Snugging Down
10 February 2018 | 480 Miles WSW Cape Horn
2:30pm Saturday 10th February 2018 ( UTC-5 ) On the principle that it is better to reef down and lose a little speed as against having to run and lose a lot of ground I have just put a few extra rolls in the jib. The storm jib remains lashed to the deck. I may have to almost completely furl the jib later on this evening but that is a comparatively easy task with that much less sail collecting the wind. With the good conditions of yesterday afternoon and evening I replenished the water used in the previous 4 days - 11 litres which took 2h 45m - and while waiting for the weather which comes in just after 10:00 morning and evening I put another couple of hours worth in the Port SS tank. The password has been a bit finicky on the computer I have had on board for a few years but being saved for when the first laptop chucked it in which it did a few weeks back. But late last night it just refused to accept it. This for me is a real problem but I suspected a sticking key after many many false guesses. Eventually I tracked it d own to a ( , ) comma but tapping and pushing did not free it. Then I recalled the deft action of a smart Sulphur Crested Cockatoo who answered to the name of Mr. Muscles. Always keen to learn he could whip off a set of QWERTY keys in the time it took you reach for a cup of coffee which had to be kept out of his reach. Not being so adept with the fingers I got out the Leatherman knife and with a bit of prising I freed the key. This took all night so when I did eventually get the weather it rewarded me with a big sleep in and now behaves just as it should in the manual, available, of course, on line. The outlook for the next few days is daunting but I then hope to be a few more miles to the North and to the West.