Tuesday: Counting the Days…

It’s Tuesday morning and we continue to motor along.  It’s hard to believe that we have put so many hours on the engine and have still not entered the trade winds.

In past years we have been able to sail for much of the trip and this time, not so much.  As I write this we have been motoring for nearly 6 days in total.  That’s half of the way and pretty much what Chris Parker had warned us would be needed if we wanted to keep moving.

With such light winds, I know that some boats are surely having difficulty with fuel, some precariously close to running out and yet with days left to go before they arrive.      It’s a tough position to be in.

There are always gear failures along the way, which you’d expect with 80+ boats sailing such long distances.  One boat lost their headstay, so their jib ended up in the water and one of the lines wrapped tightly around their propeller.  They haven’t been able to free the line so they can’t get the engine out of gear or start it to charge this batteries.   Another boat came to their rescue and shared some fuel.  The crew on the stricken boat were able to stabilize the rig and are heading to St Thomas for repairs.  That is a long way off, hundreds of miles but at least it’s down wind.

Another boat lost their anchor when the swivel came loose and the anchor just fell into the water.  I wonder how long it took to reach the bottom, 15,000 feet below.  Not great to loose an anchor but better that way then when anchored in a tight anchorage.

Fortunately, the bulk of the fleet is doing well if anxiously nursing their fuel supply.  On this front, we are doing well as we are still on our second tank, having used a bit more than half of our fuel.  Hopefully, we will be sailing soon but who knows.

While we aren’t particularly concerned about running out of fuel, fresh food is getting a bit scarce.  I clearly did not buy quite enough bread for sandwiches. Having some more eggs would be good too.  And some more apples would be welcomed by all.

However, we still have some flour so I am baking for the third time, making Raisin Bran muffins.  They smell great and I am getting hungry.  Baking does really heat up the cabin.

To that point, with little wind last night and the engine running all the time, it was pretty hot and stuffy down below.

I mentioned that we had caught a Mahi-Mahi, and last night I baked it, seasoned with a bit of Old Bay.  That and new potatoes were a hit with all crew.

It’s not great to run the oven in the evenings but a hot meal is pretty important, I think.

Well, only two more days of meal planning before we are in Antigua.  That’s good as I am running out of ideas.

I guess that’s all I can report right now and the muffins smell like they are ready to come out of the oven.

Let’s hope that the wind fills in soon.  So sick of listening to the drone of the engine.   Don’t get me wrong, I would prefer to be sailing but the drone of our trusty engine is music compared to no engine or fuel to run it.  Fingers crossed that things continue to go well and perhaps soon the wind will fill in.  That would be nice.

With Antigua so close, we are all counting the days until we can dive off of Pandora and enjoy a swim in English Harbor.

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