Bounce and Roll

Well, here we are at sea again, and a rude reminder it has been that we are basically living in a highly unstable environment! Bounce and roll, lurch and fall, loads of colourful bruises, and lots of sitting around hanging on. The Wind is not the problem, but the confused lumpy sea is. However, today things are a bit quieter and I am falling off the chart table seat a lot less and able to type a bit more.

We set off from Mindelo with a lovely send-off from the friends we had made there throwing our lines off and blowing whistles and trumpets as seems to be the custom here. Dave reckons it is a sign they want rid of us!! He can be such a tease at times!! So out into the bay and set up the boat to go off downwind and out into the strait between the islands. Dave assures me that the waves will settle down as we get past the islands, and gullible me believes him! That was Wednesday 5 days ago! So lots of sitting and watching the sea and reading. Too lumpy to sew,  but will try knitting.

We had a visitor, a white sea bird, not a typical sea gull, but definitely supposed to be on the sea. He stayed with us for 24 hours and then flew away when some of his mates came by. He turned up his beak at the offer of tinned corned beef - maybe he was telling us something! We were a bit worried when he first arrived as he sat up at the back not far from the wind generator and I had visions of him ending up in little pieces. Dave found where he had slept - cockpit cushion - as he left his calling card. Then he settled on the loo hatch till his mates came. I have the feeling he was a frigate bird, but we have no way of looking for it on the internet at present.

Other visitors are the flying fish, about 2 a night so far but that will increase as we are going ever towards the greatest concentration of flying fish in the area. In the day time they avoid us, but at night it's a different scenario and a few land on the boat. They certainly can travel a distance out of the water and they travel in schools so the water froths and bubbles as they all take off in formation flying. The other night we had the deck lights on and when we looked out over the sides we could see the fish flying with phosphorescence dripping off them and making the scene look like some huge fountain.
No dolphins on this leg yet.

………………………………….
'Hey, Dave'
'Yes, Jen'
'Dave, this autopilot is lovely but he uses a lot of power. Should we try Harriet again, now we had the rudder fixed?'
'I guess so, but she wasn't very good before. But something has to happen or we will have to run the engine too much.'
So, out comes Harriet's hat. For those who have forgotten, Harriet is the Monitor wind vane self-steering gear which hangs on the back of the boat. She operates by means of a servo-pendulum and uses no power whatsoever. Her hat is the vane that sticks up on top of her to be tilted by the wind. So with all the strings attached we give her a go - nothing but a big fall off course. Another go. Same thing. Then:
'Jen, OHHHH NOOOOOOOOO'
'What Dave?'
'I have put the strings on back to front, that is why she is not working.'
'You sure?'
'Fraid so. Been a dill brain again. I will go and check the book.' 
Then:
'Jen, says here if she won't stay on track the strings are crossed. So all this time Harriet and Terry haven't worked it is because the strings are back to front! All that time going up and down the harbor at Siracusa trying to get Terry to work! If only we had put on Harriet we may have sorted it! AAAAArrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhh'
So cut, stitch, sew and attach again, and wow!!! Harriet works and has been working now non-stop for days! Which means Terry the tiller pilot that works on Harriet will work too (he uses very little power) and that leaves the big guy for those stormy seas and difficult places.
Which goes to show there is something to learn every day, which means there will probably be another mini disaster tomorrow!