Saturday 11am NZT (Friday 2300GMT) A bright sunny day with plenty of broken cloud. Making good speed E in N wind but seas are a bit rough - lumpy with two different swells, one from NE at 2m and another from S at 1m
Will be celebrating 'official' crossing of the Date Line later - but will keep to NZT for moment - very convenient and puts off repeating a day & going backward in time for a while. Date Line is very 'wiggly' anyway - there are places to the NE of here which also keep to NZT - so I'm in good company!
Time for a quick nap - sails should be fine - wind expected to be consistently from N over today and tonight but I'll probably take in a reef at sunset since wind is likely to have increased enough to need that by then.
3:45pm Cabin temperature is just over 20C/68F and I'm beginning to feel over-heated...! Will be removing one or two layers very soon - great!
Wind is N at around 17kt and we're making good progress ENE. Sun is beginning to get low and I'll be tying in the first reef before dark - wind is expected to increase more overnight and we're heeling a lot already, so time to reef down a bit.
4:45pm Darkness is nearly here - rather early, with a lot of grey cloud everywhere now from the Front approaching. The first reef is tied in - always takes a time getting it seen to. Slows us down from the previous 5.8kt we were making but with the wind expected to pick up to 20kt overnight and stay there, so best to tie it in now while I can easily see what I'm doing. Tomorrow afternoon, it's likely to increase to 25kt and even more overnight, staying well up overnight into Monday, with heavy rain likely at times, as the Front passes over.
7pm Enjoying a small 'Date Line' celebration... Cashews, chunks of feta cheese with black Kalamata olives, and a very tasty pate de campagne on crackers... All accompanied by a glass of Pinot noir and some very nice, relaxing music.
Midnight Still going quite well, although not fast enough .... I don't like seeing the wind dropping as it has now..... our speed drops right down with it... It's supposed to be about 22kt...!
Sunday 6:30am NZT (Sat 1830GMT) Sunrise not far off. Heeling a lot, so time to reduce sail in 20+ kt wind from N - down to 1st 'reef' mark in genoa and 2nd reef in main. Seas rough still and washing the decks frequently.
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While sailing around the world, I'm trying to raise funds to help support the superb life-saving work done by the RNLI (Lifeboats) in Britain each and every day of the year, regardless how bad the weather. In fact, the worse it is, the more likely they are out there, helping someone in distress - whether a swimmer, surfer, small boat or big ship, night or day, summer or winter. They are all volunteers with normal day-jobs who respond immediately to a call and it is a charity - no government funding - so they rely on our help to fund their intensive training and maintain their equipment.
It would be great if you would take a moment to click on the Lifeboats link here (https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Jeanne-Socrates2), if you'd like to show your support for my efforts at sailing solo, nonstop, unassisted around the globe, trying to set a World Record as the oldest person to do so, by donating something towards the great work the RNLI do every day. If a lot of people put in even a small amount, it all adds up... Thanks a lot! If you can help, it will be very much appreciated. Let's see if we can reach my target!
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1900GMT (= 7 a.m. NZT) - end of Day 262. We made 125 n.ml. DMG, measured in a straight line between the two 1900GMT positions.
Total distance covered from Victoria, B.C., to end of Day 262 (by daily DMGs): 21,160 n.ml
Distances (at 1900GMT): Wellington, N.Island, N.Z.: 817 n.ml. to SW; East Cape, N.Z.: 583 n.ml. to WSW; Christchurch, S.Island, N.Z.: 960 n.ml. to SW; Tahiti: 1471 n.ml. to NE
Position, as posted to www.Winlink.org and www.Shiptrak.org (using my US callsign KC2IOV). Abbreviated version today:
TIME: 2019/06/22 19:00
LATITUDE: 34-48.33S
LONGITUDE: 169-55.80W
COURSE: 082T
SPEED: 5.5
COMMENT: Sailing: ENE in N wind still. Seas lumpy; on close reach