Wednesday 29th December 2010

Heavy rain overnight gave way quite early in the morning to a backed WSW wind for a short time and clear blue skies - which only became rather cloudy near 6pm local time, by which time the sun was getting rather low anyway. (I'm having to adjust my ship's clock to GMT-6, instead of keeping to PST , which is GMT-8) Wind has been right down to around 12 knots, from W-WNW since late morning, but I'm not in a hurry to move too far S just now - so I accepted our boatspeed of around 5 knots - not a fast day today! But still that big swell (4-5m easily) - seems to be from two directions ... mainly from W but some from more SW - when they meet, they 'lump' up.

There have been lots of prions around all day. Actually look as though they might be blue petrels from beak colour - similar dainty blue-grey markings, same distinctive dark 'M' across their wings, have very dark beak. Trouble is the birds I'm seeing have a white head with black eye-not the dark cap my book shows....?

Most exciting, first thing this morning, was coming up on deck and finding a large Grey-headed albatross sitting in the water right beside our stern - and two more flying around!! They've been close by all day long - so many birds today!!

The weather concern now is of strong winds imminent (increasing over tomorrow) and of unavoidable major swells (maybe up to 9m/30ft!!) over the coming

weekend - around the New Year... Seems I'll either be blown into the New Year - or knocked into it....

At least the sunny, calm conditions today gave me the chance to change the pole over safely when I had to gybe the mains'l - we're now on port tack - and check everything on deck - including the series drogue deployment routine. I was glad I did that because the chain which acts as a weight at the end of the drogue was NOT as easy to extract from its bag as it should have been - so I've taken it out and tied it down, ready to be deployed easily.

I've also made another big lot of beef and vegetable stew - the last lot was very welcome when I was feeling cold, and lasted for several days ... so it's definitely something to be repeated when nasty weather is looming in these cold conditions!!

Tried taking more photos.... Such bright sunshine all day long, and so many of the birds coming so very close - eyeing me as they hovered close by momentarily, as though they want to inspect me as well! But that always happens when my camera is NOT to hand, or not switched on...!

Spoke to Andy (WA2DKJ) at the South Pole US Antarctic base, KC4AAA, tonight! Clear as a bell - 200 yds from the geographic South Pole!!!

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

At 1200 (Wednesday) UTC: 50:58S, 095:35W. Cape Horn WP 1046 ml 122T; Chile 760 ml 101T; N.Z. (C.Saunders, Dunedin, S.Island) 3482 ml 235T; Mexico

(Cabo S. Lucas) 4490ml 346T.

Tuesday 28th December 2010

4-5 petrels flying close to waves and then soaring on uplift in bright sun at 4-5am PST. They seem to be around always now - never far away - that's really

nice - I've company!! About a dozen... one of which, at least, was possibly a sooty shearwater again... much darker and not the white underparts of the

petrels. One albatross seen early on - not seen well enough to be able to say whether Royal or Wandering... So distinctively different from the others! I

tried to take photos of the birds - so difficult, they swoop past so very fast in the strong wind...

This morning was grey and rainy but the sun is trying to get out now (midday) through thinning clouds. It feels like the norm now to have winds frequently

getting up to around 30 knots! We're well reefed down, so if the wind does increase unexpectedly, it's not too much of a worry - within reason, of course!

1.20pm JUST finished an unexpected job for today! As I was writing, I suddenly realized I could hear the propshaft spinning... I'd tied it off early in the

passage with cord and it had seemed fine - up to now! But it had worked loose, the string was frayed and no longer holding .... Took a time to figure out

that I could hold it still to work on it, using a wrap of cord again, once it had slowed down from time to time.... I've wedged a metal vice-grip against a nut

in the assembly to stop the rotation, as well as using more cord wrapped around a joint in the shaft - I just hope I'm not causing myself a future problem

doing that, but I clearly don't want the shaft to be spinning continuously for the next five months... Something I'll need to keep an eye on from time to

time.... (In an emergency, I hope to cut the cord and knock the grips away.)

I had been about to look at the photos I took earlier.... but first I just had to go and sit in the cockpit - such bright sun, blue sky ..and the petrels swooping

about the boat and soaring up over the nearby waves ... adjusted Fred, while sitting there, to keep course..... Time for cheese and biscuits, feeling relaxed,

with wind down to 22kt,.... pleasant, if COLD sailing in big, but well-spaced, swell.

Well, the photos, as usual, mainly show lots of water and sky - but some hints of birds here and there... enough to make me realize the birds were different

- not Juan Fernandez petrels - no dark cap and no all-white underwings... back to the bird book...!

This evening, I enjoyed chatting again to the US Antarctic base, KC4USV, at MacMurdo Sound ... initially to Mike, K1LRZ, and later to Ben, KB1LOL, who called

me on 14300, hearing me on frequency as I was trying to make a contact for a phone 'patch'. For the people there, in an isolated environment like me, it's

nice to be able to chat to someone!

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 144 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 (Tuesday) UTC: 50:13S, 098:47W. Cape Horn WP 1173 ml 122T; Easter Island 1467ml 337T; Chile 886ml 101T; N.Z. (C.Saunders, Dunedin,

S.Island) 3406ml 236T; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4425ml. 349T.

Monday 27th December 2010

Day 63 marks my longest time nonstop at sea so far! I took 62 days from Cape Town, South Africa, to Nelson, New Zealand in March-May this year and that

was just one day more than my passage down to Cape Town from Puerto Calero, Lanzarote, in the Canaries, from October to December last year - meant to

be a nonstop RTW attempt, but I had to pull in to Cape Town for unavoidable repairs, reaching there, under sail alone, on 6th December 2009.

This morning was murky, grey and damp! Air temperature 11C and sea 8C. A day for hot soup .... and a hot stew very welcome in the evening!

I got into my bunk for warmth!! With loads of emails to reply to, I was just settled in nicely when I realized the wind had increased ... In fact, to 35-40kt ....

I'd been aware of the pressure dropping, from 1006 late last night to 1003 around 6am, after I'd had to gybe the mains'l, with rain starting soon after. But I

was unprepared for this sudden strong wind - although, looking at the pressure when the wind was at its height, it had dropped right down to 995 hPa!! I knew a Low was set to pass well S of us at some point, and I hadn't thought much of the pressure drop earlier. Another learning curve!! Of course, with it raining, I'd had to put my foul weather gear on - that takes an age!! Especially over all my layers...

I reduced the aleady small headsails (we were surfing to well over 8 knots) and watched how the boat performed - she did fine. The pressure dropped a

bit more, to 994, and steadied... The wind stayed up at around 35 knots and slowly backed, with occasional stronger gusts... We made good speed!!

An hour or so later, the sun came out - the sky had cleared totally.. and there, soaring on fixed wings ahead of us, was a Wandering Albatross (a New Zealand

albatross) with distinctive white splashes on its dark upper wing surfaces, white body and mainly white underparts.... Two albatrosses in two days...!!

The wind stayed strong on & off all day ... mainly 27 knots, often 30+. Cloud banks came and went, with clear sky in between - a real mix!! But the wind

stayed WNW, while pressure very slowly rose- to 1001 hPa by evening.

Of course, with such strong wind, the swell increased too - becoming 4-5 m. and regularly catching us and knocking us about...

The Low giving a worry for later in the week, just before New Year's Eve, is causing a change of mind about our course. After reaching 50S 100W, the plan was to

head directly for a WP 60 ml S of Cape Horn (off the continental shelf) via a Great Circle route (the quickest way) but with a 9m steep swell forecast with that

Low, peaking at around 53S, I'll stay on my 112T course for a bit longer after reaching 50S, rather than change to 120T. The hope is that by staying a bit

further north, we'll miss the worst of that nasty swell... We'll see how that works out!

A lovely clear sky after sunset, with stars (Orion high up - standing on his head!) and , later, a bright moon - but very cold!! Winter weather, to my mind!

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 126 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 (Monday) UTC: 49:27S, 102:18W. Cape Horn WP 1313 ml SE; Easter Island 1377ml N; Chile 1030ml ESE; N.Z. (South Island) 3314ml WSW; Mexico

(Cabo S. Lucas) 4358ml. N.

Sunday 26th December 2010 (Boxing Day)

A lovely morning again, with the sun shining out of occasional patches of blue sky quite often... Spent quite a lot of time over the day wedged in the companionway looking out at the impressive swell - felt so exhilarated at times - marvellous to be out here in such good weather, despite the cold! Late in the afternoon, a cloud bank approached and blanketed the sun with grey.... But as the sun disappeared, the birds arrived - not just a few .... lots of them!!

I thought some were sooty shearwaters, all dark with lighter underwing parts, but then realized that some, at least, were not - they had yellow beaks and a touch of white nearby - White-chinned petrels...! Then I spotted several Juan Fernandez petrels, as seen the other day - distinctive in their grey and white plumage with black and white heads. As I was trying to see two of them better, I suddenly saw this much larger bird nearby - distinctive with its big wingspan, white body and underparts, dark wings above and dark tips to the white of its wings beneath.... a Royal albatross! It circled and came quite close, so we each got a good look at each other! A great Boxing Day present!

The expected front came through around dawn. The wind had been slowly backing over yesterday and overnight, and by midnight was dropping... by dawn, it had died almost completely to just 6 knots from the SW, preceded by rain... our boatspeed dropped to near zero! An hour later, it had veered to WNW and increased to 11 knots - and continued to increase a little... we were moving again - good news!! The wind strength has varied a lot over the day, from 11 to 25 knots, just as the cloud cover has - one moment, lovely clear sky overhead, with bright sun, .... a short while later, murky grey skies....

Sea temperature is down to 8C and, with air temperature down to 13C, I finally succumbed - and donned fleeces as my third layer .... I'm definitely getting into 'Michelin man' mode...,. Hat is being worn most of the day now and I'm thinking about hot soups and warm gloves! And it's just gone midsummer hereabouts!

I monitored 14300 kHz after 0400GMT for a short while, in case anyone wanted to contact me there - propagation at that time is excellent. Hearing no-one, I tuned into the Antarctic station frequency I had been told about recently - and immediately made contact with Andy, WA2DKJ, from New Jersey, who has been working for the last two months at maintaining communications at out-stations, this particular one being 550 miles from the S. Pole. We had quite a long chat and then I heard another station calling me - from MacMurdo Sound ... Ben, KB1LOL, from Boston, MA, was on frequency - wanting to chat, as one sailor to another! (His work is on maintaining VHF repeater stations in the US sector.) Ham radio has become a great source of communication and human contact for me of late!!

I'm keeping an eye on that nasty-looking Low heading this way, ready for New Year's Eve ... looks slightly less compressed today - but has plenty of time to get worse....and is still packing quite a punch, even now.

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

At 1200 (Sunday) UTC: 48:32S, 105:12W. Cape Horn WP 1438 ml SE; Easter Island 1297ml N; Chile 1155ml ESE; N.Z. (Portland Island) 3230ml WSW; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4292ml. N.

Saturday 25th December (Christmas Day)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I hope you all have a lovely peaceful holiday - I'll be thinking of many of you - thank you very much for your emails!

My postbag took a time to look through - my after-breakfast treat! A lovely morning, with the sun struggling out early through broken, thin cloud layer - even saw some blue sky now and then... Saw one solitary bird (petrel) in the distance - but so far no albatross.

My last fresh grapefruit, fresh coffee, home-made marmalade (- thanks, R&D!) on crispbread - with butter that has survived my fridge malfunction (temperature is now low enough not to need a fridge!) ... Wedged against the swell's motion in the companionway with music playing, having breakfast up in the cool air and weak sunshine, looking out to the sea - if I don't keep looking, I definitely won't see any birds ...!

Good wind again (around 25 knots at present), consistent downwind sailing - I've hardly needed to touch the sails for the last day or so!

2.30pm On wind steering, with Fred in charge, tried to check in to the Maritime Mobile Net on 14300 kHz - they had a bit of a problem finding a relay with good enough copy on me to take my report, but finally found KD4CMV (Warren?) who took my report - with a bit of trying and a helping hand from W7WZ (John?). I then switched to 21.402 MHz, my usual frequency for contacts in the daytime now - rather late, since I normally try to be there at 2.45pm PST (2245GMT) and it was now gone 3pm. I was able to make contact with Tom (WA6TLL), near LA, and Jerry (KL7EDK), in Alaska - enough to exchange Christmas greetings, although they had trouble hearing me - they were faint but readable to me. It's a bit of an effort, but worthwhile - it's nice to make the contact with human voices!!

4pm Foggy in the distance - very reduced visibility and a lot of moisture on the air... Wind slowly backing as a front comes closer - expected to pass by early tomorrow, wind has already backed from WNW at dawn to just S of W now - hopefully continuing to do so gradually, although last year I experienced a change from NNW to SW in extreme winds (well over 50 knots!) in almost no time at all, as a front passed over.... not pleasant, especially with big seas from two different directions!

Of course, as I was writing that, a gap in the clouds came along - and suddenly the sun was shining! Clearly the foggy conditions are patchy, since a short while later the sun was very watery with the fog bank just a thin layer, hovering not very high above - but it was good to see the sun shining nicely while it lasted.

5.30pm Time for tea & Christmas cake!

Another good day - a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas! Enjoyed my Pacific Seafarers Net session around 7.30pm, as usual - lots of Christmas greetings exchanged, although the Aussies and Kiwis are into Boxing Day now - being a day ahead almost! Interesting that propagation is now such that, after sunset, I'm having excellent copy with stations in the eastern USA - Florida and Georgia.... (after 0330 GMT/1930 PST). I'm monitoring 14300 after 0400Z for a short while now, if anyone wants to contact me.

The only blot on the horizon is a nasty-looking Low heading for me - all ready to blow me into the New Year with a vengeance.... I might yet be testing out my Jordan Series Drogue.... Watch this space!

My Christmas dinner of salmon with fresh potatoes, green peas and tartare sauce is waiting for me ... with a little white wine ...followed by some Christmas pudding ... and some very nice chocolate...(thanks, Tom & Maggie - I kept it specially!)

I'm raising a glass to everyone - "To a happy 2011 and your very good health! Cheers!" (Note the fleece and warm hat - not so warm here!)

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 152 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 (Saturday) UTC: 47:27S, 108:22W. Cape Horn WP 1579 ml SE; Easter Island 1218ml N; Chile 1295ml ESE; N.Z. (Portland Island) 3133ml WSW; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4220ml. N.

Friday 24th December Christmas Eve - Day 60

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I hope you all have a lovely peaceful holiday - I'll be thinking of many of you - thank you for your emails!

1pm Lots of greetings received by email - always nice to get news from friends. My postbag was full - I'm leaving opening some of the post until later

today - just to spread out the enjoyment of the 'Christmas presents'! A lovely morning - the sun struggled out at midday - even had some blue sky for a

short while - and sun again now, with patches of blue... Stood in companionway gazing around at the awesome seas, made some fresh coffee .. and sang

some carols! To be more truthful, since I couldn't remember all the words, there was a lot of "la-la" - but that's fine - I enjoyed it, although it's a bit difficult

to sing descant to yourself!

No fog today! Just good wind (up to 25 knots at present), downwind sailing, good boat speed - and, even more welcome, a favourable current! But still not

a bird in sight, most unusual... I keep looking, expecting to see one somewhere in the distance maybe ... but - nada!

Debating whether to make a glorious beef stew (best of M&S!) with lots of fresh-boiled potato, chopped tomatoes, sweetcorn, green beans and fried onion

added ... or whether to have chicken tikka masala with Basmati rice and maybe add in some aubergine... that would work well.

One of the presents I opened early was tins of stuffed green olives and pate de campagne (thanks, Liz - remember?!) - that's for an hors d'oeuvre today and

tomorrow.... Mmm - might relent and delve into it early... My main Christmas present is just being out here in the middle of this mighty wilderness - it's

awe-inspiring, especially when those big seas come tumbling along and pick us up... Really puts us mere humans into perspective... We've been surfing

nicely quite often, although I'm keeping an eye always on our speed - don't want it to get too high, especially when surfing.... Generally, in 25knots of wind

from astern now, we're making 6-7.5 knots - with that slight helpful 'push' from the current - and the waves. I took a video of the seas . but I'm sure, like

the photos that were posted here on Wednesday of the stormy seas in winds of 35kt, it won't show the reality of the high crests and deep troughs - it's like

looking down at the troughs out of a high upstairs window, they're so deep down! And this swell isn't particularly big, by Southern Ocean standards...!

5.30pm Sitting with a big mug of tea - and some Christmas cake. At least, that's what I'm calling it! It's a rich dark fruit cake - so it's very similar, just

lacking the marzipan coating and the icing decoration. Opening my post.... and then I've promised myself to get to reading my book - "Luxton's Pacific

Crossing"! Fascinating!!

Wind seems to be consistently in the mid-20s and we're still going well - almost dead downwind with slightly quartering seas, but well apart, at around 10

seconds. Sun disappeared a while ago and grey skies were threatening rain, I thought, but no sign of that as yet. So I've had a good day - relaxing and

enjoyable!

Finished making a big stew - enough for 3 meals, I'd say! Tomorrow's 'special' is to be the salmon I was given before leaving - with fresh potatoes, green

peas and tartare sauce ... and a little white wine, if it's calm enough! A little red wine with the stew tonight should go well.... I'm breaking my 'dry boat on

passage' rule - but I normally do that on special occasions! I'll be raising a glass tomorrow to the various friends who will be doing the same to me - "To

your good health!"

7pm - Foggy cloudy conditions just dropped down - but wind unchanged. Was just checking cloud cover for Pacific Net daily weather report - blue sky one

moment - and then this layer of low cloud blew over fast - and blotted out the sun and sky in no time!

Looking forward to relaxing over my book after my meal. That's after emails and this log report sent - if I can connect - not easy these days - takes a long

time, sometimes...

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 141 n.ml. (See track on 'Travels' page)

At 1200 UTC: 46:11S, 111:35W. Cape Horn WP 1730 ml SE; Easter Island 1143ml N; Chile 1146ml ESE; N.Z. (Portland Island) 3034ml WSW; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4145 ml. N.

Thursday 23rd December Day 59 - Still big swell, but wind down - rockin' & rollin' downwind in THICK FOG!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I hope you all have a lovely peaceful holiday - I'll be thinking of many of you - thank you for your emails!

Photo shows my Christmas card from "Nereida" to all of you... Enjoy the holiday!

Fog today! Quite thick in the early morning, lifted a bit by midday - but still lurking, with visibility very restricted .... dropped down again by mid-afternoon.
Now the wind has dropped down, it's very calm downwind sailing - but not a bird in sight, just big swell and dripping fog. All very peaceful, now we're back under wind steering.

Spent an age yesterday and again today looking over routeing options: whether to go directly from here on a Great Circle route to the Horn (WP is quite a way
S of Cape Horn, in fact) or whether to put in an extra WP that would keep us from dropping quite as far S as the first option.... and so lessen the chances of really big swell - far bigger than the big swell we've had so far. It's a lottery whether the winds will be much different, possibly not. The wind and the swell often really build up close in to Chile - the winds building with a compression effect as the Lows come in towards the continent. Nothing to be done to avoid that since that's where Cape Horn is - other than to stand well off the continental shelf if conditions look to be bad as we get closer!

Tied down a couple of crates in the aft cabin which had worked loose with the jarring motion of the boat in the big seas. In fact, another empty one had come away completely a day ago and knocked into the AP/instruments connector that I't rigged up - and disconnected it... I suddenyl noticed that the AP noise had stopped ... and the instrument displays were blank! Fortunately, since we were in strong conditions at the time, I was able quickly to re-connect the wiring and sort out the steering - but one other job today has been to protect that item rather better! I also had to wedge one of the fuel jerrycans in the cockpit locker- I'd heard a banging noise from time to time when the bigger waves hit yesterday but had had difficulty locating the source of the noise. In the calmer conditions this morning, I was able to see what the problem was - with the occasional bigger wave coming along conveniently to show me what was moving!

I've been enjoying frequent cheese and biscuits - at present, I'm slowly finishing the tasty little Mt Townsend cheeses I got in the Saturday market just before I left Pt Townsend - it's a good thing I like ripe cheeses! That's definitely an item on my Christmas Day menu!

It's been really heartwarming to be getting so many 'Season's Greetings' by way of email - I've tried to reply to them all and hope I've not overlooked anyone. I've not had time to compose my own 'Season's Greetings' email - maybe later today.. I hope my friends will forgive me... In the meantime, I hope that everyone reading this will have a very enjoyable Christmas. (BTW, can someone remind me of the times/frequencies of BBC Overseas so I can listen on my SSB radio - I'm missing my carol-singing...!! Are they broadcasting the Cambridge Cathedral Choir Carols - or something similar?)

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 147 n.ml.

At 1200 UTC: Cape Horn WP 1870 ml SE; Easter Island 1091ml NNE; Pitcairn 1412ml NNW; Chile 1585ml ESE; N.Z. (Portland Island) 2947ml WSW; Mexico (Cabo San Lucas) 4073 ml. N.

Wednesday 22nd December Day 58 - 4-5m swell with 35 kt winds - rough!

Bright full moon overnight, with increasing cloud.

By dawn, the WSW 20knot wind had dropped a bit to around 17kt and had veered to WNW, ahead of the expected strong winds. We went goose-winged but soon after , I decided it would be better to pole out the genoa since the wind was so nearly from astern and not expected to change much when it strengthened. That done, in fairly calm conditions, the wind soon began to increase - to 23 knots and rising ... so time to tie in the 3rd reef... while it was still easy...

Good timing!! Within an hour, pressure had dropped and the wind was gusting to 30knots... with 3 reefs in the mains'l and a tiny scrap of genoa poled out, we were doing fine in building seas... I'd deliberately left the boom end high, when finishing the reefing, and had similarly raised the pole end high and took it forward. In the big seas expected soon, I didn't want the ends of either dipping in the sea if it could be avoided.

After that, the wind increased to 35 knots regularly, and the seas slowly built up to well over 4m, often catching us on the beam and knocking us around with slightly breaking crests. Nothing too worrying, since the swell was well-spaced apart, but uncomfortable at times! The photos really don't do justice to the reality!!

While I was sitting safely in my bunk, I checked out the birds I've been seeing - the sooty shearwater was unmistakeable but the others turned out to be petrels - the Juan Fernandez Petrel!! It's a great help having maps showing where different birds are found - gets rid of lots of possibilities!

This evening, pressure has dropped further and the wind is still up, but tending often to be under 30 knots - so maybe it's decreasing - but the seas will take a time to subside...

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 134 n.ml.

At 1200 UTC: Easter Island 1035ml NNE; Pitcairn 1268ml NW; Chile 1727ml ESE; Cape Horn WP 2017 ml SE; N.Z. (Portland Island) 2872ml WSW; Mexico

(Cabo San Lucas) 3988 ml. (007T)

Stormy sea:

Big sea approaches:

Tuesday 21st December Day 57 - Swell builds up with 20 kt winds - but no rain!

Full eclipse of the moon - I'd really been looking forward to seeing an orange eclipsed moon rising in the East just as the sun set orange in the West - but

the murky drizzly conditions yesterday prevented it. Didn't see the moon at all last night, although I did see the sun rise as the overcast began to disperse

to give a very pleasant morning with broken cloud for a few hours.

The 3-4 birds I've been seeing over the last few days, shearwaters, I think, seem to have adopted us - they're usually somewhere nearby soaring and

swooping, using the waves for uplift - I could spend hours watching them, they're so graceful and totally in their element - especially now that the seas have

built up to over 3m in the consistent 20 knots or so of WSW wind we've had overnight and on into this afternoon.

Urgent job of today was carrying out the switch-over from butane to propane for cooking. With an already quite big swell running, forecast to increase over

the next day or so with the expected increase in wind, I was beginning to get worried that I'd run out of gas in the very near future in the galley and not be in

safe conditions to make the change over. So, seeing a bright sky, with just thin overcast, and a dry deck this morning, I got ready: dressed up in foul-weather gear (guaranteed if I didn't wear it, I'd get a wave breaking over me!), harness & two safety lines (deck was pitching every which way, with the occasional extra large wave to concentrate the mind), the gas pipe I needed for the connection and a couple of tools. It took almost as long getting everything and myself organized as it did to do the job!

Basically, I had to undo the Camping Gaz cylinder from the pipework by rotating it bodily, - such a stupid, awkward system in a confined space! The only practical way to deal with it is to remove it from its holder and bring it up on deck. Then I attached the end of the propane pipe connection with the special adaptor to the solenoid & regulator, in place of the cylinder, at the end of the pipe leading to the galley and attached the other end to the propane tank. The propane connection uses a nice simple system with a collar, easy to connect & tighten up without moving the tank at all, unlike the stupid butane system.... Just to help things along, the butane tank was completely covered in rust.... (I'd installed aluminium propane tanks, to avoid the rust problem of steel tanks.) I checked at the galley - all working OK - relief! When the time comes to switch from one propane tank to the other, that's a simple matter of removing the pipe from one tank and onto the other - a simple unscrewing and re-screwing of the pipe connector end... no moving of tanks - they stay fixed in place.

Early afternoon - the fair-sized swell continues - a wave often catching hold of us & making us lurch to leeward. Sun trying unsuccessfully to get out again. The cabin is still full of clothing hung up to dry - I'm pleased that it seems to have almost dried now. It's still fairly warm down below compared with outside so that has helped.

6pm A 'hole' in the grey overcast appeared - clear blue sky for a short while overhead before it moved on downwind.... and a fleeting glimpse of the sun.

One of the birds soaring nearby was a definite sooty shearwater - dark below as well as above - but the others are clearly white below with dark underwing

edges and tips and dark eye patches and cap.

Wind is still from WSW around 20 kts, very occasionally dropping to 15-16 kt, sometimes rising to 22-23 kt. I'm keeping an eye out, waiting for the wind to

rise higher, ready to reef down again. I'm expecting the wind to increase a lot over tomorrow (Wed), probably from the early morning on, so it won't harm to

reef well in advance - but I don't want to do it too soon, since that would kill our present good speed .... our 3rd reef is a very deep one.

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 109 n.ml. (reflecting the 7 knot winds giving low boat speed over much of the day yesterday)

At 1200 UTC: Easter Island 1002ml NE; Pitcairn 1140ml NNW; Chile 1857ml ESE; Cape Horn WP 2151 ml SE; N.Z. (Portland Island) 2802ml WSW; Mexico (Cabo San Lucas) 3917 ml. (010T)

Monday 20th December Day 56 - Summer solstice down here - so shortest day up north!

Full eclipse of the moon in these parts, as it rises tonight - but with the present total grey cloud cover, I doubt I'll see anything - pity!!

Overnight, we continued to make good speed in around 15 kt of W wind. There was occasional rain, starting out as drizzle just before midnight. By dawn, the wind had dropped to 7 kt under heavy overcast and occasional further drizzle. Not long after, the wind started rising and veered a little... and got stronger... I went on deck to reef the mains'l in heavy rain.... tied in the first reef ... wondered about the second .... but then saw the wind was up at 25 knots ... no question! We were broad reaching and by then were making around 7 knots in an increasing swell. It's only too easy to carry too much sail downwind - but then the wind steering gets overpowered and can't cope. There's often very little difference in boat speed with the reduced canvas - but the boat feels better!

It was nice to see several birds around - I'm still keeping an eye out for my first albatross down here!

Having got very wet and being definitely under-clothed for the cooler conditions, I went to get out some of my warm fleeces - and found a lot of them sopping wet inside the plastic bags I'd carefully stowed them away in. OK - there were a couple of tiny 'breather' holes in the bags, but they should not have been as soaking wet as I found them - this was not a case of condensation - and definitely needs thorough investigation- but at some future date. For now, I removed all of them from their bags, wrung the water out as best I could and hung them up in the head to drip - at least fleeces lose water quickly when hung up but I just hope I can dry them properly - not so easy in a cool, damp climate. Last week, in the hot sun, they'd have been dry in no time! (By early afternoon, in a weak sun and with the air feeling a bit warm, I hung them out to dry in the cockpit)

As I'm writing this at 5pm, I'm keeping my eye on the cloud upwind - with so many things hanging out to dry in the cockpit, I don't want to get caught out by the rain which looks possible. Nor do I want to get caught out by the quickly rising wind which often precedes the rain! The clothing will have to come in soon anyway but hopefully will have dried somewhat.

My other job of today has just been finished. I spotted one of my bits of anti-chafe plastic tubing on a lower shroud dangling loose yesterday. If it hadn't been secured at its lower end with some insulating (sticky) tape, it would have been long gone - so today I went around all the tubing and wrapped tape around in several places - hopefully, that will keep them in place now.

The wind has been right down to 7 knots or less over most of the afternoon, rising to 10-11 knots by 5pm, so our speed has been down again. This light wind is expected to continue for a day or so, before gradually strengthening, until by dawn on Wed 22nd it will be around 20 kt, peaking to 30-40 knots or more later in the day, very slowly reducing a little over Thurs 23rd Dec, maybe reaching 20kt again, by early on Christmas Eve... There's a chance it might have died down more by Christmas Day... but the swells are sure to be big still, for a time.

6.00pm Drizzle! In with the clothing ... checked the windsteering before the rain got any heavier - the wind keeps swinging about so our course varies quite a bit.

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 128 n.ml.

At 1200 UTC: Pitcairn 1033ml; Easter Island 975ml; Chile ml (nearest point) 1960ml; Cape Horn WP 2260ml; N.Z. (nearest pt - Portland Island) 2762ml; Mexico (Cabo San Lucas) 3850ml.

Sunday 19th December (Day 55)

We've started making good speed with the increased wind - but with grey sky, bigger swell and cooler temperatures by late afternoon.... The pole was removed and the genoa brought to leeward, although the pole might be needed again quite soon as we're on a very broad reach, in a W-WNW wind, in order to make our course of about 134T for Cape Horn.

The solitary bird was soaring gracefully on almost motionless wings nearby again today - beautiful. Dark above, white beneath, with dark breast, and dark edges & tips to its undewings.

I spent a long time on an Excel spreadsheet for my food stores - was all set to print off the lovingly-composed, highly useful, final version on my little portable printer, when the laptop died ... I tried to resuscitate it several times - but to no avail ... All that wasted time and effort ...! The PC was the old one, not the one I'm using now for emails etc, but it had the Excel software on it which this one doesn't have. So it's not the major disaster it might have been.... just very frustrating...! Had messages warning of 'imminent failure of hard drive'...!! Back to the quill pen....

Radio propagation was poor today - could hardly hear the usual Kiwis and Aussies on PacSeaNet tonight - whereas the other night we all had a great chat, hearing each other really clearly!

Every day for the last week, the magnetic variation has increased by a degree. It was 18E when I left Victoria, reduced slowly to stay at 10E for over ten days while we headed due S, including when I crossed the Equator at 118W, and is now increasing more and more rapidly - it's now standing at 23E and will keep increasing to a maximum East variation before reducing again to reach zero in the S. Atlantic... and will then increase as a West variation. 20 days E of Cape Town, in March this year,I saw it reach a maximum of 46W, reducing to zero at around 40S 124E, 3 weeks later, from where it switched to an increasing East variation. . Our Earth is really just an enormous bar magnet!

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 80 n.ml. -well down, as was expected!

At 1200 UTC: Pitcairn 911ml; Easter Island 972ml; Chile ml (nearest point) 2085ml; Cape Horn WP 2388ml; N.Z. (nearest pt - Gable End, Foreland)2703ml; Mexico (Cabo San Lucas) 3782ml.

Saturday 18th December Day 54

Before posting this, I went up on deck to enjoy the calm sea sparkling in the bright moonlight under a starry sky. The only clouds are low on the northern horizon... a beautiful night... The photo shows sunrise this morning - a few hours before we gybed onto starboard tack.

The only bird I've seen for several days flew around us, just the once, this morning - a graceful shearwater or petrel, I'm not sure which.... dark above with light underparts and dark breast - so many like that - impossible to identify without a longer, closer look .... but could well be the same one I've seen a couple of times fleetingly over the last week or so.

Yet another calm day with hot sunshine over most of it and a long slow swell from the North. By last night, the wind had backed into the NNE and around mid-morning it quite quickly backed further - to W of N - and dropped back down to just 5-6 knots, having teasingly got up to 9 knots around dawn. It's been swinging around from the N all day, sometimes just E of N, sometimes W of N... but rarely getting above 7 knots in strength, often just 3-4 knots, so we've been struggling to make way - but at least, having gybed the mains'l and poled-out genoa around mid-morning with the change in wind direction (that took a time...!!), we're making our course - just W of S. We're clearly crossing the High pressure ridge now - pressure has been dropping steadily over the day from the high of 1037 hPa yesterday to 1032 hPa by early this evening - so hopefully, quite soon, the wind will start increasing in strength, as it backs some more, and we'll be able to head more directly towards Cape Horn, with the High pressure centre safely north of us.

I spent some time cleaning some gooseneck barnacles off the stern at water-level this afternoon - they're so fleshy that leaning out with a knife to cut them off wasn't difficult. There are sure to be more I couldn't reach lower down on the hull and I was tempted to go for a swim, but contented myself with sitting in the hot sun and dangling my legs in the water instead - but not for long, though.... The water wasn't that warm (at 22C, it's well down on the 30C of just north of the Equator) ... and I didn't fancy finding out there was unseen life lurking in the deep nearby - as an ex-windsurfer, horror stories of legs lost to sharks while trying to water-start always come to mind...!

I'm actually looking around for jobs to do now! I ruled up my logbook pages for many days ahead (past Cape Horn, in fact!)... and looked over my distances to date - not very good, I feel, but I have covered a total, according to my daily DMG, of well over 5720 n.ml. from Victoria, so far. In fact, that's in keeping with my conservative estimate of 7 months' total time ... we'll see!

Radio turned up a couple of unexpected contacts - one on 21402 kHz, at my usual time of around 2245UTC, and the other on the Pacific Seafarers Net around 0315 UTC on 14300 kHz- Don & Priscilla of 'Chautauqua', now in Sydney. We first met at Hilton Head in early 2001 and have not met up since, although we've always kept in touch - so it was a lovely surprise to hear Don's call!

Food tonight was asparagus omelette with fried diced potatoes - fresh eggs are still fine, being turned every 1-2 days...

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 103 n.ml. - it will be even less by tomorrow, if today's consistent SOG of 2-3 knots is kept up !

At 1200 UTC: Pitcairn 834ml; Easter Island 934ml; Chile ml (nearest point) 2240ml; Cape Horn WP 2455ml; N.Z. (nearest pt)2713ml; Mexico (Cabo San Lucas) 3710ml.

Sunrise 38S 123W / Dec 10

Friday 17th December Day 53

Another calm, warm day - of decreasing, slowly backing wind, causing our speed to drop over the afternoon. Hardly any clouds ... although just before sunset, a thin cloud layer spread over the sky - but not long after it was clear again -with a bright moon.

I still feel as though I've had a reprieve - although perhaps it's more a feeling of "the calm before the storm"..... I'm constantly thinking ahead to the next few weeks and rounding Cape Horn - well down in the 'Furious Fifties" - that waypoint, well away from the Cape to avoid the relatively shallow sea there, is presently at 57S! That's why it's nice to have so many calm, warm days now - and enjoy relaxed breakfasts in the cockpit.

Spent more time finishing going through my food stores, discovering some things I thought I'd forgotten to buy and finding others in places where I'd forgotten I'd stowed them - took quite a time but has definitely been worthwhile listing it all carefully - still haven't come across my original lists!

While doing that, I went to the fridge to get some Port Salut cheese for lunch - which has had no problem surviving no refrigeration. It has the traditional outer coating that did the job for centuries so it's not too surprising that it's lasted so well. But the visit to the fridge showed me that that needed attention badly - so the rest of the day was spent sorting it out and cleaning it completely, having only partly done that the other day ...... lots of food for fishes ... and lots of washing of plastic wrappings. I never throw anything plastic or plastic-coated into the sea but to keep them until the end of my journey means I have to wash them all thoroughly (in seawater) to prevent them started to smell. I've just put one bag of plastic bits into the aft lazarette to await landfall.

By sunset, the wind had backed into the NNE and we were struggling to make even 3 knots. I was finally able to look at the pole, to try to free the jaw - fresh water, hard brushing and a good spray of lubricating fluid didn't seem to be working - but some knocking with a heavy metal tool helped it along no end! Suddenly it came free... and I made use of the bright moonlight to get the pole in place so I could bring the genoa over to windward - held firmly, it behaved far better and our speed gradually got up to around 4 knots, in 7-8 knots of wind.

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 125 n.ml.

At 1200 UTC: Pitcairn 751ml NW; Easter Island 865ml ENE; Chile ml (nearest point) 2190 ESE; Cape Horn WP 2523ml SE; N.Z. (E.Cape or Portland Isl.)2764ml WSW; Mexico (Cabo San Lucas) 3607ml. (012T)

Thursday 16th December Day 52

Photos show the poor squid that decided to board us overnight - big mistake! - and some spectacular towering clouds catching the setting sun the other evening.

Beautiful day again today - a few little white clouds lined up along the wind direction... not a raincloud in sight... until just before the Pacific Seafarers Net was about to begin, near sunset...when a big band of grey raincloud spread across and gave some heavy raindrops - but no big squalls!

It's good to have the time now to get done all the items on my joblist - and some extras. I feel almost as though I've had a reprieve, with so many days of calm sailing meaning I can move about easily and do whatever needs doing - on deck or below. I'll soon have to start reading some of the many magazines and books on board... Not often I get the chance to do that!

11:30am Just finished checking over connections needed to make the switch-over from butane (European) to propane (N.American) cylinders & fittings, sending gas down to galley for cooking. I want to make the changeover while in these calm conditions, so that there will be no question of my running out of cooking gas while in the strong conditions expected all too soon! I'm surprised that my butane tank has lasted so long, despite cooking a meal most days - I'm still on the one I started just before leaving Victoria - & it's not empty yet. I suspect my drinking far more plain water, and making so much less tea or coffee than usual over the day, is probably the reason for that...

I had a relaxed breakfast out in the sunny cockpit, having made some fresh coffee. I'm determined to make the most of these pleasant conditions while I have them to enjoy - an early Christmas present, I've decided!! All too soon, it's going to be a lot colder and rougher & sitting out in the cockpit over a leisurely breakfast will NOT be an option!

The wind died enough for the first reef to need shaking out (found a small squid - or is it a cuttlefish? - beside a winch!) .... and I must look at the spinnaker pole end again - I tried it in passing yesterday and couldn't open the jaw, so I suspect it's got jammed again with seasalt - despite having used it not so long ago. The hot freshwater treatment will work again, I hope! (Later - just checked again - can't budge it ... definitely on the joblist - could be needing it soon...)

I played around with the stays'l, using a snatch block to sheet it out upwind, to try to spill the wind onto the genoa - but the wind angle was wrong, so for a time I furled it away.

We were still headed on 200T, changing to 190T by the afternoon, trying to go around the light-wind centre of the high-pressure ridge to the ESE. We'll slowly turn to port, heading S and then SSE, as the wind backs more. It's in this kind of situation that wind steering can really come into its own - following the wind around as it shifts, to optimize course and speed. Hopefully, we won't end up in a 'wind hole' - as can happen so close to a High centre.... And we could get a sudden wind shift as we pass over the ridge - with the wind suddenly backing a lot.

I spent this afternoon going through my food stores, double-checking and making lists of what's stowed where. Very useful... so easy to forget where some things are, after a time.

Wind generator is still doing very little, with wind down in strength and just abaft the beam. So still only solar power for time being, with occasional top-up from diesel generator.

I'm noticing how much cooler it is over the daytime now, when not in the sun. Air temperature is around 26C and sea temperature almost down to 22C. So when in the wind, it's feeling rather cold!

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 140 n.ml.

At 1200 UTC: Pitcairn 675ml NW; Easter Island 770ml ENE; Chile 2235ml (nearest point) ESE; Cape Horn WP 2588 ml SE; N.Z. (E. Cape) 2841ml WSW; Mexico (Cabo San Lucas) 3480 ml. (013T)

Squid:

Sunset:

Wednesday 15th December - Day 51

Another lovely warm sunny day - a bit more cloud and swell than of late, and up to 2pm, no squalls.... but then a big raincloud came close ... Usual sequence ... wind dropped, then veered and increased quickly, as rain came in, then died and backed again once cloud had moved off downwind... Meant I missed my usual 2.20pm check-in to MMNet - too busy! But finally tried half-an-hour later. Only managed it near 3 o'clock, once I'd got us back onto windsteering, which meant I could turn off instruments and AP and lose the noisy interference that stops me hearing people on the radio. In trying 14305 and 21402, to see if anyone was waiting to make contact with me, I was delighted to find Steve, VA7SKM, on board 'Silas Crosby', on frequency - in La Paz, with lots of radio noise from electrical gear nearby making it difficult for him to hear me well, but he was clear to me - and a good test of him being able to talk from a less noisy environment in 3 days' time, when he sails to a small island nearby for Christmas. Later this evening, propagation was excellent on 14300 and had great radio chats on Pacific Seafarers Net!

I didn't mention yesterday just how exhilarated I felt after my radio 'sked' around the same time ... Not only had a couple of my usual contacts come on frequency to say 'Hi' and chat -which is always very nice - but two new voices came up - one a cruiser, heading for Panama who'd heard me on frequency and wanted to offer a useful contact in case I needed repairs down in Chile (!), and Jerry, KL7EDK, of Fairbanks, Alaska, who has freely given me so much help over the last few years whenever I've had a Winlink or radio-connected problem, who was clear as a bell, despite being nearly 6000 miles away! We had a short chat - his end wasn't too clear, with me fading in and out -- and we'll hope to do the same over the coming weeks - another good test of the 21402 kHz frequency becoming of use now, with my increasing distance from the US and Canada. After that, I was sitting in the cockpit, looking around at the sea and the sky, enjoying a lovely sail - and just glowing with good feelings!! I feel as though I'm connected in to two different but similar communities - the long-term cruising/sailing community - which I've generally found to be full of friendly people, helping each other if a problem arises. .. and now, particularly true of this last year or so of my passagemaking, the 'ham' radio community - equally full of friendly, supportive people, happy to make contact and chat to me, concerned for my wellbeing, out here by myself, and wanting to help me in any way they can. (Between emails and regular radio chats, I definitely don't feel alone here!) It felt good just to be alive - I took several deep breaths of fresh air - and I found myself thinking of 'Satchmo' - "It's a wonderful world"..... A pity the world can't be like that for everyone - it's how it should be always ... and not just because it's Christmas!

Sat on the foredeck in the morning, at the foot of the stays'l, with needle, thread, palm and pliers and sewed some Spectra line onto and around the leather pennant of the stays'l which is a tiny bit too long, and hanging loose so the sail is creasing near its foot when fully out and tensioned. The Spectra line was then tied around the inner forestay to hold the pennant and sail in place closer to the forestay.

Yesterday, took the topping lift off the boom end - been meaning to do that for quite a time, with it tangling with the upper SSB backstay insulator regularly and getting to be a nuisance when reefing. I've secured it near the mast foot, having checked it's not interfering with the main halyard which must be free to run.

About to check over stored food while we're still in calm conditions. It would be nice to update the really useful Excel spreadsheet organized for me last year (still has its use, Suzanne!), so I quickly know exactly where every item of food on board is stowed now!! Hope to finish that tomorrow - can't find my hand-written lists anywhere....!

Pressure is rising (1030 hPa now) and the wind has dropped a bit. Clouds are mainly astern and it's clear ahead... We're slowing down somewhat as we get closer to the high pressure ridge ahead. Even though we've changed course in an effort to avoid its centre, we'll still probably pass through a low-wind area and then I expect to change onto starboard tack as we make more directly for the Horn ... and be in the much colder air coming up from the Southern Ocean ... brrr! Already, I'm having to don another layer after sunset for overnight. Sea temperature is now down to 23C from the 27-28C of Sunday - just 3 days ago!

At noon UTC, 24hr DMG: 130 n.ml. Pitcairn 610 ml (309T); Easter 675 ml (068T); Chile 2355 ml; C. Horn WP 2664 ml (141T); NZ (E.Cape) 2935 ml (246T).

Tuesday 14th December Day 50

Had an excellent day again today - almost totally free from excitement!

Have been mainly ambling along in hot sun, getting a few more small, but useful, jobs done... like fixing bungy on shackle holding preventer line & doing some laundry while sun can heat water and dry things quickly!

I was about to sit on deck late this afternoon to do some sewing of pennant at foot of stays'l, with needle and thread all ready, when we neared a big mass of

shower-clouds.... I suddenly realized we were headed W, not SSW, in very little wind - which had veered with the proximity of clouds and rain... Being under wind steering, we'd veered along with the wind! We were nearly stopped but gradually the wind picked up and eventually, after I'd skirted around the showers, it backed to its original direction. We're headed on 200T now, trying to go around the light-wind centre of the High.

Days are getting longer.... sunrise 5am, sunset 7pm (PST).... All because we're heading S AND into midsummer...!

Very little power from wind generator now - wih the wind less, not enough to get anything useful. So only solar power for time being.

24hr DMG to this morning: 121 n.ml.

At 1200 UTC: Easter Island 596 ml ENE; N.Z. (E. Cape) 3027 ml; Cape Horn WP 2730 ml SE; Mexico (Cabo San Lucas) 3213 ml.

Monday 13th December Day 49

Mixed day of hot sun with good wind and sailing conditions, starting and ending with areas of rainclouds causing either sudden strong wind, resulting in lots of exercise, or almost no wind and consequent low speed... and on into overnight. (Making 3.1kt due S at present, in 8knots of east wind..!)

Short periods of activity (in building winds) apart, it's been another day of relaxed 'catching up' with jobs....

Finished looking over all zips - including the one on the immersion/survival suit, loaned to me by Warren when visiting on Orcas Island in October on my

way north. I sprayed it with PTFE and made sure it moved up and down OK. I also had a good look at the suit, although I didn't, as I'd been advised would

be a good idea, get into it to see how that went... The suit sizing, I noticed was 'Universal Adult' and definitely claimed to cover my end of the size spectrum

- so although Warren is a lot bigger than I am, the suit is supposed to fit me also! Hopefully, like the liferaft, it's something I'll never actually need.... but

I'm keeping it handy. Another zip I tried to fix (three, in fact!) was on a 9 month old fleece top - with seawater exposure and an aluminium zipper, the mix

guaranteed total failure - so I ended up with a zipper-less zip, three times over... How anyone can provide jackets and tops for boaters making use of

aluminiumn zippers is beyond belief - guaranteed they'll corrode and break and/or stop sliding once the seawater sits in contact with the metal...

Checked over to see where all my locker top and emergency hatch fixings are stowed - to be ready for really strong conditions. In case of broaching, or worse, in very bad seas, I can fix in place all lids in openings (to dry locker, fridge, cabin sole, etc) to prevent lids and contents from falling about the place and damaging either me or the boat.. (That's assuming they're already locked in place when things are getting pear-shaped....)

I got out two books - my only bird book (of albatrosses, shearwaters and petrels) and 'Laxton's Pacific Crossing' that I'm trying to get back into, having borrowed it for a few days in Pt Townsend - to read before leaving!

I'm even up to date with emails at present....

Some fabulous cloudscapes around today. And at sunset - tops of towering cumulo-nimbus were turned pink in setting sun. Before that, lovely rainbows

near a series of showers falling from clouds.

My check-in around 2220-2230 UTC with the Maritime Mobile Net on 14300 kHz is resulting in some confusion. It's getting very difficult to make contact now, so different people are acting as relays and posting my position on Shiptrak and/or Winlink ... with the result that my positions have sometimes been showing up as for some other boat - presumably because the person posting my position has either quoted his own callsign or has quoted my callsign incorrectly. So today, for instance, I heard of a nearby boat, at my Sunday position, with KC2OLV on board... mmm!!

24hr DMG to this morning: 128 n.ml.

At 1200 UTC: Easter Island 580 ml due E; Chile 2410 ml; N.Z. (E. Cape) 3080 ml; Cape Horn WP 2828 ml SE; Mexico 2935 ml.

Sunday 12th December 2010

A beautiful night, although I kept finding myself thinking about the VHF speaker wiring whenever I was awake! Up as usual for noon UTC (4am PST) position report & boat check - then back to sleep just after dawn... Sailing along nicely, due S, with Fred in charge.

Had a lovely relaxed morning - made some fresh coffee, found a nice fresh grapefruit (thanks, Susan!), had a leisurely breakfast in the sunshine in the

cockpit... Picked up several flying fish from on deck & finished placing anti-chafe tubing on shrouds. Pulled up the cockpit washboards and cleared the

drains - amazing how quickly fluff collects and clogs them - I want to be sure that any water getting into the cockpit will drain away fast...!

1pm - Was just looking at grib files and weather info over a cup of coffee when I felt boat beginning to heel over ... and then a lot more..... Wind was up ...

quickly on deck... ease mainsheet... take in first reef in the strong wind - a raincloud was just upwind of us!! A few drops of light rain... and then , when all

the excitement was over, the wind died right down to 4-5 knots... and we were struggling to make way ....grrr! Another cloud not far ahead - so time to

relax, go with the flow.... and not be tempted to start letting out that reef again, too soon...! Sky no longer clear blue - quite a few clouds had built up -

many with light rain falling...

By 3pm, all was over - very few clouds to be seen, although one or two cumulus piling up - but well off in the distance, not grey, nor any showers seen

beneath them.

In the meantime, I'd tried checking in with the M.M.Net on 14300 kHz - both Net Control and Gary could be heard clearly by me - but they could not copy

me. Fortunately, Jane, NH7TZ, in Kauai, was on frequency with good copy, so she took my details to relay to the Net.

Decided it was time to try getting somewhere with the VHF radio external speaker, yet again.... Got out the multi-meter, disconnected the speaker and

wiring to it, including a switch in the circuit and thoroughly checked out everything I could think of.... all parts of wiring, switch and speaker..... continuity,

resistance, voltage... connections to the radio unit .... Everything looks fine, and yet the speaker just isn't working when the radio is in use.... and I can't see

why not.... Time for an email to Navico UK, quoting the voltage and resistance measurements and asking for any useful suggestions......

I expect to stay in these nice sailing conditions for a few more days yet - lovely!!

24hr DMG to this morning: 121 n.ml.
Pitcairn 519 ml, due W; Easter Island 594 ml, 100T; N.Z. (E. Cape) 3140 ml, 241T; Cape Horn WP 2932 ml 145T; Chile 2460 ml

Saturday 11th December 2010

Photos show 'Under Full Sail' and 'Study in Blue'!

Another day of lovely sailing in bright sun and lessening swell. Gradually over the day, reefs were shaken out and genoa unfurled - until by lunchtime, we were under full canvas in around 10 knots of E wind, fairly close-hauled and often making 6-7 knots!

To avoid worries of getting too close to the light wind centre of the High, we reverted to a course of 180T. These calmer conditions are likely to continue for several more days - and that gives me the chance to deal with some outstanding jobs I'd hoped to be able to complete before reaching the bad weather of the Southern Ocean.

I cooked up a big curry with the last of my fresh meat, together with lots of onions, tomatoes and aubergine - it will form the basis of an ongoing stew/soup, possibly. I'll add in some potato & spinach tomorrow - I only recently discovered that potato in with a meat curry works really well, especially with spinach added!

Then finally I got to the thin plastic tubing I'd bought in Victoria just before leaving, to make some anti-chafe protection to go on the lower part of the shrouds where the sails rub at times.... I'd been getting a bit worried that I wouldn't have this in place by the time I was approaching Cape Horn where the weather is so much worse. When very close-hauled, I'd noticed that headsails, especially when furled, and sheets (the lines attached to the sails for handling) were often touching the shrouds - so to have some smooth plastic covering the wire would save a lot of chafe and so hopefully avoid future problems. Using a sharp Stanley knife, I sliced along the length of the tubing so it could be positioned over the wire of the shroud. This turned into a far easier (and safer!) job than I'd expected, once I found the right technique of pulling the blade along the tubing - AWAY from me... ! Then I pushed the tubing into place - a bit difficult and needing a bit of 'grunt' because the tubing is slightly under-sized and grips the shroud tightly. But it will work & should do a good job. I'll do some more tomorrow - sunset took place over that time so I paused working to enjoy it.....

Tonight - millions of stars and the pleasant, gentle sailing continues - with first reef in the mains'l as a precaution! A waxing crescent moon set quite early - I've been told that I might see a total eclipse of the moon at full moon soon, just as it rises - I do hope I get to see that...

24hr DMG to this morning: 127 n.ml.
Pitcairn 530 ml WSW; Easter Island 629 ml ESE; N.Z. (E. Cape) 3200ml WSW, Cape Horn WP 3000ml SE; Mexico 2700 ml. NNE

Full sail:

Study in blue:

Friday 10th December 2010 (Day 46)

Just before first light this morning, 'Aquila Voyager' came close, on its way to Onsan, China... AIS showed it on clear collision course. No response initially on VHF - but later, after made contact, immediately changed course slightly to starboard to pass astern. (Checked VHF radio with them - not seeming to work well and definitely no external speaker in use - must check speaker itself to make sure it's working... - bad connection?) Had language problems but eventually chatted with officer on watch for short time - 40 yrs at sea on merchant vessels, never been on a sailing vessel - his dream!! Captain wanted to know if i needed anything - could they help?? (Penty of offers coming in - but I can't accept them, even if I wanted to!)

0700 Squall!! Big mass of grey cloud and rain close by - we got no rain but plenty of wind!!

Slight change of course - from 180T to 170T. Air definitely feeling cooler these days - although still officially in the Tropics, not feeling very tropical -
except for those squalls!

Mid-morning - all grey clouds gone, after yet another squall at 10am! With so much solar power coming in to the batteries (16A seen at times!), in addition to windpower, I ran the watermaker (It runs off the 12V batteries.) It gave a slight problem, with some air in the system, I think, but with a bit of playing around, pressurizing and de-pressurizing the system, both pumps decided to work fine eventually, so I was able to run it for as long as was needed to fill my tanks.

It turned into a beautiful day - I sat in the cockpit during the afternoon, enjoying the warmth and sunshine ... Nasty cold weather ahead .. so something to enjoy and put in the memory bank...! After a time relaxing, I decided I'd best clean the glass of the windscreen of caked on salt - it was very difficult to remove but wasn't going to get any easier if left and it was not easy seeing ahead clearly through it.....

It's getting very difficult now checking in to the Maritime Mobile Net at 2220 GMT (2.20pm PST) - might have to give up on that - not very good propagation on the 20m band now. Randy (KH6RC) in Hawaii copied me and relayed to Net Contoller, Art (K7WAH) in Arkansas, after Gary (WB6UQA), in Santa Monica, had heard me calling faintly. I heard no-one on 14305 , nor on 21402 kHz, when I monitored each frequency after my check-in, in case someone was there to chat to - I'm getting too far away....

Sat in the cockpit with a mug of tea after my window-cleaning exercise with the intention of reading a book I'd got out ready - but got side-tracked again...
I'd been meaning to have a go at seeing to a couple of jammed zips on my jackets, ready for the bad weather ahead.... Now was a perfect time to do that - took a time, but now all done.. and working, just before sunset.

24hr DMG to this morning: 131 n.ml. In just over a day's time, I'll be passing midway between Pitcairn and Easter Island.