Thursday, December 24, 2009
Fixed and away again
0630 position 24thDec 3442 01848 trip 79nm Will start some DMG's tomorrow.
Yesterday, around 1500
So Far So Good. First blue screen of death. SPBF. We set off again 9 hours after our first try, autopilot re-engineered with new motor and operational and toy spare set up to work as emergency backup. Thanks Udo, for the fix and the sponsorship!
'orrible joggly sea, big SW swell, wind waves from everywhere and not enough wind to sail through it so engine idling to give us a bit of forward speed down as far as Duiker Point where Lion's Head finally tucked itself behind the softly reddish bulk of Duiker as the sun set. On past the Cape of Good Hope - the Cape of Storms - 'Can you tell me where the toilets are?' Car or walk sir? walk. Well, there's a path behind the Cape of Good Hope that will take you right there...And I know why the Portuguese sailors tried to avoid this bit of ocean and called it the graveyard of ships.
Lots of ships and a joy to have AIS working. As I write, Adriatica Graeca, cargo ship, and Rainbow, tanker, are crossing astern of us heading east, the former to Xinsha and the latter to Durban.
Alan, thanks for the chart and advice - doubly useful as it turned out!
Huge thanks to Manuel, Dicky and Laurens for putting up with us and for all the fixes and to Felix for his offer all that time ago in Hamble.
Now for some Christmas decorations...
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