12/7/11

Noon Position 19 02' S, 118 37'1' W, SOG 6.5, COG 195, Days run 150nm.
IT LIVES!!!! Apparently nearly a week in a bag of rice has done the
trick on my laptop - for the time being at least it is once again
numbered amongst the living. This is so far the high point of my week -
the low point being a frustrating exercise in cussing out the boat, the
weather, the sea, the sky, the clouds, a roll of duct tape, two tubes of
silicone, and lots of seawater and mold that occupied the majority of my
morning yesterday as I tackled the persistent leak in the v-berth
hatch... I spent a few hours drying everything out and cleaning, only to
discover that not only had I not improved the seal of the hatch, I'd
actually made it worse - waterfalls of water now cascade through the
starboard seal, instead of just a slow trickle. By noon I was not fit
company for man nor beast - fortunately the few petrels heard the ruckus
and wisely stayed well clear. This afternoon we shall do battle again.
The last few days have been fast and a bit frustrating - still a fair
number of squalls rolling through bringing 20-25 kts of breeze and some
choppy seas, but the breeze has come aft enough that we're almost beam
reaching, and even with the gear-shifting that the squalls entail we've
been able to put down some decent mileage. Plus, the computer is
apparently alive! Hooray!!! The rice shall make a permanent addition
to the computer bag from now on.