I would first like to welcome all who are following this trip. This trip is a fundraiser for C.R.A.B., which is an organization that helps give sailing opportunities to the disabled. You can learn more about it in the “how can I help” section.
Finally heading north again… I haven’t been wasting time over the last four days, I’ve hove-to on one tack, then on the other. I’ve set my parachute sea anchor three times (for pratice) and have been making minor repairs. The line I’m leaving on my web page tracking must look like a two year old with a etch-a-skech.. but thankfully thats behind me now. I did have one interesting day – I was going to pull my parachute sea anchor one morning so I started to motor over to the trip line, I heard the engine make a different noise and saw what looked like smoke was billowing out of my cabin. I shut the engine off and with a flashlight I found my exhaust hose had come undone! It was a easy fix but for a moment I was worried. I’d just completed that task when a block fell off my mast and hit me in the head! I then spent the next few hours working in the rain before retiring to my cabin, wet and frustrated. My frustration was multiplied by the fact that there were good winds for sailing north but I was still waiting for the watermaker (which at that point I felt may never come). The day ended with a “may day” going out on channel 16 – a man had fallen overboard about 50 miles away and they were desperately searching for him. The fog was so thick, it was an impossible task. Listening to this attempted rescue was very sobering and made my petty frustrations seem quite silly.
The watermaker pickup was delayed until wednesday. Thursday it blew a brief gale, but Wednesday was a beautiful sunny day. About a mile from land a boat came out handed me a couple of boxes and off I went. The whole thing was maybe 2 minutes. Don Backe used to sail around Newfoundland back in the 60′s and he’s told me how nice they are – the Newfys gave me a bottle of screech (Newfoundland liquor), some of the best banana bread I’ve ever had, a newspaper and some socks.
I would like to thank Doug Mckenzie and John Earle for your help making things happen on land. So, I’m back on track – although still in the fog. I will be getting into iceberg country soon – in some ways I’m excited at the thought of seeing my first iceberg but I’m sure I’ll see so many that they will quickly lose there appeal.
I hope to send pictures in a slow trickle. Maybe one per blog entrey. The problem is they are big files and its expensive to send them. I’ll see what I can do.
