Monday 18th April 2011

7.30am
Couldn't sleep properly after getting back to bunk just before dawn. Rolling had started to increase and the thought of needing to see to the seawater pump impellor while in calm conditions got me up to get on with the job.

While lying half awake, it had suddenly occurred to me I'd not mentioned anything about the actual deployment of the drogue overnight Saturday into Sunday, as winds and seas were increasing.... I started by dropping the mains'l, having then to tie it in, of course, - that took a time and some effort (needs a better system!), but I'd taken in the third reef in readiness a short time before. Then we ran off downwind and reduced the headsail to nothing, before deploying the drogue - that part was the easiest! It is always stowed 'ready to go' flaked in its bag held on the port quarter steelwork with the bridle already attached to the strong points on each quarter at the base of the steelwork. All I had to do was to pull out the chain, which acts as a weight at its far end to keep it under the waves, from its own pocket outside the bag and throw it overboard, under the steelwork - it all then ran out nicely with very little help from me.

As soon as we had headed downwind, it felt calmer, that's normal, but once the drogue was deployed, it definitely stopped us slewing about as we were picked up by the waves. We simply lift up and down, as the waves pass under us from directly astern, and our orientation to the waves is always the same - the bridle and line see to that. When I go into the cockpit to see how things are, I get just very slightly splashed, on occasion, from a tumbling wave crest as it passes beside the boat.

2pm
On with engine/impellor job.... Moving the heavy steps in the motion caused by the big swell was difficult - I didn't want to damage anything, including me!
The wooden panel under the steps, needing to be removed for easy access, has been sticking of late - I had great trouble, with the swell not helping, getting it to slide up in order to remove it... (I later cleaned the edges and smeared them with Teflon grease - that made it far easier to replace.)

Once I had access, taking off the impellor cover, and catching the seawater running out, was the easy part! On close inspection, I found the impellor was perfect - no hint of damage ..... I decided not to replace it, just greased cover etc on putting back together. (Please, don't email me telling me I should have done so...!!! If I'd had the slightest doubt, I would have done...) The oil was re-checked - level was fine, as were the coolant level and seawater filter. Went to start the motor - no lights on panel ... went to use switch on start motor - nada! ..what??? Eventually discovered main motor switch in aft cabin had been knocked by something in the big seas we've been getting - and was in 'Off' position.... After that, motor started and seemed fine but can't test motive power or if prop OK until we're off the drogue, clearly. Revved up in neutral and in gear - seemed OK... & water is coming out from exhaust OK too. So I'm hopeful..... io./\
an email from Clive later, telling me to check the gear oil - important, he said... And when I finally get to use the motor, keep an eye on levels every two hours... He's worried the engine might have overheated...

Midday position: Close to yesterday's - we made 11 miles, away from Cape Town, between the two midday positions!! Pressure 1022 hPa.

8pm
Wind is 45kt, gusting 49kt - much stronger conditions than I was expecting. I'm glad I have the drogue deployed in the big (5m or so) seas being generated. Wind is from ENE, our bows are pointing dead downwind but a current effect is causing us to drift SSW, rather than WSW, as one would expect. We're making 2.6kt SOG, with 2kt of boatspeed. It's been raining for some time, having been grey all day, with intermittent rain... the wind is neither howling nor whistling in the rigging - but something in between the two..... quite musical, in fact. Every so often, we move with a wave and hear it passing - roaring, swishing or hissing if it tumbles, ....

I'm replying to emails and writing this log report, partly to take my mind off the noisy conditions. The vane repair will have to wait - I have yet to cut the batten to size, to use the two lengths as 'splints' over the broken tube section, wired in place... My mind is outside....

9.30pm
Wind still around 45-47 kt... boat speed around 2kt, SOG 2.5-3kt. Pressure 1011 hPa. Grib files have pressure right (centre of Low supposed to be at 996 hPa) but way underestimate wind strength - giving 27kt, not the 47 kt we're getting! Expecting these conditions to continue until near midday tomorrow.

10pm
Just got hit three times in quick succession by breaking waves - each time, water in cockpit and a lot of water down below via channels of sliding hatch ... I got a bit wet, saved the computer and the floor is soaking... but otherwise the boat is OK. By the time the third one came, I'd placed the clear hanging screen by the chart table to protect it from water from the companionway area - better late than never - we could get more hits.... We've drifted so far S since last night, we're now only 12 miles from the latitude of midday Saturday....

Thursday 21st April 2011 (Maundy Thursday)

Trying to get East asap to get away from those nasty, deep Lows regularly heading this way from the Rio de la Plata (Uruguay/Brazil) area...

Has been a lovely day here -sunny, warm, calm, with slight swell from SW .... blue, sunny sky.... Still lots of shearwaters and occasional albatross and spectacled petrels... Nice to be able to organize boat after rough weather ... and have good meals! Would have been nice to have had enough wind for sailing ... but engine power (I've calculated I've enough in main diesel tank still for 5 days - and jerry cans would give another 4-5 days of ambling!) means no power worries... and lots of hot water... (Solar panels were putting in 15A when engine was off today, I saw!)

Cleared lines in cockpit - what a mess! ..... from heeling in big waves and seas breaking into there... Reckon if there hadn't been my Delta drogue with 200 m of line in bag tied down on top of floorboarding there, the boards would have been washed away - clearly lifted, with seawater in heeled cockpit, because lines got underneath boards, despite weight of wet bag. Also re-packed (after dried in sun) JSD into bag on port quarter - hopefully won't need again - but you never know! It's all 'ready to go' again... Lots of pausing to enjoy watching birds - they've adopted us, I think! Keep resting, often in a group, in water nearby. Beautiful sunset...

Wind has gone NE tonight (furled in genoa earlier ... wind ahead and too light to sail in) - so will look forward to stronger N winds tomorrow - to sail, hopefully!
Lovely bright but hazy moon, shining on very smooth sea surface with long, slow, slight swell.

TIME: 2011/04/21 14:00 UTC
LATITUDE: 39-05.82S LONGITUDE: 030-29.06W
COURSE: 101T SPEED: 5.5
WIND_SPEED: 4 WIND_DIR: NW
SWELL_DIR: SW SWELL_HT: 2.0M
CLOUDS: 60% BARO: 1023 TREND: -1

24hr DMG 116ml. Distance to Cape Town: 2351ml

Tuesday 19th April (Day 3 lying to drogue!)

6.30am
First light a short while ago... still dark an hour ago with bright full moon in near-clear sky. Just had another breaker hit us - water into cockpit and onto hatch area - so lots of water yet again, down below - but protective plastic screen beside chart table doing a good job there..! Can feel acceleration as waves hit, but then drogue holds us back as wave passes under us...

Seas are forecast to increase some more over today, before subsiding - so might have to wait another day or so before retrieving drogue safely and moving away....

Position now is 6.6 ml WSW of noon position on Saturday, just after engine problem occurred. We're drifting SE at 2.5kt in NW 37kt wind

Back to my bunk for some more sleep....

..................................................................................
Midday position/weather report (1400GMT):

LATITUDE: 38-55.87S LONGITUDE: 033-11.10W
COURSE: 105T SPEED: 2.0
WIND_SPEED: 33 WIND_DIR: 290T/WNW
SWELL_DIR: W SWELL_HT: 5.0M
CLOUDS: 0% BARO: 1007 TREND: 0 SEA_TEMP: 22.0C

Drogue still out.Wind 35-45 o'night. Hit by breakers often; 24hr DMG 46ml; Cape Town 2477ml
....................................................................................

1pm
I'd just finished mopping up and drying off the main cabin floor and woodwork - when we got hit by another breaker - water everywhere again, down from the edges of the sliding hatch, as usual....grrr!!! Wind has been up around 30-35knots all morning and seas around 5m - probably more - it's so difficult to judge ... but they're BIG!! Scattered cloud now, but blue sky for quite a time earlier - always nice to see the sun! (12.7A coming into batteries from solar panels!)

We are actually further E now than we've been before on this passage - hurrah! In fact, Saturday's noon position is just 15ml NW of us at this moment... (Meaning DMG over 3 days is 15ml!!) The wind is now from W and should back more - so we'll end up heading NE- NNE eventually (o'night Wed) - and after that we'll be in the middle of a 'no-wind' high pressure area ... so I hope to find my engine & prop both working fine then!

6.20pm

Just got dark... Wind blowing 33 knots and still being hit by some big waves, although had no water down for a time - but I'm not drying up too thoroughly until I'm sure I'm not wasting my efforts! Time to cook - a 'proper' meal would be nice.... Heading NNE now...

It will be so good to get going again - we've been lying to the drogue since just before midnight Saturday, rolling around ever since... nearly three days, so far... and another to go, possibly.

Wednesday 20th April 2011

8.30am
A beautiful, sunny day! Pressure up to 1024 (and looks set to stay high for several days...), wind dropped right down to S 7-8 kt this morning, swell still up around 3m from SSW, so still a bit rolly. About to retrieve series drogue after three and a half days! Have been drying floor etc and getting breakfast in the meantime...

Midday
Drogue retrieved after one and a half hours - lots of snags to overcome - needs a fairlead of some kind at stern to avoid same problems in future & make retrieval simpler and quicker. Using a retrieval line already attached to bridle end was definitely a good idea - worked well for getting first section in, so retrieving main line with little cones on was made easier. (Line with cones on went around winch easily) Bad news is I found the windsteering rudder had come off the rudder post ... Difficult to believe, since I know I secured the pin in place through both rudder and post with a strong R-clip in Ushuaia.

TIME: 2011/04/20 14:00(UTC)
LATITUDE: 38-41.67S LONGITUDE: 032-55.34W
COURSE: 102T SPEED: 4.7
WIND_SPEED: 4 WIND_DIR: NE
SWELL_DIR: WSW SWELL_HT: 3.0M
CLOUDS: 0% BARO: 1023 TREND: -1
SEA_TEMP: 33.0C

24hr DMG: 19ml. Distance to Cape Town: 2468ml

Relieved to find motor worked - and boat moved! - without a hitch ... Clearly whatever had caused the problem last Saturday was no longer there. 'Nereida' has a good rope/cable cutter just forward of the prop - could well have helped...!

Evening
Been a lovely sunny day - but only 3-5 knots of wind since this morning.... Likely to continue for 2-3 days, possibly... So motoring direct for Cape Town .... and clearing up/drying out down below. No problems with prop or engine since moving off! Oodles of power, hot water and hot air - to dry out carpets etc.

Was nice to see several albatross over the day, keeping the usual Great shearwaters company, with several Spectacled petrels also .... They were enjoying the fair-sized seas, all day long.

Website 'blog' giving problems - so I'm posting, in the meantime, to www.mailasail.com/nereida (Day 15 onward...). Position reports still being posted OK to website, as usual via links on 'Travels' page. Positions should also be on Yotreps at www.pangolin.co.nz , as back-up, as well as on Shiptrak...

Sunday 17th April (Palm Sunday)

5.45pm - Sun has set - and moon rose a short while ago! Silver full moon rising as glorious golden/red sun sets on opposite horizon, with fluffy pnk clouds all around .... petrels, shearwaters... and two albatross!... circling around over still-big seas.

Unfurled some genoa to see what effect it would have - not a lot, against pull of drogue!! The drogue is definitely keeping our stern pointing to the waves and stopping us from slewing around as the waves pass beneath us, very occasionally splashing a little water over the stern from a tumbling crest.

With the wind down to below 20 knots, I'd have liked to have got sailing, but the seas from the S are still at 4-5 m. I'd want to head E, but that would put the seas beam on - not a good idea until they've lain down a bit, I feel... Also, another quite deep Low is forecast to come past tomorrow giving more strong winds, very close behind this one, so I'm thinking to leave the drogue out until that one has also passed by - I've jobs to get on with, in the meantime, while things are reasonably calm, although very rolly.

My use of fretsaw blades to support the mended break on the wind steering vane tubing did not meet with approval - not rigid enough, was the comment from John Curry - so I'm going to cut up a piece of sail batten to use instead. And I've not changed the impellor on the engine yet, although I've turned off the intake seacock and opened up to give good access .... I'm not sure where today went, but it has, although I did need to take a nap this afternoon - maybe to make up for a very disturbed and possibly stressful night, with lots more gazing at frequently-downloaded, updated grib files and checking of the state of wind and seas. Certainly it's been difficult even to sit safely at times, let alone move about, with all the rolling about.... but I've also felt very safe with the drogue out, although it's frustrating not to be getting anywhere...we've even gone backwards a bit!!

I've emailed Clive, of Southern Marine in CT, who replaced my engine there last year, to see if he has any useful suggestions. With impellor changed, oil and coolant levels OK, seawater filter clean and no obvious other item looking damaged,I'll start the engine in the morning to see how it goes....

Today's report:

TIME: 2011/04/17 14:00
LATITUDE: 38-18.92S LONGITUDE: 033-17.22W
COURSE: 350T SPEED: 1.1
WIND_SPEED: 24 WIND_DIR: S
SWELL_DIR: S SWELL_HT: 5.0M
CLOUDS: 50% BARO: 1015 TREND: 3 SEA_TEMP: 20.0C
COMMENT: Drogue deployed - centre of Low passed over at ~0700Z:1006hPa,37-40kt

A beautiful night ... bright moon, a few cumulus around, lots of stars, gettig much calmer, although still plenty of rolling about...

Saturday 16th March 2011

6.30pm - Just been chatting to Milo on 'Artemisia' - nice to have a radio chat from time to time! Gave her my news as I sipped a mug of tea and had my last hot cross bun .....
very little wind since 14 kt overnight reduced to 5-7kt Easterly over most of day so making only 1-2 knots on a close reach a lot of the time, sometimes N, NE or E and sometimes S, depending on the wind direction (S didn't last for long - E, possibly NE or N, are my preferred headings just now);
lots of our usual bird companions, including 2-3 yellow-nosed albatross and a Royal (been a long time since I saw one of those - fabulous...!);
had a lovely shower and washed some clothes - with oodles of hot water from motoring in near-flat calm ...... `until, at 11am, I heard a 'clonk' and motor suddenly lost revs and power.....
So no motor-power from now on... just sail-power - but that's OK - we're a sailing yacht, after all... Only down side is that it means a longer time taken to Cape Town, since I shan't be able to motor through the calms any more...

I can't believe this is happening a second time....!! The last time I came S to Cape Town (from Lanzarote in December 2009), as I waited, becalmed, with Table Mt in clear view for two days with no wind, I found my engine wouldn't start when I checked it with a view to berthing in the marina to do the rigging repairs I needed - so when the wind did finally get up (strongly and gustily, off Table Mt!), I had to sail into the harbour and on around to the marina entrance, where I was met by the Royal Cape YC dory and taken to a berth.... Looks as though we'll be having a repeat of that this time around.... (Got a bit fraught last time because I was fast-tacking to make the narrow inner entrance as all the Wednesday night racers were heading out...! Heard a few yells ... and they weren't all saying "Welcome to Cape Town, Nereida!" as one did!)

I've checked oil level and water filter ... oil was definitely low & needed topping up. water filter was cleaned but looked OK. Tomorrow, if it's not too rough, I'll check/change the seawater impellor (I've plenty of spares).

Wind is on the increase - now, 8pm, it's reached 17kt, and it's got rather bumpy with us banging into the seas as we head NNE. My plan of y'day might not happen since winds don't look as strong as forecast then... We'll see how the night works out... Max winds/ minimum pressure are expected around 'oh-so-dark' 4am... typical!

Last night a ship crossed our path well ahead ... The good news there is I saw it on my AIS display and they heard me on VHF ... the bad news is they didn't see us on their AIS screen, as they should have.

No contact with the Pacific Seafarers Net - seems I'm out of reach of them now, although I'm reaching Florida and the US East coast generally, around their sunset , I think, at around 2300GMT - although faint at times. Checked in with the M.M. Net.

Time for my meal, dressed for action in my 'foulies', while I keep an eye on the wind strength - could be a long night...

Today's report (see 'Travels' page for links to maps):

TIME: 2011/04/16 14:00
LATITUDE: 38-47.38S LONGITUDE: 033-15.78W
COURSE: 090T SPEED: 2.5
WIND_SPEED: 7 WIND_DIR: SE
SWELL_DIR: W SWELL_HT: 3.5M
CLOUDS: 100% BARO: 1023 TREND: -1
SEA_TEMP: 20.0C

DMG 105 ml. 2482 ml to CT

Friday 15th April 2011

A gorgeous day of downwind sailing (and singing in the cockpit!) in 20knot winds .... wam sea (18C!!), sunny blue sky, ... white-caps on 3-4 m swell on our port quarter - not a problem.... I'm actually considering discarding a fleece layer and maybe even my thick ski socks....! We've had a few Great shearwaters keeping us company as usual all day, on & off, ... a Spectacled petrel , ... a little storm petrel flitted by, close to the surface... Even a solitary albatross was spotted soaring in the distance, long dark wings held out stiffly from its white body... and then an all-dark Great-winged Petrel flew by, making me dive for the bird book to check what it was!! They breed in May on the Tristan da Cunha group of islands - which my path to Cape Town will possibly pass close by soon after Easter.

This morning, I was able to act as a relay, for a change, during the S.African M.M. Net - Sam, ZS1SAM, in Simonstown, could not hear Greg on 'Alcidae3', so I relayed his position and weather (25-30 kt of S wind!) to Sam. Greg's wind (he's WSW of Cape Town now) shows why I'll eventually have to aim for Cape Town from the SW - the prevailing strong winds are from the S. Otherwise it can be it impossible to lay a course to Cape Town - people regularly end way up the coast, in fact, and have trouble getting back down to Cape Town - the prevailing N-flowing current not helping either!

The 'Saturday low' I mentioned yesterday is now quite clearly getting right in my way as a nasty gale, beginning over Saturday night and lasting well into Sunday ('gale' = F8 ... 34-40kt, very likely to gust to much more) .... followed by another, hopefully less intense, Low on Tues/Wed. I've spent a long time, as usual, studying the grib (weather) files to decide on my options. It doesn't look as though I'll be able to avoid the very strong winds over Sat/Sun, whatever direction I head in now - I simply can't sail fast enough for that! So I've decided the safest thing is to plan to deploy the Jordan series drogue while running downwind, after the expected light winds of Sat morning start increasing from the S-SSE. That should keep me drifting downwind at 2-3 knots for the duration of the gale - so I'll end up heading ENE having been taken around 3/4 of a circle by changing winds....
WINDS: ESE - ENE - WNW - WSW - SW
DRIFT DIRECTION: WNW .... WSW .... ESE .... ENE ... NE

It will be interesting to see where I end up, compared with where I started!

Hopefuly, the drogue will work as well as I keep hearing it does! I'll drop the main when in fairly light conditions, when it will be easy, and head downwind for a bit under headsail(s) alone until the wind starts rising, when I'll furl them in, ready for deployment- which can be done early... Time spent with the drogue out is not an issue, .... safety is!! It will be interesting for me to see how deploying the drogue works out. Will it be as comfortable in a gale/big seas as I keep hearing people claim?? And will retrieving it be as easy as I've heard it can be?

Today's report:
TIME: 2011/04/15 14:00 LATITUDE: 40-10.71S LONGITUDE: 034-38.39W
COURSE: 045T SPEED: 6.0 WIND_SPEED: 16 WIND_DIR: W
SWELL_DIR: W SWELL_HT: 3.0M SWELL_PER: 6
CLOUDS: 70% BARO: 1013 TREND: 1
SEA_TEMP: 16.0C
COMMENT: DMG 134 ml. 2532 ml to CT. Hazy sun thro' thin o'cast,clear in SW.

5pm Swell 4m, on port quarter... getting rolly... speed down from consistent 6-7 kt earlier to 5kt.... sun close to setting ... just a few clouds.. occasional shearwater... Time to orgainize early meal while still some light .. then back to windvane repair - little done so far today -had broken glass to clear up -demonstrating why glass shouldn't be on board ... 'unbreakable' becomes hundreds of sharp shards when it breaks...!

Thursday 14th April

9:30am
It was so beautiful last night! I went on deck to adjust sails with wind having veered and increased a little ..... the stars overhead were so many and so brilliant.... and equally brilliant points of light kept appearing in our wake as we sailed nicely along in the dark, with the moon having set behind the low clouds which were all around on the horizon.

I've not long finished with the morning radio Nets - S.African M.M. Net and Patagonia Net ... Had problems with making contact, so each time needed a relay - Canadian Greg (VE0MUR), about 400 ml WSW of Cape Town on 'Alcidae3', relayed to SAMM Net and Swedish Milo, heading N about 50 ml off the S. Brazil coast on 'Artemisia 2', who I met in Ushuaia, along with her friend Teresa, relayed to the Patagonia Net. Last night, despite many attempts, I couldn't make contact with the Pacific Seafarers Net because of too much noise on frequency - not even a peep did I hear from them - so I emailed my position etc to them - to be put on Shiptrak, hopefully.

Midday

The sky has cleared to give bright sunshine - it's actually feeling a bit warm! But we're close-reaching, so it's getting bumpy... seas aren't so very big but we're heading into them and the wind has increased to 15 kt just now...

A major concern is the weather - as always!! Not only is there a deep Low, S of us now and headed SE over the next two days (which is reason I've been heading NE - trying to avoid worst of its very strong winds and heavy seas) - another Low is heading SE towards us from Brazil, getting close on Saturday, so we're sandwiched between them, unable easily to avoid the second one....! Added to that, there's another Low forecast, expected to give 7m (23ft) swells by Wednesday at 40S ... so it would be good to be N of that lot. (LATER: Just downloaded more grib files - showing that by keeping on a NE heading, we'll avoid almost all problems ... good news, but the situation changes so often, there are no guarantees.)

Winds around Lows here go clockwise, so if we're S of a Low and wanting to head E, we'd be headed. Tropical depressions and cyclones - the same... The rule here in the S hemisphere to avoid them if S of them is to 'put the wind on your port quarter' - that heads you away from its centre and the stronger winds.

1400GMT DMG 128 n.ml. ( Distance to Cape Town 2624 n.ml.)

10pm

Wind is still not too bad - around 20kt from NW - so not a problem... Tried videoing this aftenoon - not a bird in sight, of course! But lovely sailing in sunshine - very pleasant! I'm keeping fingers crossed that wind/swell won't be too bad at all and the Low on Saturday doesn't look as though it's going to create problems - so long as we keep on this course roughly for a few days more - then we can turn East..

Wednesday 13th April 2011

Another relaxed day from point of view of sailing , although as wind veered and we became close-hauled, had to take in 2nd reef to avoid unnecessary heeling - but speed has been quite good over most of the day and it's been nice just to be bouncing about gently, all day long, with occasional slightly greater heeling - nothing much at all!

Overnight yesterday, fog came down again, but eventually lifted over this morning and it became quite pleasant... but fog is lurking again now, with nightfall.

Delighted finally to have seen a solitary Spectacled petrel - I've been on the lookout for one, since they're endemic to Tristan da Cunha which is their breeding ground, and when a dark petrel came by this morning, I watched it for a time to see if it was the usual White-chinned or not - and was rewarded with seeing the white over its beak and white circles around its eyes - unmistakeable! It seemed to be keeping company with several Great shearwaters - they've been around all day, swooping close, on fixed, straight wings and occasionally landing in the water for a rest. Great excitement at one point when clearly there must have been a shoal of tiny fish or something similar - they landed in the sea and kept picking at the surface. Hardly any other birds, except for a few prions for a short while.

Chatted to Steve, VA7SKM, on 'Silas Crosby' at Pacific Seafarers Net time - they're still managing to keep in contact with me, which is really nice - a lot of very friendly people! Only problem was having to turn off all instruments to hear clearly - gets interesting when the autopilot gets turned off for a short while to hear what someone is saying, ... and then the instruments hurriedly turned on again to get the AP working to get us back on course for a short while - on, off, on ,off... and so it went on, until I got fed up and let us go hove to until I'd finished on the radio ... Conditions being fairly calm, it wasn't too myuch of a problem & we didn't lose much distance, talking for just a short while...!! What I was interested in was that Steve, who's on passage from Easter Island (horrible anchorage...!) to Valdivia, Chile, had deployed his Jordan series drogue in 35-40 knot winds, with seas beginning to break (he likened the conditions to those when I was hove to and got knocked down), and he was delighted with its performance.... and how easy he found it to tretrieve... all good news! Had some water get into the cockpit, but very little. They had a good night's sleep!

I finally got around to sorting out the wind vane repair- the good news is that it has broken off below where the solid insert finishes, so there's something to hang onto - the insert juts out beyond the break... I got out the electric drill and managed, with great difficulty, to make small holes to take steel wire.... below the break (into solid metal), well above the break (in the hollow tubing) and through both the tubing and solid insert, when the two were held in place together (all far easier said than done...!) I managed to break three drills - in fact, the first two holes I tried to drill both ended up with broken drills stuck in them and so that was total wasted time and effort - at which point I decided it was tea-time... and time to check sails ... and take photos of the work effort... and of the birds flying very close to us... and finally returned ... to break yet another drill ... which stuck in the hole...!! Chinese quality? I'd obviously bought a bad batch of 3mm drills ..... grrr!!! The first two holes had to be abandoned, but I'd managed to drill cleanly the two top and bottom holes - but only after I'd got out a clamp to use on the steps (bouncing in swell does not help drilling difficult metal with fine drills in unsupported work....!) The final hole had been successfully made but I decided it needed cleaning out and enlarging more - which is when the last drill broke in the hole - but actually no big deal since it's now acting as a pin... Trouble now is that I've to spend quite a time filing down the several sharp edges and bits of drill sticking out, before I can replace the cover over the tubing, having wired the top and bottom holes together for extra security. With the broken drill 'pin' in place in the middle hole, I don't think I need the splints I thought I was going to have to put in place along the tube, across the break.

Today's position/weather report at 1400GMT was as follows:

TIME: 2011/04/13 14:00
LATITUDE: 43-13.00S; LONGITUDE: 040-56.00W
COURSE: 065T; SPEED: 5.0
WIND_SPEED: 16; WIND_DIR: NNW
SWELL_DIR: NNW; SWELL_HT: 2.0M
CLOUDS: 90%; BARO: 1007; TREND: 1
SEA_TEMP: 15.0C

24hr DMG: 117 n.ml. Distance to Cape Town (Gt circle route): 2720 n.ml.

The strong winds are expected to arrive tomorrow later in the day and increase into Friday, with the swell following on behind and getting quite bad (up to 6m/20ft?) .... so I might yet deploy the drogue.... and feel I'd like to just to see how it goes.... I supppose, as in all things, once you're familiar with doing something, it loses its 'worry factor'. Steve also mentioned that people he knows have deployed theirs eleven times - and now do so far sooner than they used to - well before they get scared, as he put it!!

Time to eat and do some more filing down on that vane .....

9.30am
I poked my head out to check on deck - an amazing sight ... A group of EIGHT or more Great shearwaters were nearby! I was delighted! Never expected to see so many at one time - thought they weren't birds that normally flock together..... wrong!

Just finished with morning radio Nets and checking emails. Contacted by John, ZD9GI, on Gough Island (UK territory) - a tiny speck in the S. Atlantic which I'd assumed until recently was deserted - but it has at least one person living there (and presumably more!): John is the radio operator there and was helping out on the S.African.M.M. Net - Sam, ZS1SAM, (and Graham, ZS2ABK) are both having trouble hearing me, so John is acting as a relay to them, to pass on my position daily. Similarly, Wolfgang, who runs the daily Patagonia Net, is getting difficult to communicate with, so Ian on 'Persimmon', who left P.Williams yesterday to head W up the Beagle Channel, headed for the Magellan Strait W end, relayed to him -we can just about hear each other OK.

1400GMT/11am LT
Daily position&weather report logged over usual late breakfast (!) and posted to website (via Winlink helper Lor, W3QA). Today's was as follows:

TIME: 2011/04/12 14:00
LATITUDE: 43-29.64S; LONGITUDE: 041-49.19W
COURSE: 067T; SPEED: 5.3
WIND_SPEED: 16; WIND_DIR: WNW
SWELL_DIR: NW; SWELL_HT: 3.5M; SWELL_PER: 6
CLOUDS: 95%; BARO: 1009; TREND: 0
AIR_TEMP: 18.0C; SEA_TEMP: 14.0C

24hr DMG: 146 n.ml. Distance to Cape Town (Gt circle route): 2817 n.ml.

Swell: NW 3-4 m - no tumbling crests and well-spaced, so it's much smoother with very small wind waves on top..... occasionally, larger ones come along, .... so just some reasonably gentle rocking & rolling (more like bouncing!), without any of the sudden heeling or being tossed around, nor crashing noises!! Humidity way up at 80% - cool air feels damp and everything in cockpit - surfaces, winches etc - covered in drops or film of seawater... air 18C in cabin - probably same as outside. Sun struggling through thin cloud cover.

6pm
With darkness falling half an hour ago, so did the fog! No surprise, it's been so clammy today... It's not so very thick - I can see the waxing moon through it.

It's been such a calm day, I've been able to relax and catch up with things - as well as doing the usual extra clearing up that seems to be needed after a rough day at sea. But the vane needing mending is looking at me, wondering why I've not fixed it yet. That's looking hopeful - tomorrow's priority... I've had continually to trim the sails and let out mains'l reefs, unfurl the genoa and then the stays'l, as the wind slowly died down and veered over the day. We've managed to keep going at over 4.5 kt, presently making around 5 kt in 10 kt of NW wind.

Weather outlook is an ever-present concern, taking up a lot of time, even with the excellent help I'm getting. With a deep Low coming this way from S. America in a day or so, and High pressure just to N of us, it's a juggling game trying to be in the right place so as either not to get clobbered by really strong winds or to get caught, finding the High has extended to right on top of us... Heading ENE, as we are now, will hopefully avoid the worst of the Low, expected to pass S of this area on Thursday, overnight into Friday... but by Saturday, we're likely to find ourselves becalmed, or nearly so! It's the usual sequence of 'lots followed by little'... typical of this region of the S. Atlantic/Southern Ocean (very roughly 30-50S), as I first discovered just over a year ago as I came S towards S. Africa in December from the Canaries. Quite different from the predictable Trade Winds sailing I'd got used to, where a weather forecast was almost unnecessary!

8.25pm Just trying to post this - wind has dropped to 6 kt and boat speed is down to 3kt. But seafog has gone and moon is shining brightly......

9pm Wind veered & is up to 10 kt... We'remaking 5.5 kt in NNW wind... But still not managing to connect to send this.... (distance from shore station is greater now...)

Monday 11th April 2011

I've spent long periods of time in the companionway, watching the seas approaching us... and thoroughly enjoying the many birds around us - of all kinds. Just about all the ones I've seen over the past few days seem to be with us today in numbers - the big flock of prions, pair of Great Shearwater, Atlantic and other petrels & the occasional albatross (becoming far less frequent now). The ocean scene in rough weather is awesome - and I never fail to be fascinated by it.

The sky cleared nicely around midday, but is now very cloudy again - but it's been light cloud, so the sun has been visible most of the day. Sea temperature is just under 15C (59F) and the air feels relatively warm - I've not felt the need to put on any heating for quite a time. (Whereas I heard on the Patagonia Net this morning that it was snowing in Puerto Williams!)

The wind slowly increased from NNW 12 knots yesterday evening, when we were beam reaching pleasantly under full canvas at 6.6 kt, to NW 20kt by midnight, when I took in a reef with the Southern Cross overhead. Just before 6am, as the first hint of light was appearing in the E, with a bright Venus high above, the wind was 25kt or more and we were making 7.5 kt but heeling rather, so I reduced canvas again & our speed stayed good. ... By 8am, wind was up to NW 33kt and seas were knocking us about - and it's been around 30kt all day, with the pressure continuing to fall from a high of 1017 midday yesterday to its present 1006 hPa. The wind generator has had no problem keeping us well-charged in these conditions and the 24hr DMG of 152 ml reflects the good sailing we've had since yesterday.

The seas increased with the wind and have been easily 4m, sometimes 5m, all day, frequently catching us and tossing us around. It's a time when it's best not be caught beam on to them because then we're laid 'on our ears', often staggering and taking a time to recover. Better to get the seas well onto the quarter - then we rise up over the waves and surf nicely as they pass under. I changed course slightly, trying to make that happen. But watching the waves, I've seen two or three big ones come fairly close together - so if we're off-balance still from one, the next is likely to catch us even more. Also the sea is really rough and 'lumpy' - with quite big wind waves added in to the swell, sometimes coming from different directions. Overnight and tomorrow, the wind should be abating, so things should get calmer slowly, although the seas, which get up so quickly in strong winds, always take a time to lie down.

I've made a lot of thick bean and barley soup - plenty for several days - so that's on the menu for tonight....

Sunday 10th April

Midday
What a gorgeous day!! Blue sky,WARM sunshine (!), still 3m swell or more, so still a bit rolly, but gone are the rough seas and strong winds of yesterday night. Pressure is well up at 1017 hPa, compared with 989 hPa on leaving the Falklands last Tuesday - the big down side is that the wind (from dead astern) has dropped to 6 knots .... We were goosewinged for a time this morning, making 4knots SOG with plenty of canvas up, but as the wind got less, speed dropped eventually to 2.5 kt SOG - so..... motor on (not a problem on this passage...!)

I've been cleaning & clearing up, finding plenty of 'spring-cleaning' to do - amazing how, when the sun shines and things calm down, there seems to be so much crying out for some TLC. I also had a thoroughly relaxed breakfast, with fresh-brewed coffee and put some dried beans, barley and lentils in to soak for a soup tomorrow.

Hope to get stronger winds by this evening or overnight. I'm keeping a constant eye on the wind strength so I can cut the motor as soon as we can sail in peace and quiet again. (Must also keep an eye on fuel levels - can't motor too often in a 3000 mile, 4-week passage!) By Thursday/Friday, things could well have changed drastically - grib files are showing a nasty-looking low, forecast to form W of here and head directly this way - I could yet be deploying my (new!) Jordan series drogue, which is all set to go.... But that's several days away and too far to worry about for now... it can all change...

Noticeably, most of the birds have gone - they definitely seem to revel in strong conditions, using the wind and updraughts of the waves to good advantage. But I got excited to see a good-sized all-brown bird with a lot of white on its underwings - a Sooty Shearwater (came by yesterday also) and, also this morning, a very distinctive, dark-capped Great Shearwater with a white band on its upper rump. Other (solitary) birds seen this morning: a small white-rumped storm petrel darting about and a yellow-nosed albatross gliding nearby. The prions that came by in such numbers yesterday look as though they were probably Antarctic prions.

3pm LT
Cloud coming over, but still sunny, ... occasional birds.... Checked around on deck, one of the short preventer lines looking slightly chafed - must keep an eye on that.. have another ready to use. Downloaded a 24hr Chilean weather fax and current satelllite picture - nothing untoward.

Been wondering how ever I could possibly mend the broken windvane frame ... looking in my spares drawers, I spotted a packet of spare fretsaw blades - maybe 3-4 of those, held in place around the broken section with steel wire, threaded around the tubing (and through the cover), to support it, will work?? Maybe also drill a hole through tubing above & below break, to hold together with steel wire first... Sounds possible .... I can only try and see...

Writing this over a mug of tea and a buttered, toasted, hot cross bun - a very British thing from the very British Falkland Islands!! (How the Argentinians can possibly believe they have any claim to those islands defies belief - they've only ever been even partly in control for two years in total over the last two centuries, in between the mostly British (and minimally French in W. Falkland) control of the islands over those years.. before which they were deserted. There are families of British Falklanders who go back several generations.)

Wind still only 8 knots from astern....

4pm Just checked wind again ... 10knots from N - .....WHAT? .... Unbelievable ... we were on Standby and going backward!! ... How/why did that happen?... (heard a tiny beep a short while ago, wondered what it was...) ..... Now back on AP - gone around once, but only lost 1/2 a mile - glad I was right by control when that happened, to correct it instantly.... worrying.... Have put us on 'Track' to the next WP (300 ml away) to make control more positive...

Wind is increasing ...NW 3-4 (~11 kt), so should be a beam reach....hopefully, we can get sailing again....!

.... Oh well,.... false alarm! Wind back down again .. but now motor-sailing with full genoa & stays'l ... Great shearwater and white-chinned petrel kept coming close, circling boat - they were clearly interested in the sails ... Yellow-nosed albatross in near distance ... SO much bigger than the prions also flying around. Felt very pleasant to be playing around with the sails in relatively calm 15C water with the sun shining and in fairly warm air - almost like a summer Sunday afternoon on the Solent!! Except there's a 3m NW swell combined with a similar-sized SW swell - no wonder we get knocked about from time to time...!

Time to post this and get cooking - potato, onion and eggs - Spanish tortilla tonight, followed by apple...

Saturday 9th April 2011

6.30am Dawn is breaking with streaks of pink cloud in the East.... Venus no longer seen. Big flock of dainty, fast-moving prions, swooping around en masse. A solitary albatross. A few Atlantic petrels. Seas still up but nearer 3.5m, rather than the 4-5m of yesterday morning.

Still heading NNE to avoid worst of swell to SE but very soon (at 44S) will turn East, heading towards Cape Town more directly for a time ... until next weather system moves north into my path...! The depressions never stop coming - every 3 days or so, a new one turns up. Only question is how far N they move... and we're heading into winter now, so they move further N than in the southern summer.

Found we'd slowed right down - losing 1.5 kt or so to a strong, foul current hereabouts & also clearly well under-canvassed, so unfurled the stays'l and more genoa.... Now making 5-6 kt SOG .... much better than 3.5kt! Wind is WNW 22-25kt.... we're nearly beam-reaching.

Last night, the wind stayed up, gusting to 30kt until well gone midnight but then, slowly, things definitely calmed down, although with the change of wind direction, we were often (and still occasionally are) getting knocked sideways by waves - but nothing too strong to worry about!

Time for some more sleep before breakfast .....!

Midday Still lots of birds, including 3 black-browed albatross - same ones as seen yesterday? And temperature has gone right up since Thursday evening - now 15.6C from 8.0C around Falklands. I'm wondering if that, and the many birds around (shoals of fish here?), is due to the strong SW-flowing current I'm seeing that's slowing us down so much.... from 6.9kt boat speed to 4.5kt SOG! I've changed course slightly in an effort to get out of the current and also anticipating our course change to East quite soon - 'cutting the corner' a bit!

1400GMT/11am LT 24hr DMG: 119 ml (3195ml to Cape Town)

7pm It became a rough ride this afternoon...! Wind slowly veered to just N of NW & has been regularly up around 32kt, gusting 37kt and with seas up to 4m or more from the WNW, it became very uncomfortable. We were frequently being laid 'on our ears' by the swell nearly beam on to our course ... so I reduced sail a touch more and decided to head us even more downwind. Things got a lot better with the wind well abaft the beam and the seas on our quarter... It also happens to be heading us pretty well on course for Cape Town as well, although we're a bit S of our planned route - hopefully, not getting a much greater swell than we would have had 25miles further N. The strong wind could well continue overnight before abating tomorrow and Monday, possibly dying away by Tuesday with High pressure developing, before a Low starts to form just off S. America and head this way.

I noticed the windsteering vane frame was beginning to break and took it down - means we're dependent on the autopilot now, until I can find a way to mend it.

Friday 8th April .... Big seas and strong winds continue ... and might even increase tonight...

Last night was quite rough... often tossed about by the seas, with occasional waves from a different direction from the rest. At one point, the wind suddenly gusted up strongly, ..... overpowered, despite triple-reefed mains'l, we kept rounding up so I rushed on deck to reduce canvas by furling in more genoa and put on the autopilot to get us off the wind.... grabbed my hat and headlight but didn't bother with my jacket in my haste .... Murphy laughed in delight and dumped a big wave onto me...grrr!!! Had waterproof salopettes on, but the water even went down inside the front - cold and very wet...

The strong gusty conditions have continued .... Now, at 10.15am LT (local time), the wind is between SW and WSW, at 29-30kt and gusty - yet again. It helps to have the wind abaft the beam and the swell from astern.... Makes things far easier. I keep hearing the 'swoosh' and thunder of water as we surf on the top of the big waves. I stood in the companionway for quite a time just before - these big swells, streaked with foam, are so impressive as they approach - their tops way above the stern arch!!

A pair of white-chinned petrels (all dark except around a yellow beak) are keeping us company - swooping low on fixed wings, tips often grazing the water. They're rather larger than the several dark grey and white Atlantic petrels also swooping nearby. I'm on the lookout for spectacled petrels - should see some before long. They're endemic to Tristan da Cunha which is just under 2000 ml away, between here and Cape Town .... all dark with conspicuous white rings around their eyes. No albatross seen again this morning.
...............................

24hr DMG to 1400GMT: 143ml - the result of strong winds and surfing often.... but distance to Cape Town only decreased by 78ml to 3242ml (measured by Gt Circle route - which we shan't be taking since dips too far S into Southern Ocean)

Midday: Seeing our speed up at 20 knots momentarily a short while ago got me worried, so I've just spent quite a time watching the waves to see how we're behaving. Absolutely nothing to worry about, it would seem, with the wind mainly 20-24 knots, occasionally gusting higher - we're hardly surfing at all now... I was all set to deploy the Delta drogue to slow us down but with our speed generally down around 5.5- 6 kt, up to 7 kt with a wave, it's clearly not needed. The swell is well spaced with very little foam. Wind direction is beginning to veer towards WNW now.

The advantage of being on deck is seeing more birds - a Cape petrel flew by, also a solitary yellow-nosed albatross.
.................................

3pm Making tea to take my mind off the noise! Wind has veered past WNW and keeps gusting up to 30-32kt - so makes quite a difference to the feel. The boat seems to be rushing along at speed - all very noisy and bumpy... and all because the wind is nearly beam on rather than well 'abaft the beam'. Seas are still well up from SW, so with change in direction of wind, it all gets that much rougher and we're getting tossed about a lot... and the forecast is for even more of the same overnight... "Hey ho, a-sailing we must go!"

As I checked on deck with the increase in wind, three black-browed albatross flew close by - just to show me they're still around, I suppose!

Maybe it's a good time to post this while I sip my tea over a Tim Tam (still got some - lovely!).

Thurs 7th April 2011

7.30am Sun rose a short while ago in a clear sky. It had cleared completely by midnight to show the Milky Way looking like a narrow misty veil thrown across the millions of stars overhead - lovely to see and the more enjoyable since accompanied by pressure rising sharply and wind backing and abating gradually, so things calmed down a lot. Meant I've had continually to adjust Fred and sail trim but was able to unfurl quite a lot of genoa early on to help our speed.

We're back on our NNE course. I checked the variation hereabouts, thinking it was still close to the 10E it had been on the passage to the Falklands, to find it's now 1W -must have changed rapidly over a short distance but that value makes for an easy calculation!

The wind is now just abaft the beam and we're making around 6.5 kt, often surfing gently above that, but occasionally still being hit by a wave - nothing much, just a bang and a slight lurch as it hits - and deck still often awash. So with the sunshine, very pleasant conditions, although still very cold - sea temp is 8C still so the boat quickly feels very cold when I switch off the heating and there are continual drops of condensation around the metal window frames.
.............

2pm Skies mainly grey now, with a weak sun struggling through from time to time. Wind (and seas) up - around 25 kt, occasionally gusting to 30kt . Wind is from WSW, still backing slowly, and we're on a very broad reach. Atlantic petrels swooping around nearby, no albatross seen since y'day.

Cleared up in galley - needed to! Filled several small water bottles and placed them in strategic places - must keep up my fluid intake .... As usual, when on passage, I'm finding it far too easy not to drink enough. Had a bad headache yesterday for most of the day which I put down to dehydration and/or lack of sleep, although I wondered if it might have been partly due to stress (resulting from my recent bad experience...), since we were in rough conditions, or possibly from simply not eating enough over the day.... But all is fine today - I've had plenty of sleep and I'm trying to make sure I eat/drink plenty. I often remember John Golding telling me that he actually felt physically ill a good way through his last Vendee Globe - until he realized he wasn't eating big enough meals - and that solved his problem. Too little food intake must surely result in a lack of energy.... Sounds like a good excuse to delve into my 'goodies' corner regularly!!

Time to check on deck & do emails and maybe curl up with a book and an apple....

1400GMT: Distance run (DMG) over last 24hr: 103n.ml. - well down, as expected, after beating into strong NNW winds yesterday, but not too bad.
Cape Town 3320 ml away by Great Circle route.
.............
6pm Pink clouds ... chilly air .... nearing sunset... 4m seas - well-spaced ... surfing a little, often..... making 035-040T at around 6 kt in WSW F6 (~24kt). Half-a-dozen petrels still swooping nearby.... time for very late tea and a toasted hot cross bun!

Wed 6th April 2011

7.30am Falklands 100 ml away - just on edge of AIS screen now - soon to disappear... Dawn a short while ago. Several albatross still keeping us company.
Wind slowly veered overnight, so we're now close reaching in NW winds of just under 20 kt. Slower, now we're beating into the wind. Pressure shot up late y'day from 997 and has been steady now for quite a few hours (1006 hPa).

3pm It's turned into a rough ride in bright sunshine! (It looks like being that way for several days, with occasional brief respites.) The barometer has dropped again, from 1006 earlier to 998 now. Seas have built and are really lumpy and we're beating into a NNW wind of around 25kt - so it's pretty uncomfortable, being well-heeled and tossed around often by the waves. I suppose the good news is that the waves washing the deck constantly are doing just that - washing the dirt from the rusty Stanley FIPASS dock and the big sooty lumps from a dirty engine exhaust off the boat - no bad thing!

Had quite a busy radio session this morning. I managed to make contact with the S.African M.M. Net (Graham, ZS2ABK, is Net Control) - that will continue all the way across to Cape Town- and spoke to the 'Ernest Shackleton', on passage north to the U.K. from Stanley. Also contacted the Patagonia Net - initially speaking to Wolfgang, who runs the Net from Chile, and then to two boats I'd met in Ushuaia - 'Kilico' and 'Persimmon'. It was nice to chat briefly with people I've not seen for a time!

Distance travelled over 24hr to 1400 GMT (1100LT): 124n.ml. Will be far less tomorrow!

Having frequent naps, trying to catch up on sleep - I find it best to sleep for short periods over the day, to make up for the very broken sleep necessary overnight.

7.30pm Cooking a meal - nice to have some fresh young potatoes to add in - have had last season's on board for so long... Good to be able to warm the boat now the heater's working well - chilly without it, with a sea temperature of 8C (46F)!

Just noticed the wind might be backing a little (and possibly abating) - good news if it does, since it means I'll be able to get back on my NNE preferred course - hoping to avoid the worst of some very heavy swell from a deep Low passing S of here, as well as getting N more quickly. Pressure is down at 995 hPa and seas are still very lumpy but having reefed down even more two hours ago, we're more comfortable & less heeled, although making slow progress and still regularly washed by seas over the decks.

Just switched the wind generator back on - well over 20A going in & voltage brought right up - nice! (Had to turn it off when apparent wind was up into the 30s.)

Tuesday 5th April

1800 GMT/ 3pm LT
.. We're underway with what looks like a reasonable weather window, at long last ..... that feels so good!!! I seem to have spent the major part of the last ten days or so requesting and then studying grib (weather) files ... over and over...

I've just spent ages watching a group of big dolphins (Peal's?) playing and jumping in twos and threes around 'Nereida', often thwacking their tails on the water as they land, while lots of black-browed albatross swooped nearby and the sun shone brightly. The air is cold and the swell is still big after 27-32 knots of SW wind gave us a good, fast (surfing nicely at 8-9 knots or more), if rolly, start to the passage from Stanley, in East Falkland, to Cape Town in South Africa - to complete a circumnavigation begun with a nonstop passage to New Zealand from there last March. After I'd eventually taken in a 3rd reef, the wind decided to calm down a bit, but still keeps gusting up occasionally to over 30 kt - so I'll leave that reef in..!

I decided to have a decent sleep last night before starting out, rather than getting away near midnight (or earlier) as I was thinking of doing when I saw the wind had died right down far earlier than expected... I'd cleared out officially on Friday and no one seemed unduly worried by my waiting around for a better weather forecast for a few more days. Another good reason to delay leaving was to give the newly-made silicon sealant gasket around the inside of the cockpit locker lid (hoping to keep the water out!) time to cure properly - thanks for all your help, Peter!

Up before dawn, into fleeces, quick breakfast. In calm weather, I'd let go all lines by 7.30, trying not to disturb Chris on 'Pelagic', and had raised the mains'l & was passing Yorke Bay, in Port William, by 8am ... Misty rain & squalls to begin with, but soon the sky began to clear and the sun got out. Still several fishing boats around, 40 miles off the coast - good to see them on AIS, but they seemed to be avoiding me.

I'd planned to head NE-NNE initially, trying to get away from the deep Lows to the S that keep coming by in quick succession.... and my kindly 'weatherman' Bob McDavitt seems to have the same view - nothing like trying to avoid the gales if at all possible - I've plenty of sea-room. There are sure to be plenty of strong winds, even when I'm further north, especially when a front passes by, but we should be heading downwind a lot of the time and I'm hoping for a quick passage. With the 3-day diversion to the north (the rhumb line course to Cape Town from Stanley is approx. 075T), the passage becomes about 3800 mls, say 4000ml.... I'm hoping to arrive early in May.

Wednesday 30th March 2011

Getting very frustrated by the weather ... departure delayed yet again - due to strong winds, forecast to give big seas over Thursday and into early Friday. So now hoping to leave late Friday , maybe Saturday.... a good week later, so far, than expected.

Winds blew up this afternoon - much stronger than expected - to 35kt, not the20kt or less that the gribs forecast earlier.... but a local radio forecast had predicted gale force winds.... When winds turn E of N, we bounce around a lot in the chop because of the shallow water hereabouts and the long 'fetch' across the water to where our bows face north on the east side of the FIPASS dock. If winds get up over 40 kt, boats normally leave the dock and go over to anchor on the opposite side of the harbour...

'Australis' left on Monday for S. Georgia with a BBC TV film crew, including divers, on board, hoping to complete filming of the wildlife there that they started nearly three months ago. I'd hoped to leave at the same time - but not being built like a tank for Antarctic conditions, as they are, I stayed .... and was glad I did when the forecast strong winds duly came through, gusting up to 40kt over Tuesday!

People around me here are being very helpful. Ben, from the Swiss boat 'Dira', presently waiting for the local aluminium welder to patch the boat after they were driven onto rocks on Islas de los Estados recently, volunteered to look at my Sigmar 120 heater which was clearly blocked somewhere. It turned out the carburettor was clogged with dirt particles and a white emulsion of water and diesel .. It was very useful for me to see the inside and get to know it - I shan't be worried when I have to deal with it in future! As it was, after he'd spent a time cleaning it and getting fuel flowing nicely to the burner, I found a pipe connection was leaking the next day - but had no difficulty fixing that small problem!

Chris, from 'Pelagic', had commented that my radar scanner was leaning a bit drunkenly and found a couple of screws on the support were loose - soon tightened. He also had a look at my VHF radio which was misbehaving - I couldn't hear the local Fisheries people talking to me on their high-power transmitter. He found a very loose connection in the coax aerial lead, which also had a crimped connector, rather than the soldered connector that should have been used. After he'd kindly gone & bought the right kind of connector in town, and then soldered the lead correctly, the radio was tested and found to be working perfectly - meaning I'll have a far better chance of connecting to ships getting close to us than recently.

Jerome, of 'Golden Fleece', heard that I'd lost my invaluable LED headlamp when I fell off a pontoon in the Canache one dark and very windy night last week and brought me over one of his as a replacement - I use it when sail-handling at night and had searched the town shops for one to no avail. He's become a British citizen and has an amazing place on Beaver Island, off W. Falkland, ... he lives on venison, geese, beef, lamb, fish, etc, .... all found or kept by him on the island, where he has a dock for his boats & lives with his sons and occasional friends who visit him over the winter there. (In the summer months, he, like Skip & Chris on 'Pelagic' and Ben and Skye on 'Australis', takes people to S.Georgia and the Antarctic on 'Golden Fleece'. It's been fascinating for me, both here and in Ushuaia, to see how sturdily these Antarctic charter boats are built, and how they are equipped and organized, and a privilege to have been able to chat to a few of these highly-professional, safety-conscious skippers and their crew, operating in very difficult waters, often in extreme weather conditions.)

Chris and Pete (of 'Kiwi Roa') were both unhappy with my washboard, saying that while it wouldn't crack, being Lexan, it could conceivably 'pop out' at the sides if we were 'pooped' by a big wave in bad weather, with a lot of water hitting it hard from astern and making it flex a lot. After discussing the options with them, I found a thick piece of wood to go across behind the Lexan as a support. Pete has cut and drilled both plastic and wood and I went on a tour of town shops today to buy the bolts, washers and nyloc nuts needed to fix it in place.... tomorrow's job! I also bought a tube of sealant to fill the slight gaps at the sides and base of the washboard ready for my next passage.... I'm bound to have quite a lot of rough weather going to Cape Town from here....

Going to and from town has usually involved hitching a lift from the occasional friendly local passing by in their four-wheel drive - I'd been advised to try it originally by Alan, the Customs official who cleared me in! They've often gone out of their way to make sure I got to where I was trying to get to. The Canache, where I moved to for a time last week and where 'Kiwi Roa', 'Damien II' and 'Dira' are berthed, is a long walk out of town and the commercial FIPASS dock, where I'm berthed now beside 'Pelagic' and astern of 'Golden Fleece', is a bit closer in but still a good distance away. Many people grow fruit and vegetables and keep chickens for eggs - not much fresh veg in the shops and invariably expensive, and eggs are often in short supply in winter - weather is often cold and windy here and it's a long way from Chile or the UK for produce to be brought in.

I was given a long length of rope this morning by guys working in the local fishery agents' warehouse nearby to use with my Delta drogue - another point of discussion with Chris and Pete - it was felt it could be useful for slowing the boat down in less extreme conditions (i.e. not breaking waves) not needing the series drogue to be deployed, and it should be easier to retrieve. I have to organize a bridle tomorrow and fix it in place, with a bag to take the flaked rope. Chris says he never uses a drogue but prefers to keep on sailing, occasionally heaving to - but he's in a far bigger, heavier boat, with two or more crew.

I'll post this update - and download the latest weather files to see what they're showing.....

Thursday31st March

British Antarctic Survey ship 'Ernest Shackleton' unloads at FIPASS dock, close to where 'Nereida' is berthed...

Was shown around the ship by Third Officer Duncan Robb and introduced to Capt John Harper who brought the boat in from S. Georgia before flying back to the UK via RAF Brize Norton for some some well-earned leave - 31 years of experience of Antarctic waters!  The ship is an icebreaker.with impressive storage and facilities...!

Later in the day, had a lot of help from Peter ('Kiwi Roa') getting 200m long line and bridle organized for a Delta drogue which could be useful if I need to slow down (if boat starts surfing too fast in big seas) while keeping going downwind.

Friday departure was looking very hopeful, although now  (writing this Friday afternoon) it seems maybe I'll delay to dawn Saturday, hoping for wind to abate,  having cleared out with Customs this morning....

Saturday 2nd April update .................   So much for that thought - I spoke to local Met guy and found my 'window' had shrunk to 12 hrs with nasty weather following close behind for several days - meaning even the recent plan to head ENE from here, rather than NNE, to avoid strong N winds to the north of the Falklands, wouldn't work - so having said my 'Goodbyes,' I'm back in the Seamen's Mission writing this update and looking at grib files showing my next 'window' isn't likely to be before late Tuesday into Wednesday....   so the next job to make the boat safer for really bad weather (i.e. getting 'pooped' by following seas) is looking at my cockpit locker - lets water in and doesn't close well - both bad news if cockpit were to fill with water!   But a 'plan of action is in hand...!!

Found 'Uhuru of Lymington' on the dock this morning (Steve and Chris were in Ushuaia with the boat a time ago) - they'd sustained damage after running E in front of 40kt westerlies, gusting to 60kt.   Their experience demonstrated why it was best I stayed here a bit longer - the gribs had looked fine for their passage, but strong winds spread over a bigger area than expected and meant they couldn't head N as intended, for them  to get to Uruguay from Le Maire Strait, and they had a problem with breaking seas.   So they're unexpectedly here in Stanley - but at least they're safe!

Thursday 23rd March 2011 

Went to see lots of penguins in a four-wheel drive (essential!) overland, past craggy stone heights and stone
 'rivers' in countryside covered in low-lying scrub, to Volunteer Point, with its beautiful, long, white sand beach in
 the N of East Falkland Island.

Stately, vividly-coloured King penguins, with their fluffy dark-brown chicks huddled with their parents in an
enormous circular 'creche,' cheeping away, in competition with the adults' noisy but somewhat musical
trumpeting:

It's a tiring life as a king penguin:

Vultures are never far away:

Smaller Gentoo penguins, with their vivid orange beak, a distance away, many in various stages of moult, all
standing stationary and silent (except for eyes which followed my every move!), with their 'creche' area now
virtually deserted. Occasional ones among them taking off at speed,with flippers held out stiffly, like little toy
soldiers ....

Magellanic penguins - with mum and one offspring beside, or partly in, their burrows dotted all over the area,
 many well-inland - often just peeking their heads out of the burrow entrance... Their young much bigger than the
parents and similar in markings but much browner. A few older ones seen in the open, often mixed in with the
Kings, standing or lying around outside the 'creche' area, in all stages of moult.

With some Upland geese....

The journey was interesting, through rolling countryside with frequent distant views of the highly-indented  coastline, occasionally close to the water's edge, and past many small ponds in the often peaty ground. Marked
wooden fence posts were pulled out in some more remote places to allow us to drive over the fence (laid on the
ground) and on - a simple 'gate' system relying on a system of wiring easily able to be slackened off. Each farm
(mostly sheep, but an increasing number of beef cattle) comprises an enormous area because of the rocky,
boggy terrain, with the wire fencing dividing it up into big 'camps'- like enormous 'fields'. There's only the one
proper road, only partly tarmac-ed, near to the town of Stanley - and I gathered that was surfaced relatively
recently. On the approach to Stanley, large areas on either side of the road are fenced off with warning signs of
minefields - vast numbers of unexploded mines, laid by the Argentinians during their 74-day occupation of the
islands in 1982. The economy seems to be thriving, with fishing and tourism (cruise ships often stop by in the
brief summer season) as recent additions to the farming.

A few more birds...      Ruddy-headed geese:

I moved over to the 'Canache' on Monday. It's a small protected area at the East end of the harbour and presently
just has three other boats with people on board: Peter Smithg on 'Kiwi Roa', Ben and Sebastien on Jerome's 'other'
boat, Damien II, while their own boat is being mended on the hard nearby, and Yoann Gourdet on  'Saturnin' 
 (although he moved yesterday down to the Town Jetty to be more in the centre of things!) . On Sunday, I was
invited out with Ben, Skye and Magnus of 'Australis' and Jerome Poncet of 'Golden Fleece' to spend another sociable evening - this time at Ian Bury's house in Stanley (where I also met Tony Smith who took me on my
Penguin tour). Ian runs the local steelwork company, and settled here recently, as have many others, from the UK.

I've still a few jobs to get done before moving on to Cape Town - hopefully next Tuesday, if not Monday ...
weather permitting.  It's all too easy to relax, especially with so many welcoming peope around...!

Sunday 20th March 2011

Writing this as I relax over coffee, enjoying home-made marmalade from friends in Victoria at the end of a full breakfast, after an excellent sleep. A beautiful sunny morning with no sign of the very strong winds of yesterday which made my entry 'interesting'!

Pairs of cormorants nest on the huge tyres hanging fron the wharf-side nearby:

Overnight and into Saturday morning, the wind veered from a light SW through NW to become a NNE headwind of 15kt as we got within a few miles of the entrance to Port William - the big bay outside 'The Narrows' leading S into the very enclosed Stanley Harbour.

With a long tack to close inshore, we passed well off Wolf Rock, tacked around to pass Young Rock and then tacked again to head inshore, leaving Seal Rocks, and then Tussac Islands, to the S at the entrance to Port William in slight rain and 30kts of apparent wind! Of course, by this time, needing to head W, the wind had slowly backed from NNE to WNW! After some more tacking, with motor running, it was clearly time to down sails .... too many anchored big ships around and a very narrow final entrance into Stanley Hbr to risk problems in the continuing strong headwind at that moment - 24-27kts true, regularly! But suddenly the sky cleared to give bright sunshine for our final approach - nice!

East side of 'The Narrows': 

Stanley is low-lying - and small! ....

I was in contact with Stanley by VHF on crossing the 'Reporting Line' at Pt William entrance and they were able to keep tabs on me via my AIS transmission - so finding my handheld VHF radio was still in US mode wasn't too big a problem. (Why is the States on some different frequencies from everywhere else in the world? They should conform to the International Standard for VHF frequencies...!!) As it was, I could not hear the responses - neither on Ch 10 nor on Ch 12.... And I'd switched to the handheld after problems with hearing responses on the ship's radio on Ch16 - very broken, despite being so close..... I thought I'd fixed my VHF radio problems in Ushuaia.... At least I've since learned they could hear me clearly! (Checking the VHF on 'receive' is definitely on my 'to-do' list here in Stanley)

Having been in contact with various people here, I was aware of the problems of the prevailing strong W wind in Stanley Hbr - and with strong winds forecast over Saturday night and again on Wednesday, the Public Jetty I'd hoped to tie up to, in the centre of town, seemed to be not such a good idea (boats have to leave the floating pontoon if winds get up to 30kt and also if a cruise ship passenger tender is expected). So I took up the option offered by Chris, skipper of Skip Novak's 'Pelagic', to go down to the commercial FIPASS dock and tie up alongside him, where it's very protected by the high metal structure of the wharf - but a good way from town.

So here we are - very peaceful, except for the occasional dull metallic clanging as vehicles drive onto the wharf from shore.

Bob, VE8LP, and his wife Janet had welcomed me on arrival, helping me to tie up to 'Pelagic', and later took me down to their boat for a social evening with some friends - doing a quick 'tour' of (little!) Stanley as we passed by. While waiting for Customs to clear me in, Betty and Luis, of the Seamen's Mission nearby, also came by to say 'Hallo'. I'll be seeing them again soon - I've laundry to do, there's wi-fi at the Mission - and it's only a few minutes' walk from here.

The Customs guy also did the Immigration honours and was very welcoming, relaxed and helpful - how often do Customs officials give you a big hug on saying 'Goodbye' when the formalities are over??!!

Well, it's now local midday on Sunday - I'm off for a walk in the sunshine to the Seamen's Mission with my laundry and laptop... and my British sterling.... I hope to see some wildlife & do a few boat jobs before leaving for Cape Town later in the week - that's the present plan!