LOOKING OUT TOWARDS THE WATER FROM ON TOP OF FRIENDS HOME WHERE JEFF WILL BE COMING FROM
Total Miles sailed so far=24,921nm.
Miles sailed last three days =422nm.
Distance left to go to finish line off Bahia Caraquez,Ecuador=187nm.
Top Speed so far =4.1kts.
DAY-199.
24hr.Run=137nm. Pos. Lat.07*00’S. Long.82*09′ W. Weather=Bar=1006mb. Wind=SE 12-15kts. Seas= SE 6-8ft. Cabin Temp=78*-83*
Today we find ourselves sailing along in slightly lighter winds that are forecast to drop even a little more in two days.
At last today I caught a small 24-inch Dorado weighing approximately 4 lbs and cooked it up. It will be enough for two dinners. Yea! fresh food from the sea!!
It was later in the afternoon, as the winds were moderating, that I went forward to slide the block aft on “Patches” so I could let her all the way out to gain speed. I grabbed hold of my forward lower shroud on the lee-side of the mizzen mast as a hand hold and felt it start popping strands as it became very loose.
I scrambled back to the cockpit dropping the mizzen sail to unload the mast and took the halyard forward to the hawser hole amidships on the leeward side where I attached it and tensed it up to help stabilize the mast.
It was then that the I thought about had the forward lower shroud on the windward side had let go, that it would have popped right off and most likely the deck mounted mizzen mast would have toppled into the sea.
I made up a monkeys fist of sorts and tossed a string over both spreaders on the mizzen mast, so I could pull in a line up over them and around the mast and tie a long bowline knot into it enabling the mast to be supported enabling me to retrieve my one and only halyard on that mast. Now I could pull my set of blocks aloft for hoisting me up the mast to replace the unraveling shroud with a piece of 5/16′ line. This project would have to wait until day light as now it was already getting dark.
I saw a small fishing boat pass within 1-2 nm. of us during the night, on one of my looks up top side
DAY-200.
24hr.Run=144nm. Pos. Lat.04*58’S. Long.83*27’W. Weather =Bar=1004mb. Wind=SE 10-15kts. Seas=SE 6-8ft. Cabin Temp=76*-83*
I began my day at 5 am anxious to make the Mizzen operational once again. The breeze was up and we were close reaching at 7 kts in 6-8 ft seas.
I hoisted the blocks aloft on the halyard and attached the bosun chair to the end of them.
As I was climbing into that chair many things were running through my mind, like we are going pretty fast already, maybe this could wait, and if one of those shrouds that are only 5-years old failed what about the other five that now my life is going to have to depend on. I wondered what it might be like to ride the mizzen mast into the sea, and I was unable to visualize a good way to do it. Oh well, at least I had my inflatable life jacket on as a safety harness.
I began pulling myself aloft with my go-pro camera strapped on my head to record the event .It was fortunate I didn’t have to go up over 25 ft but even at that, there were a couple of times that I came loose from the mast flying out and slamming into the shrouds that were trying to “slice and dice” me and then back into the mast where I hit the camera into the mast and the camera in turn took a bite out of my skin at the bridge of my nose.
Once I was at the spreaders I could see that only three of the 19-strands were still holding the shroud aloft. I quickly inspected the other three terminations at the spreaders and they seemed to be “golden” and I hope they will stay that way for the remainder of this voyage.
It was easy to pop off those final 3-strands and I tossed the shroud clear of the boat and into the sea where it streamed alongside the boat as it was still attached to the chain plate below.
Now I pushed the “stem-ball” fitting up out of the spreader position and replaced it with the 7/16″ line that I tied a figure eight “jam-knot” into and sucked it down onto the cup of the hole it passed through.
Once on deck I rigged up a small set of blocks and tensed up the line so that I could remove the long bowline knot and clear the sail track for the mizzen sail. Soon the sail was up and we were all powered up once again.
I believe the rigging on the mizzen is a substandard wire at least not 3/16 stainless as it shows signs of some rusting and I will replace all the shrouds on this mast before putting to sea again.
DAY-201.
24hr.Run=141nm. Pos. Lat.03*16’S. Long.82*09″W. Weather=Bar=1004mb. Wind=SE 10-15kts. Seas=4-6ft. SE. Cabin Temp.72*78*
Still sailing along nicely and just received an email from a friend that Ecuador just had another 6.8 earth quake in the early morning hours. I was anxious to hear if Debbie was all right and I got an email from her letting me know she was.
The earth quake occurred as she was sleeping in her tent under the eaves of the house and she awoke to the screams of a neighbor as the quake began. Debbie bolted from her tent getting clear of the house and ran down into the garden area where our friends were getting out of their tent. Debbie said that nothing too much really happened right there around them as the earthquake was deep in the ground and no tsunami warning was issued, also the military started immediate patrols of the area to check things out and keep the peace.
It was later in the day when Debbie was at Puerto Amistad and the marina office that another tremor was felt and they all rushed out of there to the middle of the street and she said the girls from Amistad were all frightened and crying as they hugged each other. Pilar, the office head received a phone call that her father had fallen and hit his head and wasn’t breathing, so Debbie and Pillar went with the new owner of Puerto Amistad whom is also a doctor and raced out about 30-minutes to where her father lived. When they arrived other family members were there but Pilar’s father lay dead upon his bed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Pillar and her family. Sometimes we fail to remember just how fragile life is.
I’m hoping to arrive at the finish line on Friday and must get there by 2:30pm to be taken in across the bar, and it’s going to be very close as to whether I make it in time or not.
I received more information on salty water yesterday from a friend and sailor,a former California water district employee, and he said that one of their wells was putting out water at 1100 parts per-million salt and they considered that potable although their customers complained about the salty taste and he says that they believe that you can drink water up to 2000 parts per million without harming your body, of course it would taste salty.
My current water supply is down to three quarts and I’m good through Sunday and I better “damn” well be there by then; the “Lord” willing.
Last night I seen eight-ships pass during the night, the closes one came was within 3-miles.
On “watch” preparing for “shoring-up” the J