December 5, 2009

Green man group

When we got out into the gulf, there were 4 to 6 foot rollers. Both captain dan and capt jim became seasick. You"ve heard of the blue man group. We had the green man group. They were both unable to stand watch. So much for sleeping.
By friday night we had not seen the sun. The moon. Or a star. Showers and thunderstorms. Big rollers left over. Capt ted an i alternated watches while capt dan and capt jim fed the fishes.
We also had some electrical issues with the boat. As in no electricity. The autopilot went out, the lights went off, and the bilge pump that had been frequently pumping out the leaking water.........etc.
I thought the motor wasn't charging the battery so capt ted took his multimeter down to check. He said one battery showed 8 volts and the other one 10 volts. Not good. I wasn't seasick but there was no way i could work under the back berth on the electrical system.
all these things coupled with the weather caused us to decide to turn towards key west. We were 85 miles n of the dt's and about 75 miles offshore out in the gulf.
later in the night, while cpt ted was on watch, i could feel the boat behaving strangely. When i went out i saw that we were going in circles. ted thought the autopilot was not letting him steer. He actually had the wheel hard over trying to turn farther. He thought he was in the bermuda tringle since his compass was spinning in circles.
we made it to key west. Shower and a nap.

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