the seas lie down and we relax into a much more comfortable beam reach.
If things go smoothly, today might be our half way mark-but we're gonna need a little dose out of that Bag of Luck we carry, to get through the next part.
One minute, the winds are fine, there's not a cloud in the sky, you're singing along to led Zepplin, rubbing sunscreen on your bellybutton and thinking what a lucky ducky you are... and an hour later you'll be pouring over the gribs trying to figure out if you can beat the tropical cyclone threatening to bear down on your little square of the map.
OR...
(if you're Jon) you'll stick your head in the engine room to flip on the water maker (which is working like a charm and replacing the three gallons a day we use), and you'll discover that the fuel filter is half full of water.
Jon's response to these things is always very methodical. He remains totally calm and reassuring and works his way through the information at hand and keeps it all cool as jellybeans...
My internal reaction is more along the lines of that Francis Bacon (or is it Munch) painting "the Scream"...life without Google really puts that memory to the test). I do my best to ask questions in a non-hysterical voice and seem calm (although my habit of wringing my hands, might give me away a teensy bit). I know we have no option other than to get through whatever comes up out here.
Tropical Storm "Raymond", who is temporarily downgraded from the cat 3 hurricane he was until yesterday--a rather mutable fellow, he just doesn't seem to know what he wants to be when he grows up--has us keeping an eye over our shoulders. The cyclonic low has been hanging around off the coast of Mexico for a few days but due to an unusual sheer, it's decided to spin South West...which is not great news for us, if he keeps coming this way.
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| Wind charts once again from PassageWeather.com... See that empty white patch of doldrums just to the North of them, and Raymond off to the right. |
Right now, we are about 380 miles from that magical turning point where we hope to head West and make the rhumb line for Hilo. Things are great now: The wind, as I said, is being a total champ, and we're making a steady 5 knots. By tomorrow, we expect, this will fall apart on us and we will have to turn on our engine and burn through about 40 hours of diesel, to clear the doldrums and hopefully find those winds on the other side.
This is where that water in the fuel filter issue, is causing heart palpitations. Jon thinks the culprit was a grogged up o-ring in the deck intake where we load fuel into the boat. He said the cap, which is normally screwed down tightly, was a little loose when he checked it and looking at the O ring, he saw it had gotten mucked up with sand and dirt--creating a compromised seal.
As I mentioned, we had a really bad bout of wave action and were taking heaps of water over the deck, so the seal leaked and got salt water into our fuel tank--that's what we're thinking anyway.
We've only had the engine on for an hour since we left Amyot (to chase after some sea birds in the hope we might catch a damn fish) and this most likely was when the fuel pump sucked up the seawater that had settled at the bottom of the tank ('cause gas and water don't mix).
There is no way for Jon to know how much water is in the tank, so we will have to check the filter every fifteen minutes when we do run the engine and if it gets half full, we will have to turn it off, drain it, and bleed the system and start the whole thing all over again and keep doing this until we get all the water out.
Fingers crossed its not too much!
I'm not sure if it translates how monumental a pain in the keister it is going to be to turn the engine off every fifteen minutes for a fuel filter change, while we are simultaneously trying to out run a cyclone.
(I would like to apologize, right now, to our family, for the high blood pressure this is causing them.)
The good news, is Jon is super-smart and he will figure it out--he always does.
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| Note for worried parents and friends: This is NOAA's map... Raymond's projected path does not bring them as far out as Jon and Suki, Kai and Hunter are. Unless something terribly unexpected happens, they are still safe! (Well... as safe as ever, out there on the open ocean, I guess...) |
Its also totally beautiful out right now, the kids are great, we just made a yummy Indian lentil curry and garlic naan for dinner... and we're half way there!
Mom: Hey, kids, how do you keep from getting bored on a crossing?
How do you keep from getting bored out here?
Kai: I get bored sometimes but I try not to think of it like that because if I thought about being bored, it would be unbearable! I like it though, really because it gives you time to think your own thoughts and you can sail the boat, fish or read or watch a movie once in awhile. I also like it out here because its slow, everything is quiet and peaceful and I like that kind of a feeling (apparently my little sister doesn't though!). Its also really beautiful out here. Especially at sunset and when the moon is out.
All this makes it less dull to be on crossing but it's still better not to focus too much on counting the days.
How about you, Hunter, what do you do?
Hunter:
I Read, play with my dolls; play dress up. Sometimes we watch documentaries. My favorite thing though is going on night watch because we read, drink tea or cocoa, and look at the stars.
Gee, I was going to say, "Not everybody loves Raymond," but either forgot or thought better of it, can't remember. Glad to see he's turning away from you. Sorry about the possible problems for the Mex coast, however.
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