As you must know by now...things are never easy on a boat...why is that? But just like the dark clouds in the picture will disappear soon and make way for sunshine again...things will work out okay in the end :) The journey is such fun...but occasionally there is need to grumble! Having enthusiastically proclaimed our total energy independence in my last post (see "the perfect couple") I must confess that I spoke too early...all systems are okay except for start up of the refrigeration unit! It worked at the time of my last post, but I must have jinxed it! When the compressor for the fridge/freezer is supposed to start, the inverter goes into overload mode and screams at us with an intermittent beep-beep...beep-beep and shuts the unit down :(. To make things worse we can not get ahold of our friend "Macho", who is a great mechanic and knows the systems on Orion like his own blood vessels (!) My captain has tirelessly worked to find a solution for the overload and eventually sought input from our good friend Richard and his friend Jorge, who is an electrician. Together they are brainstorming and eliminating possible causes. I take this opportunity to thank Richard and Jorge and my captain for helping to get the show on the road...err the sea :)...I know they will be successful. In the meantime...after Jorge determined that the start and run capacitors are not the problem...my captain has ordered some heavy gauge wire to replace the ones that are presently connected to the inverter...so we are in waiting mode...let's see how the story continues! Of course we are still at our slip at Marina de Salinas and will stay here until we are ready to leave in 10 years' time...JUST KIDDING!! Really and truly we should be out of here within the next few weeks...so keep your fingers crossed for us please and we'll keep you in the loop :)
My friend Verena Kellner (pacific sailors.com) was in Germany recently and posted this wonderful recipe...
Just what the doctor ordered for a case of "anxiety to still be on the dock" syndrome, hahahaha...CHEERS :)
(The little bags on the plate are rock sugar.)
