2007-06-15

This part of the trip would drive some folks nuts. A lot of us don't deal
well with slow, having been trained for speed and efficiency most of our
lives. Well, when the wind alternates between little and none, Sequester is
slow, but we've adjusted. It's pleasant enough at sea here and now. We've
been doing a good bit of low speed motoring the last 2 days to get north of
the windless zone we see on the weather charts,which we can now get via the
Sailmail system. The technology does help with making decisions. Idling
along on the motor for 6 hours thru the day was mildly irritating with the
noise, but motorsailing got us about an extra 25 miles, and it seems to have
been enough. About dusk we started getting a steady 5 to 7 knot breeze from
the west, so we've been reaching along at 3 to 3.5 knots since dark. Must
have reached the edge of the active wind zone at the north edge of this high
pressure system. If all holds to the model now it will slowly build and
back to the east as we approach Fiji, but we don't see more than 15 to 18
knots predicted now. We used the calm time to advantage, running the water
desalinator to make fresh water, and washing and rinsing the salt from the
inside of the boat, beating out rugs, rearranging things to work better
since we're no longer on the mooring. And my hands are a lot better today. I
don't think I had mentioned that my hands were giving trouble for the last
few days. The night before we got into the gale the furling line for the
jib broke. I'd tried using a polypropylene line spliced to a nylon tail, as
the polypro is slick and moves well thru the guides. Well, it isn't strong
enough. When it failed I had to get the jib furled again in a hurry, so I
braced myself on the foredeck, grabbed the broken tail of the line and
pulled to rotate the furler. But the polypro is SLICK. So I had to wrap it
around my hands a few times, and still it would slip a bit. I was afraid I
was literally breaking my fingers as I got the furler started, and it tore a
couple patches of skin off the working side of my hands. The damage wasn't
as bad as it felt at the time, but every time I slept the last couple days
it took 10 minutes with the linament and some exercise to get the hands to
be able to grip a line, and Karen kept having to clean the bloodstains off
the new white mainsheet. Tonight I can play a little guitar; even worse than
usual, and I miss having Patrick and Bernie to cover up the worst mistakes,
but it's nice to be able to pick a few chords again, and to have it calm
enough to play out in the cockpit. Karen's enjoying respite from
seasickness. She can cook, navigate read, write, and do the Seafarers Net
schedule on the radio. We're perfectly happy to trade off fast passage for
calm seas. As many cruisers say, "If we were in a hurry, we'd be on an
airplane."
Time to go out and let my eyes adjust back for night vision, so I can
keep a proper watch as required by the international regulations for
avoidance of collision at sea (COLREGS in seafarer parlance). Hope you're
all enjoying life as much as we are now. Ted