Aviva Challenge – Follow Dee – Dee’s diary
Dawn arrived with no impact of colour apart from the standard Southern Ocean grey, but the wind had eased and we were able to shake the reefs out of the mainsail for the first time in a number of days. I also started my jobs list. The first job was to make a 2-inch hole in the bottom of the boat, no mean feat I can tell you and yes I was very nervous. I had checked with the shore support team to make sure I could reduce my chances of sinking. The speed transducer had stopped working; it had been intermittent for a while but had now given up completely. I needed to pull it from the bottom of the boat to inspect it. After I had checked the method and confirmed which transducer I needed to pull, as it sits next to the depth transducer in the hull, I set to work. There is something quite surreal about pulling something from the hull that when absent leaves a hole. I had been assured that a valve would close the hole and water would enter the hull slowly at a trickle, if I got it wrong I would have a two-inch hole and the water would enter pretty fast and fill the watertight compartment in about four hours. A relaxing thought to keep me company. I was confident and didn’t wear my mask and snorkel however I did have some butterflies in my stomach. All was well and I found the transducer had a friend attached to it. I wasn’t sure if it was animal, vegetable or mineral and not being one for little nasties, I extracted whatever it was from the paddle wheel using a screwdriver, once clear I replaced the transducer back through the hull and heh presto the speed suddenly started working again. Another job successfully completed and I wasn’t sinking!
I would have been shitting myself.
A journey well worth watching…
