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Tara - Mid - Atlantic Blues



The last couple of days have been a little bi-polar. Light winds one hour and high winds just a bit later. Oh btw, we have this all figured out now. When the winds lighten and the weather forecast has called for long-term calm, we turn on the engine. With the engine running we have an abundance of power from the alternator to charge the batteries. One of the worst battery sucking hogs that we have aboard is the ice machine. So, when I remember to turn the ice machine on so that we have fresh ice for ‘Captain’s Hour’ (just a term to lean authority to what is actually a good excuse for a cocktail while underway). On three successive occasions, within thirty minutes of firing up the ice machine, the winds inexplicably picked up and the engine was doused. (Don’t worry about us losing ‘Captain’s Hour’ because we keep a large stash of ice in a bin deep in the freezer). So, obviously all of this substantial investment in weather gathering equipment and services could have been avoided if we had just known in advance that the weather is controlled by the ice machine!

Kenny was the lucky winner of the ‘worst watch of the trip’ prize (so far) for the Monday night tempest that blew through. Cold and soaked, he handled it well and we were actually glad for him to see that this ‘North Atlantic’ that we have talked so much about, actually has some teeth. Of course, Lisa and I suffer a watch like that with him in a way because we can’t sleep since our concerns for TARA’s condition in a squall may actually outweigh our concerns for Kenny. (Hey, he is strapped into the cockpit with a cord so there is at least 80%+ chance he is isn’t going to be swept overboard!)

After five days of no encounters with any vessel other than the aforementioned ‘Django’, I awoke early yesterday to four beacons on our radar display indicating traffic. Shortly thereafter we were contacted by one of them apologizing for not having their navigation lights on. It turns out that they had lost services from their generator. Worse than that, one of their batteries was damaged in the same squall that Kenny endured. The battery started smoking! That a scary proposition on a flammable boat. How would you deal with a smoking battery on a little boat? Well, they isolated it but were now afraid something was wrong with their charging system. Net result: They were going to sail the rest of the way without autopilot and just use a small solar cell to keep enough voltage to run VHF radio and call out to boats at night that were in close range. It was a Norwegian vessel with 4 young crew so they should be OK. As an act great seamanship, a fellow Norwegian vessel (that is much faster and capable of getting to Horta quickly) has decided to sail along with them. The healthy vessel is staying in front of them to position themselves at night so that the hand steering crew has a light at night to aim for. This will cost the healthy vessel a couple of days delay into Horta. Everyone on that early morning watch cycle was pretty bored so we had a rather extensive VHF radio conversation. Once again, the crew aboard TARA has a date for celebrating a safe Horta arrival with cocktails once these guys get in. Even better, the skipper on one the boats has connections and is going to try and secure a great price for us for a winter berth for TARA in Valencia, Spain. It seems like everyone on the ocean is ready to make an instant friends as soon as the VHF crackles to life. Very cool

We have had our own generator troubles. She died on the third night out. I couldn't see anything wrong so I called a guy that I bought parts from in New York a few years ago. He was great and actually walked me through some fix scenarios while his family was waiting for him in the car to go to a Memorial Day parade! One of them worked. Of course, we had been motoring and the batteries were full so I shut her down. Midnight I go to charge the batteries while sailing and the damn thing doesn't start again! None of the fixes worked. So we had run the fuel sucking main engine to charge the batteries until the morning call to New York the next day. After some real head scratching, it looks like it turned out to be a loose wire on the starter motor. So, once she fired up, I didn't shut it down until the batteries were full and the all important water tanks were full. Fingers crossed for the next time we fire it up. The frustrating part about all of these generator troubles is that this generator has been a champ for us from day 1. Our troubles have all come immediately after paying a small fortune to have a technician give it the 1,000 check-up in the BVI. Since leaving we have discovered that he missed a fan belt that was nearly disintegrating, missed a huge wear spot in a hose that had it failed could have sunk the boat if we were not aboard, and he failed to tighten the new oil filter tight enough and we had oil dripping into the bilge! Uuuuggggghhhh!

After a quiet and frustrating day of sailing yesterday where the winds drifted from southeast to dead on the nose, the wind died suddenly last night at 2:30am so we turned on the engine and are still motoring straight for Horta as of noon today (Wednesday). Weather forecasts call for extremely light winds for the rest of the trip. We are hoping for an increase in wind strength in any direction so that we can sail instead of motor. We should have the fuel to make it to Horta but it will be close. If over the next five days we can sail even one of them, we will be much better off. OK, yes, it would be nice not to waste $2,000 on fuel too. Lisa and I went an entire year in the Caribbean with re-filling for fuel. It seems bizarre that we may use that same amount in 12 days! But, before we left, Lisa and I made a deal with the devil that we’d rather motor the whole way rather than go through a major storm. It looks like our payment to the devil is going to motoring six out of twelve days. Considering that we are currently very close to where just three weeks ago five boats had to call in for emergency rescue in a storm (including one death) were OK with the deal.

Hey, I'll turn on the ice machine! Maybe that will work.




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