Monday 12th March 2012

A very pleasant day - not much sailing, with wind down to just 5 knots and variable in direction by noon, but with warm sunshine and swell down to around just 2.5m, I got some important jobs done on deck. When boatspeed got down to below 2.5kt, I decided to motor gently, using minimal fuel but keeping us going very slowly in the right direction. (Alternative was sitting around with the sail flapping in the swell - or taking the sail down!)

Priority job was to re-attach the third mainsail batten end-fitting to the mast track car it had come adrift from when a tiny rusty ring had fallen off some time back, enabling the pin holding the two parts together to move up. Took quite a time before I figured out how to persuade the two parts to get close enough to begin to think of replacing the pin through them. Fortunately, I was able to attach a string to the batten end fitting to pull it towards the mast and that helped a lot after partly releasing reefs and halyard to give some slack. Tying myself to the mast was essential with the swell running, even though it's nothing like as big as it has been - the occasional bigger wave came by and suddenly we would roll around a lot!

Next job was to deal with the staysail pole - screws holding both end fittings in place kept working loose & threatening to come out completely. Every screw was removed, or nearly so, from both end fittings and the threads had Loctite carefully applied before screwing them back in tightly. I then wrapped plenty of amalgamating tape around the pole and screw heads - ending up with insulating tape over the top, to be doubly sure!!

Next, I had to re-make the bowline on the staysail sheet where it had chafed badly in the pole jaw again, and the damaged end had to be cut away (luckily the line is well over-long..)

As the sun was setting, I managed to replace a missing stanchion base fairlead for the genoa furling line - it wasn't too easy, fixing the nuts and bolts that had gone missing from the stanchion base on the toe rail without dropping them or my precious tools into the water below, so I might leave other two (less important) missing ones until landfall in Tasmania.

Beautiful sunset and lovely sunny afternoon - it had been quite pleasant sitting on deck working! Just a bit rolly still. I went running for my camera thinking we were about to have a spectacular sunset in calm seas - unusual for the Southern Ocean - but a cloud bank on the horizon spoiled the sunset - no chance of a green flash tonight! But Venus and Jupiter were quite close together amd shining brightly as the moon rose in the E.

Wind has been variable at 4-5 kt so we were still motoring very gently, hoping the wind would come up enough to let us cut the engine..... Have just put out some genoa to help - wind is now from N (was from S earlier) and up to 9 knots, so will post this while engine is charging batteries - and then we'll sail in peace and quiet!

DMG to noon GMT today: 104 n.ml.

Sunday 11th March 2012

Recovering from last night's weather...!

Surfing, and just about keeping going by 1600Z (oh-so-dark 11pm!).... The 28-34 kt winds of earlier had become consistent 35-38kt winds and 5-6+ m seas, which I'd put astern for more comfort. Suddenly they became 44-48kt winds as the expected Cold Front came through with its windshift - all got rather nasty, nail-biting stuff...! But we survived and made up on sleep over today - so I'm feeling much better now!

Radiio communication is very difficult just now, due, I hear, to a massive solar flare disrupting things. Hopefully, propagation should improve over the next few days and get less noisy than at present. Made no contact whatsoever, 'nothing heard', with the S.African Maritime Mobile Net at local midday, although yesterday Graham, ZS2ABK, was very clear. Did finally manage to connect this afternoon with Petr, OK4SNG, on 'Singa' - but noise was so bad on frequency that we had to give up - tomorrow may be better. One result of the solar flare is that the 'Aurora Australis' - a moving 'curtain' of light - is supposed to be visible now - but with recent overcast skies at night, I've not been lucky enough to see any display.

Went on deck earlier to screw in one particular screw on the stays'l pole end that was sticking way out again - leaning outboard on the pole felt definitely at risk, as we rolled about in 4-5m seas! We're expecting very little wind later tomorrow, so I'm hoping then to lower the pole (we're on a run at present) and deal with it. From advice I've received from John, VK4DBJ, in Queensland, Australia, sounds as though I should remove the end, if possible, to smear Duralac on it, put a touch into the screw holes also, before screwing back the screws with Loctite on their thread. I also thought I'd run some amalgamating/pressure tape around the pole end, over all the screw heads, to hold them in and stop them from even thinking of moving... He commented that the pole ends are normally screwed in place to allow servicing inside from time to time.

Oops! ... Wind has been around 20 kt since midday - but just went shooting up to 30kt - no moon visible in overcast sky, so difficult to see anything - must be a 'cloud effect' (squall) - hopefully will soon die down again.. We're supposed to be into lessening winds over the next day or so, as a High drops down over us... Yes, back down to 20 kt again... good! Didn't last long.

Last night, around 3.30am LT, after gybing the mains'l and getting us back on course in pleasanter winds of just 25kt, I realised it was near 2130GMT - so thought I'd see if I could connect in with Tony's Net on 14315 kHz - an Aussie/Kiwi mix of friendly radio amateurs I'd last chatted to two years ago when I was near Australia and N.Z. To my surprise, I connected - not too well, but enough to pass on greetings and my position... I think the guy who heard me was also surprised when he realised just where I was!

We've moved into yet another time zone now - GMT + 7 hrs. My midday GMT position and weather report occurs as darkness is falling - after sunset...

DMG: 134 n.ml. Cape Leeuwin: 908 n.ml. to ENE; Hobart (due E): 2190 sailing miles away.

Saturday 10th March 2012

Believe I saw Mercury bright just above the W horizon last night, soon after the sun had set - I'm not sure I've ever seen it before, possibly just once or twice, despite looking many times! It's only usually visible for a maximum of about half an hour around sunrise or sunset. In the E, was the bright moon, shining like a floodlight - was easily able to set the staysail on its pole and sheet out the prevented mainsail by its light! The wind had died and we were slopping about in the still quite big swell - yuck!

Fortunately, by 3am LT, the wind was a little better, so we were making just under 5 kt, instead of the 2-3 kt of before....losing some to current/tide.

TC Koji, off NW Australia. looked at one stage as if it might come south along 100E to get in our way but fortunately got "shunted west and should now go south along 80E so is no worry," Bob McD tells me. It's cyclone season and there have been several so far to keep an eye on, whose remnants have headed down this way.... usually petering out to a depression, with rain but no Cold Front associated with it.

By 11am, wind had increased to around a fairly consistent 24kt, so felt 2nd reef needed to go in ... Had a slight problem getting it in, but managed it .... and almost immediately, the wind died back down to 17 kt... By 1.30pm LT/0730GMT, it was back up to 25kt... Yet another Cold Front approaching, with strong NW winds ahead of it.

Went to the mast to see why a problem with taking in reef - 3rd batten end has come adrift and is no longer connected to the car in the mast track. A small ring holds the pin in place that keeps the car attached - the ring was missing and clearly the pin had lifted sufficiently to allow the car attachment to come free - I don't know how the pin stayed in the fitting, but fortunately it did - so I need to find another item (split ring or wire maybe) to hold the pin in place when I get the chance to re-attach the batten car - I need to lower the sail a bit more, either after taking in the third reef or in calm conditions , in order to sort it out. For the moment, it's OK to leave it. (I'd puzzled over a tiny, rusty ring I found on deck over a week ago but didn't recognise where it had came from.. pity!)

With the wind consistently getting up to near 30knots, I decided to try heaving to with just the second reef in - just to see how it went. Worked fine, except the wind died down....! After staying put for about an hour, which felt like a lot longer, with wind still way down, I decided to get going.... with the third reef taken in, now, since strong wind expected... Sure enough, having decided not to stay hove-to any longer, the wind piped way up - to around 30+ soon after I sailed off. From NW to NNW.... I changed course slightly to head more off the wind in the biggish seas now running - felt a lot better but takes us more S. After the Front, winds should back to SW so I'll be able to gybe onto starboard tack and lay my course again. I don't want to end up too far S.

Soon after, I realized I'd not tensioned the running backstay ... rushed up to do it quickly... got doused with saltwater ... no jacket & no hat.... damn! TG I still had on my overtrousers! Have changed out of wet top, had some nice hot stew and put on hot air heating (Eberspacher works even in rough seas and heeled over) - feels lovely to have some warmth - things have not been drying in the damp , cold air (air temp is 15C) While it was calmer, earlier in the day, I'd taken out the backstay tensioners and re-run them - they'd got completely twisted and were becoming impossible to tension or release -another small-but-important job done!

Not sure when I'll get to my bunk - thinking I'll wait for the Front to come through, so I'm ready for the windshift from the present NNW towards SW. Being able to have the Raymarine AP in 'windvane' mode is a definite bonus - if a wind shift occurs, it beeps at me - often very irritating if not downright annoying, but in this instance, perfect for warning me of a major Frontal windshift imminent...

DMG today: 104 n.ml (with very light wind overnight and being hove-to for 1-2hours). Cape Leeuwin is 1020 n.ml. to the NE and we've 2323 n.ml. of sailing to get to Hobart - almost due E. As I get ready to post this, wind keeps gusting up to 34 knots - should reduce once Front has passed over.

Friday 9th March 2012

I've been checking over my food stores, since Australia has some thorough-going rules about which food items are allowed into the country - I'm trying to use up some of those not allowed in. Found a small tomato puree tin had leaked its contents over a large area - what a mess a small item can make, escpecially when combined with water clearly having got into the same so-called 'dry' locker beside the galley sink... Became very domestic for a time, emptying out and clearing up the mess. At least I now know exactly what's in there!

As I was working hard at winching up the mains'l while shaking out 2nd reef, an all dark, smaller albatross with broad, pale collar came close by - quite distinctive. A juvenile Sooty, it seems: " A few birds have paler scruffy collars," says my birdbook about the juveniles. And a small,white-rumped storm petrel flitted around us for a while - also very close by.

Out with permanent marker pen again - to mark more reef points on halyard and reef lines - as I did yesterday ... It's good to be in rather calmer conditions - easier to get little-but-useful jobs done!

Swell was surprisingly big overnight and this morning, at 4-5 m, although might be calming down a bit now. Pressure has been steady all day at 1022 hPa. Wind was a nice 22-24kt from dawn to mid-morning but is now mostly up and down around 15-17kt - it was seeing boatspeed down at 5 kt or less that galvanised me into shaking out that reef - that's far too slow! Weather is looking good for next few days, with winds mostly 15-20 knots, although we're almost certainly heading into unavoidable calms on Monday... All very relaxing! Greg made nearly 100 mls since yesterday and is now not too far from the 44S he's aiming for. I'm looking at being around 42S, maybe 43S. Of course, the further S one is, the less distance between lines of longitude - but the nastier the weather, being closer to the Lows' centres with their more tightly packed isobars...

Noon (GMT) DMG today: 127 n.ml. Cape Leeuwin (to ENE): 1100 n.ml.; Hobart (E): 2426 n.ml.

Wind dying... speed right down... Chilly air at 15C... Variety of birds... petrels, yellow-nosed albatross,... grey clouds... boat rolling in swell...

Thursday 8th March 2012

5pm LT (1100GMT) Just finished a fresh apple - lovely! Stood in companionway, watching a few petrels flying around... realised I've not seen any of the much larger, dark, White-chinned petrels for several days now. A Royal albatross was gliding around regally this morning! Sun is getting low in sky now - has often been getting out from behind broken clouds. It's been feeling relatively warm today.

Gazed around... tightened a bottle-screw on the port quarter.... Then noticed screws sticking out from close to end of stays'l pole,..... supposed to be holding jaw in place! Had to fetch a short screw-driver and lean out to end of pole (fortunately being stays'l, not too far out!) to tighten screws... I thought those fittings were normally rivetted in place? Will have to watch that carefully... We're almost on a dead run (DDW) just now, so don't want to have to lower pole unless essential. Felt a bit precarious with the fair-sized swell running now and us rolling about quite often! Furled in the small bit of genoa that was out - not doing anything, blanketed by other sails.

Earlier today, made good contact with Pacific Seafarers Net - Jane & Randy in Hawaii seem still to have fair copy on me - I certainly heard them fine - an amazing distance away! Tried to make contact at 0400GMT/10amLT with Czech Petr on 'Singa' but nothing heard - I think timing was wrong for 20m band - we need to try later in the day. No problem talking to Canadian Greg on 40m at 0630GMT each day - but he's less than 500 mls away. (He had 35knots of wind today, compared with my 20 knots. He's still trying hard to get further N & has had 7-8m seas - it's not nice, down where he is at 46S! Similarly, Petr has also had v.strong conditions - he's at 47S)

Just had to start genset to charge batteries - first time since dawn, so wind and sun have done well up to now. Wind had been consistently just under 20 kts overnight, but over the day today has been a bit stronger & gusting up at times, so around 20-25+ kt, giving good boat speed. Heading ESE-SE, trying to get further S, ready for High pressure area expected to drop way S early next week - guaranteeing us some calms, I think.

Time for my midday (GMT) position & weather report... every day at 1200GMT, posted to www.Winlink.org and linked in to my website to show my track there ('Travels' page) It's always interesting to see how much further I've sailed over the 24hr period... but it's now sunset, not midday, where I am - gets a bit confusing at times! I'm forever setting alarms to prevent me missing times for weatherfaxes and radio 'scheds', etc... There goes one now ....

The swell has definitely increased today - we're regularly rolling a lot. Gauging the height of swell for my report is always a challenge. It's supposed to be the average of the greatest one third of distances from crests to troughs. I imagine tall people (2m high!) standing on the water surface(!) & my stern steelwork is also about 2m high to the solar panels. I imagine looking out from upstairs windows of a house to the ground below, assuming rooms are about 3-4m (10-12ft) high so from a first-floor window, my eyes would be roughly 5m (16ft) from ground level and from a second-floor window, about 8-9m (well over 25ft) ... not unusual for swell that high here in the Southern Ocean, with or without strong wind - it comes from the deep Lows further S and W. I think I generally under-estimate heights of the really big swell we get here. The timing is from crest to crest - it's easy to feel the 'lift' as we go over a crest.

The sky was clear overhead with a layer over to the E and a thick layer of grey of cloud in the W-SW, now spreaing over this way. A mild Cold Front should be passing over quite soon (pressure has been dropping as it gets closer) and winds will then back to the SW from their present W.

(Barometric 'trend' is change in pressure over previous 3 hrs)

Today's 1200GMT report:

TIME: 2012/03/08 12:00 LAT: 40-47.45S LONG: 090-48.76E
COURSE: 115T SPEED: 5.5
WIND_SPEED: 22 WIND_DIR: WNW
SWELL_DIR: W SWELL_HT: 5.0M SWELL_PER: 7
CLOUDS: 50% BARO: 1016 TREND: 0
AIR_TEMP: 19.0C SEA_TEMP: 16.0C
COMMENT: Good sailing today but seas bigger. DMG:126 n.ml.

Now all I have to do is to get a radio connection to send this off... Bye for now!

1500 GMT POSTSCRIPT - Cold Front came through at 1420GMT!...Rain with it and wind is now from SW-SSW at 22kt so we're heading East on a beam reach at 6knots!

Wednesday 7th March 2012

A time to catch breath! Wind up and down around 18 knots all day, from WSW-W.... nice and gentle, from astern - we've been broad-reaching or running all day long - but not very fast!

Spotted that the bowline, with which I'd tied on one of the stays'l sheets in the dark yesterday morning, had somehow managed to come undone and was lying on the foredeck - re-did it while the stays'l was flying without too much trouble and without putting myself at risk. Let out a reef. Poled out the stays'l to starboard. Trimmed the sails from time to time... Watched the birds...

Cleared up in the galley and made some fresh coffee and a nice big stew - not for stormy weather coming up (quite the opposite - there'll be no wind on Friday and Sunday, it would seem!) but because I fancied .... "A litle bit of what you fancy does you good!" ... or so the song goes!

A Royal albatross came around a few times and 2-3 Yellow-nosed were nearby just before dawn.... along with a couple of soft-plumaged (grey&white) petrels. A white-rumped storm petrel flitted around over the sea surface later and I was delighted to see a Sooty albatross again.

I managed to connect with Winlink but gave up on Sailmail, using my satphone to get a data connection - it's been over 3 days since I'd lastmanaged to download emails. Then I spent a long time studying two emailsjust that came with more info on Tasmania - very useful.

If it really gets as calm as the grib files are forecasting, from a 'Big Fat High' sitting on top of us this weekend, I'll be able to do jobs on deck that I'd put 'on hold'. Stanchion-base fairleads for a start... and maybe that genoa... We'll see... One problem with light winds, especially at night, is power - I'm having to start up the little 4kW diesel genset for short periods regularly, to keep the batteries charged up.

Looking ahead to nearing Tasmania, I see that, at present, there's a High sitting to the SE giving E winds through the Bass Strait and N winds to the W of Tas - I'll keep an eye on that area from now on, since I'm not familiar with the weather patterns around there.

Chatted for a while at 0630GMT on 8297 kHz with Canadian single-hander Greg, VE0MUR, (on 'Alcidae') after the daily S.A.M.M. Net session with Graham, ZS2ABK on 14316 kHz. He was sailing due E, ahead of 7m seas and 30 knots of W wind - he, like me, doesn't like the thought of big seas on the beam when winds are strong - asking for trouble! We're hoping the seas will eventually lie down and winds go W-SW so he can get further N, to less strong conditions. Even where I am, just N of 40S, the seas have been quite big, at 4-5m, despite the lighter winds of today. Swell always takes a time to lie down but no time at all to get up!

Failed to make contact with the Pacific Seafarers Net around 0315GMT, although I could hear Fred, W3ZU, and the Net Control from time to time - don't think they heard me calling or they'd have turned their beam antennae my way. Also had a 'sched' with Czech single-hander Petr, OK4SNG, on 'Singa', at 0400GMT - but heard nothing and assumed he was busy on deck. He emailed later to say he was hove-to in storm conditions: NW8/9 - I reckon he was suffering from the same storm Greg and I had a few days' back. He's S of the Great Australian Bight, nearly 2,000 miles away from 'Nereida' and making for a waypoint S of Tasmania, about 800 miles to his E. We'll try to make contact tomorrow morning - I hope his spoken English is good - I have no Czech whatsoever!

DMG up to noon today: 121 n.ml. Distance from Cape Leeuwin: 1315 n.ml. and to Hobart: 2652 n.ml.

Tuesday 6th March 2012

Still very big seas this morning, so lurching from time to time... but much calmer, with wind generally down.

We stayed hove-to overnight - but I couldn't sleep well for thinking about the calmer conditions and getting caught by H soon. So got up - into foulies/boots/headlight/harness, armed with scissors and reel of insulating tape (to bind cut ends of line) - went up on deck & sorted out damaged stays'l sheet - cut & bound ends and tied both to clew with bowlines... Had my arm around furled stays'l for safety and stability, as well as being strapped on.... very dark, with no moon, but seas mostly not too bad. Then I got us sailing - not very fast but headed SE & far better than being hove to.

Up again at first light, to trim sails better and unfurl small bit of genoa - speed increased nicely! Heading into big 5m seas, so rather bumpy - but good to be on the move again.

On HF radio to PacSeaNet at 0300Z - Randy on Hawaii still making contact with his strong beam antenna - took my details. Still just making contact with S.African M.M.Net - Graham, ZS2ABK, comes up just after 8am his time (12 midday here!) to take positions and weather info from Greg and myself, then Greg and I often have a short chat on a 40m band, since reception better there for us. He's been hove-to, lying to his series drogue, for 4 days and is finally sailing again after winds up to 45-50kt and bigger seas than the 7m I had... We're just over 500 miles apart - reducing, since he's trying to head more N, out of the regular really strong winds down where he has been, and I'm trying to get more S to avoid being becalmed in High pressure!

Very helpful info on SE Tasmania area and anchorages etc emailed to me by Jeremy Firth of S/Y 'Rosinante' and Dover Radio... Cruising friends Steve and Dorothy on 'Adagio' are also sending good info on making landfall in Hobart - they've already booked my berth - and for me to give a talk if I get there before 3rd April...!

Cooked a nice Spanish 'tortilla' with fresh eggs, potatoes and onion last night. Since hove-to, I finished off a touch of nice red wine remaining in the damaged box. Lentil soup tonight...

No birds seen over last two two days and just one albatross and one petrel seen today, around sunset. Grey clouds, bright moon tonight - nearly full. Wind keeps varying with the clouds around. Seas down to around 4m but every so often the hull suddenly gets hit hard by the crest of larger wave.

DMG Noon-to-noon GMT: 74 n.ml. (Hove-to from 0300-2300 GMT)

Position at 1800GMT: 38d 52'S, 086d 50'E Cape Leeuwin: 1400 n.ml.; Hobart: 2775 n.ml.

Monday 5th March 2012

We made good progress NE overnight in SW-WSW winds of 30-35kt and seas around 4-5 m - surprisingly, all went fine until near 8am, when we suddenly had a sustained wind of up to 44knots for a time... and the seas got angry ... I was not a happy bunny! All due, of course, to a dark grey raincloud passing over - typical squally conditions in the SW winds behind the Cold Front.

I decided it was time to gybe the main and change course to more downwind. With the poled-out stays'l to weather, I thought we'd try sailing E- ESE, if possible, hoping that would work in the SW force7 wind and big WSW seas now running, with the option of heaving-to in mind. The other factor in my mind was that I really didn't want to go any further N - we were now at 38S, having been at 42S on Friday morning. We'd made such good speed overnight we were well N of where I'd expected to be by morning.. and a High was due to drop down on us in a few days' time, meaning we now needed to head more S, once we were out of these big seas!

Our new heading lasted just over 15 minutes! Seeing us surfing at around 15 knots a few times, on top of tumbling water, and with the memory of the 44kt squall fresh in my mind, I thought "Enough is enough - time to heave to... " The stays'l was furled in ... and we hove to fairly quickly... Seas had built to easily 7m (well over 20ft) and the wind has been highly variable over the day in the grey, rainy conditions.... from around 27 kt to 35+ kt in no time, as each raincloud came along. The period of the seas is good, at around 8-10 seconds, so they're spaced well apart - but in trying to see the trough, to gauge how big they were, I often couldn't see the bottom of it fom the very top of a wave until we were going down the backside of the wave due to their curved shape - they were definitely impressively big!!.. and areas of foam were scattered around on their surface.

It's been a bumpy day, being tossed around like a cork on the waves, but better than trying to keep going in these conditions. At one point this afternoon, I spent a time trying to locate the source of a 'clonk' I kept hearing - sounded like something very heavy moving and banging into something else. Worrying... but I finally realised it was simply the underside of our 'sugar-scoop' (where our stern is formed into steps) banging on the sea surface as we came down with a bump at the stern occasionally... Relief!

One job, I noticed late this afternoon, waiting to be done before we get going again - the stays'l sheet has chafed badly where it went through the jaw of the pole and needs attention. I thought we'd move on at dusk, but the seas and wind were still up too much - so, in the morning, hopefully. Time for a good sleep and up early...

Indicative of the good speed we were making overnight, until we hove to this morning....
DMG over the 24hr noon-to-noon (GMT) period was 114 n.ml., despite nearly 9 hrs hove to!

Sunday 4th March 2012

Morning: Plenty of bright sun in between a variety of clouds, both high and low. I'm looking for evidence of the cold front - due to pass over in the next few hours with a wind shift from WNW to WSW. We're making good speed in 25-30kt, but heading NE rather than due E or ESE - too soon to head that way, until the Low and Cold Front have passed by, together with their strong conditions.

1000 GMT/3pm LT Every now & then the wind drops - to under 25kt from 35kt ... & I wait, expectantly... no change in direction follows....grrr!! I keep checking on the wind directiion and barometer... I can't relax until the 'big event' has happened!

1200 GMT/5pm LT Overcast sky, edge of cloud layer visible ahead - still no Front come by... pressure right down at 1002 hPa (from 1015 this time yesterday) Wind 32-38kt but seas not too bad, so keeping going...

A pair of graceful grey and white petrels (Soft-plumaged) and a solitary Indian Yellow-nosed albatross seen most of the day.

1330 GMT/6.30pm LT That long-awaited Cold Front finally arrived!! ........ with torrential rain, dark grey skies and a not-too-fast (TG!) shift to SW from WNW. I thought fog had appeared - but it was just the heavy rain giving very reduced visiblity.

Half-an-hour later, wind had dropped to just under 30kt as darkness fell. We're still heading 050T - will wait until morning before gybing around and heading more E... Big swell has yet to arrive, all through tomorrow (Mon), according to weather info, so no harm staying N out of its worst maybe .... If wind stays down a bit, shouldn't be too bad.

Feeling a lot more relaxed now that's happened ... Always a worry, having had one or two nasty windshifts previously! Clearly was good to have dived N - max winds have been just under 40kt, although consistently around 35kt over the day. But with today's following seas not too big (5m, maybe 6m max) and not too close or rough, we've not had to heave to ..so far...! (Just seen wind is 36-38kt ...it's varying a lot.... not out of the wood yet! ... Later: Back down to 28-30kt!)

DMG: 142 n.ml. - strong wind gives good speed!

Some nice hot soup and catch up on sleep is the order of the day!

P.S. Strictly speaking, we passed into another time zone on moving E from 82d 30'E, which we did this afternoon, soon after 0900GMT ... so Local Time ('Nereida' time) is now GMT + 6hr

Saturday 3rd March 2012

Overnight and morning - wind light, seas fairly calm, ambling along slowly in overcast, drizzly skies, although it had been clear and starry earlier in the night. The Warm Front was passing over, as pressure fell.

Gradually, the cloud broke up to give some nice sunshine by midday and wind had increased from 15 to 20 knots - so we were sailing along very nicely at around 6 knots in seas that weren't too big - for a change (4-5m)! I unfurled as much of the genoa as I dared, to help our speed along earlier in the morning and we've been heading NE to try to evade the worst of the winds and big seas forecast for overnight and tomorrow.

While things are calm and pleasant, I've caught up with all my 'post'! All I need now is to make the connections - Sailmail very difficult still, if not impossible.

Remembered I still had some Gem squash - so enjoyed one for lunch - cut in half and boiled, with a big knob of butter added to each half afterwards- followed by some biltong (dried meat) - a S.African meal!

Winds are expected to increase over today to 30kt (presently 24 kt at 3pm), gusting to around 40kt by midnight and the Cold Front, with even stronger winds backing into the SW, is due tomorrow afternoon (Sunday) sometime - gusting to 50kt possibly, peaking overnight and into Monday morning, with seas peaking over Monday midday... maybe reaching 8-12 m, if forecast is correct... All good Southern Ocean stuff....! Heaving to looks distinctly likely.... I hope I'll be out of the worst of it...

1200GMT/5pmLT Well, the good news is that the latest weather forecast is showing us away from the very strong stuff, so my ploy of heading NE has worked out to that extent - but we're still expecting up to 40kt and seas 7-10m, so rough enough conditions for the next two days or so and heaving to still very much on the cards.... Grey clouds all over now and wind gusting up to 27 knots... Will probably have a series of short naps tonight... so will start very soon.

I made a discovery just now - wine stored in foil packs inside cardboard boxes is not as safe from damage as I'd thought. In checking that all my openings in the cabin sole, accessing bilge storage areas, were safely locked down shut, ready for the bad weather coming, I found one boxed wine totally damaged and most of its contents leaked into the bilge - pity, it was a nice wine...! Not sure why the inner didn't hold it all safely even though the outer box was damaged.

DMG: 116 n.ml. (slow overnight)

Distance to Cape Point: 2920 n.ml.; Cape Leeuwin 1680 n.ml.; Ile St Paul 170 n.ml.; Hobart 3075 n.ml. - so we're pretty well at the halfway point just now.

Cheers for now...

Friday 2nd March 2012

Having shaken out the third reef yesterday morning and then, soon after, regretting it, finding the wind was up around 25kt a lot of the day, with bigger seas than forecast often tossing us around and continuing like that into the night, I didn't sleep too well again as a result - and was nearly thrown out of my bunk at one point . So I decided to reef back down again early this morning and gybe onto port tack so as to make a course of NE for the two days, with the W winds of the morning forecast to back to WSW and then slowly veer to NW ahead of the next Front.

I felt a lot better once that was done and the boat's motion was far calmer with the SW seas dead astern. They died down somewhat over the day as well, under a blue sky early on, which slowly became partly cloudy but still with plenty of sunshine. But still we were rolling a lot at times - so no lowering of the genoa just yet...

The reason for my concern was mainly due to the nasty weather forecast - the next Cold Front is due Sunday afternoon, with building winds ahead and gales (40+ knots) & BIG seas (8-10m) following it ... especially if I stayed on my last few days' course of due E along 42S. I'm hoping that by my early change of course to NE, I'll have got far enough N to avoid the worst of the big winds and seas - although I'm still expecting to have to heave to, since the seas will surely build, as usual, as the wind increases - even at 39-40S, I'll expect winds over 30knots and seas of 5-7m or so lasting for quite a time... We'll find out soon enough!

Of course, as that all dies down, there'll be the High moving S to worry about - not to get caught out too close to its centre with no wind or a headwind... It's all a tactical game, with a lot of luck involved in the decision-making.... and the basis of that is the weather info I'm getting. I'm forever studying the grib files I download each day, trying to judge my best course of action to avoid storms or being becalmed, and I'm also getting advice from other people - which I weigh up and take into account when it suits me. Graham, ZS2ABK, gives 6-hrly forecasts each day on the radio (about to be out of range) which are helpful for trends but often underestimate wind strengths and don't normally include swell heights or intervals. Also, newly-retired Bob McDavitt sends me regular weather forecasts and suggestions using computer software and info I don't have access to - it's all 'grist for the mill' - sometimes it's correct, sometimes not, but the general trend is the most useful - a Low is on its way for sure, with strong winds, most certainly, and the Cold Front that normally comes with it always causes the winds to behave a particular way, changing direction gently or abruptly. When it happens, you know for sure - but the timing is always uncertain!

Very few birds around today, as is not unusual when it's calmer, although they did include the solitary Royal albatross that's been around for several days now, soaring as always on long, fixed wings, rarely flapping them. The birds always seem to appear in far greater numbers when the winds and seas are up!

Wind is a gentle WSW4 tonight - a Warm Front is coming through tomorrow - nothing dramatic - ahead of Sunday's Cold Front - there's the drama...

With our change of course, DMG was cut down by just 5 n.ml., compared with a straight run all the way. Today's DMG: 127 n.ml. Present position: 41 18'S, 079 06'E.

Thursday 1st March 2012 - St David's Day! Daffodils and leeks to the fore if you're Welsh...

What a difference a couple of days makes here in the Southern Ocean - we're creaming along now, in bright sunshine, under a clear blue sky, headsail poled out, goosewinged with the main, rolling in the 3-4m swell at times, making good speed ... Feels as though I'm in the Trades of the Tropics!! Never mind that the headsail is the small staysail - it's doing fine on its new pole - bought in Cape Town with strong conditions in mind but earning its keep now that there's a problem with the genoa (which I've now furled away completely). With lighter winds than yesterday, around 20 knots, gusting higher occasionally, and High pressure well established close to the N for the next few days, I've shaken out the 3rd reef in the mainsail - that's been in for a long time! (I'm always very cautious about letting out reefs... especially here in the S.Ocean, where conditions can so quickly change for the worse. In Britain, the saying goes: "Think about reefing - do it! Think about shaking out a reef - go make a cup of tea."...!!)

If the seas calm down some more, so the foredeck stays roughly level most of the time, and if the wind is kind, I'll try to lower the genoa so as to mend the rip that's appeared, replacing the sail in the meantime with the lovely new Jeckell's sail that's stowed away in the forepeak, waiting for just this to happen... The material of the old, original sails is a spectra/polyester 7:3 mix which has not stood up well to the use they've had since April 2009 - lots of sun and lots of strong winds! The original mainsail was replaced in September 2010, with a nonstop circumnavigation in mind, with one in a sturdy Dacron cloth and was beautifully made by another good sailmaker, Carol Hasse. Both the Jeckell's and Hasse lofts are small, the one being in Wroxham, Norfolk, U.K., the other in Port Townsend, WA, USA - but they have one other thing in common - all sails are made in the loft under the personal supervision of the sailmaker/owner of the company, both of whom, along with their workers, take a pride in their workmanship. (Chris Jeckell's company recently celebrated 150 years of sailmaking on the Broads in East Anglia!)

A relaxing day ... difficult for it to be anything else! Hopefully, a couple more like this, before the next Cold Front looms up on Sunday/Monday.

Near sunset ... 1200GMT/5pm LT - teatime! Seas have built up a bit as wind has increased over this morning's 17 knots. Watching many different birds swooping around nearby... mug of tea in hand. A graceful Royal .... and a pair of Sooty albatross - twice as big as the White-chinned petrels I keep seeing! Several Soft-plumaged petrels that I've seen a lot recently - spent ages trying to catch sight of their head and underparts to identify them postively in the dull light, under a sky now covered in grey clouds - gone is the blue sky of earlier!

Daily weather report (sent to Winlink & Yotreps):

TIME: 2012/03/01 12:00
POSN: 42-04.51S, 075-49.26E
COURSE: 090T SPEED: 6.0
WIND_SPEED: 23 WIND_DIR: WSW
SWELL_DIR: WSW SWELL_HT: 4.0M SWELL_PER: 6
CLOUDS: 90% BARO: 1029 TREND: 0
AIR_TEMP: 19.0C SEA_TEMP: 16.0C
COMMENT: Seas up a bit again.Wind gusts to 25+ kt. Grey cloud..

DMG:106n.ml. - down due to lighter wind early today and inefficient sailing before staysail poled out and 3rd reef shaken out.

DMG:

Wednesday 29th February 2012- 'Leap Day'!

Still very uncomfortable, with big 5-7m seas often knocking us about overnight and on until the afternoon, when things began to calm down as the wind died somewhat - from 25-30 kt to below 20kt.... but still the occasional big wave comes along, even now. It always takes far longer for the seas to calm down than the wind. I just spent quite a time in the head clearing up, after one particularly violent crash this morning sent two very full baskets and their contents leaping up from their shelf & then down onto the cabin sole - some items ending up on the far side of the main cabin.

I slept badly because of the rough seas and had a slight headache for a long time - partly also due, I think, to dehydration ... It's too easy not to drink enough in cold, rough conditions, despite bottles of water stowed in a variety of handy places...

Greg was still hove-to this morning in 30-35knot winds East of Kerguelen whereas I had been under way overnight in 25-30 knot winds... better to be 450 miles further N! He nearly lost the shaft, trying to fix the windsteering servopendulum in the 5-7m seas running. Having given himself a sore back, he'll wait to fix things in less difficult conditions - hopefully, later today or in the morning.

Again, this morning, I managed to make contact with the Pacific Seafarers Net - at 0310 GMT/8.10am LT, I spoke to Fred, W3ZU, in Florida - amazing! (I'm always pleased to hear that my signal is good and clear!) This afternoon, I finally managed a slow, poor, Sailmail connection - first for several days. Winlink has been far better for a time now - so long as I choose the right station, frequency and time of day! So today became a 'post' day - catching up on emails.

It was good to relax finally and watch the sunset scene ... a magnificent, great albatross flew close by on fixed wings, .... mainly white, with black tips to its underwings and dark upper wings with some white extending from its body. A Royal - no black on its tail. A couple of dark, White-chinned petrels flew close to the water and then soared up... Venus & Jupiter showing bright between lines of grey clouds, with a bright moon up above them.... And the ever-present swell, ... big waves, well-separated .. 8- 9 seconds apart to each crest.

DMG today: 139 n.ml. ETA Hobart - last week of March.

Tuesday 28th February 2012

Hove-to overnight again... big seas and strong wind, but I slept well, ...and the Front passed over just before dawn to give strong SSW winds, reducing to around 25 kt over the day, and showery, squally conditions... When a squall came along, usually under a big cloud, wind increased rapidly from a lull of under 20 kt to 30 kt - & we sped along...!

Greg, down near Kerguelen on 'Alcidae', had even stronger winds of 40- 45kt & stayed hove to with his series drogue this morning, whereas, being further N, with 30 knot winds, hopefully lessening, I'd decided to sail on.

Skies were partly cloudy, with plenty of sun, and showers gave a rainbow at times but the air is far cooler and sea temp is down to 16C. The boat feels colder and I put the heater on for a bit - nice! Also welcome was the hot, thick, bean & barley soup I'd made! I'll soak some beans regularly overnight now, ready for cooking the next day... good for cold weather.

This afternoon, I saw that the genoa had a small rip - it had parted along a short seam near the middle of the foot of the sail, which was half-furled. I furled it in further to cover the damaged part - we've now very little genoa to sail with. The staysail was unfurled to give us more speed - we're on a broad reach and sailing nicely at 6-7 knots in 25 kt wind. I don't fancy trying to lower the genoa in present winds and seas. Better to wait until it calms right down at some point and then I'll be able to change the sail for the lovely new one Jeckells of East Anglia made for me in December and which I have on board. I'll be able to mend the ripped area and hoist the old sail again for the rest of the passage.

I was surprised to get an email from a Czech boat - 28ft 'Singa' has Petr on board - another single-hander on a nonstop mission! He introduced himself and gave his position, well S of Cape Leeuwin. He's heading S of Tasmania & NZ and on to Cape Horn, having started from Falmouth last September. He reported lots of gear failures ... Achieving a nonstop RTW is more about the boat & equipment standing up to the test, rather than the person, it seems to me! So there are 3 single-handers in this part of the S. Ocean just now - I wonder who else?! Petr is 2000 mls E of 'Nereida', whereas Greg is under 500 mls to the S and we chat on the SSB radio most mornings now.

Looks as though we've nice sailing now for the next few days - W-SW wind of 15-25 knots, possibly becoming less, depending on what the Indian Ocean High, just to the N, decides to do.

DMG today: 100 n.ml. - not bad, considering we were hove-to for about 7 hrs!

Monday 27th February 2012 - Another time zone crossed into -it's GMT+5 here!

Made little or no distance overnight, with wind having died right down and, around dawn, found we were hove to, with sails backed after the wind had finally gently veered into the NNW. Gybed the sails onto port tack and soon we were moving again with the wind slowly but surely increasing.

By midday, we were sailing beautifully at over 7 knots in N winds of 21 knots - beam reaching. After the High pressure that was close N of us overnight, a Front is approaching, from a developing Low just SW of us which will be passing close by over today and tonight - with another abrupt change of wind direction expected near midnight and strong winds ahead and behind.... Sounds familiar...!

Sky has thin overcast - sun is trying to struggle through... Swell not too bad just now, at around 4m and well spaced...
.......................................
Well, it didn't take long for the swell to build up once the wind got up to 20 knots and over! Like a 'bucking bronco' at times, we made excellent speed at 7-8 knots. To the N, the edge of the cloud cover, and blue sky, marked the direction of the High and, to the S, solid cloud marked the Low's direction. I gradually furled in more of the genoa as the wind picked up. We are headed roughly E and the swell and seas are coming from the N and so on our beam.

I'm finally on to the last carton of Argentinian UHT milk ... opened for my cereal this morning. UHT milk lasts so well and is far superior to powdered milk, although in Australia, I came across one brand of powdered milk which was superb - couldn't tell it from fresh! If I get the chance in Tasmania, I'll stock up with some of it.

I never fail to be thrilled by the sight of a pair of albatross circling the boat - two Wandering albatross (NZ, Tristan or Snowy, difficult to say..) have been close by today - and I glued my eyes to them whenever they got really close, trying to check on their plumage details. On looking in my birdbook, I discovered that there's a possibility that the juvenile I saw yesterday might have actually been a rare Amsterdam albatross - we're just over 500 miles SW of Amsterdam Island now - a tiny speck in the Ocean, close to the volcanic remnant of St Paul's - both too far N to visit on this passage, unfortunately, unless I want to be becalmed regularly and have to motor, that is. They're right where the Indian Ocean High seems to be pinned to, just now.

(LATER) Wow! The juvenile Wandering is back .. seemingly, the pair could be its parents?.... and also a fourth albatross later this afternoon - white splashes on its upper wings - from black on tail, it's likely to be not a Royal but a Wandering...

By 5pm, the wind was gusting to 27 kt under an overcast sky, raining slightly at times & as darkness was gathering, I sat out in the cockpit, getting splashed by spray regularly, fascinated by the awesome scene - the rough seas, with 'white horses' everywhere, the big swell, the many birds circling and swooping, often coming really close by... Gave me the chance to spot 3 albatross resting in the sea together - TWO juveniles and an adult - clearly there were five altogether now! Winds were often up to 35+ knots and I'd gone up with the thought of preparing to heave to - but decided things were OK at that point and the boat was doing fine - I felt I just needed to keep an eye on the wind strength and direction over the evening ...

All very well in daylight but, by 9pm, with the wind continually gusting to 35+ knots, it was not such a comfortable feeling and I realized that in order to rest overnight, I'd have to heave to at some point.... Pity, since we were making good speed! But better sooner than later - into foulies again and up we go...

DMG: 104 n.ml. (didn't get very far overnight, with v. little wind...)

Weather report:
TIME: 2012/02/27 12:00 LAT: 41-51.40S LONG: 068-07.78E
COURSE: 90T SPEED: 6.0
WIND_SPEED: 24 WIND_DIR: NNW
SWELL_DIR: NNW SWELL_HT: 5.0M
CLOUDS: 98% BARO: 1014 TREND: -2
AIR_TEMP: 19.0C SEA_TEMP: 17.0C
COMMENT: Wind up after calm o'night,pressure down,seas rough.CF cometh!

Let's see if I can post this - radio comms proving difficult ....

Sunday 26th February 2012

Much calmer conditions this morning, after a night of NW following winds around 30 knots with much-reduced canvas. We surfed often in the big seas (~6-7m), but not too fastl! Wind backed to WSW with a cold front passing over around dawn, so I had to gybe onto starboard tack. Sky cleared nicely for a time - lovely, gentle, sunny sailing... By midday, sky was overcast and it was raining slightly in slightly increased winds - to around 23 knots.. Seas still quite big, so we have been rolling gently, on a broad reach - all day, in fact. Well before sunset, most of the cloud had cleared away. The pressure has slowly risen over the day - there's a High pressure area just N of us giving us the present nice conditions, but there's also a small Low developing to our SW which is forecast to bring some stronger winds on yet another Cold Front, with its associated wind shift, later tomorrow and into Monday night.

Spent a lot of time looking up Australian and New Zealand radio and weather info for emailing to Greg (VE0MUR) - a Canadian single-hander, who's just left Kerguelen on 'Alcidae' - he also comes up on the S.African M.M.Net each morning. I first met him on the radio when I was sailing from Gough Island (S of Tristan da Cunha) in April last year, on my way to Cape Town. Sorting out the info has been a useful exercise, ready for when I get closer to Australia - their weather info is readily available by radio and it's accurate, as is that of New Zealand. All it takes is getting the timing right for listening to their voice weather forecasts and weatherfaxes.... a good alarm is vital!

Fresh coffee as a Sunday treat!

Sunshine most of the day... Sailing along pleasantly, despite the still big seas. 5-7m, I'd say - always difficult to judge but when they get this big, I imagine looking out from an upstairs window, down into the troughs, to try to gauge how big the seas are! It's quite a long swell - often 8-11 secod interval - which is what makes it acceptable when the wind is down.

Having slowed down last night, as a precaution, when winds got to 28-32 knots just before midnight, we didn't beat any distance records today:
DMG a mere 109 n.ml.! With sunset approaching, I just furled in some more genoa with winds gusting up ... and they promptly died back! The current is cutting our boatspeed down from 6 kt to nearer 5 kt.

It was time to watch the the birds and seas as the sun went down. There was the cresent moon - shining silver bright through bright pink, thin clouds - a lovely effect! And later, there were Venus and Jupiter both shining brightly, seemingly equidistant from the Moon - Venus at 9 o'clock and Jupiter at 1 o'clock.

I'd been watching the White-chinned petrels that seem to be keeping us constant company when I suddenly realised that one of them had a lot of white on its face ... Having just thought I'd not seen any albatross for a day or so, there, gliding around on long, fixed wings, was a juvenile Wandering Albatross - chocolate brown upperwings and body, large white area on face with pale bill, pale underwings with black tips... Fabulous! A good end to a relaxing day, as I watched many more stars appear in the clear sky overhead!!

Saturday 25th February 2012

A lovely sunset - long, low, thin lines of golden cloud... As a bonus for waiting , as I sipped my tea, there was a thin silver crescent moon hanging low, with bright Venus shining above.

The day has been far pleasanter than last night...! Needing to heave to just before sunset, in winds regularly up to around 40 knots and seas becoming high and rough and tossing us about, is never a pleasant experience and yesterday was no exception, although at least I did finally get a good sleep until just before dawn. The boat's motion was not smooth because the seas were so rough, but safe in my bunk that didn't seem to matter too much. And my 'ready-made' meal was definitely very welcome before I settled down to sleep!

Interestingly, despite boatspeed being zero almost all the time, we were taken at around 2-3 knots SOG by a strong current all the time (about 14 hrs) we were hove-to - a total distance of 41 miles NNE! Some current!

The sky cleared to give a lovely sunny day and the wind died down by early morning (7a.m.) to around 23knots - and stayed at that over most of the day. The wind has been mainly W-NW, which has made for pleasant broad-reaching at a good speed, without the need to pole out the genoa, our course being E-ESE with a SW current over the daytime. (The current is clearly tidal and is presently slowing us down quite a bit whereas at other times it has been very helpful!)

I'm finally back into good Winlink connections at certain times of day (mainly via VK6KPS near Perth and YB0AJZ on Java) whereas Sailmail (which my website link comes to) has been difficult for the last few days - so send any emails to Winlink if you want to be sure I see them promptly! Otherwise, there could be a wait until I get better connections -as will happen eventually, for sure!

From the weather info I have, we should keep the present conditions, fair-sized swell included, with possibly lighter winds by early Monday, before a Low passes close S of us, bringing a Cold Front and stronger winds during the day - with the usual backing of the wind as the Front passes over. Let's hope the winds don't get up as much as yesterday!

Time for my hot stew...

DMG (noon-to-noon) .... a mere 78mls! Present position (at 1750GMT/9.50pm LT Saturday): 41 18'S, 064 10'E; wind NW 25kt (just gusted 28kt .. might furl in some genoa for overnight!); COG 105T; SOG ~5.5kt (boatspeed ~7kt)

Friday 24th February 2012

Wind had died down overnight into morning, from NNE 25knots in the evening, but would occasionally gust up.... Pressure kept dropping - to 997 at 10am - so we were clearly getting close to that Cold Front, although wind was still NE-NNE ... Sky covered in thin overcast, with slight fog early on and the sun trying hard to get through later.

Got myself so worried overnight, with the uncertainty of when exactly the supposedly strong front would come through, that I reduced sail vastly to just triple-reefed mains'l and slightly furled stays'l, closehauled - which almost stopped the boat! It was rather like being 'hove-to', except we were making about 2 knots on a close reach - lying at about 50 degrees off the wind - perfect! I decided to leave things like that, since it felt nice and steady, with none of the banging into the seas we'd had before ... and had an excellent few hours of sleep until just after dawn!

Soon after, by adding in a fair bit of genoa, we made a good speed for a time - until the wind died down again. Around midday, the NE wind had started backing, bit by bit ...to N 12 kt as pressure dropped to 993. ... All very slow and gentle - felt almost like being in a High. But almost as soon as I'd completed my daily position report, conditions quickly changed - the wind increased rapidly and at the same time we were into big seas. I got ready for heaving to, furling in all but a tiny bit of the genoa and all of the staysail and, for a time, we sped along like that, keeping the wind astern, making good progress. We were headed due E virtually on a run - so things felt quite comfortable, in winds of around 35 knots, gusting to over 40kt and occasionally dropping to near 30kt.

But soon enough, the seas built up more with the continued strong wind and it definitely felt like time to stop when our speed was regularly up to 8-10kt in 40kt winds, with seas getting rougher and sunset close. It's always difficult to get out on deck at that point, but it had to be done... Not only were we beginning to go too fast, the seas were tossing us around too much as well. I furled in the last of the genoa as we rounded to head upwind under main alone. The boat was stopped and all I had to do was to tie the wheel in position and adjust the mainsheet and preventer to hold the boom in place... 0.0 boatspeed - good. I stayed for quite a bit to watch how the boat fared in the big seas... The sky had partly cleared, sunset was imminent and there were lots of birds wheeling around in the strong winds and dipping into the stormy seas... When birds fly backward, you know the wind is definitely very strong!! ...All OK. Down below to take off wet foulies and heat up that welcome stew I made yesterday!

1630GMT/8.30pm LT: The stew was great ... and the wind is still around 37-40 kt. Not expected to die down until after dawn - a long night... Time to take to my bunk... after I've posted this, hopefully.

To my surprise, on trying 14300 kHz this morning, just before 0400GMT/8a.m. LT, I clearly heard Randy, KH6RC, on frequency for the Pacific Seafarers Net (he's in Hilo, Hawaii!) and after a short chat, he passed me over to Jane, NH7TZ, on Kauai, another Hawaiian island - incredible that we had such good propagation for that distance (over 8500ml via S of Australia, more if across the Antarctic from here). I couldn't make out John, VK4DBJ, in Queensland, Australia, nor anyone else, at all. Randy seemed to think the radio waves were using the 'long hop' rather than the 'short hop' - across the night-time region to the W, rather than the daytime region of the Earth to the E .... However it happened, it was good to hear them so clearly and to be able to chat to them after a long time absent from the Net.

DMG today, not surprisingly, low at just 92ml - likely to be even less tomorrow! A current is taking us NNE at well over 2 knots, despite zero boatspeed through the water! So far we've made about 7 miles... pity it's not in the right direction!

Thursday 23rd February 2012

1430GMT/6.30pm LT - Enjoying a cup of coffee with a chocolate brownie while I make a fresh stew ready for the bad weather probably coming up overnight and into tomorrow, as the Cold Front from a deep depression further S swings by us. It's expected to pass over with an abrupt wind change - backing from N-NNE to W-SW in what could well be a very short time - it's happened within moments before now, so I'm always half-expecting that - not very pleasant, if that does occur!

The pressure is expected to drop way down, to well below 1000 hPa, with strong winds both ahead of the front as well as behind it - so I might just decide to heave to and let it all pass over while I relax - not sure of the timing exactly, although it will possibly be mid-morning tomorrow... Soon after the front passes, there's expected to be a big swell - right into Sunday and on overnight into Monday.

The wind has been around 15knots all day, shifting from N overnight to NNE to ENE for a short spell and now it's back at NNE. We're still in wind-vane mode so as the wind shifts, we simply follow it around - makes life much simpler! Our course presently is just S of E and we're making around 5 knots - the current is cutting our speed down just now. For the next few days, the best course to take would seem to be due E.

Better go and see to my stew - so far it's got onions, potatoes, tomatoes, sweetcorn, peas, red peppers, and ham - should be good!

1500GMT/7pm LT - sunset - but nothing to see through the murky clouds.... No Venus or Jupiter today. It's just getting duller and darker... Swell is not too bad so far - it's from NE at around 3m on our port bow - slightly bumpy, but OK.

Time to see if Cape Naval's latest weatherfax is being transmitted - so far today they've managed zero out of three transmissions! When they come, they're very useful but all I've had so far has been the carrier signal and nothing else (and nothing happening now, so far... 20 minutes past the start time ... useful!).

Today's 24hr DMG: 122 .ml. Present position: 41S, 060E Wind getting up to 20+ knots... Pressure 1012 hPa.

Wednesday 22nd February 2012

Hardly a cloud in the sky from mid-morning on... but wind still NNW, at 14-20 knots, most of the day, so on port tack and close-hauled, beating into swell and wind-chop - not as comfortable as it could be. The wind is slowly veering, so our course will change more to the East, possibly to ESE, with it - we're in wind-vane mode just now, keeping our angle to the wind constant, so we`ll follow the wind as it veers.

Been carefully looking at weather charts - gribs and faxes - trying to see which way to head for the best ... Ex-TC Giovanna might be gone but the other remnant of a TS to our N and the deep Low to our SW are still objects of concern - looks as though we'll be within 200 miles or so of both of them on Friday when the cold front of the Low will also pass over us with possibly very strong winds. Until then, things look fairly calm and easy, with just Friday`s strong weather to worry about ...

Managed a couple of long, slow radio connections, to catch up with emails and weather info - not easy due to our distance from land and the shore radio stations.
Was upset to hear that my daily log reports since Day One might not have been arriving on my website each day as they ought to have done... the problem might lie with those posted via Sailmail not being accepted - a lot of time & effort wasted, if that's the case... I re-posted Tuesday's report, just in case, while I had a Winlink connection - using a station on the far West of Java, near the Sunda Strait!

Enjoyed the sunset tonight, with Venus and Jupiter so very bright in a clear sky not far above the horizon. I nearly missed seeing it, being busy on the wet foredeck retrieving a loose pole downhaul end and yet another stanchion-base line-lead which had lost a nut and bolt and so come adrift... Later, I got rid of some water which had appeared in the engine compartment - from a leaking propshaft seal, I wondered. Needs keeping an eye on and checking out.

It`s been nice to have had emails from people I know from when I sailed this way last time, looking forward to making radio contact as I get closer to Australia and New Zealand.

DMG: 157 n.ml. - helped by a strong SE-flowing current from Indian Ocean (sea temp is 20C!) over much of the time and good wind.