Blue Sky

One thing since I left Fort Lauderdale is the continuous lack of blue
sky. Whether in the Bahamas, in the Caribbean between Port Antonio and
Panama, through the Panama Canal, to Manta, in Manta and now out of
Manta, it is grey, grey, grey with temperatures in the 70s. This
morning, at last, we had a few minutes of blue sky, but that did not last.
On the other hand, we are very lucky with the wind. We left Manta 54
hours ago and we have already covered 303 miles, and it will likely
improve as we get more favourable wind. It is very possible that we
would arrive in Fatu Hiva on August 18th.
Few numbers : since we left Manta, we have used the engine 2 hours, we
have consumed 6.2 gallons of fresh water, we have caught one fish (a 3
pounds tuna), rejected one because we did not know what it was, and
today shortly before lunch a Mahi Mahi took the lure, but as we got it 6
feet from the boat, the line broke and off went lunch, dinner and sushi.
I have to deal with continuous problems on the boat computer. Today it
froze again and I took the precaution of setting up the back up computer
(Toshiba laptop Satellite), connected it to the Iridium phone and made
sure MaxSea and all the charts are there. Based on the fact that Bob
(the computer manufacturer) has from the start suspected the power
supply, I have repositionned the computer to give more room to the
connection cable and see what happens. But for now on, all Internet
connection via the sat phone will be done through the Toshiba, and the
boat computer will be used only for MaxSea.
I am also worried a little bit about the windvane Monitor. It had been
damaged in Manta when the swell and the tide pushed the boat against the
floating dock, pushed the pendulum forward and bent slightly the plate
on which sits the lower part of the gear. We unbent that plate using
pipe wrenches, but somehow this has resulted into a gap of 1/16th of an
inch between the lower part and the upper part of the gear.
As a result, mister Monitor is rattling its teeth and I hope it will not
get further damaged.
Other than that, Jean-Francois and I are truly enjoying the ride. So
far, the Pacific ocean is proving to be quite friendly and we are moving
along very comfortably. Let's hope it will remain like that.
At noon today, we had 3215 miles left to the anchorage in Fatu Hiva.