Delighted to report all is well with my AIS - after re-setting signal threshold, cargo vessel "Furness Hartlepool", heading from Perth to Suez on passage to Hartlepool, UK, showed up at midnight, setting off alarm & showing that everything was working OK, both on the stand-alone Nasa Marine AIS display and also on the even more informative Nobeltec charting software on the laptop - excellent news!! So I can avoid use of radar....
Grey, overcast & showery just before dawn, with lighter wind from E, but by 8am, sky cleared & wind got up a touch from ESE - I'd organized genoa pole in readiness but held off lifting it... genoa was just abut OK without.... but finally, by 11am, had to raise it - so very much better with it than without -speed & stability much increased. Ended up having a fabulous, relaxing day with sun & far calmer seas after midday than up to now. We're safely over the N-S 'Ninety East Ridge' where the sea bed zooms up to around 1000m from 5000m - supposed to be reason for bad seas in the area - but not this time!! I'd been getting worried about possible bad weather on this passage - so it's been that much the nicer to have had such an unexpectedly lovely sail today ... plenty of distance to go yet for the weather & seas to turn nasty!!
Flying fish overnight tally stands at a record 52 after this morning's collecting round on deck ... there were scales everywhere!! But no fish big enough to be worthwhile eating - even as ceviche!
Unfortunately, I also found a bolt end on deck, close to the furling gear. Looks as though it's from one of the greasing access points on the furling drum, so hopefully not a major worry - think it's sheared off with the regular collapsing of the sail over the last day or so (should have raised genoa on the pole when I first thought about it!). Something to add to the joblist.... Another thing, which I may do tomorrow if it stays reasonably calm, is to look at an electrical connection on the cable to the fridge fan - I've been hearing the fridge constantly trying to switch on.. and failing - I'd been putting it down to low battery voltage but puzzled since often battery OK. Anyway, I've found today that by twiddling a particular power lead connection when it's trying to start,... start up it does! Behaving like a bad connection so I'll re-make it & see if that solves the problem - should be a very simple, quick job.
With wind down to around 15kn, rather than regularly over 20kn, speed, and hence daily run, has been, & will be, down - just 159n.ml. by log today (142 from midday GPS posns) - but that's not so bad!