April 30, 2014

Trade Winds

We have passed the 2,000 mile mark.  Finally we have reached the southern trade winds.  This is how it was supposed to be all along.  Nice steady wind from the south east.  Fairly calm seas.  Mostly clear skies.  The only problem is that we cannot quite hold the course we need.  We are paying for staying so far east to cross the ITCZ.  No matter what, we are going to miss Hive Oa.  We will have to tack back when we get close.

Now that things are a little calmer I decide to see if I can get patch the jib. It is just a straight tear.  It should be possible to run sail tape over it and sew on a strip of sail cloth.  I have extra fabric and needles and thread and a palm.  I should be able to do it, but I just can’t.  For one thing there is not room in the cabin to lay it our straight.  I have it piled on the table and pull it into my lap to work on little bits at a time.  Of course it does not go straight.  The cloth is much stronger than it looks and very difficult to get a needle through.  My big needles are blunt for some reason and the sharp needles bend after about 1/2 hour.  I struggle with it an hour at a time because I know it would make our voyage easier if we could use it but it just is not working.  The sail tape does not stick and when I try to sew through it, the needle gets all sticky.  So I pull it all off and cut a long strip of fabric to make a patch.  After several days I have managed to sew one side all the way across.  Unfortunately it really should have a patch on both sides to hold it.  When I start stitching the other side I can no longer get the needle through without using pliers.  I think wistfully of the sewing machine that I did not buy because there was no room to stow it.  But There is also no room to set it up and use it and not enough power to run it anyway.

Now the cabin is full of sail, along with piles of wet clothes and all of the unfinished projects.  We have given up even trying to pick things up and just toss everything into the pile.   There is a path to the bed and one spot big enough to sit on the couch and enough room on the table for one plate. 

Finally there comes a day when we are both to tired to say awake all night.  We try one hour shifts but that is even worse.  Eventually we give it up, heave to and go to bed.  Alan sleeps until noon the next day.  I decide that realistically I am not going to be able to fix this sail underway.  We stuff it back into it’s bag and cram it into the corner between the couch and the table.  At least it is mostly out of the way.  Usually it stays hanked onto the forestay. There is not room for it in the sail locker.  We spend several hours getting things picked up and put away and get underway again about 2 in the afternoon.  Only a few more days, a few hundred miles to go.  We can do it.