Sitting around
Sun 24/06/07 1605GMT. 48 22N 16 29W. Hove-to. 24hrs logged 85nm. To Plymouth 496.
Setting the frustration of delay aside, waiting around out here is no great hardship. We are hove-to with three reefs in the Main and a scrap of Genoa out and hauled to windward. In 22Kts of wind it is quite comfortable. We got as close to Plymouth as 460nm yesterday but then headed west crossing the 500nm mark before jogging slowly east again.
The hatch over the saloon began to leak which is really horrid but I took the opportunity of a quiet period this morning to get out on deck and do what I can with it. I applied some sealant and plenty of sticky tape and I hope it will hold for a while. These bodged repairs to leaking hatches and windows rarely work so I won’t be surprised if water starts coming in again once the seas start washing over the deck.
I also found that a shackle on one of the Mainsheet blocks at the end of the boom had gone in the night so I replaced that. I have had to make a few minor repairs like that in the last few days. I suppose the stress of an ocean crossing is beginning to tell.
This is all the more reason, I think, to take it easy and not rush headlong into thick weather if you have the choice. Small breakages can lead to bigger problems and for the singlehander, to exhaustion which is the number one enemy.
Other than that, it is a case of obtaining weather information where I can and trying to work out how soon we can start making tracks for Plymouth. The shipping forecast is calling for a ‘possible Gale later’ in sea area Sole to the east of us but haven’t yet said for certain.
‘Fai Terra’ are slowly edging this way and I am gently nodding east towards them so we will be quite close together by this evening.
I continue to spend most time keeping warm in my bunk and reading or dozing. I shall be well rested by the time we get going again.