Puddle of Jazz

The Jazz remains sick.

Yesterday it rained about every other hour, so we spent the whole day inside. Which is just as well, because Jazz is not up for a lot of moving. We thought we’d packed enough tissues for the rest of the Pacific, but now they’re back on the shopping list.

At one point we had to take in some of the genoa when the wind picked up, and we spotted ball bearings on the deck below the furler. On closer inspection, it looks like the furler drum is giving up the ghost and will need to be replaced. We’ve always hated this furler, but it’s still not great news, especially since our chances of getting a replacement before Fiji are basically nil. We are, shall we say, not super excited to have yet another expensive project with long lead-time parts. Add it to the list.

(What is a furler, you ask? It’s the thing that lets us wrap our genoa, the headsail, around the forestay. This puts the sail away, or makes the sail smaller when the wind picks up. It’s pretty much essential equipment if we want to use our most important sail. You’d think the “mainsail” would be most important, but the way this boat is designed…)

Weather today is clearer, so that’s nice. 288 miles to Apia.