Greetings from yacht Ensemble.
Yesterday was interesting for weather - with a consistent 10 knots - although from many different directions. We passed through a number of lines of squalls - and to be conservative - brought the gennaker in a dusk and went with the jib. The strong current of nearly 2 knots worked against us for part of the day - but seemed to ease in the evening.
To make matters more interesting - the Auto-helm started misbehaving. We suspect it has never been properly set up in the first place - but have made due until now. The latest malady is that it won't hold a course closely at all - and drifts by 10-20 degrees. We made due by making course corrections every 20-30 minutes through the night - but it was exhausting - and added to our distance travelled.
Unfortunately the squalls had little rain - just enough to turn the dust from Panama City into mud - so the boat really needs a good clean. Maybe we'll get lucky with a decent shower today...
Magali made the most of the calm conditions to get some cooking done. We were treated to fresh bread, banana bread and home made yoghurt.
The fishing front is still a disappointment - with another 2 lures 'disappearing' into the deep. I suspect we are being tailed by a couple of 'men in grey suits'. Maybe next time the dolphins come to play they will chase them off and our fishing luck with change. I have put a 25mm metal braid swivel on the line - so maybe will land one!
This morning we had a scare when I was on the VHF radio to Wind Dancer and it and the chart plotters went dead. It turned out it was just a fuse - but not the nicest wake up.
Today we should reach the Equator. This means a celebration (of course) - we are told something involving Neptune, Mermaids and getting naked. (With our men in grey suits a swim is out of the question).
With any luck we'll reach Galapagos tomorrow...
Cheers
Dave
13Feb2012 001