Day 6

Day 6 4/4/06 4:39 am
Coordinates............ 10 45.505N, 116 04.598W
Heading................ approx. 213
Boat speed..............6 knots
24 hr total nm .........145 nautical miles (NM)
miles total since MX....948 nm
Wind direct. & speed....N 8 - 9 knots
Swell direct. & ht .....N 3-5 ft.
Cloud cover.............5%
Barometer...............1000 hPa

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'...moving right along here. We are starting to turn our course a little more southerly now which puts the wind directly at our back at the moment. If it was a bit stronger wind we could sail a little more comfortably, as it would stabilize us and take the roll out of the swell. We are not complaining, any movement forward is good movement for us. Actually you get quite accustomed to the motion and when in fact we do have a super smooth sail even the boys pop their heads us a little more and question if we are moving or not. At one point Matthew said he couldn't sleep without it and feared if it went away.
We did have our first potential serious mechanical scare today. I mentioned that spectacular device yesterday, the autopilot. Well, the one we consider to be the primary and most important one decided to give up the ghost today. The last time that happened we had to ship it to the east coast for repair. Not an option here. It upped the stress level greatly as we considered the true possibility that we may have to hand steer the boat for the next 2000 miles or so until landfall. Harness me up and strap me to the steering column, I'm ready! You don't realize just how heavily you rely on it until you consider it in that light. The back up was still functional but really only does well in minimal wind. Luckily Bruce was able to isolate what we think may be the issue, get it back up and running for the night and tomorrow we will investigate a bit farther. It seems as though the way the control panels are set up, many instruments run off the same set, including the wind instruments, depth and speed meters. When one goes, they all tend to be disturbed. At the moment we are functional and as far as I am concerned, all's well that ends well.
On the happy side, we did see our first pod of dolphins today. Hadn't seen them in a really long time. We have also grown rather fond of our bird buddy and his pals. Tristan likes to keep watch and make sure he is never to far away. Those poor birds really do need a to work on their flying, or at least landing. Maybe they should take a lesson from their watery pals the flying fish. Remind me to tell you more about them later as they are truly amazing!

until next time,
love lisa and the boys