Storm during the night
It was Oh, what a Night last night. The winds picked up significantly around midnight and I was woken up with a bang. I couldn’t place the sound but got up and inspected the deck with my flashlight. It turns out that the boom preventer cord had snapped. It was a bit undersized for the task and the strong winds and jerking around at anchor had contributed to it breaking. I used a temporary fix with a bigger line, but I’ll do some splicing on a new line sometime on passage to replace it.
Then I had to go and get more line and securely fasten all the solar panels. I’m waiting for the final fasteners, and they are only provisionally fastened on deck. As I was doing this, a big gust almost lifted one of the panels and I’m sure it would have flown off the deck.
Morning
I didn’t sleep all that well, getting up several time to check on the boat, my neighbours, and the overall situation. One boat downwind of me dragged during the night, but since it was no danger to me or others, I didn’t involve myself.
I had some calls and work in the morning, but that ended suddenly in the middle of a conversation with a colleague regarding implementing GIT and Jenkins when my internet connection failed. At first, I assumed it was a drop out from the Starlink system, as that infrequently happens. But it turns out that the Starlink Wi-Fi router was working, but it couldn’t find the actual antenna. The antenna was on top of the Bimini and had been shaken around that night, so I thought perhaps the connection might be a bit loose. I removed it and checked everything but couldn’t find a cause. I’m hoping that the cable is broken; but even that means waiting for a week or two as the connectors are proprietary.
Regardless, my workday was over until I could go ashore and get a SIM-Card and use that for connectivity. And the winds were still strong (no longer 40knots, but still whipping up spray) and it was also raining.
Noon
I found a weather window between squalls and went ashore to Business Point. There I picked up my 3 packages, purchased a SIM card and also got some sandals to replace my lost shoe from the previous day.
It took an hour with customer support from Chippie (the SIM card provider) to get the internet working; it turns out that the prepaid data card wasn’t that prepaid after all.
Happy Hour
The boat has been windswept and rolling for over two days, so I really needed to go ashore. I was fortunate to speak with some fellow sailors who had a spare Starlink cable stored somewhere on the boat, and we exchanged contact information so that I could pick up the cable sometime tomorrow. Then Phil, a Swiss sailor, mentioned that he had a whole Starlink system that he wasn’t using so now I’ve got potential sources for a test-cable.
I was tired (and grumpy) so returned early and had a small snack of Gorgonzola cheese with crackers.