SailBlog

Today began with a mystical soft Irish rain...I know we are far from Ireland but just being close to the Azores seems enough. It was just so reminiscent of my year in Ireland, my arrival after the month long crossig from RI and the smells of the land, peat and flowers that were so pungent and strong, they nearly knocked me over with surprise. I did't expect that. Though, this trip I won't be stopping in any of the isalnds, there will be trips to come.

As I say in my stories, Dandy Dolphin is leading the way, jumping for glee. The dolphins arrived just as the clouds were giving way to periods of glistening sun on the water. It made for a fun morning. But I just can't get the hang of when to hit the buttin to take the photo...19 of 20 pictures were of the calm waters off the bow of II and really, I am not lying...the waters were filled with a dozen dolphins all jumping simultaneously for nearly an hour. I did get some video...There I don't have to have 'timing'.

Somehow I managed to have to good a rest last night in really nice freshened winds, but it may have been in lieu of a diligent enough watch on my course. I crept more south than I want to be. I am not taking enough consideration for the current moving me south as well...I kept readjusting course to keep a NE course last night but sure enough, I am farther south than yesterday. There are some fresh winds north but instead I will make due on the light winds... this is when the size of II is a help. We can make fair progress in light winds.

Today seemed to be the final straw for my SSB radio. I could still recieve but I have no transmission at all. Given I have the new (rebuilt) radio on board, today was the day to set it up. It was easy enough splice the wires for power, put appropriate ends on ground wires. I had to reroute the wires to the top of my ice box, the only surface big enough for the radio. I use the icebox for my batteries so I don'tneed to go into it regularly. I will mount the bracket to the ice box lid so that It won't slide around then when I do need to get into the box, I can remove the radio from the bracket easy enough and still get the lid off. I routed the wires through a cabinet. It is not a permanent type installation but it will do fine for this purpose. I think when I return I will have to look into a more condense sized radio.

The only gliche to the installation is that I have a manual tuner, not automatic and it certainly isn't an ICOM. I will be able to test it later this evening on the Doo Dah net at 1700 ESST (-4). It should work fine on this partidular channel because the tuner is set up for this station. But there is no way for me to tune the radio as I was able to do with my last one. I can't throw back resistance through the tuner and adjust it until the inductance is lowered to 0. So...I will have to send off an email to my radio guru best buddy, Joan, and see what she thinks. It may be a matter of my having to 'guess' and adjust the tuner until I hear better reception(length of antannae) in the upper Hz. But for now, she sounds clear for the most part and I am certainly no worse off than I was this morning. I also haven't been able to get the weather fax to download in a quick test this afternoon. I will try again. At this time, I can get all the weather I need throug the Aurora satelite email and grib files.

Bob texted me later in the morning ... our time zones are off now by 2 hours and I keep my clock on GMT, so I am never sure what time it is. A young British girl is rowing across the Atlantic and he managed to realize that we were not far from each other today...I diin't get the text right when he sent it and with a quick surmise of my position (which he updated so I could get a better idea where our proximity was). I dashed onto deck and put my radio on. but there was no return of my hailing. but...best of luck to her, Sarah Outen.

Soon, I will be able to let my tutoring in celestial navigation be in the past. My sights today brought me within 5 miiles...getting close enough to have confidence in them. So...I have turned my study to the stars. Last night was an incredible sky. I did not really see the meteor shower, but I took several hours in the night to get out the resources I have and staart considering navigation by the stars. It is quite inredible. I got some great informtion from Jim Hunt all about the diffeent tools that navigators have used throughout history to tell time, to know where they are...they become in tuned with the movement of the stars across the horizon like the face of clock as they move from the west horion to the east. You can follow a latitude by checking polaris and then keeping it's height the same ...If it gets smaller you adjust north, if it gets larger, you head a bit more south. Given I am trying to run a pretty easterly route,, it could work as easy as that.

Hopefully the wind will stay up tonight. I look forward to another night of star gazing. Hopefully, I will have a chat with the folks on the net. The sv_Pelagic checked in this morning. The world becomes small from port to port with like spirited sailors moving between them. Thanks to all of you who are joining me along my way via this blog. Thanks to Luis Solteror and all at Global marine networks for making it possible.

Keepin On Sailin On a Dream...Keepin the task at hand while enjoying the brilliance of the life around me.

Fairest of winds, Only Gratitude, Donna