Skippers log #10
44 07s 43 55e at 19:00 GMT
The fog has come in. The barometer is falling slowly. With the change in temperature, light fog will occur at dusk and dawn down here. To cheer up my day, and someone else's, I decided to make a phone call to Herman Leyenaar, General Manager of Netcare, and the man who made the sponsorship decision. Having his cell phone number helped to get a direct call to him. It is important to this organization to like the people with whom we do business, and to me it is important to respect and admire the people with whom I work. It was great to hear Herman's voice 1,200 miles away, and knowing that I am associated with the best health care group in Southern Africa. The rest of the day passed normally. Emails to respond to, deals to be negotiated. It was just a normal day in the office, with time to read, eat and, oh, sail. Yes, I forgot, the boat is sailing herself and I have been redundant the last 96 hours, delegated to weather watching, which includes trying to photograph the many albatross that are circling the boat. I did cover 181 miles in the last 24-hr run.
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Skippers log #11
44 07s 43 55e at 19:00 GMT
After a 183 mile 24 hour run, the winds have gone light again and my progress has slowed down, frustrating. Gales for my area were predicted, but have failed to materialize. I am going to drop south another 30 to 60 miles over the next few days and see if I can get some better winds, and hopefully not to much. The sailing has been uneventful, which is a blessing as down here I do not want drama. To pass the day today, I opened some mail from Mrs. Graham's third grade class at Springfield Elementary school in Charleston, a No Barriers School. As usual, the comments of the children warmed me on this cold southern ocean day. Many hoped that I would not sink, some hoped that I would win the race (so do I) and a few had comments or questions about me seeing my family. I have a lot of letters from school children to keep me company. Today at Trident Accademy in Mount Pleasant a donation was handed over to our Foundation via Diane in support of our work. In a play that was staged by students {for Thanksgiving}, I got to meet Mary Poppins, Capt. John Smith and Huck Finn. I hope that other sportsman will learn from these students as I am. Our sport has an influence on what children learn. If we can all find ways to use what we are good at, to give to children, and contribute to their learning in a meaningful and positive way, would all our lives not be enriched? I seemed to have lost the footprint of the satellite, so right now I am feeling a little cut off from the world, but my e-mail works and should have no holes in the service. I have come to enjoy the pleasures of technology, and will miss the daily phone calls I make. Maybe the coverage area will improve.
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Skippers log #12
44 14s 47 02e at 15:15 GMT
I have hung the Christmas tree, and it is staying in place. This was a gift from a school in Cape Town. I continued to open letters from school children, which brightens my day. I had very little wind this morning, but my barometer has been falling steadily. My hip is aching, a sure sign of a cold front approaching. I had some squalls come through this afternoon and we are moving again, but I expect the ideal conditions will deteriorate. It is too cold to stay long on deck. I did not get my batteries fully charged in Cape Town, and it is taking forever to get a charge on my engine, so I am not able to run my heater till I get the batteries full. Because they are weak, even starting the engine is not easy. I discovered this morning when I wanted to use my electronic autopilot, that it is not working. Today I don't feel like cooking a meal, so it's nuts and raisins, cereal and chocolate for sustenance. Brad on Balance Bar gave me some BB drinks, and now I know why he is so healthy.
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Skippers log #13
44 36s 51 01e at 17:00 GMT
I am progressing towards the east, keeping an eye on Minoru Saito on Shuten Dohji 2 who is slowly catching up to me, but well to the south. I am tempted to head south to cover my position. In normal racing, thats exactly what would be done, but I am sailing to survive & he has a boat 10 feet bigger than mine, & can handle rougher conditions better. The barometer is quite low, & the winds did get up to 25 knots earlier today, but only for a short while. The barometer has kept dropping. There was a time all one needed was a boat, a star to steer by & some knowledge of sailing. Now I need to know about computers to help with my meteorology, and so much, much more. In Charleston a friend helped me install a 150 amp self regulating alternator. In the last week it started charging at 14.8 volts & I am having difficulties getting my batteries charged as it only putting out 20 amps per hour. Do any electrical engineers have advice for me before I start thinking of replacing the alternator? This would be a major job.
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