Day 20 – Rudder, Shoulder Fish, Diving

20 Mar, 07 – 21.30    
19.2139N,27.3674W

24 hr progress: 26.6 Nautical Miles
Beautiful weather today. Warm, clear skies and a cool breeze. A school of flying fish (the first I have seen) put on a display as I was having my Beef Teriyaki lunch on deck. Around noon, they were chased away by a large group of Doradas and Pilot fish, that kept me company for the next 3 hours. The wild life around the boat is ever increasing as big fish comes to eat the little fish.
The rudder continues to be a problem and the vibrations got particularly bad last night. I took another dive underneath to have a look at it and take some photos of it so I could see the damage. It looks like there is too much stress between the holding pins for the rudder and the fiberglass stern. I'm a bit worried that when the weather gets rough again, it's going to rip the rudder off the fiberglass, leaving a hole in the stern, which also happens to be the back of the water tight cabin.
I will have to find a solution soon. I'm not looking forward to bailing water out of the boat for the next 1900 miles across the Atlantic...
I spent about an hour in the water today to try and fix the rudder. The Doradas and Pilot fish were still around in rudder, in a mass of blue, silver, black and yellow. They were surprisingly tame and came right up to the underwater camera, attracted by the fluorescent float attached to my life line.
I've posted the pictures here, but due to bandwidth restraints, the high resolution images and video will have to wait till I am back on land.
There is always either too much of something or too little of something on the Atlantic. The wind has been Northerly all day with waves heading SW.
Along with the SW Canary Current at 0.5 Knots, I am being pushed more South than desired. Desperately trying to maintain my current position between the 19th and 20th Parallel, at least for the next 800 miles before I gradually drop down to the 17th Parallel on my approach to Antigua. Saturday is my weekly navigation day, so will leave it to then to assess the progress and plan any course corrections for the following week.
With the current conditions, I've been rowing all day mostly one handed (with the port blade only) across waves most of the day, trying to maintain a course due West. I may have exerted it a bit too much as my shoulder just has started complaining. I've taken my first dose of pain killers and rowing has been taken off the itinerary for tonight.
Frustrating progress, only 26.6.Nautical Miles, about 60% of my usual distance.
Thanks to all for the messages, they are very welcome.
B
To send a SMS message to my satellite phone visit http://www.bhavik.com/crossatlantic/messages.asp

Over the side

Fish by the rudder

Dorada and Pilot fish