In spite of light winds, and to
conserve fuel, we sailed overnight at 2.2-3.4 knots. This dropped us back in the
noon Distance to Destination report to #27, as in sailing SE to pick up
hopefully better wind tomorrow/day-after we were not even sailing directly to St
Lucia – oh well. We started the engine mid-morning and haven’t seen 8-knots true
wind today. That weather trough continues to follow the fleet – I wish that we
had left a day earlier or later!
On the malfunction side, we solved a
couple of issues. After I crawled thru the aft lazarette to check SSB Tuner
connections, & cables, almost the very minute that Peter of S/V Fleet II
completed assuming my SSB Net Controller weekly 1-hr timeslot for me, I
discovered how to properly TUNE the SSB. I am now received clearly – well as
clear as I usually sound! With 25 SSB buttons & knobs, 14 of them dual
function, the solution was reading an obscure paragraph in the iCOM IC-MC802C
manual – you know, those things that engineers are loathe to do!
Once I was already in the ‘hole’ this
morning, and with the AC and/or DC driven freezer was having difficulty keeping
the top layer of food completely frozen. I changed the freezer setting from ECON
to MAX, placed the electric Torqeedo secondary secondary atop it to put pressure
on the seal, and provided more surrounding air space in the lazarette. It looks
like we are once again in business – anyone have any ice cream / gelato to
store??
Today Fishing Score: Tuna 1,
Unconditional 0
It is now HOT by my standards: 87F or
30.5C in the shade inside the boat. Half of the crew are shirtless.
Tom
Hughes