It is a strange existence, sailing like this. We live
in a sort of travel bubble, with a horizon of around 10 square miles, due to the
swell and the surface haze. Visibility often appears good, with clear skies
above, but when you can only see the ghostly superstructure of a 500 foot tanker
6 miles off, you realise that the clarity is an illusion. It is only
occasionally that a yacht’s lights or a large ship intrude into the space that
we inhabit. Our bubble, however, does have sea creatures: dolphins and whales,
birds such as today’s swallow-like aviator whose distance from land astonishes, fish
of all sorts that plop, fly or hook themselves on Martin’s lure (alternatively
they take it for a memento, so we might have none left when we dock – he did
land a large barracuda today though!).
You settle into a rhythm that begins to seem normal,
when it is anything but. The night watches, the hectic and confused sail
changes, the checks and the rituals. We are well onto our 3rd week of
this suspended reality, and have developed strategies and routines to cope. We
have good food and refreshment, company and comfort, we enjoy the silence broken
only by the sound of the sea rushing past the hull and the swoosh of the swell
as it overtakes us (and Robbie Robertson on the stereo!).
There are also extraordinary highlights that we are
privileged to witness. This evening, we saw the most fantastic sunset, with
ripples of red and orange reflected across the cloud formations towards the
sunset, unimpeded by land and hills, as far as the eye could see to the west.
Turning in the other direction, the moon was peeking through the clouds to send
shimmers of tinsel reflections on the surface of the swell as it ran downhill
towards us. Who wants it to end? (not Moitissier apparently, and maybe we
understand him better now)
Weather and Progress
The weather watchers amongst you will know that the
sights we saw this evening are indicative of poor sailing weather, and indeed we
are motoring. We managed a few hours of slow sailing today, before the winds
disappeared to leave us pretty well becalmed. Sails down and engine on, since we
are stuck at the bottom end of a trough that is moving slowly westwards with us.
We will have another night of this before we get the trades re-established to
waft us into St Lucia - <400 miles to go.
The conditions have affected most of the yachts now
closing St Lucia, of whom many have had to motor the last 100 or so miles. With
40 boats behind us this morning, at least we are going to be last
in….
Kit Corner - Electrics
(This is boring, so will truncate. Happy to expand in
another space, if anyone is interested)
Generator
We have an inverter based boat, so opted for a Fischer
Panda 5000 AGT dc generator. It is a compact and sophisticated piece of kit, but
is based on a very reliable Kubota 2 cylinder diesel engine that works like a
Trojan. It took a bit of time to gauge how best to use it, and what might go
wrong, but it is excellent. You do need to carry appropriate spares beyond the
usual engine filters etc – it is controlled by relays, which you will not find
in a wet and windy Wick. It would be wise to fit a “run dry” impeller (sold by
Speedseal now) since the water pump it a thirsty beast and shreds rubber
instantaneously if not lubricated (and dismantling the heat exchanger to extract
the bits requires the assistance of zen). We also carry a spare diesel pump
since one died on us, though they are supposed to be robust. Fischer Panda UK
provides good after sales support, and their spares man Dave is superb. 9/10
Victron
The boat’s electrical hardware is largely Victron, and
we think it performs well. The isolation
transformer and inverter
chargers have never given us a problem. We changed our original wet acid
batteries for 4 Victron 150 Ah AGM
units, which have been perfect, though we chose an Optima spiral AGM for the
engine battery.
The original specification for the boat had a clever
Victron VE Net panel that controlled
the system and provided battery and usage information. Very clever it is too,
but we found it unreliable, and when you lost connection (Cat 5 cables and
plugs), the system shut down. Two years in, we had a manual Victron switch
fitted (Inverter, Off, Charger Only), and have had no difficulty since.
Sometimes you need to keep things simple at sea! 9/10 now.
Ship’s Stores
These are
lasting remarkably well, bran flakes and fresh fruit notwithstanding. The
freezer has been a god send, making it easy to defrost another excellent meal.
The extra portable fridge has kept lots of meat and fruit palatable long after
it ought to have died. Picking over the fruit and vegetables regularly means the
fish are well fed too, but we are still enjoying apples and oranges, cabbages
and potatoes from Las Palmas, supplemented by frozen and canned vegetables.
Shame the grapes are finished as they have kept brilliantly.
The crew will not arrive with scurvy, malnourished and
thrawn, even if their belts have been tightened a little!
Watergaw