And the storm continued. Winds dropped to just about zero and what ther is has shifted again. We are again going south and I'm trying to get the bow around to starboard to shift our course but ther just isn't enough wind to do it so we just sit doing a whole 1 knot! The rain has continued and after the last blow came through, it got so quiet I could hard the rain splashing against the sea surface. It was coming and so it did. Winds are now at zero. The wait continues. We can sort out the direction of our course later.
Tracy has just come out. With no wind and an upset sea, it's a bit rollie but the rain has continued. It's now just after 0700 and we are just getting a few breaks in the weather. I can see sunlight on the horizon!
With the winds at near zero, we started up the engine to finally go where we wanted to go---WEST! We've been going southwest for quite some time and now it was time to take a more westerly course. With the engines running and every battery operated piece of equipment getting charged, off we went. Winds are now at nothing and the seas have quieted down we need to make some westerly movement. We are far enough south to get what current there may be and we are off again for a more direct heading for the Seychelles. We are still pretty much surrounded by the storm, but the winds just aren't there and I have no problem with that.
Two days ago, after prolonged use of the engine, we wer suddenly producing a good bit of blue smoke. Our engine doesn't like to run for long periods of time at low revs. Oil was leaking into the cylinders and getting burned making the blue smoke. That's how it was two days ago. Today, we started up the engine and really gave it some diesel push by upping the revs on it. Suddenly, the blue smoke stopped and we are back to an almost clear exhaust. Yea!!!!! A lesson learned. "Thou shalt not run your engine at low revs for long periods of time"! It's bad for it. We knew it wasn't good but we were trying to save some fuel as we still have a long distance to go. Bad move.
It's now 1320 and we just had a lunch of tuna salad on Ritz Krekers. We may call them "crackers" but it's "krekers" in Indonesia where these were made.
We just saw our first ship since leaving Gan almost a week ago. Small container ship heading west like us. Probably toward Mauritius. The skies have lost most of their clouds and with it the winds. It's now blowing about 4 knots out of the northwest though the forecast is for southeast winds. Guess Mother Nature didn't get the memo. We are slowly(2.6 knots) moving along under full sail heading more southwest. Once the early morning storms left(about 0900) with the engine running, we headed west towards the Seychelles. After about an hour the winds came up, the engine was turned off and sailing started. We will see how long this lasts.