Friday, November 23, 2007

MILK RUN

On Wednesday night we checked out at Customs and Immigration, promising to be gone before the office opened in the morning, which is "usually between 7:30 and 8AM when the first official shows up." We left Bermuda Thanksgiving morning at 8:00 and returned by 9:00. The enthusiasm about being on deck and setting sail was marked by losing the main halyard. It swung wildly before settling for a half dozen turns around the backstay just out of the reach of Jay and the 10' boat hook. Once we returned to St. George's Harbour and set anchor, Donna scrambled to the end of the boom and grabbed it. Actual departure and checkout with Bermuda Harbor Radio was more like 9:30.

Our weather gurus suggested a Thursday afternoon departure to allow the seas to calm a little. However, Welcome handled the 9 -15' seas easily and took advantage of the 20-25 knot NW wind. By the time our evening watches arrived, it had waned to 10 knots, and by midnight, we were motoring. As this is being written, the wind remains elusive. The swells give us big lifts from which to see the horizon, but the smaller waves on the swells have calmed. Here is the weather prediction issued on Wednesday from Dane Clark:

WEATHER OUTLOOK:

LOOKS LIKE A GOOD WEATHER WINDOW FOR YOUR TRIP TO

ANTIGUA.   FOR TOMORROW, NORTHWEST WINDS WILL STILL BE BRISK EARLY BUT SHOULD DECREASE IN THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING BECOMING LIGHT WESTERLY FRIDAY AND ON INTO THE WEEKEND.  AS YOU PASS THROUGH THE BERMUDA RIDGE POSITION, EXPECT WINDS TO BE LIGHT LATE IN THE WEEKEND AND THEN START EASTERLY FOR A DAY OR SO BEFORE SETTING UP INTO NORMAL MODERATE NORTHEAST TRADES.  THESE MODERATE NORTHEAST TROPICAL TRADE WINDS ARE EXPECTED FOR THE REMAINDER OF YOUR TRIP TO THE ISLANDS.


 

FORECASTS FOR YOUR EXPECTED POSTIONS:

11/22 – WINDS NORTHWEST 15-22 KTS.  SEAS 6-9 FEET.  WINDS AND SEAS DECREASING LATE

11/23 – WINDS WESTERLY 10-16 KTS.  SEAS 3-5 FEET

11/24 – WINDS WESTERLY LESS THAN 15 KTS.  SEAS 2-4 FEET.

11/25 – WINDS VARIABLE LESS THAN 10 KTS.  SEAS 1-3 FEET

11/26 – WINDS BECOMING EASTERLY 10-16 KTS.  SEAS 2-3 FEET

11/27 – WINDS EAST NORTHEAST 16-23 KTS.  SEAS 4-6 FEET. 

11/28 – WINDS NORTHEASTERLY 17-24 KTS.  SEAS 5-7 FEET.

11/29 – WINDS NORTHEASTERLY 18-25 KTS.  SEAS 6-8 FEET.  


 

After years of hearing about "SouthBound II Herb" a weather expert that offers free and legendarily accurate advice in the Caribbean from Ontario via the SSB, we finally heard him loud and clear. We were elated that the recently installed SSB radio and reinstalled SSB 23 foot antenna worked so well. Today at 3:45 we will attempt to do our first check in with Herb. More to follow on this topic.

We are now at 30 19.497 N 064 12.930 W waiting for those westerly winds. We have gone 126 miles since leaving, and have another 802 to go before arriving in Jolly Harbor, Antigua. The temperature is mid 70's, it is a sunny day, and the barometer is steady at 1019. Our bearing is 186 degrees magnetic. Water temperature is 76.1 F. We feel some sense of urgency about getting to our destination since we both have plane reservations. We have to average 115 miles per day in order to catch our flights.

This is the milk run of the voyage. Things on board feel easy. We can read underway and appetites have returned. We had enchiladas for dinner last night with basmati rice, and Kate / Liza's granola for breakfast. We settled on two 3 hours watches each at night time, with a more informal watch arrangement during the day. It seems like it will work, although many naps will be in order. Michael picked the wrong time to leave – he would have enjoyed this leg.

Projects on the boat are easier. The halyard was the first event of the leg. Less than an hour after we turned off the engine, we noticed that our battery voltage was 11.v. While we still had some contact with cell towers off of Bermuda, Jay consulted numerous times with Randy. With step-by-step diagnosis and suggestions for remedies, Randy helped solve the problem and shed a bright light were there had previously been only a dim bulb. We carry five large batteries on board, three of which put out 115 amps each, and two brand new ones which put out 105 amps each. We recently replaced the isolator, and our rudimentary analysis indicates that both the alternator and the AC charger are working. In port we wired a 12v plug at the nav-station to run the laptop. With less need for AC power, we decided to forgo use of the inverter since that seems to consume a lot of power. With our autopilot engaged and the minimum electronics running, we consume approximately 10 amps per hour. On the first leg, we also ran an inverter, more lights, more frequent refrigeration and were more casual about running additional and, sometimes duplicative, electronics. However, we were forced to recharge the batteries a lot on the voyage down, which contributed to our fuel woes. Randy suggested that maximum electronic consumption might cost more than a quarter gallon of fuel per engine hour due to the drag of the alternator on the engine.

Of the five batteries, two are stored together under the aft port berth and labeled "Bank 1." Two more are stored forward under the starboard mid-ship berth and labeled "Bank 2." The fifth is the battery linked to starting the engine. We have two battery switches – one switch is tied to the windlass and is always on. It was installed by Randy. The second switch has four possible selections: Off, 1, ALL, and 2. After a series of trials and four years, we have finally discovered that "1" turns on the starting battery, and while you can run all power off of it, you should not. It should be left alone and only used to start the engine. "All" brings in all five batteries to be used to start the engine and/or run the other electrical needs on the boat. "2" puts only the four batteries in Banks 1 and 2 into operation. This selection can also be used to start the engine if the engine battery has gone dead. We had been using "1" thinking it was Bank 1 and the starting battery was not involved. This turns out to be incorrect, and we will now run on Bank 2. Assuming that we can fully recharge the batteries, we think we may have solved our problem. It was a "duh" moment. Thank you for your help, Randy.

In Bermuda while trying to diagnose some of our battery problems we discovered that of the six cells on each battery, one of the six on a new battery was dry. DT bemoaned the fact that she was not in a position to return it to West Marine. Batteries run $165 and weigh around 70 pounds each. We refilled the cell. It ran dry again. We pulled the battery from the bank and saw that sometime during installation, the bottom corner was compromised –probably from maneuvering it into place. Using some sort of magical underwater epoxy known as Eurobond, we mixed the putty and sealed the hole from which small wet tears of battery acid were leaking. Within 30 minutes it was as hard as the original plastic. We refilled the cell. This morning, it remains full. Victory at sea.

The AIS system on the PC has been set up to emit an slightly alarm if a boat carrying the AIS transmission system reaches within 10 miles or 30 minutes of us. It went off for the first time today. This was very exciting, since at the time of the alarm we could not see the boat or pick it up on the radar screen. It was a 525 foot cargo ship bound for Casablanca. When it was within about 7 miles we could finally see it with our eyes.

Life is good. Team Welcome.

0 Comments:

<< Home