Mon/Tues 8/9 October
Just before sunset yesterday, we were making 8kt on occasion, with one reef in the main - we were definitely going well, with one reef in winds around twenty knots.
I decided to play safe, seeing stronger winds forecast ahead, and took in another reef for overnight, as fine rain fell. The wind is slowly veering into the N, so our course is changing slightly with it so as to keep the genoa filled. It also means we keep well off Cape Mendocino and the even stronger winds and seas inshore of here.
Nereida is rockin' and rollin' again in N 23-25kt wind and steep seas only 5-6 sec apart as I write this Tues midday. Pessure seems to be rising a bit after heavy overnight rain which cleared away to give broken white cloud with occasional blue patches.
We're sailing well, still with two reefs in the main - I even managed to make some fresh coffee without spilling it everywhere!! Meant standing over the stove to keep an eye on it, held safely by my bumstrap to survive the constant strong movement, but it was worth it.
At some point soon, I'll pole out the genoa but will wait a bit - winds will finally go into the NE at some point and that will put us onto port tack if we head S, as opposed to the present starboard tack. By keeping on our present course, we're avoiding even stronger winds inshore of our path over the next few days.
Think I might have found a way of posting photos - not perfect or simple but I think it will work (means taking photos on my iPad which is then connected to my Windows PC... convoluted!) Once I've got it working, I'll be able to post them using the airtime kindly provided by Redport/GMN via Luis Soltero - a wonderful addition to the use of my faithful HF/SSB radio!
As I was writing this, I happened to glance out of a starboard portlight - and spotted a clevis pin on my emergency forward stay fitting was almost out .... Oops! I hurried on deck to investigate and managed, with difficulty, to persuade it back in place before grabbing some cable ties from down below and 'mousing' the pin and also using a couple to hold the fitting more securely in place - cable ties are so often worth their weight in gold!! I'll have to keep an eye on that now.
1200 PDT - end of Day 6. We made 154 n.ml. DMG over the 24 hr period.
Position & weather report posted to Winlink.org and Shiptrak (using my US callsign of kc2iov) not long after midday PDT (=1900 GMT):
TIME: 2018/10/09 19:00GMT LATITUDE: 40-25.90N LONGITUDE: 129-52.82W
COURSE: 210T SPEED: 6.5kt WIND_SPEED: 23kt WIND_DIR: N
SWELL_DIR: N SWELL_HT: 3.0m SWELL_PER: 5 CLOUDS: 95%
BARO: 1020hPa TREND: 1 AIR_TEMP: 18.0C SEA_TEMP: 20.0C
COMMENT: Passing Cape Mendocino, 250 ml off. Rolling around in steep, close-to seas