I am going to write this quickly because the draft coming off of the foresail is causing the galley stove to smoke inside the boat intermittently.  The thing that makes me feel nauseous more quickly than just about anything else onboard is the smell of diesel exhaust or diesel fuel.  I get frustrated with the stove because there is nothing that I can really do to stop it from smoking when the wind is blowing at this strength and we are on this tack.  The wind will eventually change strength or we will alter course or re-trim the sails and the stove will be just fine again.
    Sometimes when the wind is strong and the sails trimmed a certain way the draft will blow the flame out altogether, as happened this afternoon.  When that happens the burner is still hot and filled with diesel, giving off diesel vapor and smoke, and the stove is backdrafting, which means that the smell inevitably ends up in the galley and salon.  This is when I usually get called to re-light the stove.  Since I can't stand the smell of the diesel I will end up making dozens of trips between the salon companionway and the stove as I walk back and forth to get the stove back on and still get regular lungfuls of fresh air from on deck.
    When the stove went out today it was an hour before lunch.  Heather, our cook, quickly found me to get fire going again.  There was fish chowder on the stove that wouldn't be ready for lunch if we didn't have heat to cook with.  I could tell that her stress level went up as soon as the stove went out.  Heather is always on time with the meals and doesn't like anything to mess up the schedule.  With the chowder cooling I went to work getting our stove to re-light.  One half hour later I was satisfied that the flame was stable and Heather was able to get lunch out on time.  No real disruption was caused by the stove going out today, thankfully, but it reminded me how much this boat depends on that diesel burning contraption to keep the food and coffee coming, and how much everyone is affected when the fire goes out. Later all, Barry

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