July 14th, 2009

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Technical Difficulties….darn computers!

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

For those of you who were getting concerned about Jack and The Fleetwood… rest assured that he is fine and that the delay in receiving his daily posts was due to an automatic software upgrade that somehow affected the automatic posting from Jack’s SailMail account.  If you are ever worried… or suspect this may have happened again.. feel free to contact me… Jack’s Webmaster at the following email:  admin@keywebconcepts.com.  I do apologize for any concern it may have caused.

–  Jim Thomas  – Fleetwood’s webmaster

Quatorze Juillet Tuesday

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

At 21.10 hrs UTC I am at 36.07 N 33.35 W with 277 miles to go. I forgot to take my usual reading at 19.15 hrs so I do not know the daily mileage for this time frame, but at 15.30 hours it was 124 miles. So had a good day, since I could go straight for the stable. But things have deteriorated again in the last three hours. The wind has gone around from S.W. to W and now more NW and they are close to gale force, about 25 plus in constant squalls with winds to 30 mph. That makes it impossible to keep my rhumb line and I sail about 20 degrees lower with just the tiny storm jib. After last night’s posting I talked to Herb at 23.00 hrs, still with the engine running. Shortly after, just like he promised, the winds filled in from the S.W. And they kept slowly going west. So, I could not go to sleep till it had steadied. Then this morning I was able to go wing on wing with a double reefed main and a poles out 90%, keeping good speed. Then the wind went more west and I had to drop the pole, then the storm piped up and the squalls. This morning I had a small school of about half a dozen, I believe, Mahi Mahi swim right up to the transom. They stayed there for a couple hours, darting back and forth just under the surface. Should have had a harpoon. By now they have told every fish around that the red squid I am towing is a fake. Lima beans cooked in spaghetti sauce, for dinner. Should have had a good french wine, for the occasion of Bastille Day. The cabin is all locked up to keep the spray out and it smells like a pizza parlor. It was a gorgeous clear night and I lost count of all the satellites that are up there moving fast flashing their strobes.