Day 18 & 19

Day 18 & 19

Strong winds – boat speed 6 - 7+ knots. Yesterday we did 160 miles!

So what broke? I'll tell you... the Ram for the auto pilot broke at 3am. I hand steered for 6 hours while Jim replaced it – hydraulic fluid on the head liner, all over the soles, the cushions and Jim was slip-sliding all over the place as the boat raced onward. Jim nearly lost his arm a couple times as he tried to work inside the auto pilot components with the boat heeling over while strong waves jarred Hotspur upwind and I tried to correct her steerage – Jim moving his arm arm around to keep it from being crushed. What is particularly frustrating about this boat failure is that we paid someone in La Paz over $100 to service the unit and replace all the seals.

So what did we do? We installed a brand new in the box never been used Ram that we had hoped to re-sell and recoup a little money. Never mind – we are thrilled we had it on board and that the auto pilot is back in working order. Yay! In case you're wondering, Carolyne slept through the whole ordeal. We did, however, wake her up at 2pm and send her on watch while Jim and I took a nap.

Fewer squalls the last couple days – beautiful blue water – overall comfortable conditions – heeling, but either it's not too severe or else we're just used to it. Sailing performance is very nice – especially for this older model sailboat. Hotspur is really something!

Our estimation is that we will arrive in the Marquesas either late Saturday or early Sunday morning. Just 4 more nights at the most if we keep this up!

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