Good Readers,
We saw the albatross today. 5 even. Those are big birds. They float so gracefully over the wave crests with their movable wing tips. Beautiful to see.
Although they came close and flew around for some time, they were not interested in us, probably, they are looking for food. And maybe there is a tasty snack so close behind a ship that has stirred the water. That will also be a bit of a shock for the underwater life, such a beautiful boat on its way to Port Elizabeth and shortly afterwards in the mouth of an albatross.
Because we are now walking nicely with good weather, half wind, we would almost long for good old for the windy races. Just kidding.
But here too a Cruijffian adage applies; every advantage has a disadvantage.
With this course you take on a lot more water. That water creeps through all the cracks and holes to the bilge. And then you have to turn on your bilge pump more often. Otherwise your boat will fill up. So I turn on the bilge pump just before I would eat my food; don't go! Then a few non-existent gods are insulted, so no problem and Mark and I go to investigate. Is there tension? Yes! Is the fuse intact?; Yes! Does the float work? Yes, because it is under water, but still feel it; No problem. No mess for the squeegee? No. Is the filter clogged? A little, cleaned up. Pump disassembled. Is a brand new pump has been in it for two months. Removed the suction side of the pump so that it can rotate freely. Nothing. Phew. Then the electric motor will be broken. Fortunately, we still have the old one of which the electric motor still works, so we transferred it. Just testing, doesn't work either. Pfff, Pffff.
Test directly on the battery. He does it! The new one too! So put the new one back together. Wiring problem. Found the wire to the float as the problem and now it works again. Without float. No problem, we don't use it with a float anyway.
You have to stay with it for a while, otherwise all that plastic junk will still turn together. It's a positive displacement pump so they can't suck very well against anything or can't deliver anything. And I can imagine that today's pumps are completely designed to do exactly what they are supposed to do. Pump 20 liters of clean laboratory water per hour with a maximum 4A fuse.
And when they have to work in the bilge of Kalosini 2.. I haven't cleaned junk from the filter for 20 years. So before we can offer that pump lab water. That will take a while.
On this course our steering is as quiet as a proverbial mouse. So that's a big plus. This course is friendly to the steering gear.
Other than that it functions properly.
And Puck! Congratulations on your study results. I understand that you also read the blogs, so I am now very careful not to make all kinds of errors in form and spelling. Ha! And that on a moving platform.
One more thing about the weather. I've abandoned the idea that we can predict the weather in such a way that we can kind of count on it. Anything is possible on the ocean. From 5 to 25 knots in 10 seconds. And then you don't even see it coming. The major weather systems are of course indicated in Predict Wind with average wind speeds and directions but when you are in the middle of it it is constant fluctuation. I wonder if the competitive sailors really spend every minute adjusting their equipment. It will be, but that is of course not possible here with the two of us. So I've abandoned the idea that you get what you're promised. That saves a lot of stress.
Regards Ton and Mark
