Atlantic Diary: Day 79 – Heat, Drogue as Rudder, FreshWater, Kick boxing

18 May, 07 – 22.11
15.3916N,51.2329W
24 hr progress: 12.2 Nautical Miles (1 nm = 1.85 km)
Distance left to Antigua (straight line): 604 Nautical Miles ( 1117 km)
Distance completed: 2625 NM (4856 km)
Wave height: 6-8 ft, Winds: 10-12 knots NE, Bearing: 250-270 degrees.

A low mileage day. One of my toughest days yet.
I was too tired to row effectively last night. I just about managed to get in 4 hours in before the salt sores on my rear started complaining. It's getting harder to sit down for long hours at a time. I do about 45 minutes on, and 15 minutes off. But there is no space to walk around so I just end up going from sitting on a rowing seat to sitting on a different part of the boat.
The self-righting property of the boat (ie: to turn it the right way up again like a kayak in a capsize) depends entirely on the weight distribution (of food, water, equipment) on the boat . Storing more weight below deck and less weight above deck ensures that she is unstable in an overturned position and she rolls over. If the boat capsizes with the cabin doors open, the water entering the cabin will prevent the boat from self righting again – which means the end of the crossing and an SOS.
So the cabin door is sealed shut at all times whether I am inside the cabin or on deck. The trade off to the self-righting capability is that when its too hot on deck to row, it gets even more oppressively hot inside the cabin to sleep. Thus, I'm left with 15 hours in the day between 4.00 pm and 9.00 am to manage my sleeping and rowing.
I try to fit in my tasks to do or general maintenance work in the remaining hours.
I concentrated today on trying to find a replacement for the rudder, to help bring the stern of the boat into the waves. I've put the drogue (sea anchor) out from port quarter and am experimenting with different lengths of line, to see what's most effective. (Note: A few weeks back I put the sea anchor out, varying the length of the trip line so as to partially collapse the anchor. This was not very effective then.)
I've also had to work the water pump manually to produce freshwater as I was down to my last liter. I have no solution in sight for fixing the pump as yet.
In all a very exhausting day. I've struggled through the 12 miles feeling like a one legged man in a kickboxing match. The good news is I will never ever again have to row those same 12 miles that I did today.
B
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