening we did our "check" of the hydro-generator. We threw it in and watched the amp meter. It was putting in about 7 amps. Good enough for me! Problem is, the rope that is attached to the propeller was terribly twisted up. We thought this would "work its way out" when we threw the propeller into the water. Turns out, it didn't. It was horribly gyrating and yanking on the generator, which is tied to our dinghy davit. Well, at 7 knots, this is not easy to pull in and fix. Courage got some gloves and held on and pulled it in. I held the rope behind him to try to assist in stopping the spin and pulling inward. We got it on, tried to untwist the major tangles, and then relaunch it. Again there were gyrations. What a mess. Courage's initial grab got his glove twisted onto the rope with a finger in it. I untwisted it enough to get his hand free. We brought it in again. This time, Courage secured the generator better to the dinghy davit. I brought the rope and propeller onto the deck and worked on untwisting it for good. All the potential power stored up, but it just couldn't be successfully applied. So, we started with a great start now, securely fastened generator and unwound rope. Threw the propeller back in, smooth spinning, and finally making our 7 amps. Whew!
While we were back there, a flying fish washed up on the back steps. Courage grabbed it and brought it in for show and tell. He put it in a pan of salt water and everyone checked it out. Then we put it back in the ocean. While I was working on the propeller up front, a flying fish landed on the trampoline and was flopping, so I grabbed him and dropped him back in. Since we seem to get a few per day out there, the boys are trying to fish with them on the large hook that we caught on our rudder/propeller a few days ago. So far, they keep turning up missing. So, I don't know. They are falling off or getting eaten?
For those of you romanticizing about how great it is out here (and it's nice, I wouldn't trade it). But we're not lying on the deck tanning all day, listening to the waves lapping on the bow. . . We still need to make 3 meals a day, pick up the living room, sweep, dust (I have no idea where it comes from, but we have plenty!!), do laundry for 8, dishes, etc. It's life, just like at a house, only a little bit harder to do some basic tasks and you're getting thrown around while trying to do them. We are spoiled compared to decades ago, electronic GPS, auto-helm steering us, DVD player and LED TV, computers, ham radio contact, etc. So we are spoiled compared to the past, but we're living here, not just vacationing!
We've been out for 9.5 days. That would need to be our halfway point if we were to make it in 19 days. We are nearing our halfway point (maybe tomorrow). Counting down. It was slower getting here than hopefully the second half will be. We came through the doldrums and were not steering a "rum line" or beeline, but rather both sides of the triangle instead of the hypotenuse. But now, we are on a straight course (hopefully) and all is going well, see how the second half goes. At this rate, we'll arrive in our early 20-day estimates.
Shannon
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