Tohuwabohu - leg 2 day 10

So the last part of day 9 was spent dismantling a 12 volt kettle to use the parts to make a standalone auto pilot (ram driven) into an operational state. We have seemingly got to grip with sailing when we have wind with the hydro vane and can hold a good course over the ground, adjusting for light winds and so on. I think on a transatlantic crossing it is useful to have a similar product that uses the wind as it is free steering (4th member) and doesn’t consumer any energy, which is key on a small sailing boat.
Having marked the positions and extended the auto ram on the pilot we just needed to fix this to the super structure and plug it in using the 12volt dismantled kettle. It worked ! Finally we have an auto correcting (doesn’t calculate drift) pilot that can be used in stead of hand steering when the engine is on. This reduces the work load considerably and makes life a little bit more comfortable.
This morning we woke to zero wind, overnight we had a poled Genoa and code zero. (The repairs seem to be working and the swivel block is stopping chafe. Interesting we took down the Genoa and saw exactly the same so, cut away the bad halyard and tied a new bunt knot to the Genoa halyard car.
Last night we made very little progress with a mere 80 miles in 24 hours which is a little frustrating, the ocean has gone very quiet, there are no waves, there is no wind, there is an occasional gust of 2 knots. The only thing is a small gentle swell that pushes throuh every 12 seconds or so.
We planned our worst case scenario for food water and diesel as we have now worked through our options and formulated our actions on. This effectively means we are expecting a raise in the weather in the next 24/36 hrs but are being careful on food consumption for the time being. Water is not so much of an issue as during the day we can make 12 amp hours on solar and this means we can charge the batteries and run the Schenker to make 30 litres per hour.
We started motoring through the day keeping a very careful eye on fuel consumption. It appears that we actually do burn 1 litre per hour at 1500rpm giving us 5knot.
Today we tried our hand at fishing and I know that Steve will be particularly interested to hear that we caught .........nothing .....we we using Rapala lure at 1.5 metres depth with 200 metres of line, we even rigged up a bite alert notification system (posh terms for coke can that rattles when the lure is taken ) not a single bite
At around 5 pm we stopped, the sun has been beating down on us all day and decided that it was in order to take a break and go for an Altlantic swim to cool down. This is super refreshing, although slightly disappointing that at 757 nm to see mans rubbish on the oceans surface . We really need to take more seriously how bad this is for the marine ecosystem, our reputation as sailors, and my children’s future. It has only taken us 100 years or so to see plastic everywhere and other discarded items. People this is not good and we should all look to make a small change and encourage those around us that this is real and to do nothing really isn’t an option.
So the engine has gone back on, we are completely becalmed , I think we are ahead of the wind and must try and push on. We know what we need to make St Lucia. The day has been much more relaxed and a nice environment to be on. I hope that everyone reading this is keeping safe and sound and looking after themselves. 784 miles to go !