Day 36 – Desalinator on the blink...

5 Apr, 07 – 21.30    
17.5919N,33.5414W
24 hr progress: 13.5 Nautical Miles

Each time the radar alarm goes off, it turns out to be a 3 hour affair, from the time I make contact with the vessel 'til I can confirm that they are out of range. As I mentioned last time, I am running without night navigation lights, since I lost 2 pairs of lights due to breaking waves. I have one last spare light bulb on board, that I will save for when I am closer to landfall. For now, when the radar alarm goes off, I strap a Silva M4 headlamp on the stern and also stick a red glow stick on the port side.
Anyway, last night, the radar alarm went off around 1.00 am and kept me up 'til 3.00 am. Turned out to be a cargo ship carrying wood chips from Brazil to Turkey. Had a brief chat with the Philippino crew and checked the latest weather update for the area as I usually do from passing ships.
Just as I was trying to get some sleep, the alarm started going off again for the second time. So, it was back again on deck to keep watch while rowing. By the time the last of the radar alarm had subsided it was around 6.00 am.
Maybe staying up all night was worth it after all. I got the rare chance of watching the Sun rising to the West with the full Moon setting to the East at the same time. (The quality of the photos, posted here does not do justice to the view, unfortunately, this is a very slow satellite connection of 9 kbps. Will post better quality images when I reach land.)
I caught up on the sleep in the morning, only to wake up around noon to find that the boat had turned the wrong way around and drifting towards to the North.
The sea changed overnight, from flat calm to looking slightly agitated. Spent a while to get the back on course and put some more fenders out to just slow her down 'til I tried to get the water-maker running.
The water maker (desalinator) has been giving problems ever since I changed the filter in it 3 weeks ago. I've been drinking ballast water since, as it tastes a bit better than the de-salinated water. I've got about 130 liters left and was planning to top up the ballast to 160 liters using the water maker. But today, it stopped showing any sign of life. I'm hoping its the fuse and not the motor.
The mileage figures for the day are not looking very friendly.
Hope to have better progress once the wind picks up.
B
To send a SMS message to my satellite phone go to http://www.bhavik.com/crossatlantic/messages.asp
Or email me at mail@bhavik.com (I will only be checking my emails when I reach shore).

Sunrise to the West

and the Moon setting to the East at the same time...