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On my way down here, I
had some minor damage. The mast track that holds the fasteners to the foresail
booms has become twisted. Probably because I ignored the fact that the foresails
sometimes fluttered, which made the booms "lash out". I bought two new fasteners
to be mounted on the mast with tubular rivets. Too bad my pair of nippers can't
do the job. The rivets are 5 mm. My small pair of nippers bought at a Harald
Nyborg hardware store manages no more than 4 mm, so I need to borrow or rent a
bigger one.
I bought 25 metres of 8 mm rope. I want two ropes tied to the mainsail at all
times, on both sides. Then I can avoid having to go up the mast, when I need to
reef.
One of these days when I find a bookstore, I need a book about fish. I'm getting
fed up with eating fish I don't know the name of. They always taste good. But
are any of them unfit for human consumption? On my way down here, I first caught
one at about 50 cm in length, a yellow fish with yellow eyes. After that a blue
fish with - no, it also had yellow eyes. But the funny thing about colours is
that they disappear immediately after the fish is dead. Even the yellow in its
eyes. Then the fish almost turns silver with black eyes.
I met another Jens here, also a(/another) Dane, and told him of my experience
with the tripping line. During the following night he lost his anchor. He had
not attached a tripping line to the anchor and was drifting. Fortunately he woke
up. But without a tripping line the anchor was gone. He got hold of some divers
who gave it a go, but were unable find it. An anchor of course isn't visible on
the seabed. Especially if there is a layer of mud on top of the sand, like there
is here.
An anchor digs itself into the seabed and the chain gets covered in mud. So when
you dive for anchors, you need to make a couple of hooks to pull along behind
yourself, so you won't muddy(/stir up) the water in front of you. Jens lost his
anchor because he was using a combination of rope and chain. Something on the
seabed cut his rope in two. Taught by this experience, I bought another 10
metres of chain to make sure I'm not having any rope scraping the bottom of the
sea. At this particular anchorage, my chain has been caught in something on the
seabed twice.
I tried to locate Jens's anchor. At first by pulling a small folding anchor from
my dinghy, and after that by diving. The seabed is extremely muddy and at this
moment it is hard to know where exactly the anchor is located. |