Friday, June 17

Hi Everyone. We spent the night drifting with no wind, but at 0700 this morning, it picked up and we sailed beautifully until about 1500 this evening. Then it shut off again. It just started back up, but very very light at about 1800, so we are technically sailing, but very very slow, and not directly to course. At this slow speed, the course is pretty much academic. The wind is predicted to be ESE 10 - 14 , and would be perfect. But now we have a very light 6 knots from the south. This gives us a heading of west (we want and need north) and a speed of 2.5 knots. We were doing 6 earlier straight to course. But we are not slatting the sails, and that is wonderful.

We are hoping for that predicted wind of ESE 10 - 14 to carry us through the night. But for now, this is it. As I said, at least we are not slatting. This all really throws a wrench in the big picture. We will move right along during the passing of the low, and then with the Pac High taking over, I imagine lots of drifting. We figure that if we get within 100 miles to Egg Island, we could motor it, provided the seas are reasonably smooth, which they are right now. That is how we can sail now. Mostly beam reach with smooth sea. If we needed to be going downwind in lumpy seas with this wind, forget it. It just wouldn't happen. If we can't get to 100 miles, well, then it's wait, wait, wait. Sigh..

Oh, to add a little suspense, after running the engine for about an hour to charge the batteries today, as I was going out to shut the engine off, I heard that an engine alarm was buzzing. Our engine doesn't have instruments, only idiot lights and an a "symbol" panel, but the LCD is damaged from the sun, and I couldn't see what the little picture was indicating what the problem was. So, I went through the engine with my fine toothed comb, checking oil, coolant, cooling fresh water, wiring, impellor, etc. I found nothing, and the engine sounds and runs fine. Not overheating and plenty of fresh water flow, etc. I fussed with the contrast settings on the instrument, so hopefully, I can see what the issue is when I run it again. We have been running an hour each day since there is no sun, and the wind is so light. We are also steering with the auto pilot since the fluky wind renders the wind vane useless. In times past, the engine used to complain about our non-Volvo alternator, and we would just silence the alarm, and there would be peace again. In new Zealand, we put a new "brain" on the engine, and it stopped the alarm. Maybe we can be so lucky.

We didn't cover very much ground yesterday, only 46 miles due to the lack of wind. It's really pretty frustrating because we are actually pretty close at 275 miles, but with out wind....

Speaking of being in love. Do you remember the Simon and Garfunkle song "America". It starts with the line "Let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together." It is basically the story of two people, on a road trip, in a Greyhound Bus. They are in love, and it is just the sharing of thoughts. "Kathy, I'm lost, I said, though I knew she was sleeping." "Michigan seems like a dream to me now, watching the drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike, they've all gone to look for America". "Pass me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat." "We smoked the last one an hour ago, so I looked at the scenery, and Kathy read her magazine." Something like that.

That's kind of the atmosphere here right now. A beautiful feeling not unlike that beautiful song. It fits so well that we listened to it a few times today. And we just held each other while we did. Be Excellent to Each Other! Rod and Elisabeth,

"Your Rock and Roll Argonauts" "Les Pirates d'Honneur"