Coopers Quest

[David Fox]

Pleased to report that FW tank repair is holding with a 60% capacity, made up by rain running into the after tank and with use of the OS system providing water during the day.
Following that job Gerry has been taking it easy, socialising with their sailing buddies in the CAT, whilst they complete jobs and await developments for returning to the US.
Gerry is also waiting for spares for the RO and looking at what further ports/ countries are open to them as they head towards Panama, Columbia being a favourite at the moment.

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Hydraulic control station. It's located in the cockpit just underneath the companionway stairs. Gerry wants me to write a very complicated explanation of how it works but I've tried to keep it simple so as not to confuse you too much. Its purpose is to hydraulically pressurize the backstay tension adjuster (which holds the mast in the desired position) and to hydraulically tension the boom vang. The boom vang pulls down on the boom to tension up the leach (the longest edge of the main sail, furthest out from the mast) giving it the best sail shape possible. The operation is achieved by inserting the pump handle, shown at the bottom, into the hole on the board, turning the three way valve for which ever function you want and pumping the handle until the desired tension is achieved then putting the valve in the locked position. I hope I haven't confused you too much - a little confusion is good enough!

Blooming hydraulic oil leaks I hear you former Mates muttering, shades of the 'A' Boats.
It was during a repair to one of the cranes on the Avelona Star that my (now) wife first saw me in all my minty glory, something must have impressed her, cannot think what. Nobody received any training on the cranes or hydraulics (unlike today when you have to have been on a course for any new equipment before you can touch it). When anything goes wrong you always seem to look for worse case scenarios, in this case it turned out to be a new main joint was required. Apart from not knowing about the cranes or hydraulics the manuals were written in Scandawegion but a £1's worth of jointing material cured the leak.

12h Day of Advent

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When reading the SailBlog I sort of skimmed over the Advent photo thinking it was a polystyrene carry out box with Christmas Lunch ready for a reheat and a packet of apple sauce which turned out to be the Man Overboard apparatus.
Oops! BOT wouldn't have been too happy with that. Perhaps having spent my 10 years in stygian darkness of the Pit with the infernal combustion machines had an effect on my eyesight, plus old age of course, as the Dr. or Optician would say.

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They are a type of rigging, applied to a fore and aft rigged sail to aid in the reefing (making the sail smaller) and furling (putting away) of the main sail. They are a set of lines which are attached to the mast and to a series of points on either side of the boom forming a cradle. Ours have the addition of a sail bag through which they are threaded so that the main sail is guided into the sail bag on top of the boom when it is lowered. They are a time and effort saving device as no one needs to secure the sail (in the past we had to flake it from side to side and then secure it with straps to the boom), we just have to zip the bag up when it is all in place now.
Conventional thinking is that the term "Lazy Jacks" evolved from the term "Jack Tars" the description used for British Sailors of years gone by and because this type of rigging negated the need for sailors to manhandle the sail the term "Lazy Jacks" was applied to them.
Not much going on at the moment, they might be at the idylic (according to travel brochures) island of Granada, but they recently had rain and now there is a bit of a swell washing up into the anchorage causing them to bob about like a cork, so much so that Nicky was going to put some tea towels in a bucket of water with dhobi dust and use the motion like a washing machine, why not, it used to work for us.

Sounds like they maybe going on a charabang tour/ pub crawl round the island starting at the Brewery so there might be a few different images coming up, Nicky is not much of a drinker (spills most of it) so she will be in charge of collecting photographic evidence for blackmail (her words).

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To the left in the photo are two blue filter housings, the one at the top, labeled as the "fresh water flush" is a carbon filter used to clean the system of salt water if the system isn't going to be used for a period of greater than 2 weeks. The other blue filter, at the bottom in the photo, is a 5 micron filter for filtering sea water going to the high pressure pump,(not shown in the photo as too difficult to get to). On the right hand side at the top of the photo you can see the control panel with the hose just visible, over the top, which takes the reject water back overboard. From the 5 micron filter the water goes to the membrane (on the right side middle of photo) where at high pressure it allows water to pass through whilst keeping salt out. Fresh water travels to the water tanks from here. The final photo on the right hand side, at the bottom, is of the salt water intake pump, which pumps sea water into the 5 micron filter allowing the process to convert sea water into fresh water by reverse osmosis (I knew that bit of science would come in handy for my blog some day!).
One final word about RO water, when we have the water maker running we start off having the resulting fresh water pass through a hose rather than to the tank so that we can test it for Total Dissolved Solids with a TDS meter - this is the measure of how much salt remains in the water after passing through the process. The acceptable TDS, according to WHO, is 500 parts per million, as extra precaution we don't put the resulting water into our tank unless the reading is less than 300 part per million. Once it shows below 300 TDS (usually about 3 cups worth of processed water) we switch the water hose over to fill our tank. Water makers come in many sizes, producing varying amounts of fresh water in an hour. Our particular water maker is supposed to produce 4 gallons an hour but at present we are awaiting a new control box (coming via the moon) as our production is down to 2.5 gallons an hour, due, we think, to a leaking bypass valve in the control box. At least we are producing some water!

One does wonder about the other things that might be in the water, not just salt, how good are these filters. The yatchs are in a bay close to land, what's to stop somebody discharging their sewerage tank over the side, overnight every so often. There could also be run-offs from ashore also. No heat is used in the production of the water which would tend to kill off some of the nasties, yet Nicky and Gerry keep healthy.

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This is the infamous manual toilet flush valve from the fwd WC that Nicky is always having trouble with.

[David Fox]

16th Day of Advent

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Not a pretty sight.
Well I had doubts about putting this one up, it looks more like Gerry was having incontinence problems. Spend too long up the mast in that and you land talking in falsetto. But tis the silly season.

17th Day of Advent

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Well I wouldn't want to be around if Nicky had to get her toys out to play.
Nicky was a Nurse in the Australian Outback, so she probably experienced all sorts of things..
Here's what it consists of.
The very large bag was a gift from an ex coast guard mate when we did our first trip 11 years ago. We have enough gloves, bandages, pads, splints, tape, solutions for a major disaster; then we have a sphygmomanometer and stethoscope, 4 suturing kits, Super glue, artery clamps , burns sheets, Gels and dressings, needles and syringes, a variety of injectable solutions, inhalers, medications. We even have an ambu-bag and mask , scalpels, forceps, tooth/ filling repair kit etc., then there is a malaria test and treatment kit. There is even a delivery kit, in case we have to deliver a baby at any time! The kit has only been out of the cupboard once Ð when we were trying to locate a box of band aids for a cut finger, we found them and relocated them to the bathroom cupboard where they are easily accessed and not been needed since! There is also a couple of first aid manuals Ð the St John manual that everyone has plus a Carpa manual which I've had since my time working in outback clinics and has more detailed treatments.

This is just the bag of stuff, we also have a cupboard that is filled with "just in case" medications such as Imodium, Senna col, betadine gargle, antibiotics, cough and cold meds, anti - inflammatory tabs, analgesics, bite and sting treatments, multi vitamins.
Whilst we are very grateful for the kit , we hope that we never have to use it as just getting it out of the cupboard is exercise in itself and if Gerry was the one doing the first aid I would surely die if I couldn't give him blow by blow instructions! So I hope you are all impressed, but please don't ask me for a band aid when I'm at home, chances are I haven't got one!
"Carry on Nurse" or is it "Emergency Ward 10".

[David Fox]

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Nicky's explanation.

So named by yachting couples everywhere as they do away with the "anchor dance", or "mooring ball pick up" issues, with its frantic signaling from the bow to the
helmsman and the yelling back and forth of instructions for the entire anchorage to hear as you can speak directly to the other person and give instructions. The first set (the original set), which can be seen in the first 3 pictures and are 9 volt battery operated, with aerials sticking up from the top, are an identical pair, they have a range of about 50 foot - we can just about use these on our boat with one person on the bow and one at the helm.

They have a down side to them though in that everyone with a set of these operates on the same frequency so if you are inclined, you can listen in to what other people are saying on them or they can hear you plus you can pick up radio stations with them if they are close by. We also found that it was very easy for the person trying to pick up a mooring ball for example, to knock the aerial and wearing a hat over them is difficult which is why in the photo Gerry has his aerial tucked into the head band instead of it being straight up in the air where it is supposed to be.

We have a second set - the new and improved version, with no aerials and are operated by rechargeable batteries and blue toothed. This set has one full double ear piece and one with just one ear piece and a battery operators box on the other side. The person at the helm usually wears the double ear set so that the person on the bow can hear anything outside of the boat approaching as well as hearing the helmsman. This set is our preferred option, as long as we have remembered to recharge the batteries, as there is no outside snooping or radio interference you can wear a hat over them and there is less chance of knocking them off your head. The only problem I find is that when Gerry is on the bow and it's windy there is often a whistling wind sound that can't be avoided unless he can somehow cover the microphone with his hand whilst operating the other equipment to raise or lower the anchor or pick up a mooring ball, that and the fact that he can hear me swearing at him .
I am sure we would like to see Nicky modelling some of this equipment also, much more photogenic at least.
Not a lot happening on Opal, storing ship, renewing visas, picking up a few ER & Bosuns stores. Once the parts for the RO have arrived, been fitted and proven then they will be on their way to Columbia, Covid restrictions permitting and of course weather.

Radar Dome

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Something for you Mates for a change.
Today's advent photo is of something everyone knows about but has possibly never seen - this is our radar dome which allows us to see all around us picking up ships, birds, weather and aliens when it is switched on.

When we are underway we don't run the radar all the time but if it is particularly dark or we are concerned that there may be bad weather which we want to track and avoid it gets switched on and we do a scan as frequently as necessary. To a greater extent it is somewhat supplemented these days by AIS (Automatic Identification System) for tracking vessels, which ships above a certain tonnage have to have by law.

A lot of smaller boats, particularly sailing yachts like ours, also have this system installed as it allows other ships and boats to be able to know that there is a vessel, what that vessel's name, tonnage, length, destination, speed and heading are.

It also gives the distance to CPA (closest point of approach) and also TCPA (time to closest point of approach) which should prevent accidental collisions at sea. In addition to ships and boats having AIS, in some places channel markers and /or buoys have them as well making it easy to see if any of the markers or buoys have been recently moved.
Don't think Gerry will be using Norry's Tables much, its all by electronics now.

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At the top left hand side you can see our satellite phone in its cradle, I blanked out the number as we don't need any prank calls in the middle of the night thank you! The picture at the top right is of our VHF radio which most inter-boat/ dock/marina/low flying planes communication is done through, as you can probably see and possibly know, it is set on channel 16 - the universal hailing channel, if you are hailed then you usually agree to a change of channel to free the hailing channel of chatter - not that everyone actually does this and that becomes a nuisance to others trying to hail someone. The radio is located in our nav. station so we also have an extension mic/receiver in the cockpit next to the helm so that we can talk to others from the vantage point of the helm station, this isn't always as clear as the Nav. station receiver so we sometimes have to go below and use the equipment there. In addition to being able to hail other boats on this, the radio gets used for things like the cruisers networks - where local events and happenings around the place are announced at a set time, on a different, set channel - we have even had quiz nights in certain places over the VHF. A lot of boats leave their VHF radios turned on all the time so they don't miss anything, we leave ours off unless we are underway as the constant chatter becomes very distracting.

At the bottom of the picture is our single side band radio (SSB), with our call sign above it. This radio acts as a Ham radio and has a greater range but you need to know who you are trying to contact and their call sign if you want to speak to someone in particular. Ours is registered in the USA as that was where we were originally registered and you need a radio operators license for it. We tend not to use this radio but if push came to shove at least we have it available for use.

I guess I should have included a set of signaling flags in this photo but to be honest I only just thought about it and we don't actually have a complete set anyway!

The good news from Opal is the that both FW tanks are 100% full due the rains and the RO and the FWD tank repair is holding.

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On the left side of the photo is our air (or fog) horn - it's very loud and would frighten the life out of anyone close by if we sounded it. Then in the middle is our whistle to ward off robbers and alert the police that we need help, beneath that is a mirror for blinding pilots in low flying planes with. The bell is meant to be hanging in a spot just above our EPIRB with the clanger in situ but it makes such a noise when the boat rolls that we removed the clanger and keep the shell in the Nav station cupboard where we can easily access it if necessary and let's be honest you can hit it with just about anything to make it sound the alarm. The final bit of signaling equipment is a high powered torch with a laser pointer so that it can be aimed at something and light it up (usually the sails) for anyone to see. All of these things might seem a bit frivolous and unnecessary given the rest of safety gear that our boat is equipped with, however these things are a requirement of the US ( and probably other country's) coast guards as we found out back when we did our last trip home and were boarded for safety inspection - we had everything then too and they ticked it all off on their check list and issued us with a safety certificate at the time. We hope that we never need to use any of them but we know from experience that the torch with the laser pointer comes in particularly handy when you need to "spotlight" channel markers on the way into a harbor/ marina and it is a pitch black night.
The parts for the RO unit supplied under warranty arrived in country, but the customs want to make there bit. As it wasn't a sale there was no value to the parts, so the Customs could not release them without payment so Gerry had to arrange for the company to send an invoice and he had to pay Customs duty on that.
I can see that happening if you receive anything from the EU after Brexit or sending anything to somebody in the EU. France is going to make us pay, like they did in the 1st World War , charging rent for the trenches.
Eat your heart out former 3rd Mates, some of your toys coming up.

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So here is Nicky Acting 3rd Mate, Chief Cook and bottle washer, grocer, seamstress, Gopher as required, Edior in Chief of their Sail Blog.

Top picture is of an LED light which is certified for use instead of a flare, when we got this out to take the photo we realized that there were no batteries in it and we actually haven't got the C batteries that it requires on the boat - that goes on the shopping list for tomorrow! On the left hand side is our SOS flag and sheet - at least we could display those if need be! And lastly on the right at the bottom is our flare gun, a flare cartridge and a set of hand held flares - they at least are all in date! Our best plan is to never have to use them, we would rather have to dispose of them because they are out of date than actually need them!

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The top left picture is of one of our smoke alarms - we have 2 of them, spaced appropriately so that if they are set off there is no way we could ignore the screeching noise they make - they might look small but they are certainly mighty loud and annoying if set off. Beneath the smoke alarm are 2 photos of our carbon monoxide alarms - the first one is mounted at about waist height in our salon (sort of in the middle of the boat) and is a battery operated alarm so we have to make sure that the batteries don't run out or we get a constant alarm sounding - we know this from experience of it going off! The bottom photo is again a carbon monoxide alarm which is situated in our bedroom and this one is hard wired into the boat's 12 volt power supply so that it never runs out of the ability to scream at us and wake us from a deep sleep if we have deadly carbon monoxide filling the boat. We know this one works as we have had it alarm on a couple of occasions, false alarms as it turns out but there was no way we were ever going to ignore it - we shot out of bed immediately and opened up all the hatches to make sure we didn't die from the innocuous gas that is colourless and odourless but deadly toxic.
We have 5 fire extinguishers on the boat, one in each sleeping space, one in the salon/ kitchen area, one in the nav station. and the last one is fixed above the engine (see the photo on the right). This one is supposed to fire off automatically as it has a heat detector which will trigger it to start if the engine temperature gets too hot, we have never had to put it to the test to date and fingers crossed and touch wood, we never will have to find out if it works under those circumstances. So as you can see we are prepared for almost any emergency but there is always those pesky "acts of God" to consider and we can't prepare for those we just need to be able to react as best we can if they occur!

[David Fox]

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[David Fox]

Gerry & Nicky are not doing much at the moment, (well apart from cooker decoking and Freezer defrosting, domestic stuff) but I have been in touch with Gerry following the viewing of a U-tube article on automatic steering systems.
Seems on Opal they have an electro hydraulic system from the Chart Plotter, here is Gerry's explanation of electronic wizardry they have.

Marine electronics are quite interesting really - with our charts and chartplotter we can actually steer dock to dock and the boat will stick to correct channels etc. All of the systems use a language or protocol called NMEA 0183, or more recently NMEA 2000 which allows data input from many sources to be fed onto a backbone and then any instruments (capable) can read all of the data. We even have our laptop in the nav station connected to the same system. Additionally you can connect non navigation equipment to the system like cameras and in our case our stereo system. We can then control the stereo from the chartplotter so when at sea I can turn on the system and select tracks from the iPod to play in the cockpit. So, we have GPS, wind speed/direction, depth, AIS, radar and autopilot data being fed in. Our chartplotter can be configured to also show any of the data.

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[David Fox]

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Happy New Year to all our readers (as somebody once put in the ER Logsheet in the comments column and read by the office perhaps in June).
Let us hope for a better year now we have the vaccine (we just need a few people round the country that can think and organise vaccination of everybody. I am sure a few ex-mariners could organise it , rather than having to worry about egos and stepping on peoples toes, just do it). We never had PC at sea, you did what ever it took to keep the job going and cargo working, you took responsibility for your decisions, rather than have a meeting.

And we have Brexit sorted apart from the small print, they just need to think outside the box and realise there are other continents and countries other than the EU. Winston Churchill and the Duke of Wellington would be pleased for us.

Now back to the plot.
Gerry & Nicky are still on deckhead surveys with a bit of planning for the onward journey.

Suit of Sails
This what Gerry sent me as an answer to my question.

We essentially have 3 sails, a mainsail behind the mast, a yankee on the forestay and a staysail on the inner forestay. (We have a light wind sail called a drifter but that hasn’t been flown yet) Having the 2 forward sails like that is generally known as a cutter rig. Both the forward sails can be furled to any degree while our mainsail has 2 active reefing points to make it smaller.

When eventually they get under sail Nicky will take some photos of the different sails when in use and I will try and insert them in the text, plus any further comments.

Gerry has been having trouble with the seal of one of the new inspection covers to the Fwd. FW Tank, mainly when pressed up and there is movement of the vessel.

The issue with the tank lid is that it’s warped so the hatches would only sit flush if I cranked down on the securing bolts. Of course this warped the frame making it impossible to screw in the lid. I put the thickened epoxy around the flange area and let the hatch just sit on it, finding it’s own level. I sprayed silicone on the flange to prevent bonding but guess what, it stuck. The last fix involved more epoxy on the outside and more silicone on the inside and today we pressed the tank full with no leaks.
I can access most of the top of the tank, the balance is under the saloon table.

There’s suction off both tanks and we do use both, the preference is aft because it removes weight from the back end - a full tank would weigh close to 400kgs.

The RO  is like new, making around 5 gallons per hour.

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No they haven't gone back up the course, but a good image I found.
(I have added a couple of images on the first page of the ship Gerry & I met on, plus the house flag).

We don’t carry any signaling flags except the Q flag - I haven’t met a cruising boat that does. We also don’t have a mooring ball, in fact a quick scan of the anchorage sees only 1 boat using it - a Swedish vessel. At night everyone has a masthead anchor light and we have a low wattage light in the cockpit as well. I think the rules change on tonnage and whether a BOT captain is required. AIS is only required on vessels 250t and above (or something like that) but should be for every boat. You have the ability on the high end AIS units to indicate whether your anchored, on passage to ? Etc. It also of course shows your speed.

[David Fox]

Nicky has suspended their Sailblog for the time being as not a lot is happening, much like most of Britain. Gerry tells me his last job was to replace the overboard discharge for the fwd loo.
So things will be a bit quiet on this post until things start happening on the Opal of Queensland in Granada.
Should Gerry pass on any gems in our emails I will certainly let you know.

As McCarther said, " I will be back."

So did Trump, but that just for his impeachment.

⛏ watches @ 24 hours notice.

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[David Fox]

During the furlough, Gerry did the following jobs.
Fitting a new water pump and rebuilding the old pump with an overhaul kit.

The next little fix came when we defrosted the freezer, Gerry noticed that there was a small hole between the freezer and the fridge near the lid, probably where the original wiring went through joining to two together. The hole had to be filled to give the freezer a completely air tight seal, at the same time he added more insulation board to the lid of the freezer which means that I can no longer latch the lid closed and have to get Gerry to do it each time I have no control over my freezer now at all, I can't reach into it and I can't close the damn lid without Gerry's help!

Cleaning the slime and barnacles off the dinghy hull.
Descaling both the toilets with Muriatic Acid, unfortunately the after one had hiccups onto the deck in the shower just as they were about to go ashore one evening, so Nicky reckoned it was a 'boy job' to clean that up. Luckily there was no repeat performance whilst ashore that night.

Gerry surmised that the Joker valve (yes it really is called that) between he macerator and the toilet bowl must need replacing trip to Budget Marine! They didn't have a replacement valve for our particular brand so it came down to putting a new valve in the pipeline which Gerry did the next day. Touch wood there have been no further issues to date.

Changing the RO unit water filter. Image to follow when available.

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27th January 2021
Full Bunkers, fully stored and laundry cleaned. Goodbyes said. Early night.

Blue Peter Flying and under starters orders.

Australia Day
28 January 2021 | 12 10.265'N:62 56.810'W, On passage to Curacao

STAND BYE

And they're off!

Wind 20 knots , East North East on the Stbd Quarter.
All hands to making sail.
Heres Nicky.
With this forecast in mind Gerry had a plan to put the spinnaker pole out on the starboard side in order for us to be able to fly the jib that side whilst at the same time flying the main pushed out to the port side almost like goose winging but it's not known as that with the main and the jib and I have no idea what the correct term is! He also wanted to put a preventer on the boom to make sure that the main didn't fly across to try and join the jib it's the first time we had tried to sail like this as you all know we only usually sail directly with the wind on our nose! Anyhow we motored around to the big main bay at St Georges before we started messing about and putting the plan into action. It was a bit difficult getting the pole out and the preventer in place but we eventually got there and turned the boat back onto the set track we were off and running. At this point we had put the main up with 2 reefing points in place and only had part of the jib out on the same side as the main as the wind, true to the forecast was coming at us from the starboard stern quarter. We were bowling along quite well at 7 knots. The other part of the forecast was the waves/swell which was predicted at 1.8 meters and a short interval for the first time ever they got it right! The swell was horrid and we were being attacked and bounced around all over the place, it's just as well that we were expecting it to be a rolly ride or we might have turned back ! The ride continued in much the same vein for the best part of the next 6 hours, uncomfortable and difficult to move around in. Eventually the wind began to clock further around to the stern and increased in speed to over 20 knots and Gerry decided to put the jib across to the starboard side to try out the wing and wing point of sail, well it worked we began to reach speeds of 8-8.5 knots with a second reef in the main and half a jib out flying, I hate to say it but it was a bit too fast given the small amount of sail we had out, there was a chance of it getting out of control, but not just yet.

Life on the ocean wave eh? Any faster and they will be passing Bank Line ships.

We had one of our pre prepared dinners as we watched the sun set over the water for the first time in a while, I was hoping for the green flash to finish off our Australia day but it didn't happen because the clouds blanketed the sun at the horizon so I didn't even get a good sun set photo!

Shortly after this Gerry was down for his " watch below" and I had to call him up to come and wind the jib in further, the wind was howling upwards to 30 knots and we were whipping along at over 8 knots all the time, we don't want blow out our sails before we get home! The main was eased out to allow more spill and the jib was furled away which had the effect of slowing us down to 7 knots! Gerry went back to bed and we took turns through the night at watch keeping without very much else happening. Neither of us got much sleep as the waves and swell were coming from all over the place and bouncing the boat around, one moment you were looking at a wall of water and the next you would be on top of the wall looking down into the trough and waiting to hit the bottom. If the swell had been coming from just one direction it would have been OK but it was coming from all over the place with no rhyme or reason to where it would come from next. All night the wind at least stayed constant and we did between 7 and 8 knots for most of the night, travelling a bit over 12 miles off the Venezuelan coastline ( just outside of their waters to be safe rather than sorry we'd heard too many stories and didn't need one of our own to tell) overnight we saw not a single boat or ship, it was very quiet.

At one point I was down trying to sleep and I thought I heard Gerry say "are you Ok there?" which he always said to Priss whilst she was with us, I put it down to me being half asleep and dreaming but when I came out into the cockpit there was a bird perched on the life ring right next to Gerry's head we had a hitch hiker!. This bird remained on the life ring all night, it didn't flinch when we moved around, let me get close enough to get a photo, wasn't scared off by the camera flash or anything else.

It gave a whole new meaning to Air B+B! it made good use of the toilet facilities, crapping all over the cockpit seat and life ring and finally took off when the sun rose in the morning. We have no idea what sort of bird it was, possibly a tern of some sort but if anyone out there knows please tell us!

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[David Fox]

Another day at sea
29 January 2021 | 12 22.045'N:68 19.208'W, At sea on passage to Curacao.

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Gerry was keen enough to put the fishing stick out today, so far it has done nothing except decorate the port rail, good job I have some beef casserole out for dinner!

As we dipped into the night the wind did as predicted (they got it right for a change!) and dropped right off and came around to our stern. We battled to keep moving along under sail alone with light winds which dropped to about 8- 10knots, the sea also calmed right down and we were now seeing waves of just under 3 feet and not quite so violent. Of course our average speed also took a hammering dropping to 4.5 - 5 knots so much so that Gerry let both reefing points out of the main and we tried to sail with a full main and the jib flying. We were moving along but not as quickly as we would have wanted. We ate dinner without it missing out mouths - quite a feat at times I can assure you! And then it was time to begin the night watches with Gerry deciding to try and sleep first. He had been down about an hour and a half when the wind began to wrap even further around and was now coming from our port quarter making the sailing impossible without moving the sails.

I very reluctantly called him from his bunk and said that I thought we needed to jibe so that the main sail could fly with the wind which was now coming from the opposite side. It would have been pretty near impossible for me to do the jibe alone as it required someone to take the preventer off at the bow, raise the boom so it cleared the dodger and move the running backstay out of the way in order to be able to swing the boom across to the starboard side.

Gerry is really good at getting up from sleep and coping with whatever crap I'm presenting him with, he donned his life jacket, attached the harness and head lamp and made his way out on to the deck to do all the stuff I've just talked about whilst I manned the helm and responded to his instructions as best I could.

[David Fox]

Arrival into Curacao
29 January 2021 | 12 03.520'N:68 51.216'W, Curacao

Weather; sunny, wind 10 knots E and dropping, waves 3 feet and decreasing.

Gerry hoisting the Q flag.jpeg (10.85 KiB) Viewed 30328 times

We've arrived safely into Curacao, having motor sailed for the last 20 miles as the wind became so fickle with where it was coming from, changing every few minutes and swinging all over the place making it impossible to keep sailing. The jib got furled away first and then we centered the main to try and use what wind it could trap but really only succeeding in creating a banging noise, neither of us wanted to be putting the main away at this point of the trip as it would have meant someone (no prizes for guessing who) going out on deck and taking off the preventer, pushing and shoving the sail into the sail bag, which requires the person to climb onto the lower part of the mast to be able to reach the sail bag and we considered that it was too dangerous as we were both fairly tired and didn't need any last minute dramas and accidents to occur and decided to leave this job until we were in the lee of the harbor at Curacao. As we motor sailed along the top of Bonaire we tried to recall seeing the hills when we stopped there on our last trip, they were clearly outlined but for the life of us we couldn't remember seeing them last time round. We spotted the refinery lights on Curacao shortly after passing by the hills of Bonaire - we were on the homeward stretch with about 20nm left to go.