Sunday, March 20, 2011


After a good sail, with still hardly any sleep for the fifth day because of the extremely choppy swells, the wind died on us just after sun rise. If I do say anything about rough sea or huge swells, just bear in mind that it is actually not worth mentioning if you compare it with sailing the South-African coast, especially past Cape Columbine. We are almost there! We almost crossed an ocean from one continent to another, and now we are slugging closer.
Yesterday our Little Wonder Watermaker started sucking air. Johan cleaned and replaced the filter, but only after he sealed the pipe at the connection again the miracle worker was … I will use Johan’s own words, when he came up the steps, “Pumping like a virgin, touched for the very first time!”
We decided to use this opportunity of no wind and long swells to get into the ocean, at about 4000m deep. What an exhilarating feeling. Four people silly with laughter and bundled up were playing in an ocean 70 nm from land.

But it was not the end. The port side engine didn’t let water out. Shut down the engine immediately. After it cooled down the two Johans got started. Joe replaced the broken impeller in the little crammy space of the engine room. And it is working again, and we are trying to get to Salvador during the morning tomorrow. Hopefully the wind will pick up, but according to the barometer things doesn’t look too optimistic.

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