june 9, 2003

hi folks --

starting my big adventure sailing across the atlantic to
the mediterranian in my own boat.  spent the spring fixing
up the boat, crew arrived (john, bob, and jeff, all from
colorado) at the end of may and after a flurry
of last minute chores we left in spite of me feeling i wasnt
ready.  had nasty weather right away, so no one was feeling
very hungry or used to the bouncyness of the open ocean.
imagine yourself in a washing machine whose cycle is
random movements in any direction.  think i need to buy
a dozen more handrails to put all over inside the boat.

we had a series of minor disasters.  first night everything
was turned on and i didnt pay enough attention, woke up from
a nap and found the batteries very dead, the autopilot not
able to steer, the radar left on and not working, the music
on, etc.  istarted rationing power and helping my batteries
limp back into fully chardHged land.  wasnt very popular
as i asked people to hand steer, not use the lights but
use flashlites, aim the solar panels every hour etc.  at
the bottom of the trouble was a blown alternator from turning
the engine off wrong, the radar left on and transmitting for
hours when i should have checked it and put it in standby
or turned it off, instruments and running lights that draw
lots of current, a power hungry fridge, etc.  usually i have
a wind generator and solar panels that make it so i dont need
the engine and alternator.

then we had the major disaster, the wind vane that steers the
boat without power fell into the ocean.  at 12,000 feet deep
we didnt dive to retrieve it.  it was 1290 bucks worth of 
parts held by a single set screw that backed out from the
bouncing in wind and waves.  the bermuda triangle hits again.

so we became a stealth boat, no lites at night, hand steering
half the time, no fridge except when we really needed a cold
drink and the sun was charging us up.  we would run down below
and turn on the lights whenever we saw a ship approaching.

but my little solar panels, 2 75 watters did just fine and by
the end of the week it took us to get to bermuda, we were 
using the autopilot almost whenever we wanted and were totally
used to warm water and warm coke to drink.

i'd forgotten how bruised and banged up you get.  highlight was
when i got jossled by a wave and fell backwards nudging my drink
holder that had just been repaired by bob, breaking it again,
and scoring the biggest and uglyiest bruise of the trip.  right
on my butt.

we didnt see any whales or porpoises on the way, just flying
fish and beautiful phosphorescence.  john was keen to see the 
sargasso sea with miles and miles of seaweed, but all we saw
was little clumps.

arrived in bermuda one hour shy of a week.  so we went pretty
fast, our best day was 147 miles but we cant take total credit
for it since the gulfstream pushed us at close to 3 knots that
day.  last couple of days we had no wind so gave up the purist
attitude that john was fond of and turned on the engine so we
could arrive in time for bob to fly home.  jeff flew home a
couple of days later and now we have new crew, adam and amanda.
should be a fun trip on the next leg.  we leave tomorrow morning
with fixed alternator, wind generator, and wind vane for the 
island of flores in the azores.  should take about 2 weeks.

bye for now, hugs.

-evi

ps -this email is coming via wireless at the edge of the harbor
in st. georges bermuda.