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Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Day 4 & 5

Our passage has become much more enjoyable weather-wise. It is still a little rolly, but totally manageable. I was able to cook Sunday- finally. Homemade tomato basil soup for lunch and for supper we had curry pork and cabbage... pressure cooker, of course. Everyone appreciated a nice, hot meal.

Our binoculars decided to bite the dust – as if this is a good time. We absolutely could not see the halyard that was jammed at the top of the mast on Saturday– why and how and what was going on with it – and that happens to be the only halyard that runs to the top of the mast. With our binoculars not focusing, we decided to put the 250mm zoom lens on Jim's Cannon 70D - and take photos – and blow them up on the computer. Bingo! Saw the problem, fixed the problem – halyard is free now.

Monday mellowed out more as the rollers became less "knock you down hard every 3 seconds" and more "Nudge every 10 seconds or so". We needed to free the roller furling jib that freed itself in 20+ knot winds on Friday when we neglected to furl it tightly enough. Carolyne and I hoisted Jim up the forestay and we all three worked together – took several hours and we lost precious passage time while solving our problem. Once we freed her I had to cut off one complete panel of torn Sunbrella UV and sew sail tape up the leech to protect the leechtape and puckerstring that separated. The sail itself had no other damage – Hallelujah! We flew her the rest of the day and picked up another knot or two. Carolyne made us some fantastic homemade chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.

It has been overcast and cloudy for days. Our 1000 watts of solar needed back-up. Jim went to start the generator and it coughed and sputtered... and died. And repeat. He took it apart and cleaned the carburetor (it's one of those California carbs that has a small piece that always gets clogged no matter how hard you try to maintain the unit... my skinniest needle won't penetrate the tiny tube.) Again Jim tried to start it and as if we needed this to happen - the pulley yanker broke! The cord had chafed inside. I laughed. Jim yelled up to the cloudy sky. We rummaged around and found a like-size cord and replaced it – still no luck. Again, Jim took the unit apart – replaced the fuel, cleaned the carburetor once more. I ran around and got tools and rags and cans and whatever else he needed. Finally - it roared to life, but he had to rig the choke open with string to keep it running. By 5pm we were both beat. Had we not been messing around with the generator we would have flown the spinnaker – light 4-5 knot winds most of the day. We would have fished, too. But why tempt fate with yet another problem when it took us all day to solve just two?

On a sad note, we learned through friends and family that our friends on Rebel Heart have had enough and may have had to abandon their boat. We hope that our friends are okay, especially Baby Lyra who we understand became very ill during the passage. Rebel Heart was their home and I am eager to learn if everyone is okay and what has become of their boat. Carolyne is very worried for them – she babysat for Cora numerous times in La Paz and for both girls right before the Kaufmans left La Cruz so that Eric and Charlotte could have an adult night out on the town. We have them in our thoughts and hope all is well.

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