Day 35 – Housekeeping

24 hr progress: 13.8 Nautical Miles
Distance rowed to date: 1303 Nautical Miles
Distance left to Antigua: 1606 Nautical Miles ( 2971 km)

How different can 24 hrs be? After yesterday's sun, this morning I was greeted by rain and clouds that have hidden the sun all day.
Trying to navigate by the sun today was tiresome as I had to keep guessing which cloud it was stuck under. So it was back to the GPS for the day.
I usually prefer navigating using the sun or the moon as a fix (east or west) for most of the day and checking the GPS once every 12 hrs.
I find that psychologically, it just gives a greater sense of progress as greater the interval between position readings on GPS, the greater the differential between positions.
I took advantage of the good weather today to get some much needed housekeepig done on board. Better part of the morning, was taken up by scrubbing the deck with soap to remove the salt and grease build-up. The deck had turned slippery, as the grease I sprayed onto the blades and wheel bearings got washed across the deck with each wave. The solar panels are functioning a bit better since the cleaning as well. I aired the water tight compartments, to get rid of the condensation within which had started peeling the labels off the tins and food packs. Almost everything metallic on board has started rusting. No real solution to this one. Water just keeps getting in everywhere.
All the various ropes that I had out on deck to tie the rudder down have been put away, leaving some more surface area for the solar panels to function. Cleaning the bilge pump and the space under the bilge board is always a bit of a treasure hunt, turning up wrappers, paper, nuts, bolts, screws, bits of plastic, hair and dropped food. Finally, storing the sea anchor away and clearing the last debris of flying fish wings and about 3 small fish that had slithered under the ropes.
All in all, the deck is once looking much more civilized.
Not such a fantastic day on the progress front. A miserable 13 nautical miles inclusive of the miles I have lost being pushed northwards by the current again.
Maybe it will be faster if I got out and walked.
B
To send a SMS message to my satellite phone visit http://www.bhavik.com/crossatlantic/messages.asp
Or email me at mail@bhavik.com (I will only be checking my messages when I reach shore).
Morning rain

Deck cleaning

Sunset