We had dolphins guiding us out of Cocos in the sunset, which was lovely. We had a gentle start with winds lighter than expected, but they picked up to mid thirties, so we reefed the mainsail and genoa making a lovely 8+ knots.
Now the wind had died again and we are slopping around the swell without the pleasing rush of water. The sails are slatting and our speed is down to 4-5 knots. Not at all what was forecast a few days ago. It also makes my confidently predicted passage time of 12 -13 days begin to look much too positive. The weather forecast keeps shifting, and now shows less wind for the next ten days and even a big windless hole down near Mauritius.
The freezer had been getting steadily warmer, so yesterday I finally got down to investigate, pulling off pieces to find no cooling water flow. Eventually found that barnacles were blocking the inlet sea cock, and poked them out, but that still didn't get water through to the pump. More pipes off until I found one blocked by barnacles and cleared that. I still had to suck sea water through all the tubes to get it to the pump, which is better than siphoning petrol but still a bit nauseating! Anyway, despite imperfect cooling water flow the freezer is back down to frozen again today.
Now we just have to find and remove the slight electrical current leak, which comes and goes in a mysterious way. My heart sinks every time that red light comes on, and lifts when it shows green.
Last night was wonderful moonlight. The AIS showed cargo traffic on a reciprocal course just north of us heading for S. Korea. The three single handed yachts clustered about 5 miles south of us, and this morning we spoke briefly on the VHF with Wolfgang and Klaus, while Jackie was presumably off watch and asleep.
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