There’s no day off on a sailboat! But first a quick update about the autopilot: I’m not sure anything is resolved but the primary hydraulics are back to driving the boat; all the while the B&G electronics driving the secondary hydraulics have decided to steer the wrong way. I’m puzzled as I didn’t touch the wiring on that system. Thanks to Brian and Tom for helping with this. Several phone calls and emails at least got the primary working again. We sailed all night and part of the morning under mainsail alone, doing reasonable progress. As I looked around us when I came out of the cabin it became clear that we had entered squall and “damn, it’s so hot I’m sweating it all” territory. I wanted to get a headsail back up, and after lots of debate, I went for Big. Because … well who knows? But it’s very light. Big wasn’t happy about going back to work, and he made sure I knew it! Twice I had to struggle the foot out of the water, twice I had to hoist the sock. The truth is: skipper needed a meal! So I had a bunch of granola, blueberries and milk, with water. I also drank a lot.
Squalls!
Looking for a bit of fresh air I take a peak through the hatch, Bang! We’re in our first squall, and zippadimboumdoum CaB broaches. Sequence of following events: ease spinnaker sheet (poor thing told me she needed a mate), let out boom down haul, pull out hydrogenerator, ease main, grab the tiller. We recovered, and I continued handsteering until we were clear. The bit of rain was nice, cooled me down a bit (very temporarily). We’re now in the same light winds as before the squall hit. I remember reading Stan Honey saying that you go to school with the first one, and the others will be similar; don’t go quoting me. And so we did just the same for the two that followed. There doesn’t seem to be more for a while. The ambient wind has picked up so we’re moving swiftly. Skipper needs to find its groove again. I’m facing so many new things, and having a tendency to worry, I’ve lost my excitement. I’m sure it’ll come back with a hearty Louisiana bean and rice meal! ’til next time!
