Day 29 – No rudder. Beam on Scotty!.

29 Mar, 07 – 21.30    
18.0495N,31.5127W

24 hr progress: 28.1 Nautical Miles
A very nervous night spent without the rudder. Sitting in the dark cabin with all hatches closed, trying to anticipate an imminent capsize.
Without the rudder, the boat is beam on to the waves. Nasty waves, about 7 ft from crest to trough. Rolling from side to side with the gunwales just 4 inches over the water.
The balance of the boat feels very different. She is still quite heavy, which is good. I've moved a few more heavy items, such as rope, tool kit etc from the front cabin to the water tight compartments in the hull. In order to get as much weight as possible down below. Ran the water maker as well, to fill up the water tank, so as to increase the ballast.
Progress has dropped off a bit without the rudder. I am finding it incredibly hard to steer any kind of course without the rudder. It still takes me around 15 mins to bring her around to the right bearing and any gain is usually lost while surfing down the next couple of waves.
As I was having my coffee on the deck at sunset the radar alarm started to go off. I am near the New York – Cape town shipping lane, so I suspected it was a cargo ship or tanker en route to or from NY.
I got on the VHF, but no response at all. Channel 16 none. Channel 13 none. The mast appeared on the horizon, about 2 miles off the port bow and the radio was finally answered by a lookout on the bridge. Turned out to be a Russian cargo ship, heading for New York. A negative response to my visibility on their radar. Quite worrying. I hope to check the radar reflector with another passing ship to make sure its not a problem with the radar reflector. A happy ending to the story this time however.
Seeing the ship made a good break in the monotony of watching the water desert around.
Weather forecast for the next few days is looking good (thx Erden)
Mar 29, am 20 kt ENE, pm 20 kt ENE
Mar 30, am 20 kt NE, pm 15 kt NE
Mar 31, am 15 kt
Apr 01, am 10 kt
Must get cracking on the repairs,
watch this space,
B

Barnicles on the stern

Leaning out of the rear hatch

sign of human life!