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Two Fish - Day Three - First discussion of Landfall



Location: 500 miles until Santa Marta, Colombia, far off the Venezuelan Island of Tortuga.

We have avoided Venezuela because of its reputation for crime. It is a shame to miss this country as many cruisers have told me of the beauties of the coastal islands. I hope to return some day.

Foolishly, I brought up the topic of landfall and my preferred time of day. This hubris will be punished by the wind gods or their friend the WGM (wave generating machine). Both can be bitter and spiteful. Our case is being heard by the court as we still have grand conditions for downwind sailing. These are the conditions that sell boats and appear in magazines.

Before leaving St. Lucia I tried to share my many navigational gems but have had just a few takers so far. I will mention my offer on the fleet SSB (ham radio) call tonight. For two years, I have bemoaned owning an SSB. It took us a while to be comfortable with the technology, but now I am sold. The fleet is widely dispersed, precluding VHF calls, but with the SSB the fleet can share news. "Take Off", a Swedish Elan 41, with a carbon fiber rig, broke their boom. All on board are safe and they now are flying only a head sail. A boom is one of the few spare parts Gail did not pack. A few boats have caught fish and one was inquiring about the safety of eating barracuda. When we catch Barracuda, we release them.

Last night Two Fish was the exception in the fleet, as many chose to motor through the light winds. The twin headsail kept us going, but those motoring closed the gap. As we head west the breeze will build but remain light enough to allow Gail to make sandwiches. Tonight is Gail's famous lentil dish. Everyone loves it or walks the plank.

We have made a couple of strategic choices and I think I choose poorly, but time will tell.

1) The current is not a simple east to west. There are back eddies and I think we may have tripped on one listed in our charts. I should have know better that closer to the coast would be a kinder current.
2) In patchy winds it is fastest to sail under clouds. But yesterday we were under blue skies and had less wind than other boats. It took us 5 hours to reach our first cloud.
3) I have been hugging the rhumbline (direct route) in a decision of indecision. We have been DDW with chute and screecher. It has been a comfortable ride and that avoids mutiny.

Repairs at sea

James fixed so many gremlins before leaving the dock that we have been lucky so far at sea. A few that cropped up were:
1) The pin that holds the hydro-generator began to slip out on Gail's watch. Gail and I dropped the two headsails and in true McGail-Guyver fashion used her hair tie to secure the pin. I will upgrade this to a proper line in the future. The sail changes went very smoothly.
2) We had a false alarm that our AIS was not working, but it seems fully functional.
3) We need to adjust the screecher tack when in port. Installed 180 degrees off (Jason's mistake).

All other systems just fine for now.

Jason and the happy crew of Two Fish



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