Again, this passage has provided a mixed bag of sailing conditions. Yesterday was a gorgeous day, steady trade winds from the east at 15 knots, and nice gentle seas. By late evening, though, winds had built to around 30 kn, and beam seas grew to around 10 feet. Sleep was pretty much impossible for the off watch. The ride was wet, VERY wet, as green water steadily washed over the decks. We discovered a couple of new leaks, including a nasty one behind the navigation panel. This is where all of our radios and most other electronics live, and we first noticed the leak when we saw dripping water coming from under the faceplate of our marine ssb radio. Salt water and electronics don't play well together. At all. When we make landfall we'll remove all, and dry out as well as possible. Spray in some contact cleaner and hope for the best....fingers crossed that the rig survives. We do have a backup hf radio, but it would be an expensive piece of gear to replace. Not sure where the leak originates, as there is a wire raceway running the length of the boat at the outside edge where the deck meets the hull, and the leak could be anywhere along that raceway.
Now the seas are down, breeze is a lovely 18 kn, sun is out, and we're scooting along toward an early morning arrival in Savusavu. The shorts are on, and the fleece is off.....it feels like we've arrived in the tropics at last!!!
Fish report: One flying fish washed up on "suicide alley" (aka the side deck) last night. Nada mas!
current location: 18 degrees 05 minutes S, 179 degrees 40 minutes E
around 90 miles to landfall at Savusavu.
all well aboard, as we dry out in the warm sunny breeze. Already passed a few of the outer Fijian islands!!!
cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment