May 1, 2014

We are getting close.   After so long we are finally less than 500 mils to go.   We could be there in a week.  It turns out that I had predicted we would arrive on Wed, May 6 after a trip of 5 weeks.   I can’t believe I called it so close based on nothing.   Of course now everything seems tog go wrong.   The wind refuses to cooperate.  There is always too much or too little and not quite from the right direction.   When we set a starboard tack for the south east it is just a little too far east and when we try the other tack we end up going northwest rather than south west. Either tack we are so close to the wind that we have to watch the main sail like a hawk to be sure not to jibe.   Off duty sleep is broken by loud crashes as the person on watch dozes off for just a minute and Rhapsody’s mainsail flips to the other side.   It is becoming increasingly difficult to stay awake on watch.   The schedule is shot all to heck as each of us tries to give the other one a few extra hours of sleep. One extraordinarily loud crash bounces me out of a sons sleep and onto deck to find alan has really fallen asleep and with the wind blowing so hard, has not only jibed but ripped the preventer right out of the pulley.  In the morning we discover that the metal is twisted and broken and half of the pulley is missing.   The rope is also too frayed to use any more so from now on when we change course we need to re-rig our one remaining line.     Luckily we are mostly on the same tack.

 We have discovered that the compass light is actually hypnotizing us.   There is a little solar light on the mast just above the compass that comes on at dusk and stays on until dawn and gives just enough light to read the compass.  We hadn’t realized before that it also creates a tiny spot of reflected light just on the top of the compass glass.   As the boat sails along the compass card swings slowly back and forth with the little dot of light following.   Sleepy, you are getting very sleepy, mot to mention that we are already very sleepy.  Within a few minutes, BAM, we nod off and the sail jibes.   We had not noticed the problem before because we had not been watching the compass so closely.   We had been looking at the stars, the clouds, the sails and only glancing at the compass occasionally to check that we were on course.   Now we are staring at the compass fixedly, watching for that moment that we need to correct the course to prevent the crash.  Well, at least we know about the problem now.

Little by little we trek along south, trying different combinations of sails, watching the clouds build in the south and pass by.  On Tues, May 6, day 35 for anyone who is keeping track, the weather pattern changes.  The dark clouds of the night before do not clear in the morning as usual, instead they darken and the wind builds. and then a really wild storm hits.  I have Fred steering but i am standing by for the moment he is overwhelmed.  After half an hour of howling wind I call Alan to be on standby too.  It takes both of us to hang onto the tiller.  3 hours later it finally blows itself out. By mid afternoon it finally clears and from then on there is not a cloud in the sky.