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Mischief - A\little bit of Mischief Log 7



Day 15 14 March 2018 Wednesday. Weather to look forward to; lowest 24 hr run; Trevor benevolent towards fish; more chafe; slamming main sail blues.

It was indeed a quiet night last night with winds ESE 10-12 knots sailing under the poled out genoa and full main with speed over ground of around 4-5 knots so moving steadily if slowly, West.

There was a weather warning from Chris Tibbs that came through on SSB net this morning regarding the approaches to Hiva Oa; apparently squalls are to be expected with heavy rain and winds approaching 40+ knots on the leading edge. That will give us something to look forward to in 2 or three days time!

However, the weather this morning was bright and breezy with a little more wind than last night at 15-17 knots so boat speed has increased to around 6 knots thankfully. But it soon clouded over and has stayed that way all day - so much for my sun tan. Nevertheless, we have been passed either side by sizeable squalls with dirty great black clouds but they have left us alone for a change, not to say one won't tag us later on.

1100 Position: 09 degs 21.5' S 128 degs 19.2' W C: 258 W: SE 15 knts Noon to noon run: 137 nm reflecting the deep downwind course and small sail plan, not to mention paucity of wind! DTR is 634 nm.

Trevor has been fishing again but only from this afternoon. He is reportedly giving the fish a break and giving the South Pacific a chance to re-stock. He may as well not have bothered as by early evening he had admitted abject failure.

I ventured on deck this afternoon to check the rig and generally to have a change in scenery. I noted that the genoa guy was starting to fray - the dreaded chafe even attacking this 16mm dyneema rope just where it turns around the pole end fitting, so I changed over to a new guy rope. I also noted that the starboard upper main stay was not sitting square in the spreader end, probably because of the slapping from the main sail in the lighter airs. We decided it was actually still attached but will need attention when we are able to get up the mast. How to stop the chafe though, that is the question.

We have been sailing above our course on around 259 degrees against a true course of 268 degrees to try to prevent the main sail slamming hard against the rig. Whenever it does slam it sends a shiver through the whole boat and down your spine and ultimately causes damage - already seen in the split in the main and the starboard main stay dislodgement. What we need is more wind to put pressure in the sail and that will stop it. Meanwhile we travel West at 4/5 knots in 10 knots of wind, not too exciting.

Still we had a very nice pasta dish for tea and had a discussion about the islands we are to visit. One thing is for certain there are going to be plenty of mosquitoes, my pet hate. Apparently Deet is the stuff - I hope I can find some!! Either that or quinine in gin and tonic is alleged to work too so I look forward to large doses when we make landfall!!

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