The winds have graced us with an overground speed of 5-8kts steady all day and night...closer to 8 during the night shift, but we have become quite accustomed to it. The good news is that it looks like even though we left six days after we intended, we should arrive only four later than anticipated. If we hadn't had to beat North like our lives depended on it at the beginning, we might have scratched those four days off. Unfortunately, that was not the case. But, I will let historical weather patterns remain history as long as we can keep this up. No complaints now. :)
And, miraculously, we have had very few repairs. Well, ok, it is really due to the fact that we put the time in that extra week to make sure we really were ready. This is much different than last crossing, when we just decided to work on the way. Which is better? Well, I really think it depends on the crew you take. Both times, I believe we chose right for the crew we had. I may have to put some thought into a separate post about choosing crew and boat preparations. So far this is all that has made the CASREP list:
1. Main Sail Bottom Batten: box tore out, recreated end, bottom then unstitched - waiting to get to port...it's not going to come out of there as I made an extra inner boot.
2. Watermaker Place in Service: this is a normal replacement of filters (and a membrane change was due) and run for a bit before using. (We haven't had a single issue with the watermaker. No extra filters, no pumps no lines run to the other side of the boat across the deck, which is nice compared to last time. A hard starboard tack pulls the scupper out of the water.)
3. Fuel Filters Replaced: some of our fuel is still from years ago - normal maintenance. (No engine problems either, just had to bleed after it ran about 30 minutes on the new filters. Interesting it took that long, but may be due to the completion of the last two lines of the polishing system while underway.)
4. Foot Pump: apparently someone forgot to open the faucet, stepped on the pump, and then continued to press down until it broke before realizing they hadn't opened the faucet. So far, the culprit has not come forward. :) No spare, so the faucet remains closed. (It is only normally a backup off to the side of the sink, but everyone had been using it to fill water bottles.) This caused a bit of consternation at first as after we secured it, someone reopened it (again no culprit)...letting air into the system constantly (as the bellows was broken)...and making the main water pump run non-stop. I just happened to be double-checking the entire system before we started tearing into it to find the air leak. I almost skipped it, as we had closed the faucet only hours ago, and found it open, again. Luckily, closing it worked, and before we ended up running through our collection of spare pumps trying to figure out while they all would have been broken. All's well that ends well. No new pumps!
5. Main Sail Second Batten: the pin either wore out or just fell out of the car/sail connection. So, we put it back together with a cotter pin as we have to look for the right box with the right pins. Not too big a deal as it is near the top.
6. Jib Furling Line: somehow we missed a roller along the side of the boat and it has been rubbing in one spot. Doh! I got to sew in stopper stitches...sure there is a more traditional name, but that is really what they do...one on each side of the rub. The core was showing about half way around, so I stuck a third in for good measure in the bulge. It's in a place that only sees tension when the jib is reefed (not out or furled) so, we are lucky. Tomorrow, we are going to cut the first few feet off and just re-tie the new end to the furler. Apparently, whomever placed the line grabbed twice what was really needed so we have plenty. (One of the few lines we haven't replaced so far. Looks like it may be on the list. Either that or we will just use the other half of the current line which normally sits around the cockpit making a mess until someone spends 15 minutes winding it all up.)
Keep your fingers cross for the wind at our backs this last handful of days!
Position at Writing: 31.14.163N 132.29.160W @0515 (fifteen minutes until I set the clocks ahead again...will be one off from Pacific then) 10.7.13 making 7.5 over ground in 17 knots of wind double reefed
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