2nd May '08

It's great to be away sailing again & although a night exit out of Chaguaramas Bay and on between the islands to its NW wasn't exactly stress-free, it all went reasonably well. As I write this, the Venezuelan islands of Los Testigos have just faded away into the haze due north of us. They were named as being 'witnesses' to confirm the existence of the west-going Equatorial current: present boat speed through the water: 6.6kn, SOG: 8.3kn!!
Chaguaramas is an excellent place to get repairs and boat work dealt with, and I did enjoy meeting cruisers and Trinidadians alike, despite only managing to get away from the 'compound' once, into Port of Spain, when Jesse organized a Steel Band evening outing soon after my arrival.
My list of repairs was quite long enough before I found problems arising both to complicate existing work and to add in to them... that's boating for you. I've been thinking that maybe if I'd done a non-stop circumnavigation, life would have been far simpler for me - by stopping in so many (previously unknown) places on the way around, there's navigation inshore, tides, anchorages, checking in & out, etc, etc, to sort out... over and above simply sailing well offshore across oceans!! Because it
naturally takes that much longer, still with long ocean passages, mostly with big swell and occasional heavy weather, the boat has taken quite a pounding since March year ago & many things on board have needed repair (or simply their regular maintenance) on the way.

I kept thinking last week I was almost ready to leave... no chance!

The Windpilot service/repair was finished and it was to be fitted in place... when we discovered that the guy who had re-glassed the auxiliary rudder had dropped the stock down inside too far... so it wasn't fitting together as it should .... a piece of tubing had to be welded to the top of the rudder stock... another day lost.
The Raymarine parts were delayed over a week due to inefficiency by the Raymarine US dispatch department and DHL & Customs delays this end. Then the guy who should have installed it all got 'sunstroke' and was off work for two days... But I must give Raymarine UK all due credit for being so supportive - the old course computer turned out to be the problem and so was replaced and they also agreed replacing the drive with the new one sent and my keeping the old one (working OK) as a back-up.
The Kiss wind-generator service and blades replacement would have been a 2-hr job - but the 'mouse' got lost inside the tubular support & that turned into a major problem. For a time, I thought all the steelwork on the stern was going to have to be dismantled to resolve the problem - an absolute nightmare! Fortunately, a plumbing 'router' and Doug Billings' expertise did the trick the next day... so all ended well.
I'd taken the badly-leaking seawater pump off the engine & taken it in for seals to be replaced. On replacing it and going to start the engine - starter clearly not happy... ends up with me taking start motor off the engine & taking that in for repair .... "don't have parts", have to "get them in" - an immediate week's delay! "Don't bother - I've a spare motor on board," say I..... but it was really well buried - took me half a day to get to it... and when I put it on the engine, having confirmed
I'd got the wires all connected OK, it wouldn't start - a brand new 'spare'... oh, no! To cut the story short.. it was a ground problem, solved fairly easily.. but only after the weekend break...
Of course, during all the time work was being done, 'Nereida' was in chaos. I had trouble several nights running finding somewhere to lie down to sleep because I'd had to empty under the aft cabin bunk (and later the forepeak) and various lockers for access to areas of work and to find spares and bits & pieces... "That's normal with boatwork," said people seeing it, but living with it is not easy!
Typical is what happened on Tuesday, when I was certain I would finally leave. The plan was to calibrate the new autopilot course computer and speed display starting at 7 a.m., followed by a visit to the fuel dock at 8 a.m., followed by paying my bill at Crews Inn marina & clearing out with Immigration & Customs... and be away by around midday. Seemed like a nice simple plan.
What actually happened is: 7 a.m. off to calibrate instruments.... problem calibrating speed display - 'expert' didn't know what to do so muggins here had to read up and sort out how to do it & carry it out. By good luck, I soon discovered we'd coincided with slack water, so although that didn't cut down the time I'd needed to get to that point, it did simplify the matter somewhat. By the time we'd then done the other calibrations (fluxgate compass and autopilot), it was already well after 8 a.m.
After dropping off the 'expert' on one side of the Bay, having now discovered the GPS input to the chart-plotter was missing (!) with 'expert' not knowing why, I went over to the fuel dock expecting a starboard-to tie ..... both sides were taken and only the opposite side of the dock would be available quite soon.... all fine, except that now I had to go back out and change all mooring lines and fenders over! Back to fuel dock - diesel in Trinidad (oil-rigs close offshore) is very cheap - TT$1.50
per litre (at TT$6=US$1) so I wanted to fill everything possible - all took a time before returning to my slip ... no sign all day of guy coming to fix GPS input problem. Eventually, I decided to check inputs to chart-plotter - the relevant one was loose - good news! Simple fix, so why did our 'expert' not manage it??!!
I finally got to filling up with water ... left hose running and was surprised to find tank not full some time later. Turned off and got on with another job... looked into bilge - full of water - fresh!.... Major problem...!
Now I have to find out WHERE it is leaking from .... pipe eventualy turns out to be OK, but after lifting and re-laying several bits of the cabin sole (floor), I find the cause... an old 'sender' (water gauge part) had corroded where it screwed into the top of the tank - so now I had a BIG hole on the tank top.... Forget leaving Tuesday....! And Wednesday...!
But here's the good part.... and why cruising can be so good compared with sitting watching the bad TV news at home each day.... Boat friends came to my rescue! Dieter on 'Amazon' (met in Luderitz, Namibia) and Peter (& Joyce) on 'Matarua' (met in Richards Bay, north of Durban) had both sailed up from S. Africa and we'd chatted to & helped each other in Chaguaramas. Peter found a piece of steel - just the right thickness & amount for a 'lid' - which he cut for me. I found some rubber for a 'gasket'&
Dieter had just the right size of self-tapping screws and a tapper to complete the job of fixing it in place. So by Wednesday evening all was fixed beautifully! Phew!
Of course, I've omitted to mention that in constantly taking away the companionway steps for engine compartment access, the catch screws finally fell out and I had to fix new ones to hold the steps safely in place and in going to pump out the water from the bilge using my electric bilge pump, nothing much happened so I ended up having to take out all the pipes and the strainer down there and clean them thoroughly of the accumulated gunge I found - after which the pump worked well.

Now a problem I have to look at on passage is my AIS not getting GPS info - so no use to me. I hadn't thought to check it out after the course computer was replaced - and it gets its GPS NMEA info from there - so maybe there's 'simply' a bad connection ... but access, as usual, is difficult! That IS a problem I must look at urgently since my AIS is a great aid to my being safe overnight... Back to cat-napping over short periods, plus radar use, in the meantime.

At midday today, distance to Colon was 1047 n.ml. - possibly 9th May, if I can keep up a reasonable speed. As I finish writing this, I'm close to Isla Margarita (off to port) and some small islands, Los Frailles, are off to starboard with boobies, frigate-birds and pelicans heading in to roost. Once I've rounded the northernmost point, Cabo Negro, of Margarita in about 2 hrs' time, I've 170 n.ml. to go to a point just S. of Los Roques - a big reef area with lots of anchorages that I'll be passing
by.

After making landfall in Chaguaramas very early Tuesday morning, and a good sleep before being woken to clear Customs & Immigration, I got busy trying to make contact with various people to get repairs organized.....
Kicker/mast joint was urgently needing attention and was promptly dealt with by the Selden agent Jonas here, along with the boom/mast (gooseneck)connection which was just beginning to move. Rigging was checked also.
Lots of visits to nearby Raymarine dealer - shipping of autopilot drive unit was delayed from US - finally arrived in Customs this afternoon (Monday 21st)so will be fitted tomorrow, rather than middle of last week as expected.
Must check & sew tapes holding mainsail to mast-track cars.
Serviced all Andersen winches - a job I enjoy doing but I was surprised to see how all needed cleaning & fresh grease applied - it had gone hard in the heat. Winches have had a lot of use in the sail from Australia (I serviced them thoroughly in Cairns in July) to S. Africa and up across the S. Atlantic.
Problems with mobile phone - difficult to contact people or be contacted without one ... Lots of visits & finally battery replaced but then phone died completely over Saturday night.. will try to manage without for last few days here.
Seawater pump leaking badly - taken off & in for repair - turned out drive belt block cracked so that needs replacing also.
Windpilot completely taken to pieces and rebuilt, including rudder which has been re-made, so should work 'like butter' now.... I'm looking forward to using it on sail to Colon.
Fischer-Panda generator looked at - capacitor in control unit was faulty - replaced, so all OK now.
Wind generator (Kiss) - designed & made here by Douglas Billings who himself came to boat to arrange removal for new blades and servicing of unit - hasn't given any trouble for last 7 yrs so hopefully will give good service for at least another ten yrs now.
Yamaha outboard serviced.
Spectra watermaker membrane replaced - I'll not have to be quite so careful over water usage as I was coming up from S. Africa.
Cockpit speaker for VHF & SSB faulty - replaced.
Propane refills organized.
Batteries to be load-tested on Tuesday - I'm concerned I might have damaged them over New Year period when I was off the boat.
Must refuel (diesel) before leaving.
Has been good to have wi-fi Internet access on board

Took time off Thursday evening for a 'Pot Luck' dinner here in Crews Inn with a Quiz and music. Then on Friday evening I went into Port of Spain for a steel band competition which was very enjoyable & out for Shark 'n' Bake Saturday evening with cruisers nearby. Days have been noticeable for blue skies & lack of rain since arriving - amazing!!

Mon/Tues 14/15th April '08

Well so much for plans - I tried to continue helming over Sunday night from around 9.30pm into Monday, looking for for a daylight landfall, but hadn't been able to get any sleep as planned so soon realized I was way too tired to sail on. Wasn't sensible to continue, so hove to and closed my eyes... blissful sleep for 6 hours!

I was still 97 mls away from Chaguaramas, so clearly would be making a night landfall - but having been to Chaguaramas before, felt that would be OK. I'd heaved to on port tack which meant the north-going current was offset somewhat by our fore-reaching with the E wind - we made just 0.3 kn so didn't move far, much better than the previous time I heaved to when we went several miles north which made my subsequent sail more difficult since almost on a dead run....

By 7am Monday, I got sailing again, after having had breakfast, in following seas and E 20kn wind which by midday had become 15kn. Not long after, in the Tobago Channel, I realized I could see Tobago - I was equidistant from Scarborough, its capital, and the NE point of Trinidad - very tempted to go to Tobago but resisted!! I'd noticed a definite slackening of foul current when about 75 mls off NE Trinidad and by late afternoon, with just 44 mls in total to go, I was enjoying a beautiful, far more
calm, aquamarine sea (the waters being quite shallow around Trinidad) and an increasing fair current but having difficulty protecting myself against the bright sun - I have no awning in the cockpit. A couple of times, dolphins visited the boat - even a tuna, I'm sure. All chasing after small flying fish - interesting to watch them all darting about.

The day was fine but as it wore on, the high hills on the north coast of Trinidad that I was passing got increasingly cloudy until later there was often fine mist in the air - a beautiful rainbow almost seemed to finish beside me at one point. I'd forgotten how rainy Trinidad is but was lucky to be well away from land and so got little rain.

It was calm enough for me to be able to leave the wheel safely for a very short while and drop the staysail - it wasn't doing anything useful any more - and also put out fenders and mooring lines ready for docking later. I was now motorsailing - I'd wanted to charge the batteries earlier but when I'd gone to switch on the engine, it wouldn't start so I'd had to use a screwdriver to bypass the cockpit ignition switch & felt it would be safest to leave the engine running until I docked to prevent
any further worries on that score.

I came safely down the Monos Channel and around to Chaguaramas Bay - lots of unlit hulks and boats and mooring buoys to avoid so I slowed right down and crawled east until I found myself nearing the Customs Dock where I stepped off and tied up in the early morning dark. I then went to the head before getting to sleep - it was FULL of water...the shower had somehow got turned on... so I had to pump a LOT of water out of the head compartment and the carpet in the main cabin had got thoroughly wet
also ...grr! A bit later than I'd intended, I got to a very welcome sleep.

...... more anon.....

Friday 11th April '08

Had emailed Raymarine UK for help with problem - immediate excellent reply - replacement parts being shipped to Chaguaramas dealer from US to arrive Monday ready for fitting. A very much appreciated quick response - many, many thanks, Fiona & Bob!

Have also been 'talking' to Peter Foerthmann of Windpilot who's come up with some simple suggestions to resolve problem with windsteering once I make landfall.

Cloudy at start of helming session, so dramatic sunrise. (White-tailed tropic bird seen soon after ... so graceful....) Clouds cleared to give very pleasant day.. got very hot by midday. NO fair current all morning... and wind down, so boatspeed down. Kept on helming until 1.30pm (from 7am, instead of 5am - overslept!)

Distance made good to Chaguaramas to noon was 103ml - a measure of Thursday afternoon/evening's good current found, adding to full canvas & good wind!

Slept a bit in afternoon & made pasta with shrimps & (ready-made!) spinach & ricotta cheese sauce after waking & before back on deck at 7pm...

Wind increased soon after I started ... took in 1st reef - nasty-looking rainclouds nearby and ahead as sun was about to set... Thought about dropping 2nd reef for night sailing but didn't - turned out OK with winds just up to 16kn... good speed - and had good current on & off - or at least, none against!

Bright lights dead ahead at 10pm - oil rig??... couldn't make it out but it was BIG, bright & seemed stationary. (My AIS display would probably have answered my question, but I couldn't leave wheel to look at it) Kept well clear in case towing or towed or other problems (like anchor cables - memories of leaving Luderitz!!)... Later another ship passed very close but all OK...

Hove to a bit early soon after midnight for sleep... tired - helming was hardwork in increased wind and resulting rough seas.

Sat 12th April WET, WET, WET...!

Up at 4am to get going again.... took a time, since decided to drop 2nd reef - nagging worry about night sky seemingly overcast & wind slightly up & possible squalls unseen coming in the dark.... Boy, was I glad I did that!! Short while later, after I'd removed jacket, being too warm, the strong wind & torrential rain started....!!!! Grabbed one jacket & quickly got that on & put another over my lap to protect my legs ...no, I hadn't time to put on foul-weather gear which was right to hand ... helming kept me too busy with the big seas that got up. Everything around & on me got well & truly soaked, including a cushion I was sitting on - wet & soggy... Luckily, I managed to stay just warm enough in wind & rain because of excellent Musto fleece top & trousers I was wearing underneath.... rain lasted until past midday when I hove to - to make log entry (101 mls DMG to noon today!) & get dry! ...& get some sleep...

What a horrible morning... & rain doesn't look like stopping..... AND the fair current disappeared again & went foul over the morning so SOG down by 1 knot compared to boatspeed .... grrr!!! Hopefully that wind will have died down a bit, & the rain stopped, by later on when I start up again.

Distance to Chaguaramas, Trinidad at noon: 206ml

Sat/Sun 12/13 April '08 Rough Saturday night dance on "Nereida"!

Just a quick note to say how bad things were over Saturday night...!

28-32 knots of gusty winds and seas to match... made life pretty fraught for about two hours - the back of my neck & shoulders are still aching with the effort of controlling the boat in the big swell - especially when the wind gusted up simultaneously.

Several times I thought I'd lose control as we turned violently up the face of the wave we were on, heeling over like mad as we did so... Then I decided to heave to - I couldn't see the wind display too clearly, but rushing in those winds & seas at 7.5 to well over 8 knots, not able to leave the wheel to put in a 3rd reef, didn't seem too safe - so I tacked around so I could heave-to on starboard tack, as usual (so we would drift in roughly the right direction!). I managed that at the second attempt but then couldn't tack around again to heave to against the 28knot winds & seas - so started the motor for some extra 'push' in the second attempt. That worked but then we nearly broached with a big wave as the mainsheet had come loose and the boom end went in the water - did I move fast to grab the sheet and haul it in ...??!! My heart was in my mouth... All in the dark dark, of course, near midnight...!!!

I furled in more genoa & took in the 3rd reef as we lay hove-to not long after midnight - that calmed things down a touch although the motion of the boat in those seas (4-5m swell) was still pretty horrible! But I did manage to sleep - for 5hours!!

I'd decided, looking at the distance to Trinidad, that if I did two long sessions today(Sunday) and overnight into Monday, then I could arrive early afternoon - in good daylight & in time to clear Customs & get a GOOD rest!

So I got up at 5am, relieved to find, as I'd hoped, that the winds had died right down - I even let out the 3rd reef I'd not so long ago taken in! The swell and lumpy seas gradually lay down over the day and I shook out the 2nd reef to make better speed on a very broad reach.

I'm now hove-to, from 4pm - 8pm, to get rest, sleep & generally catch up with things before sailing on over the night ... I'm about to put some spare diesel into the main fuel tank to be sure of getting in in daylight... just in case I have to motorsail in light winds.... I'm also having to email Selden to see if I can get some parts sent out - the vang (kicker) joint at the mast is definitely far too worn & jerking about horribly - NOT safe to continue far like that - and the identical mainsail boom/mast connection is also beginning to wear - probably because of the vang jerking - it's the big seas and swell and that cause the problem (broad-reaching & running, especially) - and I've been in plenty over the last two years!

Thurs 10th April '08 Distance made good to Trinidad: 93mls Wed, 109 mls today....!

A lovely day of sailing in nice wind under 'Trade wind' sky.... Let out final reef early on in lighter wind again - wind has moved aft, being E rather than the ENE we've had mostly. Now have full sail hoisted and a current which added 0.8 kn to our speed - lovely to see... & just at the right time, since windspeed down (and from abaft the beam) meant boatspeed down - from 7kn to 5.5 kn by this evening, so really helpful - meant SOG kept up into 6-6.5kn range over day.

Current has also been very helpful when hove-to... we've made 10 miles (in roughly the right direction) over my sleep periods!!!

One worry is the mast connection to the vang/kicker is knocking badly - clearly worn & needs more washers to take up a space that has appeared & now allows too much movement - so it jerks badly at times even though the seas have calmed down a lot by comparison with a few days back.

Has been another hot, bright day - I'm so lucky that my course and the sun's position over the day combine to put the sun behind me up to midday (I'm helming from 6am to 2pm) and then when I come back on deck at around 6pm, after my sleep etc, I'm shaded from the sun because it is now beginning to set behind the sails, my course being WNW... All I need is polaroid sunglasses to protect my eyes from the reflected glare across the water....

Wed 9th April Handsteering to Trinidad - visited by dolphins several times

So pleased got my Suunto ship's compass repaired over the New Year - in continual use now!!

Let out 2nd reef early a.m. in lighter winds, hoping I wouldn't regret it later ... but has been fine all day and tonight !

Sitting early on, helming, when a big wave dumped a load of 'green water' into cockpit & all over me - deluged! I was so thankful I'd not long before closed the aft cabin hatch firmly - the water would have all gone straight down - lucky for once!!

Lovely to see dolphins rushing towards us near midday - three jumped in unison - perfect timing! All very big ones. Later they came back again for a short while.

Weather has been a bit cloudy a.m. but clearer p.m.... and beautiful night sky - Southern Cross off port quarter and Big Dipper off starboard beam!

Decided to make morning one hour longer before heaving to - and then treated myself to a 'proper meal' - a fry-up of pork chop, onions, potatoes & sweetcorn... mmm! Then to sleep.....zzzzzz.

Evening 'shift', from 6pm onward to midnight has been amazing - we have had NO foul current - first time since before Fernando - and then soon after, I noticed we had fair current! With around 15-16kn of wind, we were making 7-7.5 kn boatspeed ... and often over 8 knots SOG!! Absolutely fabulous!!!!!

To sleep........

Tues 8th April Handsteering to Trinidad - hit by flying fish!

All going fine, although get very tired at times .. but getting into routine now - only problem is when not at helm very conscious not going anywhere very fast - altho' fore-reaching is usually in almost exactly the right direction at 1.5-2 knots - brilliant!

I'm trying not to get sun/wind-burnt- or not too much anyway - using lots of cream... that's partly why I heave-to for rest from midday on...

Midnight Monday before sleep - fancied a cup of soup - made it & it jumped up (with wave crashing into boat) on stove top & spilled all over ... grrr! Had to clean up, of course...

Later, I was woken up by violent banging & crashing noises, boat shaking like mad..... we were no longer hove-to but were sailing (south!!) in strong wind with foresails flapping ... Clearly, there had been a bigger wave which must have crashed into us & the wheel was no longer locked over but free to move.... so main had gybed over... (Have now firmly tied wheel down to make sure we stay hove-to for the present rest period!) Took me a time, in the dark, to figure out what was going on & what to do about it!

Got back to sleep & then up well before dawn on Tuesday - beautiful clear sky, lots of stars.. sunrise... clear blue sky with lined-up fluffy white clouds - finally had my 'Trade Winds sky' with good (~NE15kn) wind!

It's been cool enough, sitting out in the wind, to be wearing my warm layers & foul weather gear, especially overnight, & I was still wearing my jacket when the clouds, having gradually got bigger over the morning, gave quite a downpour - but not for long! The swell and lumpy seas are still washing the decks (& me!) quite often, but not as much as over the weekend.

Distance made good to Trinidad WP (24hr to noon today): 80ml (81 yesterday) Distance to go to WP: 564ml

Overnight Tuesday: Another lovely clear, starry night, thin crescent moon up above sunset earlier, excellent wind - and sailing fast at ~7.5kn, although foul current reduced SOG to 6.5kn - but still good.

Late to heave-to for sleep because ship 'Albutain Star' came close by on a parallel course - so waited until it passed before stopping. Shortly before, as I was sitting helming in the cockpit in the dark, "Clonk!" - I was hit on the sde of my forehead by something heavy and wet - a BIG flyinf fish...! It landed on the after-deck and soon managed to flop into the water leaving a distinctly fishy smell behind...!

Sun/Mon 6/7th April '08

Midday Monday: Just tacked around as usual before heaving-to for rest from helming - wind was getting up - timed perfectly as a squall/strong winds ~25knots have just arrived! Took in 2nd mains'l reef I'd shaken out earlier and furled in a lot of genoa - tiny staysail still out - useful!!

Sunday was a continuation of overnight Saturday's rough seas breaking on deck and spraying the helming position - no flying fish to be found on deck these days - washed away pretty quickly!! Having trouble brushing my hair it's so full of salt from wettings! Things calmed down later on Sunday & overnight was fairly clear - lots of stars - Big Dipper getting higher now & can see Pole Star.

Very tiring - constantly having to helm, occasionally lock it off and it stays for just a short while - makes sail-handling pretty difficult.

Monday - started out fairly calm so shook out 2nd reef and unfurled genoa .... wind got up a little bit and we were making a fair speed (6.5kn) in about 15knots... until near midday when I like to heave to to make log entry and turn in for a sleep... lucky timing, as it turned out... (see above!)

Trying to do a continuous routine of 7-8hrs on & 4 hrs off for rest & food... made 101 mls 'distance made good' to noon yesterday but only 81mls today in less strong winds - until now!

To sleep now... food when I wake up before next sailing session.

Sat 5th April - Autopilot motor stopped working at around 1300 GMT.

Tried to get Windpilot to take over ..but unreliable (was hoping to sort out that problem in Trinidad...). It holds course for a short while but then gets 'trapped' with vane in an extreme position so we go right off course - a bolted connection has worn & is too loose. So after many efforts, I had to abandon that ... pity!!

Kept going until 2000 GMT when I hove to... we were drifting at 1.5 kn SE!! Then I realized that if we hove to on the other tack that would be more favourable...that has turned out much better - we're nearly making our course (which is 296T)... we're fore-reaching at around 1.5 knots on a course of about 290T - not too bad ... At least now we're not drifting backwards!!

I've looked at the autopilot drive unit - nothing visibly wrong, simply that the motor is not pushing the drive arm onto the steering quadrant - nothing I can do at this point ... it'll have to wait to Trinidad.

I'll have to keep handsteering, with breaks for sleep & food for which I'll have to heave to.... hopefully then, we'll keep up our present good direction of drift/fore-reaching!

Thurs/Fri 3/4 April '08 Rough seas, grey sea & sky... but good speed under reefed sails!

We've been making excellent speed (7-8 knots of boatspeed!) in true winds of mainly ENE 15-22knots - but HEAVY rainsqualls on & off over Thursday night!!! Definitely makes life 'interesting'! I was really pleased I'd hoisted my tiny staysail earlier in the day and sorted out the sheets & leads (I'm using three - two on leeward side, because of shrouds interfering, one on windward side ready for a possible tack .. although that's unlikely,being in Trade wind conditions, you never know!) I eventually furled in my genoa almost completely and took two reefs in the mains'l - even so we were making well over 7 knots most of the night and today.

The sky has been overcast, with occasional rain, and the seas have been a bit rough - 3-4m swell from two different directions heaps up regularly to knock the boat about...!

Saturday morning the winds were still good and I actually thought we were about to get some nice sunshine in the morning... but it was a false alarm.. it's clouded over and we've had some more rain.

Made 155mls today and 150ml yesterday - ETA Trinidad is Friday if wind keeps up like this.

Tuesday 1st April - 'Poisson d'Avril'

- no flying or other fish seen .... but I was certainly made a fool of by the supposed fair current.... Around 6pm, I was delighted to see our speed over the ground seemingly creep up to match our boatspeed & stay that way - great... had we finally found the current we'd been searching for?? But by 9pm, we were back to the usual foul current.... and by Wednesday, we were losing a knot of boatspeed to current all day long.

We motorsailed all day in 6knots of ENE-NNE wind, under light cloud cover, with a lovely visit by a small group of acrobatic dolphins at midday ... all very pleasant and warm, with not too much swell. Around 6pm, the sky was quite hazy, almost foggy, all around - humidity was 88% & I wondered if a drop in temperature was causing the effect. At 9.20pm, I was seated down below when I suddenly realized we were heeling way over ... WIND had arrived ....with HEAVY rain!! I turned off the engine and we were finally sailing nicely in NE 10 knots... for all of an hour, before the wind died & boatspeed dropped to below 3knots (and SOG to below 2 knots!) Rain came a couple more times, again bringing wind for a short while only, but by 2am I decided to leave the motor off ... We were under full sail in pitch darkness ... no moon or stars.

Wednesday 2nd April

As the night progressed, the wind came up more - by 4am, I had to put a reef in the mains'l as we heeled over like mad in 18 knots of apparent wind on a close reach. Soon after daybreak, there were lots of impressively big clouds everywhere - we were clearly in the ITCZ! We were now sailing close-hauled really well - making over 7 knots with a reef in the genoa also by now, but losing to current... grey, forbidding skies all around, HEAVY rainsqualls later on, big 3m seas... boat crashing into the seas regularly and water sweeping the decks...very uncomfortable! I got soaked several times in the downpours, while adjusting the sails. We shipped a load of water into the main cabin.... curses...."Who was the idiot who forgot the hatch cracked open in the 'vent' position?" (That took some time to mop up...! Thank goodness the computer wasn't in the line of fire.)

By later in the evening, the wind & swell has calmed down & the wind has veered to the NE, rather than ENE as in the daytime, so sheets have been eased a bit and we're sailing more smoothly under reefed mains'l & full genoa, in light rain still, making 5-6knots SOG.

Maybe tomorrow the grey skies of the ITCZ will be left behind...?? I'm still dreaming of a lovely 2 knot Equatorial current pushing us at speed in good wind along to Trinidad under blue skies with fluffy white clouds.... Dream on...!

Sunday/Monday 30/31 March '08 Crossing the Equator back into the northern hemisphere...

Sunday started sunny, hot & sticky, like previous days, but gradually got cloudier, although the night was fairly clear again - overnight Sat/Sun, it had been really calm. I could see bright stars being reflected in the relatively smooth, dark, sea surface ... hardly any wind and no moon.

I actually managed to sail close-hauled across the Equator on Monday with no motor running during a short period of nice wind: ENE 10 knots .. the time was 1121 GMT, at a longitude of 037deg 30.62'W . I celebrated a little, playing plenty of music and eating various goodies I'd kept by for the occasion, but it rained for a time soon after so there wasn't much dancing in the cockpit...!!

It looked, from what little weather info I'm getting, as though there would be an area ahead of light variable winds for several days, a disturbance of some kind, if I were to keep on my rhumbline course of WNW (297T) from Fernando de Noronha towards the Equator, whereas heading on a more northerly course might avoid that & get to stronger NE winds sooner - so Saturday night, I altered course from 297T to 310T to keep on a NW course for a bit, hoping to get decent Trade winds once I reached the Equator. (Others a few days ahead, well north of the Equator, have been getting strong 25-30 knot rainsqualls mixed in with those NE 10-15 knot Trades...!)

The wind keeps varying so much, depending on whether heavier rain & associated clouds are around or not .. mainly it's NE to SE 2-5 knots, but it's been everything else, even W or NW 6-8kn or more, in rain, but never really strong nor consistent. I have had to motor most of these last two days, occasionally managing to sail for a brief period when I'm lucky. I keep rushing up on deck to set the genoa when I feel the wind getting up, only to have to furl it in a short while later & turn the motor back on when the wind dies to almost nothing, causing the apparent wind to go dead ahead.

Another problem has been the foul current - anything from 0.4 - 0.9 knot East-going, so not helpful - the reason I've now changed course yet again - heading more West to try to get into the fair current nearer the Brazilian coast. It gets very frustrating to be making around 5-6 knots of boatspeed but only 4-5 knots over the ground...! And it's still a long way to go to get to Trinidad - a good 10-12 days away, assuming I find the NE Trades so I can sail at a decent speed in fair current for most of the way.

It was grey and rainy all day Monday - but one nice thing was often seeing a white-rumped petrel flying near the boat, skimming the waves. No flying fish have been spotted on deck on this passage so far.

I forgot to mention that when I went for my swim as I got close to Fernando, I noticed lots of little (for the moment!) gooseneck barnacles clinging to Nereida's hull around the waterline under the stern. I gather that the ones well below the water surface die off once the boat stops for any length of time since they only survive in disturbed water, needing air. I wonder how big I'll find them by the time I next get into the water to look?!

I've had a lot of trouble getting a connection for weather & emails - just can't do it during the daytime, but Saturday night around midnight, I connected to Winlink via Andre, VE2AFQ, (Le reseau du Capitaine) in Montreal and then to Sailmail in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia - both in Canada....! Nearer stations proved useless... Let's see how easy this news item is to send...

Tuesday/Wednesday 25/26th March

I ambled along over Tuesday under motor at around 4-4.5 knots SOG in 3-4knots of SSE wind from astern using minimum revs, trying not to get to Fernando de Noronha too early on Wednesday... & then slowed down even more when I got to the N end of the Archipelago because it was well before sunrise and I'd hoped to get to the anchorage in reasonable light. I was hoping it wouldn't be too rolly & that the strong N swell that had been causing a problem all over the northern S Atlantic coasts over the
previous few days would have lain down sufficiently to allow me to stop there & get some fuel for the ongoing passage. Still another 3-4 days of motoring to get to the Equator & then another 9-11 days on to Trinidad - hopefully, mainly sailing. Fortunately, the moon was still nearly full and the sky clear, so although I came in to anchor in the dark hours just before sunrise, I could see well enough in the moonlight to avoid the many unlit small boats at anchor inshore... and the swell wasn't too
bad... no worse than many W. coast Mexican anchorages I've been in!

It had been very hot and sticky on passage in the daytime 35C, although on deck it was better, with some refreshing breeze. Mostly, it was bright and sunny, with clouds only building a little later in the day & not too many threatening rainclouds except near sunset - big, dark grey, towering..ugly!... but they often dissipated with nightfall.

I saw quite a lot of shipping around - S. of Fernando, we were clearly in the main shipping lanes around Brazil between S.Africa/Indian Ocean & Caribbean/Europe/N.America.

Before sunset on Tuesday, since we were in no rush to make landfall, I had a fabulous dip in the sea!! Turned off the motor, tied a rope around me... and in I went, off the stern... It was beautifully refreshing... The water was a gorgeous clear deep blue and really tepid... I even spotted fresh rainwater in a bucket on deck to rinse off with afterwards.

Wed/Thurs 26/27th March

Fernando de Noronha was definitely a worthwhile stop - such lovely, friendly people! On finally getting ashore on Thursday, I kept hearing, "Welcome to Brazil!" (But unlike Europeans & Canadians, US visitors need a prior visa - with no visa, they are, regretfully, I was told, only allowed to stay the day to get fuel & then leave.) I was continually being offered ice-cold water & tiny cups of sweet strong coffee by the local 'Federal Police' Officer while I was waiting in the Harbourmaster's Office
for various 'agents' to appear to do the obligatory paperwork - everyone I met seemed fascinated by the thought that I was sailing alone...

I had waited to watch the sun rise over the dramatic volcanic 'core' rising high above the south end of Bahia de Santo Antonio after anchoring there... and then went down below for a long sleep! Later that day, I tidied up & inflated the dinghy but by the time I'd finished lowering it into the water, it had started to rain heavily - so I took a refreshing swim and showered off the stern and relaxed - there was no going ashore for Clearance until tomorrow.... especially since the swell was bad enough
to make it impossible for me to lower the outboard onto the stern of the dinghy, we were rolling about so much...

The next morning, the big Leopard catamaran 'Indigo' arrived - they knew me from Simon's Town.... and when they saw me struggling to get my outboard onto the dinghy (in the unabated swell) they took pity & came over to help me - and ended up taking me and my fuel jerrycans onshore, as being safer for me than using my little dinghy and 2h.p. motor in the sea state prevailing... yet more kind people! As soon as I landed, I was met by a local man who insisted on helping me with my cans to the fuel
station up on the hill above the dock, waited for me to fill up... and then insisted on carrying my full cans down to the dock, calling over to a couple of young lads nearby to help with the ones he couldn't manage ... so I ended up walking back down empty-handed...!! His English was pretty good for someone just learning over the last few months, far better than my meagre Portuguese (limited to 'Bom Dias' - Good Day - & 'Obrigado' - Thank you !), although my 'pocito Espanol' came in handy at times.

I later met up with Mike, Lynn & Coen when they came onshore to complete their check-in & then we all jumped on to the local bus to make a quick (& easy!) circular tour of the island (The Port Officer who dealt with my paperwork had told me about the bus, given me a map of the island and, with a broad smile, lent me a 10 Reales note to pay for the return fare..& more - "If you can't pay me back, don't worry"..!!...I repaid him, of course.) The island has a very green interior, lovely little bays
with sandy beaches, rocky outcrops & dramatic volcano cores sticking up as backdrops. There seemed to be lots of 'Pousadas' (B&B!) - the main 'industry' seems to be tourism, with fishing, diving, snorkelling & lying around on beaches clearly very popular! I caught sight of a couple of BIG black & yellow lizards among rocks beside a lovely cove at the far end of the 'tour' while waiting for the return bus. It's all a well-kept marine reserve - with lots of rubbish bins available everywhere ... so
there was no rubbish dropped all over the place & it was all very clean-looking - nice to see, for a change!

Mike & co. dinghied me back out & I filled my fuel tanks while they caught up on sleep. I then decided to use my dinghy to take my empty cans back onshore to refuel again so as not to disturb 'Indigo' too much - they had offered to take me again for that after their nap. I started up the outboard & got going.... the motor died.. I started up again... it died again.. and again... By now I was drifting in the direction of the surf crashing onto the rocks below the high volcanic peak.... Not good
news... & not really the time to start opening up the motor to have a look at it...!! I'd taken my handheld VHF in my bag to contact Indigo earlier but was sure they were now asleep, although I knew the Harbourmaster's Office kept watch on VHF16 so that was one option. I knew that my trying to row would not be effective enough... the dock was quite a distance away up-current and the sizeable swell was causing a big surf crashing onto the beach close inshore of the jetty I needed to get to.

I saw a local tourist boat inshore from me, heading towards the jetty ... I made my 'distress' SOS arm-waving signal, hoping they would see me & understand, .. & also kept trying to start the outboard so they'd see nothing was happening!! (It's a very recogniseable movement from a distance for anyone who's used an outboard motor!!) Luckily, after a short time, I saw them beginning to turn towards me... they had a boatload of people returning from the afternoon on some nearby beach. What a relief..!
I threw my line & they towed me in... "Obrigado mucho!!"

I took my empty cans up for more diesel ... and yet another kind Brazilian couple in a car fetched me back down to the dock with my load of fuel... smiles from them & lots of "Obrigado" from me! .... "No problema!" I then DID have a problem - trying to contact 'Indigo' by VHF to ask them to pick me up to bring me back to 'Nereida' with my load of fuel & an unreliable outboard on my dinghy....! Many more little cups of the Harbourmaster's strong sweet black coffee later, I finally made contact...
but if I hadn't, people on a local diveboat had smilingly offered to take me out... It seemed to me the whole island was full of friendly, helpful, smiling people ... all concerned for my wellbeing!

Before sunset, I'd topped up my tanks, stowed everything back into the cockpit locker and then raised the dinghy, deflated it and stowed it on deck as darkness fell, making sure everything on deck was secure & ready for leaving first thing Friday morning..... Which I did, under sail for quite a time, soon after a lovely sunrise with a rainbow arching over the dramatic peak nearby... and accompanied by lots of leaping, speeding dolphins as I left the anchorage to waves from 'Indigo'... a great memory
& a place to try to return to - I'd like to see more of Brazil!

After a few minor rainshowers over the day, and a total failure, on heading NNW initially, to find the hoped-for 1-2knot WNW-going current to help speed us on our way, we've ended up motoring all Friday night and Saturday, after sailing or motor-sailing over the day on Friday. We're taking the rhumb-line course (297T - WNW) to Trinidad in SE or NE 2-5 knots of wind (the direction seems to depend totally on whether clouds are nearby or not - it's actually 2 knots from every direction as I write this
in a light shower). There's a very slight current - initially, it was SW-going 0.3kn, went S, then W & is now SE-going 0.3kn - it's never been strong nor particularly helpful. The weather forecast seems to indicate no great gain by going off course & trying to head due N or NW to get to the Equator and possible NE Trades sooner.

The sky cleared up by midday on Friday and it has been mainly clear since, although Saturday afternoon has seen a few light showers. The sea has become very calm with a long NE slight swell and a slightly rippled surface. I suppose the one good thing about having to motor is the lack of concern over the batteries - they stay well-charged!!

Mon 24 March'08

What a wonderful way to start the day!! ... I suddenly realized that lots of dolphins were speeding towards the boat, leaping as they came, often in twos & threes - and some leapt straight up into the air, making a big splash as they landed tail first!! They were quite big ones - possibly Bottle-nosed(?), with a white -edged long 'beak'. One large one (male?) slapped its tail rythmically in the water for some time at one point making a very distinctive deep 'thonk' sound - I think to warn the others to stay clear of his 'patch' because often, later, he made a noisy splash when others came close to him at the bow. He had quite a large sucker fish attached to his side near his tail.

Overnight, there was heavy rain but the dark grey mass of clouds off to the NE cleared away over the morning. Looking to the south, all to be seen were the usual little white fluffy cumulus lined-up 'Trade Wind' clouds. Now, just after midday, there is nothing threatening, despite quite a bit of cloud around, although several larger cumulus are towering up in the heat- it's 32.5C in the shade!

Soon after I'd finished re-fuelling on Saturday, the wind had died so much we were only making 2.6 knots, so I started the engine and we've been motoring, sometimes motor-sailing, ever since except for a blissful, peaceful 3hrs on Sunday afternoon when the wind picked up a bit & I was able to cut the motor and sail... I've still a long way to go before getting to the NE Trades (possibly at the Equator) from here in the Doldrums, so I'm only using minimal motor to conserve fuel. Doing lots of fuel/distance calculations, trying to figure out which way to head.... to get maximum current?... or to minimize time in squalls (when I eventually get them - as I must!) ... all very difficult when you're not sure exactly where the ITCZ is at any point in time - it 'dodges about' unpredictably so much!

I had originally thought I'd head N-NNW when I hit the first set of squalls... on the assumption that's where the ITCZ is so let's get through as fast as possible... but now I'm not so sure since that would take me well off my preferred course (which is WNW). The ITCZ is supposed to be about 200-240 miles or more wide at present. If there's no wind & I have to motor, it might be better to try to get into the maximum fair current (2knots) running parallel to the Brazil coast, since that's almost on my path to Trinidad anyway, & that would help speed me through to the Equator & the NE Trades just as fast as heading in a more northerly direction with less good current.... Lots to think about!! Think I'll go for the current for the time being... I can always change my mind when the squalls start hitting!!

Since I should be passing right by the Brazilian Archipelago of Fernando de Noronha tomorrow night, I'm inclined to stop there & anchor to top up with fuel... From there it's still 3-4 days of probable motoring to the Equator... which is then still well over 1350 mls from Trinidad, or about 9-11 days of (hopefully!) good, albeit 'boisterous', upwind sailing.

Had to re-solder the connection to the 12V outlet at the chart table a day or so back - fiddly job but at least now it's working again as opposed to shorting all the time - the earth wire had come adrift.

I had company on board the last two nights - a storm petrel (I think!) perched on top of the liferaft & was busy preening itself before settling down to rest. I tried taking photos but not many have come out well - it didn't help that the boat was rocking about in the swell so much. It was so unafraid that it didn't seem to mind umpteen strong flashes of light - just looked rather curious. We shared a beautiful full moon ...

I'm almost certain the big bird I saw whilst sailing over to St Helena from Luderitz (Namibia) WAS an albatross - possibly a Shy Albatross, from a photo I came across in a magazine yesterday.... fabulous, graceful bird, it was. I feel quite priveleged to have seen an albatross flying around 'Nereida'!

Later: Well we've definitely hit the 'convection' area - from 5pm on we've had heavy rain- even though I thought I'd dodged my way around the squalls to begin with - we just got surrounded, overtaken and deluged!!
I've filled my water tank and lots of other containers and had a good shower - several times, in fact, since each time I've had to adjust the sails in the variable wind, I've got soaked. We're now motoring (again!) in very light wind - 3-6knots from a variety of directions. This will probably keep up for several days - I gather the ITCZ is spread over a very large area ... Oh well .... this morning and the past few days were so delightful... it's 'payback time'!

Wed/Maundy Thursday/Good Friday 19/20/21 March'08 - Wonderfully relaxed downwind sailing in bright sun during the day, under a bright moon at night! ....at peace & relaxed until I go to start the engine & it splutters ominously.....!!

What more can I say? This has the reputation of being one of the most enjoyable passages in the world - and it's certainly living up to its reputation!! ....

...Except for this afternoon, when I started up the engine to charge the batteries to get the voltage up for using the SSB for emailing & weather. It was OK for a very short while but then started dying..... I'd just switched to the main tank, worried that maybe the small tank was getting low on fuel. I started to congratulate myself for having done that, perhaps, in the nick of time, as I revved up the engine a touch more, thinking that maybe air had got into the fuel system.... then it started faltering even more .... I rushed down to look in the engine compartment - all looked fine - maybe the filter was clogged .. "& when did you last check for water in the sight-glasses?" I demanded of myself... I caught sight of the pressure gauge attached to the filters - well over into the red.... I tried the other tank - the gauge swung back into yellow. I'm going to have to change that filter .... so I went to turn off the fuel at the main tank ... the valve was closed!! "What an idiot, you are...!!" But what a relief!! I had to laugh.... All was fine after all & I've now bled both sight-glasses - very little water in there - as I did so I remembered that I'd changed every filter (fuel & oil) when I did the last oil change in S.Africa not so long ago.... & I'd obviously forgotten to open the valve on the main tank - which usually gets used last (because it's on the port side and we list slightly to starboard...!) Oh well ... on with the job of transferring more fuel to the small tank... but first I can really relax ... teatime!!..........

Boats a week ahead of me on a similar path reported calms & squalls (but no lightning!) as they got north to around 4-5S and on to the Equator - at which point they found the NE Trades. I still have about 3 more days before reaching that area - so I'm maximizing my present enjoyment of these lovely sailing conditions. Every so often I think the wind is dying - and then find it's come back up again ... so far so good! Daily noon-to-noon runs have been not so bad considering the rather light winds: 107, 124, 136 n.mls

Jobs that have been keeping me busy over the last few days have been:

Checking on daily reported position of other boats to see where the ITCZ (Doldrums) was for them (squalls or calms!)
Lots more passage planning, looking at details on charts & marking in of waypoints on chart-plotter and laptop (I'd previously pencilled some in on paper) for onward passage towards Colon (Panama) from Trinidad.
Trying to get my Windpilot to keep a sensible course - it still keeps wandering off course, but Willem on 'Najade' has the identical one & says he has no problem in light wind on a dead run. Lots of PTFE spray lubrication of accessible joints has helped but it needs more looking at. Suggestions have been to spray more - with WD40, that the servo-pendulum may not be completely vertical or I should put a reef in the main to give better boat balance (I'm not keen on the latter suggestion since I feel it would slow me down!!)
Disconnecting & removing the water pump, which had stopped working, and checking it over .... I'd thought the problem was electrical. Electrics all fine but found filter was completely clogged with fine black layer of gunge and loads of grit ... when I powered up pump separately it worked fine - sigh of relief! - so re-installed it all after thoroughly cleaning filter & holder - ahora, es fabuloso!!
Some cleaning & polishing (always on the list!).... especially of a much-used, little whistling kettle which was looking very rusty & sorry for itself!! (Obviously doesn't like, and wasn't made for, the salty environment)

Today's job is to transfer diesel from jerrycans into my fuel tank while the seas are relatively calm. (It's actually a bit 'rolly' sailing downwind goosewinged, much more so when a bigger wave catches us, but generally it's not too bad - I'll just have to take care). I have my little in-line 12V fuel pump and a manual siphon pump to help with transferring from the big jerrycans but first need to re-make a couple of spade connections for the 12V power supply to the electric pump. (That job got delayed slightly... see above!!)

Last night was wonderful - I keep not wanting to go down below it's so nice sitting in the cockpit, sailing along gently under the bright moon - full tonight (Good Friday).

With that, I'll wish everyone a very Happy Easter!!

Tuesday 18th March '08 What a great day...!

For the second day, it has been just wonderful ... not fast sailing, but just great being out here on the ocean, sailing gently along under sunny skies with a few fluffy white Trade Wind clouds or a clear sky at night with a nearly full moon and hundreds of twinkling stars. With the gentle wind, the swell has dropped right down, although still there. I feel as though I could sail on for ever....

I eased the Windpilot this morning, spraying everywhere that looked as though it might benefit, and tried it - far better, but it still has a problem on almost a dead run in such light winds (around 6-7 knots all day). The vane seems to flop over and stick there - so we go charging off course...! Dieter on 'Amazon' tonight suggested using a bungy cord to stop it going to the extreme - a job for tomorrow... I later switched the mains'l over to port and the genoa (and pole) over to starboard, goosewinged,
with the wind having shifted to the ESE, & in the afternoon I finally hoisted the new cruising chute - it did quite well, giving us 3.5knots in winds of just 7 knots, and looked just lovely when up.

While going around the deck on my morning flying fish count and deck inspection, I found a webbing tape lying on deck - yet another badly sewn tape connecting batten end to mains'l mast car has come apart. I tensioned the main halyard as much as possible to stop the first batten end from chafing on the mast and lower. I shall keep an eye on things and if needs be, I'll just have to lower the mains'l and sew a new tape in place - a job for calm conditions, that's for sure.

Overnight, I went for a drink of water ... nothing from the tap... I refused to panic (!), waiting for daylight to investigate - and discovered in the morning that the foot-pump worked fine, so clearly there was still plenty of water in the tank (so it hadn't all been pumped out into the bilge through a leak somewhere - my first thought!!) but the electric pump had developed a fault. I checked the pump fuse, that was fine, but when I checked the wires leading to the pump, one moment there was continuity,
the next not... seems like a wiring/connection problem. I got all organized to take the pump out to look at the wiring, but got side-tracked with evening radio 'scheds', taking down the spinnaker come evening and just sitting in the cockpit, enjoying the beautiful evening at sea .... which is where I started, I think!!

Sun/Mon 16/17th March Relaxing sailing most of the time...

Sunday - Flying fish count this morning: 18, mostly tiny, but 2 big ones

Fluffy white 'Trade wind' clouds lined up, clearing overhead overnight to give lots of lovely bright stars - Southern Cross & 'Pointers' high up, Sirius nearly dead overhead and a bright waxing moon (just gone 3rd quarter). I just realized it's Easter next weekend - the moon will be just past full then. It's always nice to have a brightly-shining full moon at night at sea - and that will most likly be when I'll be getting through the ITCZ - full of squalls and thunderstorms, so the lit-up night sky will be doubly welcome!!

Although in the sun at midday it can be very hot (I try to stay mainly in the shade then), the air temperature is tempered by the constant breeze & at night it feels definitely cool - so all very pleasant.

I had to move the pole over this morning.. I'd tried to avoid it for as long as possible after having had to gybe the mains'l on to port tack during the night, but the wind was clearly staying firmly in the SSE-SE direction so I made that my before-breakfast job... with a late breakfast as a result - changing the pole from one side to the other usually takes me about an hour all told, what with lines to be changed & genoa furled in & unfurled...!! But I rewarded myself with a lovely ripe pink grapefruit from Simon's Town. (I usually find grapefruit keep really well on passage.)

The wind has died down to around 15 knots & with it the seas have lessened so we're not rolling around quite as much, although boatspeed is down a bit so our 24hr run is less (only 120ml today). I'd hoped to get the new cruising 'chute up this afternoon, but suddenly realized I had the spinnaker uphaul run wrongly around the forestay/genoa/pole uphaul, so decided to leave it be for today (rather than furl the genoa & bring the pole down to sort it out) since we were still making around 6 knots anyway.

Sunset... and I saw a rare 'green flash' .... a subdued one but it definitely happened - a second or two after the sun had disappeared over the horizon.

Overnight, the wind picked up, as it often has done, so we were making good speed again.

Monday Noon-to-noon run today was 147ml, yesterday's was only 121ml.

A similar lovely day of relaxed, gentle sailing in bright sun. Only a few tiny flying fish this morning.

Lowered the pole to take the spinnaker uphaul over to starboard around the forestay. But with us on a near-dead run, after setting the genoa back on the pole to be goose-winged as before, I decided, as I finally started hoisting the new 'chute, that it wasn't right timing. It was dancing all over the place in its sock & without a spinnaker net up, I reckoned I was very likely to get a big wrap... not worth it. We were doing just under 6 knots still ... so it can wait for another day -at least I've got it all ready now & I expect the wind to die more. It's down well below 15 knots now.

Sorted out another problem - my InmarsatC was not sending messages - turned out not to be a problem with the terminal/modem but the computer... should have guessed...!! I uninstalled & reinstalled the program - all now OK... but took a time to investigate & then sort it out, of course!

I'm looking forward to another beautiful moonlit night - full of stars, peace & quiet. A good time to reflect on life...

Fri/Sat 14/15th March

Friday morning's tally was four very small flying fish - and one very rotten big one hidden behind the bucket on deck...yuck! Saturday's was nine small ones - & one big enough (6"/15cm long) - & fresh enough! - to eat - filleted it and fried it. They're delicious but have rather a lot of bones.

On the chafe front, I added a second shackle to the one in the bow already holding down the pole downhaul - that brought it slightly further out & higher and gave the line a better lead over the sheave - so no more chafe worries there. While the genoa was furled in to do that, I also moved the genoa car slightly - again, that meant the genoa sheet had a clear run, so avoiding the chafe worry there also. The clear tubing still has its use in one or two places - on such a long passage, even the smallest
amount of rubbing on such a continuous basis spells bad news.

Sailing is going well - consistent 15-20 knot SE/ESE winds, making for 6-7 knots or more of boatspeed with a touch of foul current at times but nothing much. We're rolling most of the time in fairly large swell with the regular 'biggie' turning up to really catch us & knock us around - have had to make sure everything is really secure & frequently have to hang on tightly! Skies have been fairly cloudy at times, but with plenty of sun and not much rain - have seen it around, but so far we've not
got wet since first night out. By noon Saturday, we were creaming along under blue skies - definitely time to relax & enjoy lying in the sun!! First time that's been possible since I don't know when..

Last few days noon to noon runs have been good: 120 (21hrs out); 140; 150 mls. So far so good - but expect lighter winds in a day or so...

Thursday 13th March

Today I've definitely had some good things happen! For a start, my laptop decided to 'wake up' - I decided to try charging it up some more and an hour or so later, saw that the battery light was no longer blinking. In fact, it was off... Aha...!! I kept the charger running while I tried to start it...hey presto! Life after death definitely exists...!! All is well...

Another happy find was my 'best' pair of almost undamaged (!), intact (ie no lens missing!) reading specs I'd lost for quite some time.... found in the bottom of a cockpit halyard bag when I went rummaging for some line when dealing with the other main item on today's joblist... dealing with chafe. The good news there is that I spotted two potential disasters before they got too far down the road to happening... a short length of clear PVC hose was just perfect to protect the areas of concern in good time. This morning, I'd noticed some completely torn webbing which had been holding a block onto a cleat... but, fortunately, I'd already tied in a second one when I first spotted this one wearing some time ago. "A stitch in time..." That's what got me checking around carefully for chafe elsewhere, remembering also the worn lazyjack line & topping lift I very recently had to deal with. So much sailing, often on long passages in big seas and strong wind, puts a lot of stress on all the gear & it's beginning to show.

The sailing has been good since leaving James Bay, St Helena, yesterday afternoon. The wind has been 15-19 knots, more or less SE, which has put us on a run.... I've had to come slightly off my rhumbline course to keep the sails filled nicely in the big SSE swell that's been knocking the boat about a lot. I decided to sail just below my course, on port tack, rather than sail high, since the forecast is for the wind to go more to the East over the next few days, in which case I'll be able to gybe around onto starboard tack to compensate. Even if it doesn't, I think the slightly stronger wind is to the south, so it's not a good idea to head too far north of my course for the time being. It's been mainly sunny and air temperature is consistently 27-28C, so all quite pleasant.

I'm speaking on the SSB to various other boats heading away from S.Africa - mainly people I've seen in S. Africa and elsewhere over the last few months. The exception to that is solo, nonstop, west-about, circumnavigator Glen Wakefield with whom I was put in touch by a mutual friend at the Royal Victoria Y.C. (in Canada) where he started from, after taking five years to rebuild the boat 'Kim Chow' that he's on. Not having seen anyone else to talk to since leaving last September, he appreciates being able to chat to someone on the radio, especially since his Globalstar satphone only works when near land(!!) so he cannot talk to wife, daughters & friends just now, only exchange emails - when he can make contact, which is getting increasingly difficult for him as he gets further from S. Africa.