...it was then i noticed excess play in the tiller.a weld,the po had done, on the rudder mounted lower pintle bracket had failed,and this had created circular cracks around the upper pintle,so that when i went to pull up the rudder,and into the boat, the pintle went ker-plunck. luckily,the motor came with two mounting bolts (as well as the normal screw type clamps)that was the perfect length and diameter to replace the one that went for a swim,then the to nuts went on as a lock.then i realized that by pushing down on the tiller, held the crack on the bottom bracket, closed.so, i then filled my solar shower w/sea water and lashed it to the tiller just in side the transom,the tiller now felt like new,but still worried....the current, and the lack of enough wind to overcome it,had the boat sailing forward,but was going backward over ground.a few degrees to port,boat goes east,a few to starboard,it goes nw. nothing close to my desired sw course,though the
compass showed sw.at night i'd hove-to to sleep,sometimes it would help from loosing more ground, than not.this wnt on for a few days.gps tracking trail showed me that i'd been in the same spots before.oh joy.i was not going back to florida.finally,the wind i needed came,and i decided to to head due south to cuba,in hopes of less current.@ 30 hours brought me within view of a white blinking light.depths were getting close to anchorable.sleep.it was two long days sail to the western tip.just as i saw the light house,a heckofa north wind pushed the waves to 6'.got up on top of the rockin & rollin boat & quickly reefed,then saw a reef,went to tack,but the boom would not swing over, "huh?" yep... i put a reef tie around the shroud,in my haste. i anchored in view of a buoy in 25',the water so clear,i could see sand & sea grass.a fishing boat was near by,and hoped they would not call my location in to the man....2 b con...
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