The rains started just before sunrise and show no sign of completely stopping. Right now there’s a lull in the rain and I have the hatches open for airing. But the thick stratus clouds upwind presage more water from above. Locating and fixing the leak in my cabintop has now gotten a higher priority. I’ve got a bucket and some rags catching the drippings, but that’s no solution.
I worked using the Starlink RV satellite throughout the morning and it was fast despite the rain. I didn’t have any conference calls, and most of my colleagues are on holiday.
Noon
Taking a break from work, I donned mask and fins and scraped more gunk off the hull. One quick tour removed a surprising amount of growth, but I think I’m finally making significant progress. Taking a metal brush and scraper to the propeller wasn’t easy, it is far away and I can’t hold on to anything in the vicinity as it is all covered in razor-sharp barnaclettes (junior barnacles). But despite the danger of cuts I got a bit of scraping done before nausea set in and I stopped. Swallowing salt water and working upside-down with saltwater in the mask just ask for a bit of vertigo and nausea.
The hull waterline is positively covered with little thumbnail sized crabs. They get scraped off along with the green growth, but then swim back to the hull at great speed and attempt to hide. I searched around with Google and wasn’t able to identify them. Once I get sailing at 8Kn they will hopefully get sloughed off.
Back to home-office work…
Afternoon
I don’t like the dirty propeller and remember Lincoln’s horror story of getting off the dock in his catamaran Cyrilla and then having no propulsion whatsoever due to prop fouling. He needed to get towed in order to extricate himself from that situation, and I don’t want that happening to me. And so far the earplugs have been my final line of defense against any undue noise from ashore.
Home-office is complete for the day, it is 15:00 and now I have to decided what to do. Sleep? Clean the hull? Go ashore to Pigeon Island? All these choices have me at an impasse, perhaps I’ll just chill in the cockpit and wait for the next set of showers to pass by.
The rains started just before sunrise, but squalls hit all day. One look to windward and I jumped to close all my hatches. The initial gusts weren’t much, but then the wind and rain hit and it was certainly over 35 knots, by the time my instruments had “booted” they only read a constant 30 knots. The squall only lasted about 15 minutes, but it was exciting while it lasted. My anchor held, but one boat in the anchorage looked like it dragged several boat lengths.
Evening
It is 18:30 and dark. The rains seem to have stopped for the moment and I have the hatches open for ventilation. I’ve got a frozen hamburger almost thawed out and ready for cooking, with a baguette rather than a patty. I’ll add in some spices and cheese to make a meal of it. And I’ve been wanting to watch the movie Sean of the Dead for while, so that will be my entertainment for tonight.