Sabine - sabine blog update

Hello interweb friends, Captain Stape on sail boat Sabine right here (///unrelenting.aerobatic.doll) Exciting days! We made water yesterday, about 70l to top up one of our tanks. And even though Richard changed the main power cables before we set off, nothing broke - yay! (Richard is deeply suspicious of the WM as previously it hasn’t proven to be the most reliable piece of kit - fortunately we still have another full water tank and more than enough potted drinking water if it fails, but think of the smell after another 2 weeks - pooeeeyyy!)
After a smidgen of faffage with ropes and buckets, the spinnaker is now flying and pulling us along. We just need a few more knots of wind and we’ll be flying!
Seems the skipper is preparing the Mahi-Mahi fillets for consumption - everyone is looking forward to this except Richard, who has said he will try it, but we’ll see…
The WM was run again today, just for 20mins to top up what we used yesterday.
There are mutterings amongst the crew. It appears that every time Richard goes on watch, the wind dies. As soon as he comes off watch, the wind gains 3-4kts! So it seems that Richard also scares the wind away, as well as the fish…
Kia cooked the fish 2 ways: in a lemon juice with fresh tomato, avocado and wasabi sauce, and also battered and fried. Richard was brave enough to try both types and he insisted to everyone that he really enjoyed them both, especially the battered and fried version. There were also freshly cooked chips, so it was a fish and chip dinner today. Yum!
But… cooking takes a toll on Sabine’s boat batteries. Sabine is a hybrid boat, a little like a floating Toyota Prius, but rather more complex and not as automatic. The boat battery powers all electrical systems on the boat: cooker, hob, lights, fridges etc., and importantly the nav systems and autopilot. The propulsion system is also electric, with a separate set of batteries to power the twin electric motors when required. Solar charges up the boat, but the sails cause shadows. When the boat batteries are low, and solar alone isn’t enough there are 2 options: 1- divert power from the propulsion battery to the boat (as we don’t need the propulsion battery yet), or 2-start Jenny the diesel generator for an hour so so. I’ve heard on the grapevine that tomorrow we might hear ‘the sweet, sweet sound of the generator’, which is near the cabin shared by Richard and John. I hope they won’t be asleep when it’s started. Get your earplugs ready guys!!
Well, that just about wraps up another day on Sabine, with 2000mi to go (nautical, of course) the crew is talking about taking bets on when we arrive in St. Lucia - and the one who’s guess is furthest away will have to buy fancy meal when we get there.
Capt. Stape signing off: ciao ciao squawk!