Skipper's Log #37
25 49S 22 51W at 22:30 GMT
Conditions are beginning to ease up. It has been rough and I felt sick much of the day as we bounced over waves, rocking and rolling doing 170 miles in a straight line since yesterday. Gwen is in Dublin so I took the opportunity to use our phone time to call Marlene McKasey. I first met Marlene on compuserve when she responded to a posting I made. Some weeks later her company The American Forum, represented me at a speakers bureau when she brought me out to Chattenooga, Tennesse to address an audience of 1,000+ people (where I received my largest standing ovation.) Then another client of hers requested a series of keynotes, and that was how our friendship grew. Marlene was on the dock to bid me farewell, and is signing high end speaking engagements for my 1999 season. I spent the day trying to write, but it was not good. So I slept fitfully. Robin Davies and I have been coming up on the radio regularly now twice a day. He is making good miles with his improvised rudder. He is not getting the weather maps (GRIB files) for some reason, so I have been relaying weather data for his area. Robin and I have been friends for over a decade, but some how we never get the time ashore to socialize. So its been great a sea being in touch. Tomorrow I must remember to shave, my every few days ritual. I am using the batteries out of my razor to listen to a book on tape. Eating last nights pasta still. It is cold and I had to get out some thermals for tonight. Slowly we are approaching the colder latitudes. Tomorrow is Rotary again. I miss the group. Breakfast with them is a habit I enjoy. I hope the Rotary Club in Cape Town is as great a group. Losts of make ups to do.
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Skipper's Log #38
27 25S 20 16W at 19:45 GMT
Last nights gale passed quickly and left me with a lovely day in the cockpit. During the height of the gale, we suddenly went of course, and gybed. I rushed out of my bunk. It was about 2 am, but fortunately the moon was full and no clouds obscured it. The seas were nasty and No Barriers lay at an uncomfortable angle with her sails backwinded. Shining my flashlight, I quickly detect the reason for us going off course. We had broken the one control line on the Monitor Windvane. I gybed the boat back and set her on course using the last remaining electronic autopilot. The seas were tossing us everywhere and spray was flying over the bow's back into the cockpit soaking me. Before the gale came, it got cold and my hip hurt. I dressed appropriately for the night in a light weight suit. Working by the moon light I threaded the remaining end of the broken line through the windvane pulleys. It did not take long to fix the problem and to set the board back on the windvane and on course. Through the night we made good progress. This evening I fixed rice, canned tomato and muscles for dinner. I remembered to shave. I got an e-mail to expect a call from a radio station, but the call never came. We made good progress towards Cape Town. Just over 2,000 miles left to go. I am beginning to taste the ice cream.
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Skipper's Log #39
29 24S 17 50W at 19:20 GMT
We have under 1900 miles left. Yesterday to today's 24 hour run was 170 nautical miles, again. I have two reefs in Phillips mainsail. Last night I broke a reef line, so I put the second reef in and today it is needed. It is cold. I guess I am getting into the southern climbs and my naked days are over for a few months. I really liked the freedom of not worrying about clothes. There was something so primative about it. Our society puts so much emphasiss on dress and appearance. Out here, who cares what one looks like or smells like. I do try to maintain some basic standards of hygiene. It is easier when it is warmer and one is able to take bucket baths on deck and not get hypothermia. There is a rolling sea that is not steady. It still is truly one hand for the boat. Sleeping in my bunk is not the most comfortable experience. Now that the temperature is down, I need a blanket. My matress is thin and I prop some pillows between me and the ballast tank so that my nose is not squished up against the cold wood. There is a pipe right where my elbow goes. We still live on, now 15 deg, angle of heel, so my actual sleeping space is only about 1.5 ft wide. On my sixty footer I am going to have wider bunks! I really am enjoying it out here. I would not swap this for a day doing something I am not passionate about. This life is too short to do things not of one's choosing. Dinner tonight was boiled potatoes fried in oil. It was good. Should have made more. Outside is is drizzling and I see a bird circling. I am not sure if it is an albatross or not. You know what I would not mind right now...escaping for a few hours to the movies with Gwen. Beam me over Scotty!
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Skipper's Log #40
31 08S 15 09W at 19:30 GMT
The gale has finaly abated, but the seas are still confused. During the night I broke the windvane control line again, this time having to run a new line completely. Fortunately Scanmar Marine, the manufacturer, thought of everything in spares they gave me. I have been having trouble with the reef lines in the Phillips mainsail. They are chaffing through and every few hours I need to adjust the line to save it. This gale sure opened up a few saws. My halyard winches are original and two years ago should have been replaced. They will now definitely have to be replaced in CT as they are not turning and doing their job. I took them both apart, but the internals are worn from 8 years service. This is going to be a costly replacement. But on the fun side, I have learnt that my friend and assistant in the No Barriers Education Foundation, Toby Smith, and her mom, and one of my major sponsors, Les Phillips and two other representives of Phillips Industrial Services, will be in Cape Town on Nov 28. This news made my day, as it further ties my relationship to them, and I get to host them where I grew up, exposing them to the customs and ways of my country. Toby will join me when I meet with students and bring her experiences and culture to enrich those youth in Cape Town she will meet. But she too will be enriched and will carry her experiences back to the youth in Charleston. It was with these opportunities in mind that our Foundation will make lasting impact on our audiences. Les was the second sponsor to join our organization. His company in the past has done business in Africa, so we will have the opportunity to explore possiblities. This is the maximising of a sponsorship opportunity that many industrialists have still to learn as they move to greater levels of success. When one can combine education, sport, business and human development into all things one does, great things are born.
