It appears that the battery problems we’ve been having on Prince Diamond have been solved! Brian had been communicating with a guy in Cabadelo, Brazil, to arrange the purchase of new batteries, since the ones we had seemed to be performing so badly. The guy sent him dimensions of the new batteries and prices and Brian was double-checking the size of the existing batteries, when he noticed the cables were a little hot and then he noticed they weren’t secured tightly on the battery posts. He tightened everything up and voila, our batteries are now performing as expected. Good lesson to learn for all of us. Check to make sure your battery cables are connected firmly and there is no corrosion on them!
We have just over 1100 miles left to reach Cabadelo, Brazil. That’s about 8-9 days of sailing at 5-6 knots. Things have been going quite well so far. We’ve been eating well and getting along. The skies have been overcast, but that’s not a big deal for me because I love the clouds on the ocean. The ocean is no longer a lake as it was before, but it still isn’t that bad. We have had consistent winds from behind us for days now and smaller regular swells (3-5 feet, with occasional larger ones) lifting and bouncing us around.
As we get closer to the equator, I’m finding it harder to stay cool in my cabin. Because the dinghy is strapped to the top of the foredeck, the top hatch in my cabin can’t be opened for proper ventilation. There’s a small hatch in my bathroom and another small hatch near the door in my berth, but there just isn’t enough breeze getting through there to cool me off. I also have a fan, but find it isn’t enough either. Last night around midnight, I went up on deck and tried to sleep for about an hour. At the very least it cooled me off, even though it really wasn’t comfortable enough to sleep. After that hour, I found I was cool enough to get to sleep in my cabin for my 4 am shift. What can I say, I run hot at night!
Our current position is 10 57.11 South 16 47.15 West
Last year as I was sailing along in the Pacific, I started thinking about wakes, the trail of water that flows behind the boat as you pass through. I wrote the following thoughts. Some of it rhymes, some of it doesn’t. It’s really just a collection of ideas about wakes.
Looking backwards from the cockpit
The thought occurs to me
Everything that’s happened
I leave behind in the sea
Just like the wake of our sailboat
Trailing behind for miles
Leaves all the places we’ve seen
Far behind, beyond the sea
The water in the wake
Is different than everywhere else
It’s like a big eraser
Changing what we see
It scrubs the things we’ve done
Blurs them out behind
Just like an etch-a-sketch
Shaken vigorously
We leave the wake behind us
A definite visible trail
The state of the ocean
Determines its actual length
If it’s choppy or wavy
The wake quickly disappears
If it’s calm and placid
You can see the trail a while
When life is busy and hectic
You don’t have a lot of time to sit and dwell on the past
But when life is slow and boring
Dwelling on the past becomes part of your day
The wake can be distracting
Although it tells you where you’ve been
Keep your eyes open before you
For there are things that you might miss
By dwelling on the past
You’ll also miss the dangers that might be coming your way
The ocean that lies before you
Is a clean though choppy slate
Waiting for the story
Your boat’s about to make
Your boat forever changes
The ocean you pass through
The wake you leave, the paths you choose
All depend on you
A final thought. Did you know you can determine your heading by measuring the angle of your wake and reversing it on the compass? In other words, sometimes you can learn about where you’re going by looking at your past and taking measurement. Dwelling on the past is not necessarily productive, but learning from it is. Take quick measurements or references from your past, but focus on where you’re going.
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