3/2/12

Noon Position: 47 27' S, 21 14' W, SOG 6.6, COG 080, Day's Run 119m,
Week's run 871nm. We're back on the wagon again - the last three days
have seen 30 kt easterlies, 8 foot seas, 5kt easterlies (still with 8 ft
seas), and now finally 25kts from the S - perfect weather to start
making up some of the distance we sailed N & S as this last system went
over. The big news on board today (besides the fact that Odyssey is
pointed in the right direction again) is that I actually managed to
catch a useful amount of rainwater last night - 3 gallons into the tank,
plus a tea-cup's worth to warm me up after 3 hours of shuttling back and
forth in 2am drizzle. Odyssey has (had?) 3 water tanks, a plastic 26
gallon hard tank plus 2 45 gallon bladder tanks. I say had because both
bladder tanks immediately started voiding their contents into the bilge
upon being flung forcibly against the bolts on the inside of their
compartments when we were knocked down off the coast of Chile. And, of
course, the nice weather that the south atlantic first greeted me with
was a double edged sword - it's hard to catch much rain when it's clear
and sunny. So, all in all, despite the small puddle sloshing about on
the floor, threatening my slippers with every roll, and the rivulets of
condensation streaming down every possible surface (and some that seem a
bit impossible), life is looking up.