Roroia Atoll

Found a little respite in the lee of an atoll to affect repairs. When pounding out the gooseneck pin, it didn’t feel good the way it was fighting coming out, so I tapped it back in, cleanup up the top gudgeon and poured epoxy into the small cavity on top of the bolt. I don’t think the epoxy will do much, but it’s something. I will keep an eye on it, and fingers crossed. Next up was to tighten the lower diagonal shrouds, a pretty simple operation. Then more epoxy and goop for some more leaks. Finally taped up the small center hatch. Checking for chafe yielded little seen.

Not seeing much of a reason not to continue the journey, so on we go to the Horn. Last night was boisterous with many 30-35 knot, scary looking clouds. Lightning, the whole deal. Sparrow handled it all like a champ, 60 degree off the wind under 3 reefs and a piece of jib unfurled. So on we go. Will be nice to escape this archipelago, with the possibility of hitting something out of my mind. Will be even nicer to have some wind aft of abeam.

I’ve seen exactly 3 vessels on 48 mile range via the AIS. Nothing on VHF. There is just no one out here.

Next bailout point, Falkland Islands. Cape Horn 4,000 miles distant. Here we go.