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Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 26, Land Ho!

Jens and I saw land just after sunrise at 6:00AM. Guadalupe we’re here!

To start reading about my transatlantic adventure from the beginning (highly recommended) follow this link.

Day 24,

Monday, February 21, 2022, 7:00AM

16’09.92N 61’02.21W 3510km made good.

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SOG 7.2 kts

Jens was holding out. He saved some of the best for the last Cocktail Hour, Smoked Sockeye Salmon (I have no idea where he stashed that), olives stuffed with anchovies, crab salad, coppa and crackers. We finished Jens’ supply of Irish Whiskey, also stashed somewhere, a generous pour for each of us. 

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I cooked, yup, you guessed it, Mahi Mahi for dinner. Seared with Basmati Rice and Coconut-Lime Sauce. I do love Mahi Mahi, however I think I will be laying off it for the foreseeable future.

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Jens and I had the double watch shifts last night. We had a visitor in the form of a black bird who hung with us for about 6 hours spending most of the time on the solar panel, where of course it pooped several times on the solar panel as well as on the whisker pole’s after guy line (another one of the impressive amount of ropes that we need to not only know the the name of, but also what they do). 

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Dennis noted seeing lights off to our starboard bow at 3:30AM. Our first sight of anything land based in 22 days, we later determined that these lights were on wind turbines on an island adjacent to Guadeloupe.  Jens and I saw land just after sunrise at 6:00AM. Guadalupe we’re here!

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We were still about 20 miles from our waypoint at the entrance to the harbor and we needed to prep the boat for our no engine arrival. We put the dock lines and fenders in place. John ran through the plan with us, we were ready.

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Since we didn’t have the option of motoring into the harbor, John thought we should enter the outer harbor under reefed mainsail; which we did. We also raised the staysail for a few minutes in an effort to gain enough speed for the needed sharp right turn into the marina, and then directly into the wind, so that we would have the speed needed to carry us through the wind and back to a sailable course.

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John called the marina on the VHF radio, which, not surprisingly, there were problems- the 2 handheld units had battery issues, the redundant wired extension in the cockpit had no sound. After a few attempts and some broken communications, John had me go below to the primary VHF at the Nav Station and talk to them, which I did. I was able to confirm that the marina knew we were coming, what our situation was and that they were sending a boat out to help us. 

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We ended up being seconds away from dropping the anchor; our plan to have enough speed to power around the sharp corner into the entrance of the marina didn’t pan out. Jean-Marc, an employee of the marina in a small skiff with his expert boat handling, got to us and towed us with little effort, perfectly stern first onto the dock. 

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Avocet, after 24 days crossing the Atlantic Ocean on the dock in Guadeloupe.

We all made phone calls letting our loved ones know that we made it, no life insurance benefits for them.

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We did a quick initial clean up of the boat, folded and stowed the staysail, flaked and covered the mainsail, looked for and eventually found the pump to pump up the dingy.

An approximate representation of our trip using Windy, an excellent app for us laymen to get up-to-date weather information.

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The dock we were at was a 1 minute dingy ride or a 30 minute walk to the marina office and their customs computers. We opted for the dingy ride. We all went to the office, filled out our obligatory customs forms and went in search of food and beer. Close by we found some burgers and beers that fit the bill. 

A chipper crew after 24 days at sea. Jens, me, Dennis and Captain John.

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On to finding a hotel, after some deliberation, it was decided, upon Jens’ suggestion, that we would ask a taxi driver about the best, most convenient, inexpensive places to stay. Antionette, the first local cabby we ran into, we thought was going to come through for us. She drove us about 3 miles from the marina to a hotel, near the Casino. 

We went through the pain-in-the-ass process of checking in. Which included using an ATM type machine for check in. This should have been a dead give away that we were not where we should be, we soldiered on. The ATM thing wasn’t giving us what we needed, so Antionette chased down an employee to help us out. With his help, we thought we were all set. 2 rooms, 2 beds each room, great. 

We dragged our oversized bags up the 3 flights of stairs to our rooms only to discover that there was only one bed in each room. Not gonna work, I love my brother, but I gave up sharing a bed with him about 45 years ago. Back down the 3 flights of stairs to try talking to the employee, who speaks no English. He, the employee, somehow had Antoinette’s number and called her back to the scene. 

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While they were trying to figure out our options, which I believe was 1 room with 3 beds and the other with 1; we just spent 24 days in a confined space with each other and we wanted our own space. I asked John for his phone, his was the only phone amongst us with any juice left in it. I looked online and found a place, Hotel Fleur D’épée, it was on the beach and closer to the marina. I called them and confirmed that they had rooms available and what they would cost. 

So, we begged off, hopefully I don’t have to put a hold on the payment for the tenement.

Antionette drove us to the other hotel, which was fine, a tourist hotel, not special. 4 rooms and the potential to sleep for more than 3 hours without having to get up to man the wheel, I’m in.

~

The arrival at Guadalupe waypoint, our predetermined official end of the crossing, was made at  11:30AM local time, John won the “time of arrival” bet, the rest of us would be buying his dinner and drinks. 

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Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 25, Spinnaker Troubles and Arrival Preparations.

With only about 250 miles to Guadeloupe, we are preparing Avocet for arrival.

To start reading about my transatlantic adventure from the beginning (highly recommended) follow this link.

Day 23,

Sunday, February 20, 2022, 10:10AM

16’17.63N 59’20.36W 3342km made good.

SOG 5.3

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Sailing wing on wing, light winds, light seas equals a slow boat, 5ish knots.

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I made Mahi Mahi Chowder for lunch today: butter, flour, garlic, chicken bouillon cubes (yup, I used them), water, potatoes, canned corn, canned mushrooms, dry thyme, black pepper, salt, canned evaporated milk and a lot of diced up Mahi Mahi. It came out really good, surprisingly John had three bowls, he is usually a light weight. Jens and Dennis each had 2 and I had 1.

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Yesterday at dusk we were flying the spinnaker, it was the beginning of our Cocktail Hour, when the wind picked up to be a bit too much for the spinny. We decided to take it down. Well, that was not an easy task. The spinnaker is an asymmetrical spinnaker which means that it is shaped in a way that it doesn’t need a pole to hold the sails clew, aft most triangle, in place. It basically flies free, attached to the boat at the top with a halyard to lift and lower the sail. A line at the tack, the forward most triangle at the bow of the boat and a line at the clew. We adjust these lines based on wind speed, wind direction and boat direction. An asymmetrical spinnaker will often come with a “sock”, when you pull up the sail it is conveniently covered in this sock, the sock’s opening is at the bottom of the sail with just the clew and tack sticking out of the sock, attached to their respective lines and ultimately the boat. There is a continuous line going the full length of the sock that when you pull it one way it pulls the sock up exposing the sail to the full force of the wind. Conversely when you pull it the other way it lowers the sock pulling the sail into the lowering sock, making it no longer open to the wind, forming a long thin sausage looking thing. Well, this didn’t work. The spinnaker was stuck open, with the wind continuing to pick up, this was not good. We needed to get the spinnaker down before it tore or worse, fouled something in the standing rigging or went under the boat. The sock was not an option so we needed to lower the sail onto the deck, this is not easy when the wind is strong, as you lower the sail the wind just pushes it away from the boat. Heading up into the wind will alleviate this, but, if you go too far into the wind it can be disastrous, almost definitely tearing the sail. John, as usual, steered the boat into the perfect position for us to get the sail onto the deck with no damage. Once on the deck Dennis and I manually stuffed the spinnaker into the sock, hoping that tomorrow will bring lighter wind conditions for us to raise the sail again and figure out what went wrong with the sock.

A properly working spinnaker sock.

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When the spinnaker was bagged and tied to the deck. We reefed the mainsail and raised the staysail. We were once again sailing with the right sail plan, so we got back to enjoying Cocktail Hour. We purposely went light on today’s fixings for Cocktail Hour- pistachios. John and I had some white wine, Jens and Dennis had a bit of Irish Whiskey for their daily libations, I did spill Jens’ drink while we were reefing the main. It was dark and he did leave it wrapped amongst the reef lines, which when he put it there we didn’t know that we were going to reef the main. I felt bad, especially because of the dwindling supply of grog, but I got over it quickly.

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During the day we got the boat ready for our arrival, clearing the deck of all extraneous crap, organizing the trash and recycling, retrieving the anchor from the “pit” and reattaching it to its’ chain and securing it to the bowsprit. We placed the anchor in the “pit” before departure for several reasons: too much weight on the bow, it could become dislodged from its cradle in rough weather, which could cause huge problems. The anchor chain comes out of a hole at the top of the chain locker that we wanted to stuff and duct tape it, blocking any water coming over the bow from swamping the chain locker, adding even more weight to the bow and possibly seeping into the boat. As well as when you’re in thousands of feet of water there is really no need for an anchor with 200 ft of chain, it won’t do you much good.

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I went to grab John a Coke from one of the coolers on deck and was surprised to find most of the cans in the cooler had split from so much jostling around, making quite a sticky syrupy mess. Dennis and I cleaned it out, throwing away about three-quarters of the cans in the cooler.

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Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 23, Less Than 400 miles to go.

As this adventure winds down and the seas have for the most part calmed down, I am getting the chance to reflect on the trip, the opportunity it has been for me, as well as its experiences……

To start reading about my transatlantic adventure from the beginning (highly recommended) follow this link.

Day 21

Friday, February 18, 2022, 9:15AM

15’46.22N 54’42.89W 3003km made good.

SOG 7.2kts

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Sailing wing to wing again, triple reefed main and a bit of the jib.

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Dennis and John sailed through a squall this morning, 30 knots winds and heavy rain, I slept through it, there has been nothing but blue skies since.

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Shane, my son, finally got back to me about the Super Bowl, claiming he won our bet, we’ll see about that.

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We just had a visit from a pod of about 8 dolphins, they are always cool to see. With the rough seas it’s been about a week since we last saw them.

It’s comforting to be seeing dolphins again.

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Dinner last night was a collaborative mediocre effort. Soy marinated Seared Pork Medallions. When I made some sauce for them, using the marinade, I used too much of it. I could have used ¼ the amount and double the amount of butter which I used to finish the sauce, it would have been a lot better. Roasted potatoes, very good.  Needed a vegetable, considering we have about 20 cans of corn on board we should have used that.

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Cocktail hour was Parmigiano-Reggiano and spicy Lomo with more of Jens’ homemade crackers. It was another single beer Cocktail hour.

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We are seeing a lot of flying fish, occasionally picking them up off the deck, out of the cockpit and we even had one land on top of the dodger.

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I have the dreaded double watch tonight, hopefully the second to last double watch. 

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We haven’t seen another boat/ship in at least 10 days, probably more like 14.

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Bruises on my bruises, we are all getting banged around on the boat, both below deck and on deck. We have all ended up with many, many little bruises up and down our legs and arms.

Avocet’s galley, the culprit to many of my bruises.

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I’m looking forward to talking to Colleen and kids, taking a long hot shower and sleeping for more than three hours at one stretch.

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V-berth is hot, humid and dank, it’s where Dennis and I have been trading off the bunk, there is no ventilation there because we have Avocet’s dingy and a bunch of gear strapped to the deck right on top of the V-berth hatch. It was so hot in there last night that I ended up sleeping for 2 hours on the salon sole (floor).

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I made coleslaw with the rest of the cabbage, raisins and apples today.

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The only fresh food left at this point is 2 bulbs of garlic, 15 potatoes and 10 limes.

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Charging system for the batteries is not working properly- no more refrigerator.

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Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 22, Making Great Progress.

Sailing is still pretty spectacular. 20 knots on our starboard aft quarter with 6-9 ft seas.

To start reading about my transatlantic adventure from the beginning (highly recommended) follow this link.

Day 20

Thursday, February, 17, 2022, 1:01PM

15’28.133N 51’51.311W 2858nm made good.

SOG 7.2kts 

Still major issues with charging boat batteries, the wind generator may not be putting enough energy into the batteries or it may be an issue with the charging unit itself. We did not run the refrigerator all last night, there are concerns that it is drawing too much power for the batteries to charge. This morning the charge was up to 83%, which is good, so the refrigerator was turned back on again for a few hours. Ice for cocktail hour is doubtful.

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This photo was taken right before I went below and wrote todays entry. 20kts of wind, 6-9ft seas.

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After a night of hanging on the lifelines, most of my laundry is dry, smelling fresh and clean.

Socks and undies are still out there, they are hung on the leeward side, closest to the water and getting splashed whenever they are almost dry. I will move them to the windward side later today.

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Going through our stores yesterday we realized that we still have several bottles of mayonnaise, which is great.  We thought we were almost out of it and have been rationing it for several days. Now tuna salad and coleslaw will be vastly improved with the addition of mayo.

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With the less aggressive conditions we are once again letting out the fishing line during daylight hours.

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Another single beer cocktail hour last night, more because we are getting low on alcohol than for any other reason, the conditions are good. We had crab salad, deviled ham, peanuts and crackers to go with it.

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As of right now, as the crow flies, we have 560 miles to go to get to Guadeloupe, less than a Newport – Bermuda Race, which is 636 miles, leaving us with 4.5ish days until arrival.

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Chip Gavin, we’re calling him “our Portland office representative”. Chip and I have sailed together several times, mostly on Beausoliel, a Beneteau 456 owned by Richard Parent. Doing at least 1 Yarmouth Cup Race as well as the 2017 Marblehead – Halifax Race on Avocet. Chip introduced me to John when John needed crew to deliver Avocet from Boothbay, ME to Beverly MA, I think that was in September of 2016.

Chip was called into action, using John’s Garmin InReach satellite communicator, to inform the marina in Guadeloupe that we will be arriving, probably on Monday, with no engine and possible electrical/communications issues. Chip found us a tow service that would tow us into the harbor, $750 for the first hour, that will not be happening. He followed up with the harbormaster who said he could tow us from the breakwater to the dock for 80 euros, that probably won’t happen either. The current plan is to “sail to the dock” which I have complete confidence in John and the crew’s ability to do this. If it becomes too hairy we will have the anchor ready to go.

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Our weather updates are all promising, decent wind with the possibility of isolated squalls throughout the remainder of the trip, the max predicted winds in the squalls is 30 knots, nothing to sneeze at, but nothing to over-react about either. Keep a moderate sail plan and deal with it.

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Dinner last night was once again Bolognese, from Villa Azul, still pretty darn good. Canned peaches for dessert, which were surprisingly good, albeit quite sweet, but they were still firm and actually tasted like peaches.

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I am making another loaf of bread today. I doubled the dough recipe so that Jens could have a bunch of dough to make more crackers.

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Sailing under double reefed main, stay sail and a bit of the jib. Making great progress.

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Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 12, Making Water and Catching Fish

Day 9

Sunday, February 6, 2022, 12:04

19’45.531N 28’53.730W 1161nm made good.

SOG 6.1kts

It’s officially the longest sail I have ever been on, second was the delivery of Tiger from Bermuda to Antigua with Neil and Ronel Holtzhausen on their C&C 41, in November of 2007.

A sistership to Tiger and Bermuda to Antigua map with distance.

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We had a very busy day yesterday. After I showered, a boat shower, using very little water. It was determined that we needed to make water, not an easy task, though well worth the effort.  

To run the watermaker we had to set up the generator; the other boat charging systems, including the boat’s diesel engine, do not produce enough power to run the watermaker. We emptied out the “pit”, where the generator is stowed of enough stuff to access it. We pulled out bags of clean linens that we weren’t using and a couple of duffle bags. Once we had clear access to the generator, we pulled it up on deck, filled its gas tank and lashed it onto the poop deck. It started right up and was attached to Avocet’s power, producing the necessary power.

To run the watermaker, which is also locaed in the “pit”, it is a multi-step process, first we have to open the thru-hull fitting allowing saltwater into the watermaker. I climbed into the pit so that I could increase/decrease the pressure of the water going into the watermaker. John handled the switches at the Nav-Station, turning on the power, priming the system and then turning on the pump that forces the water through multiple very fine filters and a reverse osmosis thingy, to desalinate the seawater. Within seconds of John powering the pump there was a POP, then there was a loose hose with water pouring out of it. I yelled to stop the system, which John did. The problem was obvious and I caught it within seconds. We didn’t open the discharge valve for the excess water that was being desalinated to escape overboard. I yelled down for a screwdriver and in about two minutes we were back in business. Discharge valve is now open, we restarted the process, it went off without a hitch. In about two hours we had a full tank of fresh water. We kept the generator running for another hour to recharge the house batteries.

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We are constantly adjusting the sails. The wind speed and wind direction determine which sails we use and how we adjust them to best capture the wind keeping Avocet moving in the right direction at decent speed.

My feet, while I was chilling on the foredeck looking aft.

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John set up a Jockey pole for use with the stay sail, it’s to be used in the same manner as the whisker pole, same thing only smaller, adjusting the foresails’ clew, keeping it where we want it.

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On the Thursday before our departure we went to three stores looking for cornstarch, and we struck out. Going through the galley cabinet I found an unopened box. John had brought a third checked bag at a cost of $200, full of food. My first thought when he told us about his $200 bag was- y’know they have stores in Lanzarote, right.  My second thought was you paid $200 to bring $40 worth of food with you, why? So far out of that bag I have used bread flour, whole wheat flour, yeast and when I heat up the chicken coconut soup I will use that damned cornstarch to slightly thicken it. 

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We opened the cooler that Dennis and I filled with vacuum sealed meals that we froze in Lanzarote. It was just as we expected it to be after a week- nothing was frozen, though it was all still cold. Dennis emptied Avocet’s drop-in refrigerator and I passed him down, through one of the deck hatches, most of the food that was in the cooler. He layered as much as he could in the refrigerator, leaving just mashed potatoes, carrots and mushrooms in hopes of using them before they became fish food.

The photo of the cooler full of hopefully still frozen vacuum sealed bags of food we made in Lanzarote that I have used several times already.

We are down to the onboard refrigerator as our only way to keep food cold. There is no more ice except for the few cubes that are made each day by the refrigerator. Those cubes are necessary for crew morale…cocktail hour. We are using one of the empty coolers for storage and another has mine and Dennis’ laundry in it with detergent and water, the boat’s movement is agitating it. A little later we will rinse with salt water and then with fresh water before hanging it to dry.

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Just before cocktail hour we hooked a fish, Dennis yelled “fish”, John responded and went on deck to help if needed. I was filling my water bottle and did not hear him, Jens was in the galley with headphones on and did not hear him either. As I climbed up on deck through the companionway, I saw Dennis lifting a small Mahi Mahi into the cockpit. It flapped a bit and got some blood splatter in the cockpit sole, Dennis dispatched it of its life and we went on to enjoy our Cocktail Hour. Sliced tomatoes, Parmigiano-Reggiano and boquerones drizzled with EVOO. Washed down with gin and tonic for Dennis, John and I; Jens as usual opted for some Irish whisky and soda.

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Cocktails out of the way Dennis went below to finish putting dinner together: Tagine with shrimp and chicken served over couscous.

Dennis reeling in the Mahi Mahi.

While Dennis was below, I filleted the fish, throwing the head, bones, guts and skin overboard. We were left with two nice, yet small fillets, I think it will be just enough for tomorrow night’s dinner. We gave the cockpit a good cleaning and we were ready to go on to tonight’s dinner, with a second round of drinks and a half a gummy to wash it all down.

The small Mahi Mahi that Dennis caught bloodying up the cockpit.

Dennis served up the tagine, we ate, listened to music and chatted until about 9:30PM, which was great because I had the first watch, which was now half over.

Nothing happened during the rest of my watch and at 11PM I went below for another solid 7 hours of sleep.

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Chris Parker

During the night John got an updated weather report from Chris Parker. Chris is the Chief Forecaster at The Marine Weather Center and has been helping mostly small private boats with weather forecasts and routing advice since 2010. He told us that we should head south for an additional three hundred miles before heading west again. This was so we could avoid a couple of days of very light winds followed by a day of heavy wind and seas. Going south should provide more consistent wind and smaller seas. This is all good, at some point we were going to have to go further south in order to line up on Guadeloupe’s latitude.

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I am in the process of making another loaf of focaccia, this one with some whole wheat flour, green olives and rosemary mixed into the dough.

I also made some chicken apple salad to eat whenever.

If you are enjoying reading about my transatlantic adventure, please Like and Share.

Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 7, Fuzzy Heads From Diesel Fumes.

Day 2

Sunday, January 30, 2022

27’37.55N 14’78.96W 1:25PM
137nm made good.

A lot has happened since yesterday’s entry. We departed Puerto Calero, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain at 3:41PM into 10 foot swells, not breaking, with about 20 knots of wind.  Steve and Victor were there to see us off, there was even a band playing on the opposite shore, which I will tell myself that they were there to send us off in style, most likely it was a wedding reception.

A dream boat with a band playing on the patio behind them as we departed Puerta Calero.

Just before departing, I called Colleen and the kids. I was able to talk to them individually, it was great. We talked about how I am quite “nervecited”, It’s a long trip, a lot could go wrong, as well as I will probably have many exciting experiences to share. At the same time, it’s a long trip and I am going to (already do) miss them very much. We also talked about the “nor’easter” that they were dealing with, expected 18 inches of snow. I’m somewhat glad I don’t have to deal with that, at the same time I wish I was there to enjoy the experience of a couple of snow days with them, shoveling, a fire in the fireplace, some great food, a nice bottle (or two) of wine and my pretty awesome family, I’d be digging that too.

Nor’easter that hit the Boston area with upwards of 24″ of snow on January 30, 2022

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After a bit of shaking down, getting acclimated, we were sailing a very respectable average of 6.5 knots. Unfortunately as the day progressed the wind regressed. 

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About an hour into the sail John checked on the seals on the starboard midship diesel tank which he had the boat yard in Puerto Calero replace. They were leaking like a sieve, copious amounts of diesel were flowing into the bilge. Below decks smelled like a fuel spill. Not the way I was hoping the trip would start.

The leaking new seals on the fuel tanks.

As usual, John jumped into action doing dealing with initial clean-up, while figuring out the best way to deal with the situation. He found a tube of Flex-Seal (thanks Phil Swift) and with some effort, by globbing a ton of Phil’s black sealant around in the area where the new seals were supposed to be working, he was able to turn the flow into a dribble. Keep in mind we filled the tanks just before departure, so they were full, to the point of expanding, which will hopefully mean that as we use fuel the likelihood of leaking will diminish to nil.

Phil Swift

John and Jens syphoned and sponged out the bilge while Dennis and I sailed the boat.

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It was pushing 8PM when they finished cleaning up the diesel mess, I’m sure it will have to be done again later today, as well as another application of Flex-Seal. That combined with running the engine for a few hours in an effort to empty the tank a bit, will hopefully keep this problem to a minimum and John can address it in Guadeloupe.

~

Jens, who had been below breathing the fumes for the past several hours decided it was time for dinner. At this point I would have passed up a few bags of chips and said “have at it guys”. Not Jens, amongst the cloud of diesel mist Jens cooked us meatballs with curry powder, Basmati rice and sliced dressed cucumbers. His effort was very appreciated.

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We started our watch schedule Dennis and Jens went from 8PM to 12PM, John and I from Midnight to 4AM and then back to Dennis and Jens from 4AM to 8AM. I was able to sleep for most of the 4 hour break between watches. I’m sure we will switch watch times tonight and after a while switch watch partners.

With a gentle nudge, Jens wook me up for my watch at 11:55PM. I had set my alarm, which went off at 11:45PM as it was set to. I was just sluggish getting my ass out of my bunk (diesel fumes?), currently, the V-berth that I have been “hot-bunking” with Dennis. Don’t get the wrong idea, Dennis and I are sharing a bunk only when the other has vacated it. I love my little brother, but not like that. 

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During the first hour of our watch John decided to start the engine so that we could charge the battery. It started right up and ran perfectly for about 5 minutes before it sputtered to a stop. FUCK!!! It sounded like a fuel issue, with tank seals being replaced, I was thinking what could have possibly gotten into the fuel to cause the engine to stop? Can we drain, clean or replace the filters? I didn’t know. John had just gotten a bunch of work done to the engine at the same Puerto Calero boatyard that did the faulty repairs to the fuel tank. Which made me think, what else did they mess up?

Meanwhile, the GPS display starts flashing on and off. Double FUCK!!! 

John and I sat in the cockpit contemplating our options, to start making repairs right then, even though we didn’t know what we were doing, head towards Grand Canary Island and abort our trip or keep going without an engine? Going without an engine would be difficult, not only because of the obvious- during the times that you need to propel the boat through the water without sails, you were out of luck. Also, it’s the main power source for the boat, sure Avocet is equipped with solar panels, a wind vane and even an auxiliary gas powered generator. The wind and solar by themselves don’t produce the energy needed to run all of the boat’s systems. The biggest draws of power being the refrigerator, if needed the water maker and also the much needed and lauded autopilot. 

Adding the generator would help, but the generator is not a built in unit, we would have to pull it out of the “pit”, the large stowage area beneath the port cockpit seat. We would have to lash down the generator, pull start it and attach it to the boat’s electrical system. This of course would be a royal pain in the ass, not only could it only be done weather permitting. We would have to run it for about an hour, charge the batteries that power the electrical systems for the boat, we would have to do it twice a day, and to top it all off we would have to stow it back in the pit after each use. Otherwise it would be in the way and there would be a chance of swamping it with seawater.

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While we were sitting there stressed to the gills, John said, “I think I know what it is” and he did. When he was swabbing out the bilge cleaning up he had to shut off the valve leading from the fuel tank to the engine. Remember that he did this. John went below and opened the valve, we were back in business.

As for the GPS display, we don’t know the cause of the blinking, but it seems to only happen right after shutting down the engine. I’m guessing that it’s some sort of change in voltage problem that settles down after a few minutes.

~

The rest of the watch was uneventful, serene, there was a beautiful star lit sky somewhat hidden behind the Sahara dust fog.

During the night we could see a distant lighthouse on the east coast of Fuerteventura, another one of the Canary Islands. It may be the last land based light we see until we arrive in the Caribbean.

Fuerteventura Lighthouse.

~

At watch change Jens made a pot of coffee for us, he used some of the Guatemalan coffee that Steve brought for us, it was really good. Breakfast was more of Steve’s coffee and a store-bought premade Spanish Omelette, it was also quite good.

Spanish Omlette (Tortilla Esponola)

Hopefully we will settle into some smooth sailing tomorrow.