day 12

"The Minnow" ARC 2005 Atlantic Crossing

Mike's Exciting Day 12 Update!

I woke up late this morning. I guess people are getting tired of me so they
just left me in bed. Anyway, wherever we are in the Atlantic, the sun came
in my window about 9:00am UTC and was bright. We were still spinnakering. As
it turned out, we had changed from one spinnaker to the solent, back to a
different spinnaker since I went to bed last night.

Spinnakers usually the most colorful sails on a boat. I have no idea why
that is. They are also usually the largest sails on a boat. They have a
single point on the top of the sail. It's tied to a rope that's on a pulley
at the top of the mast. The two bottom corners are tied to the front of the
boat, and the side of the boat (toward the back).

A spinnaker is normally used when the wind is blowing from behind the boat.
If it's from in front of the boat the spinnaker just gets tangled up in the
mast and the guy wires holding the mast. It's a mess.

Putting up and taking down a spinnaker is best done with a crowd of people.
That is if the spinnaker doesn't have a sock. A sock is a cloth tube about
80 feet long that allows you to raise the top of the sail to the top of the
mast without the sail blowing everywhere. Then when everything is tied on
and the boat's going where it should go, the sock is raised and the
spinnaker puffs out beautifully.

Without a sock it takes one person holding the front of the sail, one person
holding the back of the sail, one person raising the top of the sail to the
top of the mast, one person lengthening and shortening the ropes on the
front and back of the sail, and a lot of nautical communication. It can be a
very loud affair.

The point is . they didn't even wake me up to help on spinnaker ups and
downs. They must be getting a lot tired of me. Teehee.

After a hearty breakfast of Coca-cola and Coco-crispies I decided to fry
some eggs for all takers. Serge and Bob know me pretty well, so David, Jim,
and I enjoyed fried eggs. Then came "the generator chronicles."

We all stunk and griped about no showers. It was rather hot today, also. It
was really hot in the engine room (where the generator resides). We worked a
long time getting the generator going, but in the end, human intellect and
resiliency (luck and . well, luck) made the difference. Truth is, Jim worked
a long time on it and figured it out and fixed it. Yay, Jim and thank you,
Jim. We made water! We took showers! We washed dishes! Some of us even
washed clothes!

As a result of this near lifestyle-changing tragedy, we spent some time with
our backup watermaker and have decided to make it handier to use. It only
makes 1.5 gallons an hour. But it runs on 12 volts (5 amps) and we can take
showers on 36 gallons a day.

Today was a unique sailing day for the Minnow. We fixed more things than we
broke. Serge fixed the broken nav light. Jim fixed the broken generator. The
only thing we broke was the water gauge lamp. Most importantly, we didn't
tear up any more sails. We were getting low on sails.

[Okay, okay Mom. Before you worry yourself to death about the big water
crisis onboard, we have enough water on board for weeks of drinking. And we
have a backup watermaker to the backup watermaker. It was never an issue of
safety, just one of cleanliness. And you taught us cleanliness was next to
goatliness.]

[Ps. Bob was worst since he washed off with a dirty, mildewy, used wash
cloth under the impression it was clean.]

Fishing Report:

Speaking of cleanliness, Bob brought in a nice dolphin and I cleaned it. And
I didn't care that I got dirty from it since I was already dirty from no
shower.

We caught a fish that we couldn't identify. It looked like a crappie but it
was dark brown. We decided not to eat it. That was our decision since it
fell off the steps into the water before Bob got a good hold on it.

We want to catch tuna fish but don't know how. Any tips would be welcome.

Today's Nautical Term:

Yesterday's nautical term, "potato drawer," has a single specific meaning
onboard a boat. (in case you forgot, it's where the potatoes were a few days
ago)

Today's term, "sheet," is much more versatile. "Sheet" has many nautical
uses. On a boat, the word "sheet" means: (1) a piece of music for
sousaphone, (2) a rope that is tied onto the back end of a sail, (3) a handy
nautical exclamation to use when something, often surprising, goes wrong,
(4) a portion of saran wrap or similar plastic (5) a single piece of paper
put into the printer to print nautical information (6) the act of pulling on
a sheet (rope), (7) the act of securing a sheet (rope), (8) the type of
music we look at to play the piano, (9) a pan for cooking cookies or
biscuits, (10) how rain comes down on a boat sometimes, (11) a type of flat
metal, (12) how waves splash over a boat sometimes, (13) a portion of a roll
aluminum foil, or (14) fabric that goes on the mattress of a nautical bed.

Arts and Entertainment:

The most entertaining thing today was when I brought out a bunch of our
favorite cookies from under a bed that everyone but me thought we were out
of. They let me help raise a spinnaker after that.

The second most entertaining thing was almost funny enough to be classified
as art. It was when Bob figured out this evening that last evening the
washcloth he used was used.