Weather: I woke up around 8:45 boat time to a blue sky above and the sun shining through the window... I stepped down from my bed and into a puddle of water - we have a leak somewhere in the Starboard hull and we've just finished pumping out the water. Now Kyle is trying to source the leak while I get this update sent out. I'm pretty sure we'll find it, and then we'll have to work out what to do about it. We pump out the bilges regularly (using the manual pump) and I did it around 3am this morning to clear the couple of quarts that pool at the bottom - but this is quite different. Kyle would have found the water much earlier if we were not having to hand steer. For now we are hove to. Since we are in strong winds the wind generator more than compensated for the electric bilge pumps/sump pump.
NOTE. although we have a leak, we are in no danger of sinking.
*UPDATE I think we've found the reason for the extra water (I'd left open the rudder compartment locker door last night) so we're cleaning up and keeping an eye on things... This has been an existing leak that we've never been able to source - and we're waiting for our next time on the hard to really solve it. Leaving the door open means that a LOT more water is pushed through this existing leak.
In the mean time, Kyle got thrown off his feet and smashed into his glasses. He lost his needed lens overboard, but at least we had a spare pair for him aboard to use. In the middle of all this, our VHF suddenly started reporting "BATTERY HIGH". A quick check of the system shows our solar controller is wet and has stopped working, preventing the batteries from overcharging. We have a spare, but for now this is not a priority so we've just tilted the solar panel away from the sun. For now (10:30 GMT), we're are cleaning up the mess from the leak. Nothing for you guys to worry about.. For us, it's not a fun morning so far, but I guess nobody said it would be easy right?
General Comments: Sick of the weather, although things do seem to be calming down we now have this leak to occupy us. Apart from that, the other news of the last 24 hours is we saw a BIG ship... actually it seemed to come over to check us out. It was just passing at its closest as Kyle woke me for my watch - oh and that Rainbow leading to Ireland keeps on appearing just before sunset.
Oh, and we've crossed the mid-Atlantic ridge.
Food: Indian Curry and we broke out the jelly beans from the goody tub!
Progress: Yesterday we made 126nm, So far on this trip we have travelled (through the water) 2192nm, and have 605nm (straight line) to go.
NOTE. although we have a leak, we are in no danger of sinking.
*UPDATE I think we've found the reason for the extra water (I'd left open the rudder compartment locker door last night) so we're cleaning up and keeping an eye on things... This has been an existing leak that we've never been able to source - and we're waiting for our next time on the hard to really solve it. Leaving the door open means that a LOT more water is pushed through this existing leak.
In the mean time, Kyle got thrown off his feet and smashed into his glasses. He lost his needed lens overboard, but at least we had a spare pair for him aboard to use. In the middle of all this, our VHF suddenly started reporting "BATTERY HIGH". A quick check of the system shows our solar controller is wet and has stopped working, preventing the batteries from overcharging. We have a spare, but for now this is not a priority so we've just tilted the solar panel away from the sun. For now (10:30 GMT), we're are cleaning up the mess from the leak. Nothing for you guys to worry about.. For us, it's not a fun morning so far, but I guess nobody said it would be easy right?
General Comments: Sick of the weather, although things do seem to be calming down we now have this leak to occupy us. Apart from that, the other news of the last 24 hours is we saw a BIG ship... actually it seemed to come over to check us out. It was just passing at its closest as Kyle woke me for my watch - oh and that Rainbow leading to Ireland keeps on appearing just before sunset.
Oh, and we've crossed the mid-Atlantic ridge.
Food: Indian Curry and we broke out the jelly beans from the goody tub!
Progress: Yesterday we made 126nm, So far on this trip we have travelled (through the water) 2192nm, and have 605nm (straight line) to go.
1 comment:
I think buying a motorcycle and crossing the Atlantic are in the same category for me. Both sound like fun ideas in theory, but maybe not such a great idea in reality. Whenever I bring up motorcycles at a party, someone always has a story of an accident or injury riding. Your blog posts are convincing me that any notion of me trying to cross the ocean someday is folly.
I'm still wishing for calmer weather for you, and that not too much more breaks, or too many more mishaps happen.
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