Katherine Ann Westabout

Well not so barely anymore. After a couple of months in full tropical rig and all that entails the thought of putting on a T shirt crossed the mind yesterday and being a man of action today this was accomplished. But this only brought back short term memories and next thing a pair of dry shorts were discovered and donned. And to balance the ensemble a smart pseudo leather jacket appeared to be not out of place. Match this with a pair of Ronstan Wellys and you have the perfect setup for stepping out to meet the Roaring Forties. Or to be more precise, the Fitful Forties. Light and Variable is the technical term and would also adequately describe the progress. The very good news is that last night collected 20 litres of water and just now another 20 litres, 10 off the mainsail with a bucket strapped to the end of the boom and ten off the dedicated solar panel catchment. This bucketful was to be assigned to the washing but it looks and tastes so fresh and sweet it would be a s hame to sully it with dirty socks, so strait into the main. Besides the socks and jocks got a good rinsing and wringing from drips from the mainsail. Now well may you ask why not just idle away a few hours a day pumping the piston of the Katadyn RO water maker. The truth could well be sheer laziness on my part, but on the other hand if it were to actually fail I may have to curtail the trip. So if I don't use it can't have failed ( get the logic of this?) and then when the time comes were it to actually fail good luck in the form of a shower could well see me through. Just like now! Also vaguely in the back of my mind there is desalination by evaporation and with plenty of fuel and a little ingenuity it should get me over the line in the worst case. With that recent sprinkle had a nice few miles of steady sailing but now becalmed. A tricky night ahead.