Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Have one hundred and thirteen miles to go. Couple of very rough nights, 25-30 knots of
wind. Southeasterly winds with two to three meter swells. Bilge pump refused to work one
night. Had to balance flashlight in cockpit locker and work on the pump. Discovered I had
put the outlet flapper valve on back to front! Silly Jonathan! Got it working again.
The engine hatch is leaking badly and bilges need constant pumping in rough weather. A
lot of hove-to's at nights; I thank God for them as I need the sleep.
[This was a good sys-
tem, and I used it a lot. This is when one drops the main sail, and with the helm, puts the
boat on the other tack, thus filling the back of the headsail with wind. Then the sailor puts
the helm back again to persuade the boat to come about again, but as the headsail is full of
wind, and the main is not helping, the boat refuses to come about. Then the sailor will tie
the helm in this position and the boat will slow to an almost stand still - “in irons” it is
called - and the boat will calmly ride up and down the waves, her nose pointing into the
weather, and he can sleep or rest as long as he has plenty of sea room. The boat may drift
a mile or two in the course of the night, a fair price for a night of sleep!]
I am alone and on watch continually; it is exhausting and I need to sleep.
Turned mast light on again and slept. I have noticed oil tankers behind me and in front of
me. We are all using the southern current to improve our way south. I am sharing this nar-
row lane with boats a quarter mile long. I am terrified of getting run over. (One morning I
woke up and saw a tanker so close that I saw rusty streaks of the rivets in the hull and the
faces of the crew riding their bicycles around, getting about on the acres of deck space.)
There are tankers in front and behind me. Does this mean that they pick me up on radar,
steer off course to avoid hitting a little boat, then get back into the lane? It does look like
it… I hope! I am reminded of the captain of a huge oil tanker who was towed into a port
by a series of tugs who later informed him of the remnants of yacht rigging still attached to
his great anchor on the bow….
Déjà vu has been sailing well. I tried to start the engine, and the battery was too flat, so I
rigged up a line to the decompression lever, which served to release a lot of pressure on
the cylinder of a diesel engine. When the motor is decompressed, it turns over easily and
quickly, the lever is released, and the ensuing momentum is usually enough to kick the en-
gine into life with much less battery power or arm power. I tried it and it works! Charged
up the batteries. The mast light uses up a lot of power but is vital for my safety.
This mid morning fix put me twenty miles out again for the second day; what is wrong? I
could not figure this error out. Over and over the sums I went. Could be the wrong date!
It was! G.M.T. (Greenwich Mean Time) 28
th
not 27
th
! Got a fix, am actually doing quite
well.
