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Position: 54-19N 38-53W. 05:40 Yesterday's heater chore ended up taking all four hands aboard, and all day long.  We ended up
draining it of fuel and disassembling the whole thing. Luckily, we
had absolutely no wind, so we motored, and worked in an ocean that was
smooth as satin. There wasn't even enough wind for the birds to
enjoy swooping around us, they played somewhere else. Today's
photo is George taking the stove pipe off, look close to see the calm
water in the background.When finished it was time for dinner and our radio weather rendezvous. We seem to be in a good position but there are early indications of a gale forming off Labrador on Friday that will track North to Iceland. We are "easting" now because we don't want to be north of that system as it rushes by. We tried sailing, but there is only 3-5 knots of wind, so Hannah Brown just bobs around with her sails flapping....very uncomfortable. We are motoring now at 15 rpm which is enough to keep us moving at about 3.5 knots, but doesn't use as much fuel. Everyday there seems to be new ways to challenge the concept of efficiency. When we do turn the motor off we will use our lanterns for light, and conserve use of the computer and radio. For example, sending email (especially with photos) takes lots of power, so if you don't hear from us that's probably why. I didn't get my afternoon nap in, and the radio meeting ran late, so I was especially tired going to bed. George gave me an extra hour of sleep, but I have been fighting tiredness all watch. I have lots of tricks to keep me awake. First, I drink water and decide if I need to eat, which I usually do. Then, I try to find a way to be fully present. Usually I have to turn my brain off and pay real close attention to my body. Breathing, making sounds, balancing, and stretching exercises usually work. Right now I hear George stirring below, and the wind might be picking up enough to sail. My bed is calling, so maybe I'll share more later. Position: 55-01-39.6N 37-13-39.6W 12:00 Woke very relaxed, after 5 and a half strait hours of sleep to a clutter of tool boxes and maps. Living with George is kind of like being inside a Dr. Seuss story with the Cat 'n the Hat. The maps and books? "Well, I just got to reading about where we are going and wanted to check it out... The Faeroe Islands sound almost cooler than Iceland because they are so remote..." And the tool boxes? "Well there is a clog in the air intake valve of the heater's fuel tank, which I still haven't fixed yet." He was working on that when I got my extra hour of sleep at midnight. The air intake is a tiny opening about one half by one fourth inch through a series of three right angles. When I got up, George was just trying to work a little wire into it, and planned to try to blow through the tube to knock whatever was in there out. I suggested we connect the dingy pump to the tube and put some real pressure on it. Out came smuts that looked like hard wads of black crusty tobacco. Our best guess was years of accumulated pollen held together with fuel fumes. Now everything is back together. We still have no wind and are motoring at 3.5 knots. Fuel check was positive. The past 12 hours used one fourth the fuel of motoring at the higher rpm of yesterday. It is so calm that while standing on the bow, I noticed my reflection was perfectly clear. Today George suggested an "art project". We have the color pencils out and are outlining the land on our black and white charts so they are easier to understand. Radio status: fine, but did I mention that the day before yesterday I woke to find George with it all apart in his lap, magnifying glass in hand, looking for a poor connection? He is using a Belgian contact to send email. We are allotted an hour per day of send/receive time. Today's emails and photo (log 07-10) took 50 minutes total. This was because the first connection which used up about 25 minutes was just too noisy. Then George reconnected and everything went through. He is guessing that the thunderstorm activity in the states is disrupting our signal strength. the signal travels on single side band. Depending on the time of day, it bounces off the atmosphere or follows the path of the earth so it is subject to thunderstorms and the composition of the ionosphere. Under ideal conditions the signal is perfect, but most often it is not. If we are in the direct path and within 100 miles it is generally fine, but that is not where we usually are. 17:04 We both have head aches from the very high barometric pressure (30.25 inches). So we boiled up some water, added a couple drops of tea tree oil and had a 10 minute head steam under a towel. The trick was keeping your balance standing and not letting the water slosh out of the pan. We are also drinking peppermint tea, and I will fix an onion garlic mucus cleansing broth for part of out dinner. 21:00 Radio weather meeting with Herb suggests we maintain an easterly track to position ourselves so a low will be behind us on Saturday. We can push north at that time. Presently, we have come 710 miles, our half way marker!!!! Holly |
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