day 185: are we there yet?
Miriam: A brilliantly sunny afternoon and we are rolling along at a respectable clip of 7 ish knots with some solid 17 ish knot northeasterlies behind us. Albatrosses are finally making their much anticipated appearance; what a majestic, massive bird they are. We had an excellent send off from Tuhua: a pod of dolphins cavorting in the bioluminescence leaving streaks and swirls in their wake as they leaped and curved around our bow. The jellyfish are adding another dimension to the nightly light show as different sizes off swimming saucers glowing an eerie neon green as they are tossed asunder in our wake waves.
It’s been a mixed bag so far, some slatting around in barely any wind, some brisk upwind passages, some lovely downwind speeding along while feeling like we’re barely moving, some stupid tacks that take us entirely in the wrong direction to catch some elusive wind, some motoring only to hear more alarming thunks and notice the alternator isn’t working and then whoops, the starter has maybe gone as well. Naomi spent much of yesterday working on the engine and is a dab hand at hot wiring the starter. I’ll let her elucidate the specifics if she wishes, the synopsis is we will be just fine, don’t worry all you parents out there, but it is not ideal. We have motoring capacity when we actually need it but will not be motoring blithely for hours anymore. But the forecast is calling for a just right amount of wind in a useful direction the next day or so and we’ll be taking full advantage of that. Meanwhile we are doing are best to get through all the remaining food, treats first (naturally).
Jamie, WOD- tenants. Tenants - those who rent a room or property which is owned by someone else. U.I.a.s - I showed everybody my insect collection today. I have: three spiders, twelve cockroaches, seven centipedes and tenants.
Matt: briefly visited hell off East Cape in the dead of night, entering a violent, spinning wind hole that turned the batons inside and out inside and out, instruments useless not a single number, wind angle, compass heading etc pertaining to reality while a wind that somehow can’t move the boat and a flat, glassy sea cause so much drama - good sailing before and after tho except after we went north and west for a time-took all night to get around that cape
Naomi here, Well first we had no alternator to charge the engine then something else went out maybe the relay box for the starter perhaps and then we realised something is weird with the prop shaft, perhaps misaligned or ,,, or something. I dove on it this morning and everything looked a-okay…So almost no motor, only half a main due to the batten box thing, perhaps the rudder bearings slowly thonking away in there…. With any luck we will be able to limp into waikawa. Really nice sailing right now tho and actually some nice bits last night too with the #1 up slicing through super calm water. Now the wind is picking up and we are telling each other our speed records at watch changeover , let’s see who can get the fastest :) Roasties tonight with the last of Pete and karons cabbage and some corned mutton, a bluebird fave.
Bluebird out ?