17-20th February 2011

Photos show barbecue at the 'Estancia' restaurant ... one of the many long-eared rabbits at the marina, a duck (teal of some kind?) and a pair of kelp geese at low water here. Also, the night heron, skulking during the daytime below the gangway to the marineajetty.

Thursday

Today I determined to be positive and productive - so, after checking emails & posting yesterday's news on website (with more photos), I turfed out another locker and checked/re-organized contents (not as damaged by seawater as I was expecting...). Also unscrewed side of locker to get at wiring/connection between iPod and radio - that all seems fine but there's a clear area of corrosion on back of radio when I pulled that out to check -so will need to replace it at some point. The bad news is I can only play my iPod music now on my computer, to listen to while working, since I don't like using earphones... I was hoping to be able to fix it to be able to get back to music listening via the radio speakers.

I've not been able to take time off enough to do much exploring. If I can finish with organizing boat prior to (long-delayed) parcels arriving (hopefully next Wed/Thurs), I might be able to do some of the nice walks around here and up to the nearest Glacier &/or National Park before I leave.

Present vague plan is to head for Cape Town, possibly via S. Georgia - weather permitting, if I can get away soon enough. That would at least achieve something, if I could get there safely, since I left there last year on 9th March so getting back there would complete a solo circumnavigation via Capes Good Hope, Leeuwin, (Flattery) & Horn - 3 of the 'Five Great Capes'! Once there, I could finish repairs I can't get done here before moving on - which way, when and to where, are the big questions! I'd like to get back to B.C. - but clearly not a good idea via the S. Ocean in midwinter!

No progress on cargo - agent in Chile not answering phone ... and she's not on email.... So into another day's delay, probably. I'm trying to get an invoice from her, and also from the freight company providing truck to bring goods into Ushuaia.

Friday

Very disturbed sleep overnight - big spring tide & winds up to well over 30knots pushing us against fixed jetty, with chop building up quickly across the relatively short distance to shore. Eventually had to adjust fenders and stern line. Heavy rain at times over the day - with some brief sunshine in between.

Still having problems with Chile agent - no Customs paperwork done as yet but finally received a proper invoice by midday, so then I had to go into town to make a cash payment via Western Union. Hoping to confirm cargo will start moving on Monday now she's been paid.... Patience, patience.....

Having to keep very busy working positively on board to keep my spirits up..... Had intended clearing and sorting out two more areas in main cabin - below lockers and bookshelves (quite a few books got very damaged when soaked by seawater after ending up on port side of cabin)... but got side-tracked with emails and Internet once I got back from town - interesting to see discussion on my heaving-to and series drogue deployment etc - all giving me and a lot of other people plenty of useful food for thought!

Had an enjoyable time later that night - went with Dutch cruisers Petra and Corno of 'Simon de Danser' and French cruiser Gilles of 'Menkar' to a free concert in the 'Casa de la Cultura' near the water's edge within easy walking distance of here. Great alto sax (tiny woman!), with good keyboard, drums and guitarist, backing 3 singers (one of whom, in particular, was very good ) - songs of the 80's and 90's, finishing with Queen's "Radio Gaga"! Didn't start until well past 10 o'clock (hall was full of mainly local familes, including babes in arms, by then!) and finished gone midnight. Then back to "Nereida" for tea(!) and chat. Fabulous full moon rose between the mountain peaks across the bay as we made our way towards the concert - regretted no camera with me - but will try for the shot on Saturday....

Saturday/Sunday ....

Hazy sky all Satur day - so no view of moonrise for photo shot at nightfall, as walked into town for a meal, followed by visit to Irish Pub (busy!) for chat with others there, and finally back to marina - to find a birthday party in full swing - so very late to bed, having been made very welcome! Sunday morning hardly existed ... but later in afternoon met up with party-goers again - very nice people - sat on grass in warm sunshine after my work, chatting over wine, fresh bread and chorizo - good to relax in company!

With good weather forecast for several days, decided to deal with jobs on deck - so weekend job was to remove wood tops from around sliding hatch area and the hatch itself & clean area of dust and last remnants of broken glass. Thoroughly cleaned PTFE runners of hatch so it moves a lot more easily now and replaced it (there's a lot of dust in the air here, picked up by the frequent strong wind from the nearby unsurfaced road. Also took apart spade connections behind cockpit instruments - some beginning to show corrosion from the seawater dousing they got in the knockdown, so needed attention to avoid them getting any worse. Painted cleaned connections with a protective lacquer. Brushed a protective 'first aid' coating of varnish onto wood where varnish had been damaged by broken glass.

Sunday was another amazingly sunny, warm day - most unlike normal Ushuaia weather, but definitely feeling like summer with no cold wind blowing - so very pleasant working in the open. Lots of people visited the jetty on a Sunday walkabout - slowed my work progress at times since many stopped by for a chat and to ask about how the boom had got broken.... But all very pleasant ... and that evening, over by dinghy to 'Simon de Danser' for a meal ... to finish a very enjoyable,but productive, weekend!

Wednesday 16th February 2011

On the way into town this week, I took shots of several birds ... Kelp geese, a small brown bird always by water (name?) and a pair of sea ducks (name?) ... also of the wreck of the 'Saint Christopher' which has become host to a noisy tern colony (they're beautiful, graceful birds!) and of some local dancers in their bright costumes, the men sporting trouser legs which made a good noise, from bells sewn on, when they stamped their feet...:

"Esto es el radio Argentina!" I hear daily proclaimed proudly on the radio, in between the tangos and songs I listen to regularly ..... but I'm now getting caught up in the nightmare I'd hoped to avoid in getting things brought in to Argentina for my repairs and replacements...! Plan A - fetching in to Puerto Williams (Chile) and taking the boat the short distance down there to pick it up with minimal problem and cost has fallen through, so now we're in to plan B - goods having to be brought from Punta Arenas (Chile) 'in bond' to Ushuaia direct by truck, taking a day - but with S. American paperwork, 1 day extends to 2-3 days (ouch!!!).
 
To avoid weekend overtime charges, plan is to pick up on Monday and arrive in Ushuaia (Customs warehouse) on Wednesday, from where, with an agent, I'm able to collect goods and bring to boat, which is considered a 'yacht in transit' so no import duty levied - sounds simple...? This is Argentina - so tell me when I see it all safely on board here.....! Trucking and agents' fees are costing a small fortune... (Cost I quoted to someone today was, he told me, 'cheap'!!) I've had several people trying to help me with advice and contact with people they know and trust - but invariably their ideas involve sending goods to P. Williams and collecting from there - people here will do anything to avoid bringing goods in to Argentina directly!!

Monday was a definite low point in my stay here - when I first got the bad news on the goods I've been waiting so long for... A pity because Saturday and Sunday had gone quite well - Corno came for Saturday morning tea with Petra ('Simon de Danser'), spent quite a time on board and managed to resolve my Simrad VHF external speaker problems (having the pedestal-mounted VHF radio in position turned out to be crucial to adjusting the VHF speaker volume in the cockpit but he had to 'tweak' the wiring at the main unit down below to be sure all was well both up and down. It's quite a relief to have the VHF speakers both working properly since it's very difficult otherwise to hear the radio if being called on it. It got quite amusing when I went around the nearby boats trying to find one with both AIS transmit and DSC on board to make a test DSC call to - most people with the facility have no clue how to work it! And when we tried to test the DSC, the Ushuaia Prefectura radio officer jumped in with a response, ruining our test...! (He was probably only too delighted to have something to do!)

I'm not sure where the rest of the day went, although I was busy - but I've been trying over several days now, mostly early mornings and in the evenings, to catch up with the latest batch of outstanding email replies. Having to walk into town each day to visit the ATM for cash also takes quite a time - paying the agent in Chile requires cash since people here expect cash transfers for payments (often quoted in dollars).

Barbara on 'Taurus' helped me by using her sewing machine on the Jordan Series drogue bag straps - I had to abandon the idea of changing over the broken clips because the bag was so sturdily made that it proved impossible for me to undo the stitching around the clips on the straps - so I decided on loops at
the strap ends which could be used to tie the bag in place - far simpler and workable. On Monday, I machined the pole cover which had got badly torn when the pole was broken in half after the knockdown.... that took a long time. So another job now is to replace both pole and series drogue in their places on deck, having walked to 'Rombo Repuestos' today to buy a replacement length of chain (15lb/7kg) and a (floating) polypropylene length of line for retrieving the drogue. (They kindly gave me a lift back to the marina in their van when they gathered I intended walking back with my load. This was my second visit today - I'd arrived the first time just as they locked up shop for their early afternoon lunch/siesta closure...) The drogue will need to be flaked carefully into the bag, so it runs out easily when deployed, and the chain at its end will go into its own separate pocket - that's the first thing to be sent out overboard on deploying the drogue.

Sunday evening I cleared up - and had dinner guests - to thank 'Simon de Danser' and 'Taurus' for their help ... A big ratatouille with potatoes and garlic chicken, followed by pineapple and cream - I'd found some fresh cream in the local 'Anonima' supermarket! They all tested the Argentinian whisky I'd been introduced to by 'Uhambo' (actually has a basis of Scotch, the makers claim...!) - and gave it the 'thumbs up'! - and then Christoph fetched over some 'Dolce di Leche' liqueur - rather like "Bailey's".... late to bed!

'Taurus' left for Puerto Williams, as planned, on Tuesday, after an early check-out and Petra and Corno are staying on, expecting Dutch friends this weekend.   I'd hoped the friends would be able to bring a credit card for me - but long sessions on Skype this week failed to sort out debit/credit card problems with my UK bank to enable that.... what a mess!! I'm managing so far financially - but only just! Of several cards, just one debit and one credit card are working!

Friday 11th February - Photo shows view East down Beagle Channel from AFASyN Marina, Ushuaia:

Several bits of good news over the last few days - the main one being the confirmation that the parcels from Sweden had definitely been received by the receiving agent at the airport, unfortunately not early enough to be cleared through Customs in time for the weekly ship on Wednesday. That means they're not expected this way until end of next week and then it will be a few more days until I can see them on board 'Nereida'. This being S. America, let's say within two weeks I hope to be able to start work on the  replacement boom etc ...?

My Skype problem of last week has caused a few comments - and friend Laurie Miller even got Skype management to contact me with an offer of help - but since my last re-instal, it seems to be fine, although I've not allowed it to start up automatically with each computer start up as I used to - not sure if that's  relevant, but it seemed a sensible step to avoid possible problems... I wondered if the OS being Windows 7 Starter on my Acer netbook contributed to the problem, but don't know.

Yesterday, 'Kilico', with Kåre & Lillian on board, headed down the Beagle Channel for Puerto Williams - as do most boats leaving from here to head up the Chilean Channels towards Puerto Montt, just over 1000 miles away. ( They all check in to Chile at P. Williams, having checked out from Argentina here in Ushuaia on the day they leave.) It's been lovely to have them so close by for the last week or so and Lillian kindly used her sewing machine to repair a torn halyard bag for me the day before they left.

I tested out the Eberspacher heater again just before they left - and found, to my delight, that it finally seemed to be working. Kåre had looked into the heat-exchanger end to see if the flame sensor had come loose - as instructed by the S. England UK Eberspacher agent, who kindly emailed me with things to check out when the heater seemed not to be behaving properly after our previous efforts.... I told Kåre he must have a 'magic touch' since he'd actually done nothing but take photos of the heat sensor to send to the agent- not needed, as it turns out, since it's heating the boat fine now. I also got an email confirming that maybe all that had been needed was to prime the system by repeated efforts to start it up (now that the original air leaks had been successfully dealt with).... The Sigmar heater is still awaiting my attention but I think, without strong wind, that's just a matter of my getting used to the lighting sequence - it can't be so very difficult since so many people I know love them and use them regularly!

Tuesday saw several of us headed into town for a meal together - Dutch, Austrian, Norwegian and Brit cruisers - very European! We had an 'eat as much as you want' meal for 78 pesos ( £13/$21) - excellent food and choice, including delicious lamb (speciality of this region)! Other boat neighbours were Polish (Andrej on 'Panicka' sailed over solo from Australia but was joined by two friends - they sailed off this afternoon) and there's even a Turkish boat! There's still a high proportion of French boats here, most of which are aluminium or steel, with very few glass fibre.

Wednesday and yesterday morning were remarkable for true 'summer weather' - the sun actually shone with enough warmth for me to strip off my fleece layers and ski socks, needed since arriving here, and don teeshirt and thin cotton trousers - lovely!! I made use of the big sink and plentiful hot water in the clubhouse for a major clothes (hand)washing session - all dried in no time in the strong wind of late Wednesday afternoon!

Propane ran out just as I finished making coffee yesterday - it's easily obtainable here for refills, but means a long taxi ride to beyond the far outskirts of town....

An east wind kicked up unexpectedly yesterday afternoon - amazing how quickly a nasty chop kicks up from the long fetch down the Beagle Channel, making for difficulties for boats moored up on the East side of the jetty, against which the surge pushes them - often violently and dangerously.... forcing them to move away to avoid damage.

Picked up my repaired mains'l this afternoon, after a long walk out (but taxi back!) to beyond the main airport to reach the upholsterer who did the repair. He also provided me with replacement clips to replace all the broken ones on the canvas bag holding the Jordan series drogue - my new Austrian neighbours are letting me use their sewing machine this weekend to do that work. They also had an accurate barometer reading available - so I've calibrated my barometer which was reading nearly 30hPa too high since replacing the batteries after the knockdown. Final good news was finding out that one of the Dutch couple used to work for Simrad in the Netherlands - Corn offered to come by in the morning to see if he can help with my external speaker problem on my VHF. Since my UK Simrad/Navico contact has surprisingly failed to respond to my last (repeated!) 2 or 3 emails, having previously been very helpful, his offer was very welcome.

 Night heron - confused timing... a regular daytime visitor to the marina at low tide, of late!   (Behind is one of the tracks used for hauling out boats .. a rather dodgy-looking, aged system using rope and a capstan to pull boats out (- at high water, preferably) - up to 10 tons, they say)

South American gull ......  only found around southern tip of S. America and offshore islands...
 

Handsome black-backed gull....

Saturday - Monday  5-7 February 2011

Making use of my new camera - some lovely birds seen regularly by the marina - totally different from Europe.

Visited by friends of mutual  friends on Sat evening - passing by Ushuaia on board one of the frequent cruise ships which dock across the water from the marina.  When I saw them off to their ship, I passed beside the 'Europa' - an old 3-masted barque - very interesting, but had no camera with me!

On Sunday, I spent a lot of time walking with my Norwegian neighbours to the largest of the supermarkets well outside town - clearly Sunday was not a good day for that, with a long wait, due to very few taxis around, to bring us back (free) with all their food.  (They're getting ready to leave for Puerto Montt via a slow, long passage through the reputedly very enjoyable Chilean Channels.)   But it was useful to see what was available for provisioning for when I finally leave here - there was a good selection.

I stopped by the Prefectura to get forms to fill out on the way out of town - if I want to visit the (British!) Falklands or S. Georgia on leaving here, I have to get a permit from the Argentinians to go there (they claim the territories although no Argentinians have lived there for a long time - if ever).   Although not essential now, I could have a problem in the future since if I were to sail back to Argentina at any time, I'd risk a very large fine.   Checking out to sail away is done in town on the day of leaving, but getting that permit requires ten days since it's dealt with in Buenos Aires....

I cooked my favourite ratatouille when I got back on board - and invited my neighbours over for the evening - so Sunday definitely became a 'no boat work' day - my first, I think!   An enjoyable evening, but I noticed I was going down with a cold - my first for a very long time....  All these people I'm mixing with!!

Sure enough, on Monday I was not inclined to get up at all early & was very tempted to stay in bed -but despite sneezing all day, I was pleased to finish getting the portside settee area dealt with (and the food stores kept behind its back checked over and listed).    The work (not really that much!) included stapling the long velcro strip which was meant to keep the settee cushion in place - the strip had been glued down but it came unstuck when the wood of the bunk got wet with seawater in the knockdown.  

I believe my parcels are now in S. America - but the last email I got, in response to my request to DHL in Sweden to be kept informed of their progress this way, was an 'Out of Office Auto-Reply' message  " Vacation, gone skiing, back 14feb" ....  Not exactly helpful...!! 

Tuesday-Friday 1st-4th February 2011

Friday was an excellent, productive day - mainly calm and sunny, with occasional short periods of strong, chilly wind.... and lots of help from Jo and Will, on leave from the 'Ernest Shackleton' - the British Antarctic Research vessel. They'd initially arrived on Wednesday, with Will delegated by his father (Chairman of the OCC Awards Committee) to present me with the OCC Award of Merit medal - totally undeserved to my mind, but that's by the by...! We later went to 'Chez Manu' situated high above the town, with a great view East over the Beagle Channel, to celebrate .... and I was also able to thank Barry, who joined us, for his invaluable help in bringing a new series drogue & camera etc from the USA for me to replace those damaged items onboard (he'd come to Ushuaia to join 'Alaska Eagle' for their next trip to S. Georgia and on to Buenos Aires). The meal and local wines were thoroughly enjoyable - a good evening!

During Friday, Jo and Will did a great job repairing the base of my PTFE mast track insert so that when the repaired sail is replaced (once the new boom - on its way now - has been installed), the sail slides will run up and down OK. They also spent a long time struggling to remove the shore-power isolating transformer - made very difficult by two of the screws refusing to budge.... a combination of muscle, drill, hack saw and Vise-grips finally overcame that problem! Of course, once removed and opened up, no hoped-for loose wires were found, so the transformer problem still remains, to be dealt with under warranty once the boat arrives somewhere suitable.
 
Jo and Will in the Irish pub - no Guinness available...!

Earlier in the morning, Norwegian neighbour Kåre, on a Malö, had helped mend a drunken locker door in the galley - thicker screws and some filing of their points soon had the door set to rights from its beating when hit hard by a flying object in the knockdown.

Changeover of boats also, on Friday - a few leaving, several others newly arrived - including 'Podorange' - fresh from Buenos Aires where they'd been trapped for around seven months with a totally unnecessary major problem due to corrupt, money-grabbing, Argentine customs officials.... Never try to import anything into Argentina and expect to see it, despite having paid for it in full..... I keep hearing the same message - from locals, as well! (First thing Saturday morning there was another 'boat dance' when 'Alaska Eagle' left and several other boats changed position - with strong West winds coming in over the next two days, it's best for big heavy boats to be on the inside of a raft of three boats, not on the outside where they would crush the others as the wind pushes them towards the dock!)

Thursday had turned into a wasted day, although not for lack of trying... Kåre spent a long time trying valiantly to get my Eberspacher heater to work and, after a lot of effort, got the fuel flowing nicely through the pipework, having fixed several air leaks, only to find the heater was clearly faulty since it comes on just twice for a short while before stopping completely... Without the computer connection and relevant software, it's impossible to find and fix the fault.... so I still won't be able to run it for heat on passage.... In the morning, I'd tried, with Barry helping, to re-light the Sigmar heater to no avail - later hearing that the strong winds over the night and day were probably the reason why the heater had gone out and was then so difficult to light - we'd managed it the day before but the flame had gone out while I was asleep - presumably when the wind had got up - but it had been running fine for most of the evening.

Wednesday afternoon, Barry had arrived with the drogue etc and stayed to help with lighting the Sigmar diesel heater - we finally managed it and left it running gently while we went for our meal and on Thursday we were able to bring on board the long settee cushion I'd thoroughly washed on Monday and had left drying in the warmth of the clubhouse - I still have several other smaller settee cushions to wash to get rid of the salt water they were soaked with... and sorting through stowed items is lengthy and ongoing, in between other jobs.

I've spent quite a time on the Internet, chasing the parcels from Sweden - DHL not being very helpful in supplying useful tracking info so I could see where the parcels had got to... hopefully they're now in Santiago de Chile, about to make for Punta Arenas.... but nothing's confirmed (LAN Chile server has been unhelpful every time) ... and it's weekend now....   (Sat: Just got email from Sweden telling me flight delayed - expected in Santiago de Chile Sunday...)

Wednesday - Monday 26th - 31st January 2011

Well, considering that over Wed - Fri there have been several 'get-togethers' on boats, I'm amused to think that I was concerned when several friendly French boats left!! We all had drinks & 'nibbles' on a charter boat on Wed night ('Pelagic Australis' - Skip Novak's old boat), a 'dock party' given by a French boat (the relatively small 'L'Esprit d'Equipe', which was the outermost on a raft-up of boats) on Thursday (with invitation to dinner by crew of Australian charter boat 'Spirit of Sydney' afterwards) and another general 'get-together' on the British boat 'Uhuru' astern of me on Friday, - almost got to be too much, since I ended up feeling guilty for not getting on with more work (or emails) of an evening!!

There are quite a few large charter boats (taking clients to Antarctica regularly from here). Several are tied up to the dock just now, often with helpful, mainly English-speaking, some French, crew... all doing maintenance/cleaning/provisioning in between trips.

I've even been here long enough to greet one or two smaller boats returning from Antarctica. I'd not realized before arriving here that a permit was needed for a boat to visit Antarctic waters. Under an International agreement, I would need one issued by the UK authorities since 'Nereida' is British-flagged. They have been known to take several months to acquire, but that time has been reduced drastically of late, to help smaller boats wanting to visit Antarctica to get the permit. It's basically an attempt to protect the delicate environment and inform boats of what changes they need to make on board to do just that. Nothing whatsoever is to be discharged or thrown overboard - all to be bagged or held in tanks, with bags taken to a suitable port well away from Antarctic waters and tanks discharged only when well away from the area or emptied when suitably connected in port. Also guidance is given on which places may be visited and how to behave so as to leave the wildlife as little disturbed as possible - especially since it's breeding season over the Southern summer. Weather can also be a big problem, with sudden strong winds to add in to the problems of ice. The shortest time taken from here (on a large cruise ship) seems to be ten days.

My camera had been playing up for a time since my knockdown - and finally died on me early last week. Fortunately, not too late for a replacement to be brought in for me by Barry, who's also bringing my replacement drogue - so photos will be resumed when the new camera arrives - on Wed or Thursday this week! (In the meantime, I'm posting a photo of my arrival at the dock here in AFASyN Marina, Ushuaia, on Saturday 8th Jan, taken by Alain on 'Uhambo'.)

Friday started well, with blue sky in the morning and lovely sunshine for most of day (I got a pile of hand-washing done!) ... until arrival of strong wind in the evening ... another Low passing by!! The good news that afternoon was that the paperwork for my replacement parts was finally cleared so the parcels could start on their journey from Sweden (only two weeks later than intended..) - although not expected to be on a flight until today (Monday). With the 'normal' delays in transit or Customs, I don't expect to see them for another two weeks.... this is S. America... so nothing is simple and straightforward - especially with bringing items in to Ushuaia.... "the end of the world".... Then I have to fix it all, of course... with only other boaters for help with that - no other local expertise, apart from metalwork ... The few marina workers are not sailors ... and there's not even a chandlery in town. If I get away by end of Feb, I'll be very lucky!

The weekend was particularly productive for me - I worked hard clearing and cleaning - mainly in the forepeak (making a comprehensive list as I sorted out the lockers) but partly also in the main cabin. I've felt much happier as a result, although I still have several lockers to deal with - cleaning and drying out. Today, I spent some time sorting through my fresh food stores - I still have potatoes, onions, eggs, apples and cabbage from Canada and the USA!

Skype is causing me a problem - I've had to uninstall and re-install it four times so far! I keep finding an unresponsive 'hidden' icon in the taskbar - won't respond to clicking on it to let me load up Skype - but when I try to open up Skype from Start menu and sign in, I get message,: 'Can't sign you in because you're already signed in"... grrr!! Such a waste of time..... but I need Skype to talk to people to discuss my various problems and how to resolve them....

I also spent a time over the weekend evenings catching up with email replies - I'm pretty well up-to-date for the moment - phew!! (Oh well, I happened to go back to the New Year - lots of them, hopefully most in reply to my greetings sent earlier... Please know they were all happily received - and accept my thanks with this note ...)

I'm often asked about where I'll be moving on to from here - lots of options, but none looking ideal, since weather, as usual, will become a problem quite soon... Heading W around Horn or NNW through Chilean Channels are not sensible options for me, to my mind, so that leaves continuing East (my preferred option) or heading North (a possible weather-induced option)... in each case with a variety of possible passages and its own set of weather problems...

 Saturday 22nd January 2011

Gaspar came to look at and discuss stainless windscreen - to be removed for repair on Monday....

Barbecue (organized by Nicolas, 'Fleur de Sel' - Swiss couple). Sociable, enjoyable evening - mainly speaking French!

'Spoke' beforehand to David ('Lenseman') Wheatley on Skype - he exchanged text messages with me from the "Ring 'O Bells" in Ashcott Somerset - lovely old pub with a sailing Landlord and wife!! We had an enjoyable, long chat - seems that he had played a major part in helping the contact between Bill, KI4MMZ, (of the Maritime Mobile Net in the US) and Falmouth CG, after I'd had my knockdown.

Spent a lot of time during the day, replying to lots of the many emails I rec'd a time ago - long overdue and still lots waiting for a reply.... apologies to those still waiting...

Sun 23Jan

Lovely warm morning - took my time removing 30 screws from windscreen - holding it onto the coachroof.    Pleasant to be able to work in nice sunshine for a change.

Time spent later on cleaning out an underfloor compartment ... full of wet bubble wrap (used for bottle protection) - can't replace, so having to clean and dry...

Planned to meet up with 'Uhambo' for a last meal together after my evening shower - but arrangement went pear-shaped, so I ended up in town having a (very tender, tasty) steak in the Bodega Fueguino.

Mon 24Jan

'Uhambo' left for the Falklands for 2-3 wks, before sailing back here for Jeanne & Bernard to fly back to Nantes - I'll miss their cheerful helpfulness and hospitality.   "Nereida" is now alongside the dock.

Gaspar took the stainless steel windscreen frame away to repair.  I put up some canvas over the hatchway area to try to give some protection from the frequent rain.   Got email to confirm new series drogue was finished and now on its way to California to be brought here next week.  More cleaning of area and items below cooker.

Took mains'l by taxi with Roxanna (12 pesos each way) to upholsterer for repair - the nearest to a sailmaker that Ushuaia can offer...   Has Dacron, so will be able to repair rip and other damaged, chafed area close to where boom broke.   I was thinking of sewing it myself - but just too much else to do and I don't have enough sail material for the area of chafe damage - quite a few small holes.

Fred ("Serenité") had his 40th birthday -' bubbly' and birthday cake with candles in clubhouse later in evening with other cruisers, after brief visit to Heidi and Nicolas on "Fleur de Sel" for chat before they leave, as does "Serenité", on Tuesday for Puerto Williams.

Tues 25Jan

Not a lot achieved today - although I have cooked a thick bean & barley broth - soaked the dried beans etc overnight.     It's been very welcome, with a cold wind blowing off the snowy mountains.   Had to adjust mooring lines several times with a very low tide, to make sure we didn't end up hanging off the dock by our cleats...!!   An adjacent boat had to delay leaving yesterday- a fender got jammed between the vertical wooden slats beside the dock - and the stanchion it was tied to gave way completely under the strain as the water rose and it ended up totally bent down - doubled, in fact.   Alerted me to the danger, so I've tied a couple of mine so they're horizontal now.

Listening to the local radio station while I work - found one playing very Argentinian music all day long... lots of 'pasa doble' and accordion playing, and plenty of amusing Latin high drama and emotion in the singing - frequently two vocalists harmonizing...  all good for my Spanish, trying to catch the odd word or phrase!

The local charter boat beside me just now is 'Ksar' - which was the boat who first saw me in Caleta Martial, where I anchored soon after I'd rounded the Horn, and shouted over to me that the Chileans wanted to me to contact them to confirm I was OK.   'Ksar' regularly takes visitors out for a weeklong trip to Cape Horn via the Beagle Channel & some of the many island anchorages on the way there and back.  Lots of wildlife to see - penguins and birdlife galore in the Beagle Channel and many albatross around the islands and sea closer to the Cape.

Lots of French boats here - all came down from Europe via Brazil.  But by tomorrow all except one will have left - mainly to head up the Chilean Channels , having checked in to Chile first in Puerto Williams, a short sail away down the Beagle Channel from here.  Then they'll make for the Pacific. probably from Puerto Montt.   The exodus leaves me without most of the friendly people I've met with recently ....

All port locker contents, especially low down, of course, were coated with seawater along with some diesel mixed with bilgewater (had a split, leaking jerry can cap in cockpit locker)  - taking a time to deal with, along with other things that have to be done (Trying to figure out why my FM radio has stopped 'seeing' the iPod - think maybe there's water got into iPod/radio connector tucked away behind portside upper lockers .... add getting to that to the joblist!)

I found this little spot full of gay-coloured flowers near the waterfront in Ushuaia.  The town also has an abundance of different-coloured lupins everywhere - they clearly love the wet soil and rainy weather here!

Monday 17 Jan 2011

Summer came briefly to Ushuaia - a lovely warm sunny day today - everyone was out on the dock chatting or getting on with outside jobs!! That included me... busy on the Hydrovane windsteering - I managed (see photo!)
 
  

to free and remove 3 of the 4 bolts and all 4 nuts, with a bit of help at one point from English cruisers Roger and Vicki ('Le Vagabond') who came by in their dinghy - their boat is on a nearby club mooring. Roger will come by tomorrow to help me remove the unit from the stern so it can be worked on in safety - without losing any more tools in the water - as I did today (I dropped a lovely shiny, new double-ended number 17 spanner/wrench into the water...) We had a little teaparty in the sun on "Nereida" with some of my French friends when I'd finished removing the bits and pieces...!

Then, in the evening, an East wind came - bad news for boats on that side of the dock, since the fetch along the Beagle Channel is several miles - so a nasty swell built up quickly. The best thing for those boats then was to move off the dock that they were being pushed up against and bouncing about on...

Tuesday 18 Jan

Heavy rain all day..... and still some swell/chop. Hoped Swedish parcel was on its way - but boom still not arrived from Selden... Photos being sent so I can see if correct items in parcel.

Fortunately had talked on Skype to John at Hydrovane (Vancouver) - was doing the wrong thing trying to remove complete unit - not necessary. He put me right and talked me through what had to be done - so when Roger came to help, we were able to replace bolts wrongly removed and then take off just the top of Hydrovane unit. Later Gaspar came by to take it to his workshop to remove the embedded end of a bolt belonging to the knob which had broken off on way down here - my wiring 'fix' had worked fine but now I'm hoping to replace the missing part once the friends flying out to 'Uhambo' arrive from France...

Decided it was time I came to grips with my Sigmar diesel heater ... eventually got it going - but then it died -no more fuel coming through .. likely suspect is the needle valve in the metering valve in supply line - have a spare - so that's on the joblist now....

Wed 19th Jan

More rain all day....

Boom finally arrived in Henan, Sweden, from Selden - so parcel should be sent from Najadvarvet tomorrow - reckon I should expect it to take a fortnight or so of journey time to get here. Looked at photos sent - not all correct so took photos and sent to show what I needed... Internet connection slow... camera playing up...

Found my spares kit for metering valve in Sigmar heater but busy with other jobs- another day.....

Spoke to Mastervolt in Netherlands - confirmed that I definitely have to remove input/output cables from transformer in order to bypass it and confirm if transformer is the problem.

Alain helped to wrap carbon pole in glass fibre to protect from loose strands of carbon where pole broke in half - repair looks good and strong and this is more cosmetic and protective than strengthening. When dry, will need to paint it.

Evening - relaxed with Vicki and Roger on 'El Vagabond' - nice to chat with fellow cruisers!

Thursday 20th Jan

Rain finally stopped mid-morning - nice sunshine later

Phone call from Najad just after 7am - parcels (two) being sent by road today to airport - will take well over a week for flights to final airport... Then more
time needed before I get all parcels on board after waiting for agent to organize Customs clearance etc - and then plenty of time needed for fitting parts and final repairs..... Patience... patience....

Found shop to buy shore-power cable and ends - had been lent one by Fred, who's leaving soon. With sunshine and a dry cockpit, climbed into cockpit locker and finally by-passed transformer by joining its input and output cables together - so now have shorepower into boat - hot water and fan heater now working as much as I want!! (Had help from Fred with shorepower input - standard European input connector not right for the boat - it's perfectly normal for a simple job not to be straightforward on boats...!!! Murphy at work again... he just loves boats...!)

Friends of 'Uhambo' arrived (only a day late!) - with my Hydrovane part .. We all had a good evening together. My contribution to the meal was an English
Christmas pudding (Anne had found some cream to go with it) - we flamed it in true Christmas style to bring it to table and everyone loved it!

Friday 21st Jan

Downloaded photos taken by Bob Potter (visiting from Portland, Oregon) from local boat 'Ksar' which moored near me after I'd rounded Cape Horn and was anchored in Caleta Martial to rest before continuing on to Ushuaia.

Day started with sunshine, although occasional slight rain and grey clouds by afternoon - a Low is coming in. Several boats leaving, or already left, now - so I'll be missing quite a few friendly faces very soon...

Had been told where to buy a fan heater - so walked to town and got that - good news, since (when battery power permitted) had been occasionally using one lent to me by 'Uhambo' - but they are hoping to sail to the Falklands on Sunday.

Spotted someone in divegear working on a prop underwater nearby - "Por favor, ...."  - would he mind looking at my rudder, to remove the end of my furling line which I think is caught on it?  Wish my Spanish were that good!  But with a piece of cord in my hands to show him, a bit of arm-waving, lots of smiles and a few words of my broken Spanish, he got the message - and kindly agreed.    Took him no time at all to retrieve the knotted end of the line and pass it up to me - that's quite a relief, to have it freed from the rudder....

Washed saltwater residue out of loose carpets in clubhouse big sink, hosing them down on the grass slope outside to rinse them off.

While they were draining, got help to replace heavy Hydrovane top part after metalworker Gaspar returned it with broken bolt end extracted, so it's now all back together and looking fine - rudder alignment turned into a simple fix as part of replacing of top part on shaft.

Then back to clubhouse to hang up carpets to dry - and came upstairs to 'wi-fi' room to compose this and send it off to website.... I'm looking out over the water, with the snowy mountains wreathed in mist and low grey cloud behind the town. A family below are organizing a birthday party and I'll get back to "Nereida" to cook a meal shortly. The town had a delivery of fresh fruit and vegetables on Wednesday and I coincidentally got to the nearest small supermarket for the first time yesterday - to find everything I needed for ratatouille .... mmm! Now I've hot water and heating, I'm slowly beginning to make better progress in cleaning up and sorting out the inside of the boat and drying it out - which feels good, because I 've been getting fed up with being in a mess still..

It's also been very heartwarming to receive more 'well-wishing' emails via my website link ... several of which have offered help from people coming to Ushuaia willing to bring items for me if that will work out - which, in one or two cases, I think it will. One such offer came from Barry Hutten who emailed to say he's coming out to sail on 'Alaska Eagle' at end of month from California - he's very kindly agreed to bring out a replacement series drogue, being put together in time for me by Ace Sailmakers in Connecticut -very much appreciated, Barry!

Sunday 16th January 2011

View from the AFASyN marina clubhouse to the dock (Nereida's mast is on the extreme left at the beginning of the dock with a dark red genoa cover) and on past the cruise-ship terminal (for cruises to Antarctica) to the nearby mountains behind  the town of Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego - a typically grey, cold evening!!

View from "Nereida" over her missing awning and damaged windscreen to the anchorage and town beyond, on an unusually calm morning (notice the fresh snow on the mountains nearby!).....

It's quite a long walk to the shore where the town lies.  I walked it the once last week, with Alain and Anne of 'Uhambo', when we went for a nice meal in town one night.  More usually, it's a taxi ride with Roxanna - she took me to get a local simcard for my mobile phone (so incoming calls are free to me) and we went for a quick coffee and pastries to the local French patisserie in one of the first shops established in Ushuaia - suitably set up as a very interesting 'living' museum. 

I commented on a native in an old photo having bare arms and shoulders - and it was pointed out to me that they greased themselves to protect from the often bitter cold - I can definitely relate to that!!! ....Especially since I've still not managed to get any heat on board...  A priority for tomorrow, I think, although there are still so many other priorities, such as getting the Hydrovane off the stern for safer shore access - I tried undoing the nuts holding it in place - managed one, the others didn't want to know - so I've 'treated' them with a release oil and will have another go tomorrow - time to smile sweetly at a man with muscle, maybe.....!  (In fact, I've had two offers of help already, should I run into a real problem there, as I expect....)  I need to put right the rudder which twisted through 90 degrees in the knockdown and I'm also hoping to replace the broken part I wired recently on passage.  Time is running out if I'm to have help before the people offering it move on - later this week, they're hoping. 

And I still have no shorepower on board - seems the isolating transformer is not behaving (power coming in from shore supply, but not getting out to the shore-charger) - so I'm relying on my solar power (long days  here still) and wind power (strong wind a lot of the time) - just like being on passage!   I spent a lot of time last week, often with Alain helping, chasing around the wiring of the charging system, trying to find where that problem lay, with Skype calls to the Netherlands and U.K. trying to get help - TG for wi-fi here....!  Without Internet access, getting help in sorting out my many problems on board would be impossible. 

John Curry at Hydrovane has been his usual helpful self - and sent out urgently to France last week the broken part I need to come in the luggage of friends of 'Uhambo' this Tuesday, hopefully.

Time seems to be passing fast without much to show for it, but Najad have been very helpful in getting sent out a variety of parts I need urgently - the main ones, of course, being replacements for the broken boom, windscreen windows, awning and framework and staysail furling system, along with smaller items, several of them electrical, all of which are unobtainable here....   This is the Southernmost town in the world - as signs all over Ushuaia proclaim (actually they refer to it as a 'city', which it clearly is not!) - and it certainly feels very remote from even the smallest of ship's chandler or DIY store....   My pole is being mended by a metalworker here who I'm hoping will do a good job on mending the distorted steel framework of the windscreen when the windows arrive.

The freight leaves Henan in Sweden on Tuesday, will go by plane to Punta Arenas and then by ship/barge to near here, ready for collection in early February - well over two weeks' time, easily, before I see it, I think...  and then it all has to be fitted....  I'm trying not to think too much about that side of things .... one step at a time....

 I'm still sorting the boat out - everything that wasn't thoroughly soaked was coated in drops or a film of seawater, so it's a major 'Spring-cleaning' job, really....not helped by a lack of hot water due to no shore-power (I'm thinking I must bypass that transformer...).   The settee cushion I sent off for washing came back unwashed a week later - too large for their machine - so I'll have to do that by hose and hand, although they say they can dry it - which will be useful in this cold climate... 

 The cooker keeps giving a problem - I took it partly to bits last Wednesday, to see to one of the top burners which was not giving off gas and I also thought I'd try to get the piezo-electric system working - but when I realized how much of the stove had to come apart for access to that, I backed off & put it all back together... I've more important things to spend my time on just now!   Of course, the very next day, the burner wouldn't give gas again .... so I had to re-do my 'fix' of the day before ... and again this morning ... seems there's some dust in the fine feed pipe and jet - but eventually, it must all come out, surely...??

We all enjoyed a typical 'boaters' get-together yesterday - a Saturday night barbecue (inside the warmth of the clubhouse!).  All very sociable, with Pierre doing an outstanding job at the barbecue pit, and it was good to relax and take time off to chat and joke with everyone.   There's a real mix of boats here, with a lot of French, the sail-training US boat 'Alaska Eagle', Swiss, Korean, Spanish, Argentine... and the one other British-flagged boat here has a Polish family on board!

Sunday - a day of rest and relaxation....

Plenty of good intentions - but not a lot achieved!!

Slept until awoken at 11am by knocking on hull - Jonathan, husband of helpful Roxana, came by ... Lexan, instead of glass, in windscreen, he suggested. Sleeve over broken boom to repair -a couple of good guys here Fly canopy& framework in from Sweden to Punta Arenas 'Free zone' ...to Pto Williams, to bring here on a boat - that plan is to avoid excessive Argentinian customs fees and complications!!

Very windy here - and cold! Midsummer but not very warm - lots of small sailing boats and big cruise ships heading down to Antarctic from here.

Evening spent relaxing with neighbouring French boat and company - testing my rusty French!! Nice people - they kept toasting me and filling my glass - thoroughly thirsty overnight and next morning.....!!

Monday - cleared Customs and continued trying to clean and clear boat - very slow process. Had well-recommended welder come by to look at metal repairs needed - boom, sprayhood/awning/windscreen and also repair of broken pole - was pleased to hear that sounded perfectly feasible - so much easier using carbon pole than heavy telescopic Al one.

Sent off sea-wetted big items to be washed - settee long cushion, pillows, small cushions and other items.

Dinner with neighbouring French boat - Alain and Anne being so very helpful and supportive.

Day seemed to disappear with not a lot achieved... but got a local phone simcard - good news for communications... Lots of supportive emails received (wifi here, if I take my computer into the 'yacht club' building) - thank you to so many of you for that - it definitely helps my morale which is often a bit low just now - so much to do and not easy to effect proper repairs here since almost no facilities ... and Argentinian Customs situation not helpful.

Tuesday - Motored away from dock and turned boat around when a boat moved nearby - general shuffling around of boats (normally rafted up to dock 2-3 deep). With strong NW winds so prevalent here (~25knots), it was better to be bows into wind, rather than stern-to, as I was initially.

Alain and another neighbour helped me take sail off boom (and also stays'l, since furling gear and foil damaged) , ready to try to remove boom halves - ran into a problem with outhaul - complicated and not looking hopeful for successful repair - might be best to try to bring new boom in.

Back to boat after pause in clubhouse for wi-fi to check emails etc (& write this well-overdue log update!) - more clearing down below and looking for items among mess in aft cabin and forepeak. Alain & Anne have friends flying in from France next week who could bring me small items direct - if I can tell them what I need (such as the damaged relay between chart table and AP course computer power lead) - and maybe some sail material for repair - can't get such things here.

LATER:  With Alain's help, managed to get gas flowing to galley - so can put little (highly unsafe!) camping burner away - and will cook a 'proper' meal tonight...  There seems to be a big problem with electrics on board - presumably got seawater in them somewhere - gas solenoid was OK but every time I tried to enable it, it blew the circuit - and the main  ship's supply from batteries closed down with it... had to manually re-set the main switch.   So the only way to get gas flowing was to take the solenoid valve out of the gas suppply system - means I'm back to manual shut-off below stove - so not the end of the world...!

Also managed finally to get shore power connection - thanks to Fred (another French cruiser nearby)  - mine being left in Pt Townsend before I left there who lent me the cable I needed (who needs shorepower on a nonstop RTW sail?!)

While clearing up today, I found the battery chargers I'd lost sight of for my camera - so I'll try to post some photos of Ushuaia soon - quite a dramatic setting here - reminiscent of Alaska with mountains and snow close by the town...

Sometimes I think things are going well - other times I wonder if I'll manage ever to get away with adequate repairs effected ... I just have to keep plugging away and trying to stay positive ...

Thanks again for all the supportive emails - they've often kept me smiling when I've read them!!

Saturday 8th January 2011

Raised the anchor without a problem in the darkness at 1.30 am local time - calm water conditions but wind around 15 knots... which helped speed initially - we were making over 7 knots for quite a time after leaving anchorage! Light in S sky, clear and full of stars overhead. Birds resting on water overnight suddenly taking off as we closed on them,.. Not as cold as expected, although plenty of fleece layers on! An excellent start to what was to be a long day -100 miles to cover to Ushuaia.

Made our way through the islands to open water on 25 mile run N through the chop of Bahia Nassau - got very 'bumpy"! Got to start of Beagle Channel in broad daylight - LOTS of sightings of Magellanic penguins in the water, often in big groups. Also lots of black and white cormorants - new to me - as well as plenty of other unfamiliar birds.

The Channel winds its way with frequent kelp beds, islets, shallows and rocks between Chile and Argentina (Tierra del Fuego) in a roughly E-W direction with craggy mountains, with remnants of snow, coming down close to the water - no wonder the air is so chilly.

With motor running, giving hot air heating, I worked hard at salvaging several books which had got soaked, including my bird book of albatrosses etc- separating pages gently, one by one, and placing book near hot air vent to help dry out.

After passing Puerto Williams, a Chilean patrol boat came over to me - to tell me I had to go to Pto. Williams before heading to Ushuaia - "Why?" I asked - no good answer, so I told them I was making for Ushuaia for repairs not possible to do in Pto Williams - and , by the way, I'm in Argentine waters now....!! They left, looking pretty glum... and later, when clearing Immigration in Ushuaia, I had to sign receipt of a fax telling me that when in Chilean waters, I had to report my position , course and speed regularly to Port Control - and respond to requests for same over radio...! "Control freaks!" was Roxana's response....as she returned with me to the pontoon where I'd rafted up alongside a Spanish boat, after accompanying me to help with translating... On to my French neighbour's boat to take up an invitation for celebratory 'Cape Horn' drinks and a light meal.

Being Sunday, I'll have a chance to do some clearing up and get my joblist organized - Roxana has already put on her list getting a local laundry to come and get my seawater-wet things for washing and French neighbour Alain has offered me whatever help I might need - kind of both of them!

Off to sleep now - lots to catch up on...

Friday 7th January 2011

Continued on towards Cape Horn (Cabo de Hornos) overnight in much-reduced swell, even when continental shelf was reached, where it normally gets far worse, making good use of the genoa - my only good sail remaining! Slowed down a good distance from Cape so could safely catch some sleep before getting too close.

By early morning, around 6am, the grey, misty mountains of Isla Hermite, the main island of the group containing Isla Hornos, were visible in the distance, once rain had cleared away. And soon after, I realized I could see Cape Horn in the far distance ahead - at which point two lively dolphins came to greet us - "Welcome to Cape Horn" they clearly said...!!

CAPE HORN AHEAD!

Two hours later, I was due S of the Cape, passing it in company with a bigger group of dolphins with lots of albatross around, mainly black-browed, some white-chinned petrels and a flock of excited terns - diving on a shoal of fish! The Cape is spectacular with jagged tall 'spires' to one side and dramatic rock formations. Soon afterwards, I realized that the approach from the W that I had made was by far the best way .... looking back from the E, it looks quite different, with far gentler slopes up to the high point.

I'd decided, in view of the distance involved, that I needed to anchor for a time to rest, to be ready for a long day tomorrow to and through the Beagle Channel, which I didn't want to be going through in darkness hours.

An anchorage quite close to Cape Horn came recommended - so here I am, anchored in Calleta Martial, on Herschel Island, just ten miles due north of the Cape.
Anchoring - involved getting anchor out from locker where it has been safely stowed off the bow roller, attaching anchor to chain (making sure it was lead correctly) and then heaving anchor over pulpit.... easy to write...!! I'd also got a stern anchor out ready as a back up - although with the strong wind we've had in this anchorage, I doubt it would have been of much use.

As I approached the anchorage, I spotted a penguin in the water close by....great delight! Antartica is not far away... the air reminds one of that - it's chilly!

This is definitely a place with GPS/chart error! If I hadn't been careful, we would have hit rock twice, following a 'safe' course under autopilot... I had to keep an eye out every time our course took us close to land (which looks like hard granite) - both times we were clearly headed way too close to jagged rocks disappearing into the water ahead! And in the anchorage, I'm anchored on land almost!

Green/brown clothed mountains, mostly bare of trees, birds everywhere,....strong, cold wind, .....misty rain with a rainbow later.... no humans or houses in sight on the many islands hereabouts ( came past one named Isla Deceit!).... some snow on a mountain peak.... very dramatic, wild scenery. I suppose the upside of my mishap is that I get to see such scenery and wildlife close to - it's certainly impressive!

Once settled in, and satisfied we were holding well (50m of chain in just under 10m depth!), I got ready to settle down to sleep, but got a call first from Falmouth CG checking all was well....! I also checked in with the MMNet to update on my position - Bill,KII4MMZ had good copy and took my details. (I'd also had a call from the Armada de Chile as I approached the Cape). Then to a relaxed sleep - bliss! Followed by a lovely shower in HOT water - lots of it! After which I made an effort to tie down the unruly sail - it's not quite so loose now, so will catch the wind less, I hope. I also dug out my back up camping stove and butane cylinder - and had a lovely hot meal of my thick stew/soup (broth?) followed by tea. Since the knockdown, my solenoid gas valve has stopped working, so no gas comes through to the galley stove.... so no hot drinks or meals until now..

NEREIDA

Soon I'll raise the anchor and head for the Beagle Channel, where Puerto Williams (Chile) and Ushuaia (Argentina) are both situated....

Wednesday/Thursday 5/6th January 2011

Wednesday 5th January

The NW winds of 30-35kt of Tues evening were up to 36kt, gusting 41kt, by midnight with seas of 5-6m, occasionally with sections of breaking crests. Hit by waves often and frequently surfing to 11-12 kt..... By early morning, it seemed to have calmed down a lot, with a weak sun trying to get through a thin layer of cloud and wind down to 24-30 kt. Among the prions, I spotted a white-chinned petrel and there was a pair of black-browed albatross. Checked in to Patagonia Cruisers' Net with Wolfgang - asked him about ice situation - he felt it was OK and in chatting to someone else, it seemed that within 200 miles S of Chile, there was no problem.

By midday, with occasional waves hitting us and washing the decks, I was beginning to feel decidedly concerned, with the wind back up to 35-37kt, forecast to increase, and big seas to match, we hove to with triple-reefed mains'l and stays'l. Changed the running backstay over and centred the mains'l.  Grey skies, some rain. We were well heeled, and there were plenty of big seas...and suddenly, near 2.30pm LT, while I was fortunately leaning back against a wall in the head, all hell let loose - and everything that could move was re-located to the port side of the boat.... Water was pouring in from under the sliding hatch and there was chaos everywhere.

Slowly we righted and soon after I looked to see what damage there was - clearly there was some - no instruments, for a start!.. but I could not budge the hatch to open it - try as might...! I had to climb out of the aft cabin hatch to access the cockpit - which I'd already seen enough of to realize the boom was broken in half and the canopy/dodger over the companionway was missing, along with its framework ..... there was safety glass everywhere. I soon realized why the hatch wouldn't slide open - the halyard bag full of heavy wet lines, was lying on top and was soon removed along with several lines lying loose... Going down below, I noticed the perspex hatch was cracked in half vertically - a worry if we should ever get pooped. Next, I got the instruments working - a connection in the aft cabin had been hit by flying/sliding objects...
.
In brief, I didn't know where to start... Tried to clear up a bit on deck - not much I could achieve there... down below - impossible to clear up wet things ( all pillows and bedding were sopping wet at their end.. still beam on to oncoming seas... not good ... another knockdown imminent??- I tried everything I could to get us to head downwind... a bit of genoa plus some stays'l... downed the remaining main as much as I could.. tried to tie it but that got dangerous in the big seas running, so was forced to abandon that... Later decided to reduce all sail since series drogue shouldn't need any - furling line on stays'l broke - sail unfurled totally and flapped madly and violently - whole boat shook with the violence... not good ... what to do? Had to lower it - and keep it inboard and low down and together in the strong wind, not easy to lash it down... As it flapped, it caught the pole and broke it in half .. Things were going from bad to worse...!

Once finished on deck, I returned below to the awful,dripping, wet mess there - even the chart table lid had clearly been flung open and its contents had been thrown across to the galley, to mix with spilled items there, including toiletries from the head - wet paper all over everything else... impossible to deal with and not drying in the cold, damp air. Decided I'd better let the authorities know of my plight - not yet life-threatening but not good... Here I was in the Southern Ocean ... and fore-reaching south in the dark at over 2 knots!

- - - - -

To cut a long story short, the Chilean Navy and Falmouth CG both got involved - it was lovely to get the friendly, helpful Falmouth phone calls - an English person at the other end of the phone - no language problems!!! Helping with all that was Bob McDavitt initially - deeply appreciated, Bob - and the American Maritime Mobile Net on 14300 kHz - Bill (KI4MMZ) in particular, with Fred (W3ZU) helping with relay. Good for my morale was chatting to the Pacific Seafarers Net also.

A fishing vessel, Magallanes III, came along, ready to tow us to safety ... the winds not expected to ease much until next day...and seas even later...

Conditions were pretty strong then and for a time after - no sleep until early morning (3hrs). I felt another knockdown was only too likely since we were beam on still to the seas - makes for feeling very vulnerable! The only ray of light was my realization that we had an engine - I tried it in neutral - it worked!!  Slight problem was two lines I'd seen overboard - one I retrieved but the other was jammed in something - the prop?? ... or the rudder??  Another problem came later after the realization that I could keep us headed more downwind (and so less at risk from beam seas) by using the autopilot to steer us - but then, to my dismay, we took off SE at over 4 knots, with just the still strong wind catching the lowered, but not very well tied down, mains'l - the series drogue was doing nothing - had the fishing boat, in circling near me, run over the line??  Yes,it had.... Our course was taking us away from land.... but we were no longer so much at risk of another knockdown and conditions were expected to ease next day....

Thursday 6th January

Been a good day since waking up to clear skies & bright sun after 3 hrs sleep this morning - and then getting engine going OK. Removed wire on gear shift cable with some difficulty - but I finally won out and was delighted to find there was no problem with the propeller, having thought a line might be caught around it. (There's a sharp rope-cutter on propshaft near to the prop so it could have been cut away) End result was no tow was needed.. sigh of relief on my part - no worries about additional resulting damage..! The fishermen, who'd been not far away all night, didn't seem to mind too much losing the income from a tow and sent me their best wishes!

I'm making a straight line for the Horn now - the sunny, clear skies of this morning have slowly clouded over and there's invariably an albatross of one kind or another not too far away. Swell has slowly been dying down - hardly noticeable now - just an occasional one, bigger than usual.

When I retrieved my series drogue, my suspicions were confirmed ... Looks as though the fishing vessel, when approaching and circling us in the night, cut the line with its prop - of 125 cones, only six are now there with a very reduced length of line... and no chain, of course...!

I've been contacted by Falmouth CG and the Chile Navy by satphone, and have had regular radio contacts on 14300 over the day - all very supportive and friendly - very many thanks to all of them. (The Chilean Navy phone me for 4-hrly position updates from Puerto Williams!)

I'm also looking forward now to rounding Cape Horn in daylight and in good conditions! The reason for heaving to in the strong winds and big seas of Wednesday was to let that system pass so as to be on the shallow shelf near the Horn in reasonable conditions - now and for the next two days. Should be at Horn around 1400Z on 7th Jan and in to Beagle Channel early on 8th Jan. - have slowed down to avoid arriving too early in morning but looks as though I'll need to anchor for a few hours at least.......

24hr DMG to noon UTC: Wednesday: 140 n.ml. Thursday: 69ml (supposedly hove to!) (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 Wednesday UTC: Position was 55:40S, 072:34W. Cape Horn 180 ml; Chile (nearest point) 58 ml ; N.Z. (S.Island) 3916 ml 222T; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 5080ml 326T.   At 1200 Thursday UTC: Position was 56:33S, 071:15W. Cape Horn 137 ml.

Very busy conditions at this time.

Cold and wet. 5kts

Tuesday 4th January 2011

We've had wind around 30kt since dawn, gusting to 35 kt, but now it's more consistently up to and, since 5pm often over, 35kt.   But so far, we're doing fine...! The seas weren't too bad, at 4-5m until now ( over 5m ) but fairly smooth in general, so we weren't getting tossed about too much - just the occasional sudden lurch and always the need to be careful moving about.   There's the constant noise of the wind in the rigging - a low-throated sound, rather than the shrieking caused by even stronger winds!    You can almost gauge the wind speed from the noise it makes - I can always tell when the wind gets up to 35 from 30 knots!

Sky has been bright but overcast all day - slight breaks in places, giving the sun a chance to try to struggle through - not very successfully or often...  Occasional very fine rain.   Overnight, there was a long line of light below the cloud close to the S horizon - where the sun was not far below, as it made its way from W to E ready for dawn here!   It never really got fully dark - which was useful when I tied in the third reef finally.

I gybed the mains'l at dusk last night, when the wind had begun to strengthen and had veered sufficiently for us to broad reach deep on port tack - which I expect to be on for several days..   I also raised the pole for the genoa - which has slowly been reduced to its present 'handkerchief' size!  I find we go better with a small amount in addition to the small staysail, rather than furl it away completely - to help balance, I suppose.

Having been up  so much over the night and early morning, and with the boat behaving fine in the conditions, I had a good sleep for the rest of the morning
- gorgeous to be snug and warm in my sleeping bag under a thick double duvet!!  When I was buying the sleeping bag in Victoria before leaving, the guy looked at me dubiously as he told me it was for extreme conditions and rated for -3C - but soon agreed it would be a good buy when he heard where it was to be used!  He showed me how it was designed to cover the head to keep warmth in - that's been so effective and useful - the moment I pull it up over my head, I feel so much warmer and snug - cabin temperature is 9-10C..... brr!

I totally overlooked my usual check-in with Wolfgang on the Patagonia Cruisers' Net at 7am LT this morning, being so busy with my  noon UTC position & weather report - which exactly coincides with the Net timing.   But when I eventually posted my report (it always takes quite a time to collate all the data needed), I found an email from him asking if all was OK.  I thought that was very kind of him and promptly replied, reassuring him and explaining.

Fresh attempt at stopping the propshaft spinning is on hold for now!   Thanks to those of you who have emailed me with suggestions!    Strop around and wooden wedge (I need to change the angle, I think, but must avoid the engine intake seacock close by) are the two separate options I'll be hoping to try, when things calm down here.  Photo shows the failed attempts - but also shows the problem area!   Strop will be my first option - sounds quick and easy!

Finally - many apologies for my lack of email replies just now.   To all of you who sent me New Year greetings and other emails - Thank you very much!    I was doing really well, keeping up with replying, until the New Year - but I'm sure you can appreciate that they're on hold now.   I hope to get to them from time to time, as and when when conditions permit.   My only really regular contact now is by radio with the Pacific Seafarers Net on 14300 around 0315-0345 UTC where I check in daily (and with the Patagonia Net while I'm in these waters.)   I stay on frequency until about 0430 UTC if anyone wishes to contact me, ready to switch to 14305 where reception is less noisy..

24hr  DMG to noon UTC:  103 n.ml.   (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)  (I hear there may be a problem with the main

link - hopefully it will be fixed very soon...)

At 1200 (Tuesday) UTC:  55:00S, 079:19W.    Cape Horn 422 ml 108T;  Chile (nearest point) 194 ml 059T (P. Montt 831 ml, 032T) ;  N.Z. (Owaka, S.Island)

3806 ml 226T; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4900ml 332T.

 (At time of writing this. Tues 2110 UTC,  55:16S, 075:01W)

want!
X-Via: SAILMAIL
X-MID: 7745_KC2IOV
X-Date: 2011/01/04 05:52:34

Monday 3rd January 2011

1pm (LT) Finally finished breakfast - delayed and re-started a few times..! I'd been up since soon after dawn, on & off. Up at 3.30am (daylight already!) to wish a little grand daughter "Happy Birthday!" - and found the wind had dropped to just 7-8 knots and we were only making 3.2 kt. Then up again for my noon UTC position and weather report at 7am local time, by which time the wind had backed to WSW - so onto starboard tack on a close-reach. Pole was taken down and

stowed and mainsail gybed.

We're lucky to make over 3 knots just now. Wind is expected to increase tonight, veer to N, and continue to increase over tomorrow, maybe getting up to over 30 knots by tomorrow night before easing after midnight.... A bit stronger than was showing yesterday! It's going to take 3-4 days (longer if the wind doesn't increase as forecast!) to get to Cape Horn, which is 400 miles from here as I write this and another Low is expected to come by just then, giving very strong winds again ...

I suppose it's appropriate weather for rounding the Horn, so I mustn't complain!! Pity I'm forced to go so slowly today, so I'm unlikely to get to the Cape a little sooner to sneak round the corner quickly to avoid the worst of the wind and resulting seas...! Still - it's a few days away yet so things might change for the better - fingers crossed (yet again!!) I must just try to make the best speed possible in the meantime.

I looked at the propshaft area after changing tack this morning. We were moving so slowly through the water the propshaft was still - so I promptly set about wedging in place the piece of wood I had ready, to prevent the shaft from spinning. After a bit of playing around, I soon realized that wiring it to hold it in position was not going to work, but with a bit more cutting, I was able to knock it into place firmly just under a nut on a connection to the gearbox. I then took the Vise-grips and tried to fix them in place on the small section of propshaft available - after a bit more playing around, I finally managed to get them to grip the shaft - making sure I did so such that I could remove them easily! So I've the two things preventing the shaft from spinning - hopefully, at least one will work! I shan't have to wait long to find out, I think!

8pm Well , neither worked - with the stronger wind coming in gradually, we're making better speed ... and t's spinning gaily again... grrr!! Next time, I'll try the wood again - from a different angle - and also a strop around the shaft. My previous cord wrapped around lasted two months, and a friend has sent me an even better way of doing it - so next time, that's what I'll try as well....

Another rather grey day, but no fog, overnight rain stopped early on and the seas lay right down over the day- to almost total calm with just a very slight swell. We've still the two young Grey-headed (not Grey-faced - although they are!) albatross around, and an occasional 2-3 prions.

Hot soup and freshly-made hot stew...... warming! (Air temperature in the main cabin is 10C.)

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 130 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page) (I hear there may be a

problem with the main link - hopefully it will be fixed very soon...)

At 1200 (Monday) UTC: 54:28S, 079:19W. Cape Horn 422 ml 108T; Chile (nearest point) 194 ml 059T (P. Montt 831 ml, 032T) ; N.Z. (Owaka, S.Island) 3806 ml 226T; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4900ml 332T.

Sunday 2nd January 2011

Photo shows a Black-browed albatross flying close to "Nereida"

Photo shows my 'woodwork bench'!

I looked at the propshaft area - spinning too much to do anything safely, with present good boat speed, but wind is forecast to ease in a day or so, so I want to be prepared for the job... Not made easier due to CV joint aft of gearbox, with only a tiny length of actual metal shaft in engine compartment - and that not easily accessible nor visible, although I can feel it. Not sure that my Vise-grips are big enough to use for the simple 'fix' - but I checked out how to operate them, in readiness. (They've invariably defeated me previously but, once I'd played around with them for a bit, they turned out to be really easy to use - if you do it right!) The other idea is to wedge the piece of wood under one of the several nuts in the joint connection to stop the rotation - the wood is a sturdy piece of teak so should be strong enough if I can wedge it in place firmly - I may have to wire it as well, to stop it 'jumping' out of place, maybe.... Having cut it, it should be the right size/shape for the job now.... we'll see.

SSB/HF radio - decided to have a go at missing GPS connection once more (lat/long/UTC info has been annoyingly missing/flashing in the display since some rough weather a few weeks ago). Checked the connection behind the (remote) fascia, which I had thought might be the problem - that seemed fine but undid and re-did the connector anyway - no change. So checked the connection at the main unit - also seemed good but again released and tightened all the connectors there.... Hey presto! Display was complete! Took all of ten minutes maybe .... Wish every problem had such a quick'n'easy fix!

Time is really confusing me now! I have to keep an eye on GMT as a reference (UTC is a few millionths, or less, of a second different!) because, as I move East, I have to adjust my ship's clocks to keep myself in 'sync' with day and night... So, instead of being in Pacific Standard Time (PST - which is the time kept by all the west coast of N. America, except Alaska), which is 8 hrs behind Greenwich, I'm now just 5 hrs behind GMT - so adjusted my ship's clocks by 2 hrs a week ago and another hour today.... In fact, I hear Chile operate daylight saving and are one, probably two, hours even more ahead (Z-3). My body is totally confused! So I'm eating when I feel hungry and sleeping when I feel tired....

Another murky, dull, grey, often foggy day today, although we've been making good speed in NNW wind. The fog was especially thick as evening fell... I was delighted to find a new kind of albatross visiting us this morning... Firstly, two Wandering albatross - BIG birds, chocolate brown on top with a white face - very distinctive! A short while later, two Black-browed albatross joined them and the two Grey-faced albatross who are still keeping us company near the boat. They were very curious and definitely checking us out, coming very close lots of times - so a good photo-opportunity! 20

Just before dusk, I had a nice long chat with Alex (and skipper Michael) on the Australian boat 'Drina', on passage from Brisbane to Puerto Montt, in Chile -

only 3-4 days more to landfall for them! Alex mentioned hot springs - they sound really inviting in the 9-10C air temperatures I'm experiencing just now..!

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 116 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 (Sunday) UTC: 53:41S, 082:46W. Cape Horn 553 ml 111T; Chile (nearest point) 294 ml 083T (P. Montt 831 ml, 032T) ; N.Z. (Owaka, S.Island) 3750 ml 228T; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4805ml 335T.

Saturday 1st January 2011 - Happy New Year!

I'm so far south now that the nights are getting really short - in fact, there was a remnant of light in the sky to the S all night long, with pink clouds and the early pre-dawn light in the East by around 2am local time! I stood in the cockpit for a long time, absorbing the scene ....and just had to sing out loud for joy, it was just so exhilarating! Sailing gently in the Southern Oean, en route to not-so-far-distant-now Cape Horn, with a beautiful, dramatic skyscape - and the seas, despite a big swell, relatively calm ....! What a start to the New Year!!

In fact, conditions were so good that I decided to celebrate the New Year by changing course and gybing the mains'l there and then, in the pink pre-dawn light, to make for Cape Horn directly (by great circle route) -no need to keep going East to avoid what were clearly not such bad swells as had been feared. I was also hoping to keep better wind for longer with the course change, the wind being expected to die down a lot more over the day, but possibly a touch stronger to the S.

8am: The lovely start to the year continued, with two Grey-headed Albatross swooping around the boat in the weak sunshine as I shook out two reefs - the wind, as expected, was dying ... and with it, our speed!

After more sleep, I came up on deck mid-morning to overcast skies and drizzle - and it's been like that, on & off, for the rest of the day - very murky and hazy in the distance with lots of moisture in the air, - foggy, later this afternoon.... I was clearly very lucky with weather conditions last night and first thing this moning!

Contacted the Patagonia Cruisers' Net on 8164 kHz soon after making my position report early this morning to wish them 'Happy New Year!' - not many boats checking in just now. Also finally made radio contact with an Australian boat that friends had told me was to my north, headed to Chile - we had a good long chat - they'd not spoken to anyone for over a month! And tonight, after my usual sociable check-in with Pacific Seafarers Net, another chat with Andy at the S. Pole station in Antarctica, followed by one with Mike at McMurdo Sound base... Andy is kindly trying to get up-to-date info for me on the ice situation in the waters near to Cape Horn from a skipper who does regular runs across those waters to the Peninsula US Base - that would be really useful.

Decided that the more urgent of my two important jobs for today was to deal with the generator oil - badly needed changing....well overdue..... Can't afford
anything to happen to the generator, so while seas fairly calm (only the occasional big swell), I got that job done - took a time, but I feel far more relaxed now it's over.

Still thinking about my options for the spinning propshaft problem - have vice-grips but possibly not big enough... or have bits of wood - will have a look and another think tomorrow....

Tonight changed course slightly for Cape Horn LH - with weather expected being from NW and not too strong, looks as though I can safely take the 'shortcut' and go much closer to the Cape than I was planning previously - I may yet see the lighthouse itself... That would be quite nice - we'll see if that works out or not!

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 118 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 (Saturday) UTC: 52:50S, 085:40W. Cape Horn WP 672 ml 120T; Chile 387 ml 083T; N.Z. (C.Saunders, Dunedin, S.Island) 3705 ml 230T; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4710ml 337T.

Friday 31st December 2010

Wishing all of you a very Happy New Year! Cheers!!

This evenimg's delicate sunset, seen from "Nereida" in swell of the Southern Ocean - last of the year 2010

An albatross resting close to Nereida's stern..!

Albatross soaring on those long, stiff wings....

I was awake early, as usual, to note down my midday UTC position and weather report - which is now at 6am local time (GMT-6), which should be one hour20 out from Chile time (GMT-5?). I'd been intending to contact the Patagonia Cruisers' Net on 8164 kHz for some time but kept overlooking it because its timing coincides with my report - which takes me quite a time to collate and send off.

Well, today (having posted myself a big notice in my logbook!), I finally managed it - and made contact with Wolfgang, the Net Controller/Manager, who I understand is based in Porte Montt. Lots of static on frequency, but we just managed to exchange greetings and for me to give him my details.

There is a surprising number of cruisers in Chile, attracted to the hundreds of remote islands and anchorages waiting to be explored, and it seems to have the same wild beauty of such places as SE Alaska, with which I'm more familiar.

But, like Alaska, the cruising season is short due to the latitude and one problem is that in many places, it's minimally charted - one hears of many uncharted rocks, in a very rocky area.... which, together with nasty 'williwaws' off hillsides and mountains, can easily lead to disaster - not a good place for a single-hander, unfamiliar with the area, to be sailing in, close to shore!

Conditions since late yesterday have been much easier, although the occasional bigger wave knocks us about still - and the swell is expected to increase, if anything, over today and tomorrow possibly, with the wind dying right down by this time tomorrow and maybe also over the following day - so progress will be slow for a day or more. (Just heard a crash of water as a wave washed over our side deck!)

When I ran the generator yesterday in very 'bumpy' conditions, the oil light came on when we were heeled over a lot - the generator doesn't like extreme
angles of heel. Fortunately, we came up again quickly enough that the oil light went out - but I'm taking that as a warning to check the oil level - and maybe it needs an oil change - to be checked on and done in calmer conditions - when the swell has died down a bit over the next two days. I depend on the generator for battery charging if wind and sun aren't available, so must look after it.

A lovely delicate 'end of the year' sunset tonight ... I've been on deck several times this afternoon, once the grey clouds and drizzle cleared away - enjoying the scene and the last day of the year. Very few birds today - but two albatross and a couple of handsome prions/petrels from time to time....

The propshaft is still spinning and doesn't stop when the gear is put into reverse - another job waiting for calmer conditions. Not going to be easy to fix....

Enjoying music, olives, salmon pate and blue cheese (separately!) on crackers, to be followed by some hot stew (with a glass of pinot noir) - it's cold without heating here! Somewhere there's a tiny bottle to see in the New Year.... Happy New Year!

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 143 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 (Friday) UTC: 52:16S, 088:46W. Cape Horn WP 787 ml 120T; Chile 499 ml 091T; N.Z. (C.Saunders, Dunedin, S.Island) 3640 ml 232T; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4640ml 340T.

Thursday 30th December 2010

Wishing all of you a very Happy New Year 2011! Cheers!!

Had a very enjoyable 'blue cheese' omelette last night - fresh eggs still fine with my regular turning of the box they're all stored in. They're possibly being helped now by the current low ambient temperatures - 11C at night, 13C daytime, but I've quite simply tried to remember to turn them every couple of days or so ... no vaseline or other messy coating! Not being chilled initially was vitally important, as was getting them from 'under the hen', straight from the farm!! (I'd stowed the pressure cooker, holding the stew I made earlier in the day, inside a galley locker for safety, in advance of the expected 'bumpy' conditions today - I'm looking forward to having that hot this evening! I've no heating just now....)

I was woken quite early, soon after daybreak, around 5.30am LT (local time), by the wind having increased - to around 35knots from NNW. Skies were very grey and seas were getting up, really knocking the boat around. The propshaft is spinning again - but it will have to wait to calmer conditions for me to try anything there. It's 'two hands for the boat' today, not just the usual one, preferably leaning against something. The motion can be quite violent at times, so sitting (or lying in my warm bunk!) is the safest position! Winds soon were gusting up to around 40 knots, sometimes sustained - but not going much higher, I was pleased to see... We were coping fine on a very broad reach with 3 reefs in mains'l and a scrap of genoa on the pole and some stays'l also out, although very small. (I have this worry that I might need that in a hurry if I wanted to heave to for some reason, but really it's not doing a lot, except that when a big wave knocks us over and we suddenly turn upwind, I feel it might be helping our balance to get us back off the wind...).

I say we were coping fine - in fact, seeing 40 knots of wind regularly when I first came up to check on deck, I wanted to reduce the genoa a bit more from its overnight size - but had run out of port winches (pole, genoa sheet and running backstay). so decided to take the furling line over to a stbd winch - not the best of options but it works.... if you're careful! Unfortunately, I managed to over-ride the furling line really badly on the winch. (Didn't keep an eye on a very bad lead! ) I tried taking the end onto another winch nearby, and did manage to undo it a little - but nothing like enough ... What an idiot!! So there we were with a bar-taut furling line crossing the cockpit from one side to the other, with two winches unuseable (to help the lead, I'd taken it around the main port sheet winch!) and impossible to furl the genoa in or out... and even stronger, rising winds and seas possibly imminent...!! Not a comfortable feeling!

The last thing I wanted to do was to cut the line, although I seriously considered that ... Time to try a rolling hitch to take the strain off the line where it was tangled. I found some Spectra line, which was about the same size and is very strong, and after several attempts (it's quite slippery), the knot held and I got some slack.... sigh of relief!! I had to use the winch I'd released the running backstay from and just hoped that for a short while that wouldn't matter. Of course then, with no tension on the line, ....no problem releasing the tangle! While I had the port winch available, I furled in a touch more genoa - in these strong conditions, a little canvas does a lot - we were making good speed and surfing often with the big waves....!

At some point I glanced up - to see a large Royal Albatross, hovering just above me, eyeing me....!! The 3 Grey-headed albatross and lots of prions/petrels from yesterday are still with us, soaring over the waves - they love these strong winds and big seas...!

Afterwards, I sat at the chart table for quite a while, in full foul weather gear, feeling cold, tired and very damp (I'd only slept for 3-4 hrs) but wanting to keep an eye on the wind and the boat's behaviour when the big waves hit ... Tried to relax and close my eyes ... but eventually, having reassured myself that conditions weren't worsening and the boat was coping fine, I made for my bunk where I warmed up and got some very welcome sleep!

The winds had eased a bit by 2-3pm, to a fairly steady 30 knots from WNW, so hopefully, that's the most we'll see and the winds will slowly ease further, although seas are still well up, of course.

Evening: Winds are still around 27kt, from WNW, and seas are big but well-spaced, so although it's a bit bumpy at times, all is well... I'm about to have some nice hot stew!!

I've had some enjoyable radio chats (one with MacMurdoSound, Antarctica, and one with S. Africa), in addition to usual chats on checking in to the Pacific Seafarers Net - they're all beginning to feel like old friends, we've talked every day now for so long!

Now I'm looking forward to increasing swell over the coming New Year weekend.... Not far to Cape Horn now (816ml to WP 60mls S of the Cape, as I write this) ... beginning to feel excited but trepidatious... And there's still a lot of the Southern Ocean to cover as yet, over the coming months...

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 123 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 (Thursday) UTC: 51:35S, 092:27W. Cape Horn WP 926 ml 120T; Chile 638 ml 097T; N.Z. (C.Saunders, Dunedin, S.Island) 3555 ml 234T; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4560ml 343T.