So in my last post I tried to be very positive even with the uncomfortable seas, but tonight that is proving most dificult. If those seas were uncomfortable, tonights are basically torture. Guantanamo and George's waterboarding have nothing on trying to sail in this sea state. There are 3 or 4 different wave directions all generally behind us at varying angles, making it impossible to align yourself to all of them. The boat is rolling violently 25 degrees or so each way, nothing will stay anywhere, and the bruises from being thrown around the cabin are adding up. I already cut my finger trying to make salad for dinner and kidney punched myself against the interior climbing up into the pilothouse. The only good news is that it doesn't feel dangerous and we should be in at Pitcairn around 9 tomorrow morning. When I was on ship in college we had a week of rolling 35 degrees each way which translates to a lot of motion when your bed sits 103 ft off the water. You couldn't keep anything anywhere other than on the floor and my project was organizing their movie collection so at least once a day I had to put all the videos that spilled out of a 6 foot high by 4 foot wide cabinet back in order. Still, that was a slow roll, probably 30 second period and it had nothing on the uncomfortableness of this motion. I really don't mean to complain, but everything hurts and there isn't much more to write about, but I will try.
A big shout out to Mr. Corey Bruno for finding us info on mechanics in the Gambiers, Scott Stolnitz for being our Mule this weekend bringing our needed bolts, taps, drills, and hopefully an improved gooseneck fitting that Forespar is rushing through production. 3 cheers for Forespar for being proactive and responsive to our problems and getting their team building the part in one day, and a huge thanks to Bill Siefert whose book always comes in handy, but did particularly this morning as he lists phone number for McMaster Carr which had all the hardware we needed to install this thing.
Tomorrow I will try to repair the Reacher temporarily (the sun shade had bit the dust and the underlying cloth has at least one rip in the leech). Hopefully I can do enough with Sticky-back to get us to Tahiti where a sailmaker can fix the leech panels and put a new suncover on. Then hopefully a good night sleep and a bit of time ashore the following day before we continue our trip towards Gambiers most likely the morning of the 2nd.
Counting the hours till this torture ends.
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