It was our first Sunday in Changabang. Ups and downs today. Up: I had fun handsteering with the A1. Sometimes I have referred to Changabang as a whale because she’s big inside. And I’ve confirmed she sings like a whale too. The rudder emits a low tone at certain speeds. So far I think I’ve picked up 3 notes. Down: we had 4 broaches under AP (autopilot). The AP recovers and that’s that, but broaching is slow, so I switched back to the A5. It’s Monday now, I’m sorry I didn’t write more yesterday. I’m short on sleep, which combines with the accumulated stress of the preparation, the desire to succeed, the unknown of coming close to a hurricane, and leaving all my loved ones. I was so very anxious last night that I couldn’t sleep again. The day set me straight by putting to work! You can read about that on the tracker blog. I am doing a much better job of keeping a log this time around (compared with the race to Hawaii, when I kept none). I have a log for the charging of the batteries, a log for position/current condition/sail plan/etc, and a journaling log. It looks like we’re still doing good speed. I do look forward to a quieter ride in the future. This here is like being in a stripped down Porsche racing on backcountry dirt roads.
An attitude of gratitude, Inc.
Here are a few more companies who helped me with advise, good pricing and excellent products. There’s Etienne of ATN, Inc. He provided the mast climbing gear and the sock for the new spinnaker. There’s Sylvain of UK Sailmaker of San Francisco, who provided the new spinnaker. He also came to sail with me in the early days, when I was scared of big headsails. Without him I’m not sure if be flying a spinnaker right now. There’s Cree, Ruben and the whole team at Berkeley Marine Center. At BMC we hauled Changabang out of the water to apply a new bottom coat and most importantly, inspect the keel bolts and repair the keel to hull joint. Cree also provided a fiberglass repair kit and tongue/groove wood boards (to help repair a hull breach). I’m awaiting the invoice from the boatyard so … GFM 🙂 Thank you all for your support! P.S.: why a twofer? Sunday & Monday, two days in one post …
