Lat 10.31 S Long 159.08 W Speed 4.8 knots Wind West 10 knots Course 000 T
December 28, 2016 Leg 2 Day 8 @ 3 a.m.
Had six hours sleep. Bilge pump working on Auto and keeping water down at acceptable rate. Fleming steering.
Battery voltage 12.79 which is OK for now. Bilge pump and GPS only draw at moment, aero wind generator on and making some volts.
All in all, the situation here is very good and we are headed HOME.
Great start to today hope it stays that way.
4:50 p.m.
Another rain deluge is going over us now, very heavy rain but little or no wind. I managed to get about 2-3 nautical miles out of one earlier this morning, but no wind since, as a matter of fact we lost a couple of miles since then.
“Backwards”. It would appear we are stuck till there is some movement in the weather pattern that is over us now. Had a reefing line foul in the pulleys at the aft end of the boom and while lowering the boom a wave rolled us on our backside and the boom dropped into the cock pit and a reef line tore a foot long hole in the main. I stood in the rain for over an hour and managed to do a substantial repair job which should hold till Hawaii. So no wind, no sun, no charging. I am worried about not having enough power to operate the bilge pump and the manual pump isn’t sucking so I am going to stop charging everything else, InReach, and computer till our situation changes for the better. I will talk to Cliff and get him to call you with location. I may send this or not depending on power.
I have been trying hard to sail but I expend a lot of energy for very little return. I can’t use the Electric Auto pilot in the light airs and Fleming is not to be trusted to keep a steady course so a lot of hand steering in the cockpit. Patience is the virtue of the day today.
I have had a busy time since early this morning trying to turn zephyrs of wind into nautical miles, with very poor results, so I am going to have a nap and wait for the wind to come to us.
Have re-evaluated motor problems and although it would keep me busy I am not coming up with the parts here to set the engine mount suitably enough to take the load. I found the flexible coupling on the shaft badly warped, although it may be possible to run the engine just to charge the battery. I will keep looking for solutions in the meantime, and pray for wind to sail on.
I have been reading and doing some carving as well as studying my star charts.
7:30 pm
Wind just filled in NE 10 knots.
Hope it lasts all night and all day tomorrow.
