Day 26

I never thought I would be writing a blog titled Day 26, unless it was to thank all of the people who have posted such supportive comments. Come to think of it, there’s no reason why I should wait until I get to Newport to do that, particularly as many of them will no doubt be busy with Christmas shopping by the time I get here. I don’t have direct access to the internet, I can only send and receive emails through my satellite phone but a number of the blog comments have been forwarded to me and I am deeply appreciative of the support I have received from so many people. There were times when I really needed that boost to morale, like yesterday for instance.

Yesterday was a truly lovely day. It was the first day of the passage that could really be considered a summer day, blue sky and warm enough to doff all the heavy clothing. The winds were light and the sea had calmed down from a near gale the previous day, very much a repeat of last week’s experience. The only thing to mar the day, and it was a fairly big one, was the fact that my roller furling gear has completely locked up; luckily with the sail furled. In my last post I essentially congratulated myself for fixing this problem. Unfortunately, the problem has recurred and this time it has nothing to do with the furling line. At this point I have been unable to clear the problem and so the Genoa, the second most important sail in the inventory after the Mainsail, is out of commission. Not a pleasant prospect with over seven hundred miles still to go.

Last evening the winds went down to under five knots and I used the opportunity to affect a proper repair to the tear in the Solent Sail. As I sat on the foredeck, I was witness to as pretty a sunset as I have seen on the passage, that is to say I watched it between sewing a patch on the sail and trying not to include any body parts in the patch. I believe the repair should hold for the remainder of the passage, which is import as the Solent sail has now been promoted in the pecking order.

I have to confess that I found the forced retirement of the Genoa, the latest in a series of equipment issues, to be rather demoralizing. Due to equipment problems and wind conditions I’ve been poking along at a hundred miles a day in a boat that in the right conditions could do twice that. Periodically I have to remind myself that my plan A for this OSTAR has long since been consigned to the dustbin of my personal history. However, if life has taught me anything it is how often you are working on Plan B, or some other letter even further down the alphabet, and these routes can also bear remarkable fruit. This remains a truly wonderful experience, though I’m more than ready for this fruit to ripen.

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