Skippers log #22
06 02N 34 00W at 20:00 GMT
The wind died last night and I was up all night trying to get some movement out of the boat. Rain squalls hit us and it was a miserable night. Finally, at dawn, a breeze filled in from the South. Yes, not a common direction up here, but very welcome. It shifted SSE and I was able to go E. All day I have been enjoying this progress, as the hump of Brazil is at longitude 34 30W and should I get pushed due south, I did not want to get anywhere near the land with its harsh currents. I had a phone call from an old friend today, Gene King. Gene sailed from Charleston to Bermuda Island with me two winters ago. He offered to do the cooking on the boat, and looking at Gene's size, I decided not to argue. Off we went to the grocery store and Gene shocked me. For three people, for a 700 mile voyage, Gene bought more food than I am carrying on board for this leg. He insisted that we were going to eat well. I should have known better. Well was an understatement. Gene never missed cooking a meal, even when it was blowing 40+ knots and we were reefed down, bouncing over the seas. This was his first passage, and he did not know that the chef closes the galley in such conditions. He just merrily cooked and sweated away over the burners. I put on weight. Not once was he even seasick. He was one of the best crew I have ever had on the boat. We spent hours talking about this voyage around the world, my speaking career and motivation. Gene and I hit it off so well, he hired me to develop a Public Relations program for his company. Sadly Gene's call was the last call to the boat. Today I learned that we are billed for incoming as well as outgoing calls. I had budgeted only on outgoing calls, not knowing it counted both ways. Some where there was a loss of communications between myself and the parties concerned. I fear that I have run up several thousands of dollars of incoming calls between school children, sponsors, media and friends calling. My phone will no longer be left on. The calls made a difference in my sanity and brought great joy, keeping me linked to the people I care about, but now the bill...
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Skippers log #23
03 57N 33 49W at 20:00 GMT
Last night while I was talking to Gwen, I was hit by a huge rain squall. I did not have time to say good-bye. I had to hurry. Before I could furl the head sail, over we went. We took a knockdown with the winds blowing 45 knots and I had every piece of cloth hanging. With no moon, it was pitch black. Fortunately these spectra sails are well built and strong. We suffered no damage, but inside the cabin it was a mess with stuff thrown out of their compartments. The squall could not have come at a worse time. Gwen was in the middle of telling me how she and her dad twice yesterday stumbled on some people trying to break into their mountain home. The first time they spotted the robbers, many household items had been removed and prepared for loading. She and her dad dragged it back into the house, went off, and came back and found the robbers at it again. I did not get to hear what had happened after that. I have travelled slightly West of South. I think the doldrums are north of me and I am now searching for the SE trades. I am again being pushed closer to the hump of South America. In less than two days time I will cross the equator. It has not been fun today with no one to talk to. I miss talking to the school children. I will have to search for a sponsor for the communications cost. We have a system on the boat that could help the youth in the No Barriers Schools with their learning. I hate missed opportunities. Today the dolphins came to play. They too are mammals and we have much in common. They came leaping over the wave tops, lots of bottle nose dolphins. I could not hear their squeaking sounds today but have heard them often. The stayed and played around the bow for over an hour, then headed off west. There must be something about the bow waves that dolphins love.
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Skippers log #24
02 40N 33 51W at 21:40 GMT
It has been another frustrating day. Not much wind and I have been doing 3 to 5 knots of boat speed in 8-13 knots of wind. I am fighting some kind of current and trying to go east, to get away from the hump of Brazil. My speed through the water has been less than 3 knots. I had to strip down my starboard main winch today as the gears were not holding and if I released the tension on the rope, instead of the friction holding the line, the drum, which is not supposed to turn counter clockwise, turned. So I have do do a service job, which I filmed for future purposes. A nasty squeek has developed from the tiller area. On closer investigation, what I have figured out, and won't know till CT when I take the tiller head off, is that the plastic shims between the rudder stock and the rudder bearing have come out and metal is rubbing on metal. It is a horible grating noise and the only thing that drowns it out is the Prudential CD player playing full blast. I am still not getting constant GPS readings. Each time the GPS looses its fix, it sends out an alarm that I have to physically turn off. It is a nuisance as it will do this every 20 minutes or so, then nothing for hours as it searches for satelites. This evening when I tried to pick up my mail, my standard C would not show on my screen. I tried switching cables, rebooting the computer, switching hard drives, but nothing worked. So finally I called Burt in Race Control asking for help. He talked me through powering down the system and when it powered back up, the computer could see it. It was great to talk to somebody. I am getting ready to make my nightly call to Gwen, the one luxury I live for each day. So going east has postponed my Equator crossing untill tomorrow. I want to say it will be Friday, but as long as I can make easting, I want to keep going, otherwise its back to Brazil. I love Brazil and would like some coffee, but not this voyage.
Neal