ALL HANDS 10/10/89
Surprise, surprise - Izzy showed up. Called Joe's to see if I'd gone. His paper arrived, and would I wait? Of course. So I cleaned up a bit while I waited. Not too much either. Off and under way at 4:40. Brisk NW wind. Jib alone gave us good way and fresher yet outs1de. I napped while Izzy steered the first leg. He woke me at 7 or a little earlier. Dinner all made, warmed the stew, and took over nursing my pot. Izzy sick--I guess as soon as he went below--didn't eat anyway. Wind died just before 10 so I'm making the entries and about to sack in, 6 or 8 miles south of Monhegan and 20 odd from Round Pond. Sea shows no sign of flattening out. Izzy is flat though!0530, 10/11Up after a good sleep, 10 miles south of Monhegan, no apparent drift, little wind, sea quiet. Power for battery and refrigerator. Coffee and banana. Izzy under the weather still at noon. Light winds, self steering by itself on the wind.0700, 10/13Sunrise--my first at sea in a while. We'd hove to last night when the wind died, so it was quiet, rolly with leftover swells. Stars bright still at 0500, but fading. Clear overhead, but overcast in the East. Overcast west too, but a gorgeous magenta haze lying over the western overcast half way around the horizon. Had it to myself too. She (sun) came up with a brilliant orange line under the eastern gray overcast, just a peeper first, a point, then a line, and a point again. And when I looked west it was all over, new day started.
Wind after a while, almost directly on course but NOAA promises a better slant. Cold, but a bright golden day. Wind increasing all day. Double reef main, reduced jib at 1600, waves bigger too. Bermuda 425 miles to go. Whole jib out at 2300. Nearly clear, big bright moon, steady southwest wind at 15 to 18 knots. Decks wet, but not very cold. Seawater temperature 50 degrees F, up 3 from early pm.
Shook out reef. Light westy wind. Fair day and fair wind. Sea temperature 51.4 degrees F. Sat Fix at 0648: 47 degrees, 39 minutes, 68 degrees, 16 minutes. Celestial navigation works--not very accurately. I'm still making stupids and some transposing errors. Today's shots were right on latitude but 30 odd miles off on longitude. Get a third shot, I guess, and correct on a separate sheet, so I don't get confused on the rehash. Thirty miles is not much at this stage--our target is still about 400 miles south and east.10/14Wind changing just after midnight. After 6-7 hours of accurate steering on a very full reach, the steerer failed miserably to keep anything remotely like a course downwind. So hand steering until 4:30 when I gave up and struck main and jib, leaving rudder and mizzen to keep her jogging with little way in reducing wind. We'd had a good run since noon.OK -- 17 OctoberNow 0720 with breakfast in me and even a little into Izzy. "Unable to fix" is all I get from Sat Nav, so back to South steering again. Wind may be Westy enough, try. We got moving again by 8:30, Izzy at the helm while I fussed with sails up, mess on deck, power to avoid a fisherman. No fix yet this morning, need to get position at least approximate to be sure to avoid Cape Cod.
SLOW, slow, slower, slowest! but still moving. Lost another piece of hardware off the mast. Not even yesterday, but the day before! Can't hoist the main till I replace or repair. Found it in late afternoon, ready to climb and fix, but light was fading. Two rungs up I quit. Me -- being cautious, patient even, good example for Izzy -- responsible too. Wait til morning.
Ayuh. In the morning it was rain and hard wind, 25 knots my guess. Jib and jigger took us flylng close hauled, self steering very well, but on a point where she'd self steer without the new gadget. Rain and spit all day, wind dying in the evening. No sun all day, or next day either as we dribbled along, jib and jigger a second day. Wind dying gradually, power for 5 hours to get out of reach of the adverse tide over Georges Bank Shallows. We could read bottom 10 to 30 fathoms -- and after being out of sight of land for 2 days that's always spooky. Still no repair of hoist, but I've figured out how to do it without climbing.
And slower still. Laid ahull last night and drifted about 3 miles SW; no great disadvantage, and a good night in the sack. An hour's power will make it up. Overcast, very heavy, but not fog. Air is wet, but not raining. Visibility is well over a mile, but no sun or sky. While I'm being negative, we are wet, but not miserable. Not cold either. OK, the picture is painted. What's the action? (besides a constant roll). Engine on for 2 and a half hours this morning, lost a couple or three miles drifting in the night, then a gobit of breeze, SW, and all plain, sail. Somewhat east of our course and pretty light, making a couple of knots, sometimes more, mostly less, and self steering on the wind -- not using the new steerer. We ARE in the Gulf Stream, sargasso weed and Portuguese Men of War. Also many porpoises as we got into warm water. It's now 61 degrees F. Great relief to feel that I've licked the cold, even if I'm 2 days behind schedule.
and the disasters have started. We are warm, surely in, if not beyond, the Gulf Stream, so that disasters are due, but bearable! One jury hoist that brought the gaff up again parted where it chafes against hardware on the mast. Down it came at 6 am. 10 hours was enough to do it in, a new light halyard. I have another rigged, also two lazy jacks that could be cannibalized. Experience of last night shows destruction in 10 to 12 hours, so if I want to go on with that system, I'd better shift the point of stress every six hours. OK, possible. If the line hasn't parted, we can pull a new one up from the old. And I have more line. Still seems to me to be the better part of valor to hang less canvas. So the castoff that Nat gave me a year ago is set up laced onto mast and boom, looking like a tired jockstrap but adding a knot or more to our way. Not a very spectacular disaster, but what I'm aiming for is a boring trip!10/19Celebration is in line. Celestial navigation agrees with Sat Nav today. First shot was so bad that I threw it out without completing the computation, but second and third worked out fast together were right ON. Play a march!
Minor disaster -- pump handle on head exploded, plastic bits all over! Fear not, we have a bucket. Maybe epoxy will fix it. In any case, I don't want a British head in my boat! Last bread today, Izzy is great on sandwiches.
I don't see how I've been so long without writing. Not much happens. There's been little wind and getting less, all head winds too. Have had a chance to put the last halyard up in the calm that's pursuing us. Have made almost as much way as we've lost to the Gulf Stream. Running very low on fresh food, but no shortage of stuff to eat, even beer and soda. Keeping very careful track of position to cover drift.10/20Out of one drift and into another. We seem to have gotten into a meander of the Gulf Stream that helped -- not as much as we've been hindered, but suddenly making more mileage in a half day than our speed justifies. Now the water is cooler too, 70.1 F just now, and it's been up to 75. Sargasso weed. Izzy saw his first flying fish. No birds. Why? Where are my pintail gulls? Man o' War birds? Sat Nav says 225 to Bermuda.10/21Disaappointments rather than disasters are the rule on this trip. Shut down all to put a new line on the jury rigged peak halyard, and lost the line as we shut down; pulled through the check block at the top of the mast. Very unlikely that we'll have a calm enough sea to thread another through. On the other hand, we have a fresh breeze, 15-18 knots, but right on the nose of our desired course, confused sea, and my bluff bow means that a lot of extra miles have to be covered. So we are steaming along, wet but warm, marconi main, whole jib and jigger, hand steering to get the best point possible. No hardship, and less sleep!10/23Safe in Bermuda, St. George Harbor. Couple of mad days past, too, and a real storm for 30 or 40 hours. It was right on our tail, and we rode it out. Big seas are no great difficulty when they are a favoring direction. Now all the work on the mast can be done, maybe even the leaks found, which I think are dribbling down THROUGH the mast. I'll caulk it up as best I can and paint it again, but it may need pressure injection of gunk, epoxy? finger [?? PK] joint cement? Plenty to do anyway. No plans till I get on the phone, so no more to say at this moment.