Thursday 22nd November 2012

Lots of rain overnight... so wind shifts galore, often almost no wind and occasionally lots! Strong backing of the wind near rainclouds. Slow going, with speed often right down at 2.5kt. Morning was grey and cloudy, with the sun not really peeking through until midday - and then not often, but got warm again as sun tried to get out... Slowly, the clouds have become lighter and, by sunset, blue sky was beginning to appear in the E. I felt safe in unfurling the rest of the genoa - hope I don't regret that overnight tonight!

Think I'm definitely through the ITCZ now - just 'normal' rainclouds and occasional tropical squalls from here on.... But course is set to be SW, with winds from SSE for a few days...

A beautiful, dramatic, blood-red sunset amongst the grey rainclouds in the W...

Had an email from Robert in Simon's Town, suggesting testing wires down from wind transducer at mast top. Got to the mastfoot connectors finally later this afternoon - two wires seem defiintely OK, the third - I'm waiting for his comment. Seems to me that the problem could well be not at the mast top but down at the main Wind display unit , which receives the wind speed and direction signals and sends them on to the rest of the instruments.... Maybe simply corrosion at the terminals? I'll look tomorrow in daylight, if it's fairly calm, as expected. I hope the display unit itself isn't faulty, because I don't have a spare!! In the meantime, I've seen the wind info appear twice, just for a split second, down below!!

Have nice mast steps to get me up to see to the loose cable up there - and just got out my mountaineering harness and 'gri-gri' which I slide up the spinnaker halyard, is attached to my harness by a Dyneema/Spectra loop and will hold me safely in situ should I slip off the steps.. which I WON'T!!. (Will only go up when it's REALLY calm!!!)

For my Thanksgiving dinner tonight, I had a tasty chicken tikka masala with basmati rice and lime and mango pickles to spice it up - it's a very mild curry, otherwise. Beforehand, I'd chatted for a time on the PacSeaNet and this afternoon, gave Thanksgiving greetings to George, WA6RIK, Net Contol on the Maritime Mobile Net, who often helps in the Pacific Seafarers Net also, when propagation permits. It was impossible to contact the Baja Net this morning on 40m - far too much noise on frequeny - I heard just a few very faint voices in the distance! Getting too far away now. Had a very nice, unexpected email from Mike, sysop of the new Winlink station in Tijuana which I've been making regular use of, wishing me well in my RTW attempt. .

24hr DMG at 3pm: 94 n.ml. - SLOW progress!! Golden Gate Bridge 1954n.ml & Strait of Juan de Fuca 2600n.ml away at 3pm & our position was then 1115 n ml SSW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The Equator was 338 n.ml due S.... and the Galapagos Islands, 1568 ml to the ESE.

Sea temperature is 34C - down a touch.

Wednesday 21st November 2012 Happy Thanksgiving to my US friends, for tomorrow - enjoy the turkey!

I was gazing up into the mainly clear, starry night sky, thinking how lovely it was and also wondering if our good luck in passing through the ITCZ would continue. There was a dark mass off to staroard - well downwind... and then I saw another long line of dark grey astern - upwind, so shouldn't be a problem.. but cloud was spreading over... Sure enough, a bit later, cloud had formed ahead also - but nothing too bad. We picked up speed , heeled slightly... and then slowly things calmed down and the cloud moved off downwind, to starboard. without us getting wet even

The air is so unstable here that clouds fom in no time, often in a long line, soon becoming very black and heavy with rain, so strong winds pick up very quickly.

Late this afternoon, I'd been relaxing after another lovely, sunny day's sail, chatting for a short time to Randy, KH6RC, (in Hawaii) on the Maritime Mobile Net on 14300kHz, and also briefly to Bill, KI4MMZ (in Florida). I went up on deck, after having begun to make some tea, and saw a nasty line of black cloud a distance ahead, slightly upwind, to port.... Off to starboard, the sun was setting beautifully in a mainly clear sky... I took a video of the scene, and then headed us more off the wind, towards the sunset, thinking we might be able to avoid the heavy rain and strong wind that was almost certainly coming our way.... but soon realised that wasn't going to work... I lowered the main and took in the second reef VERY fast!... and also furled in a lot of genoa... Since heading off the wind, to the SW, wasn't working, I hardened up, heading us upwind, on seeing that the worst of the cloud was moving rapidly to the W. We were making over 6kt and I was happy to see that my ploy was working - we had a few drops of rain, but avoided anything too strong, eventually passing beneath a grey layer - the tail end of the main, dark cloud.... Had we passed below the centre of the black cloud, we could easily have found sudden winds of up to 30kt and torrential rain - best to avoid all that, if possible! Over an hour later, I finally got to my mug of tea!

We're just S of 7N, in the middle of the ITCZ axis, according to all the weather info.. The wind has already veered to SE-SSE, from ENE earlier, and is supposed to stay SSE until past the Equator, when it should become the SE Trades and stay around SE for quite a time, as we head further S. So it's not too surprising to find our course tonight has become more SW than S. We're not making very good speed just now - that only comes with clouds! But I'll leave the reef in until daybreak - so long as we keep moving, that is!

This morning, I spent quite a long time sorting out some photos, ready for posting to my website, and trying to get the Iridium connection working using Winlink - so far no joy still, although the Sailmil connection is fine. I finally managed to send some photos, whch I hear were posted earlier today. One of them shows the cable that has come adrift at the mast top - a job for when we're in calm seas - soon, hopefully! It would be nice to get the wind info back on display again.

24hr DMG at 3pm: 120 n.ml. Golden Gate Bridge 1870n.ml & Strait of Juan de Fuca 2515n.ml away at 3pm & our position was then 1020 n ml SSW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The Equator was 428 n.ml due S.... and the Galapagos Islands, 1560 ml to the ESE!

Sea temperature is still 34-35C.

Sunrise over Angel Island and San Francisco Bay, 2 November 2012

Leaving San Francisco Bay, 5 November 2012

ITCZ Dawn, 21 November 2012

Wiring problem at mast top, 21 November 2012

Tuesday 20th November 2012

9pm We just came into moonshine dancing over the water as we sailed out from under a dark grey cloud - but all we had were a few drops of rain and some nice wind to sail by... We're making over 6kt almost due S and on deck it's beautiful - stars and moon dodging in and between the mainly small clouds... and a lovely refreshing breeze making up for the heat of the day. I've just been standing out on deck for quite a time, enjoying it all and relaxing, after unfurling the rest of the genoa in the fairly calm-looking conditions and then noticing the line of developing, dark-based cloud ahead.... Always a good idea to stay and make sure we don't get a sudden gusty strong wind as we pass beneath ... but, happily, this was almost a non-event!

With no wind display, other than the Windex at the top of the mast (giving apparent wind direction only), I'm guesstimating true wind strength and direction - this is where the Beaufort Scale comes into its own!! I got out the details earlier and wrote myself a big note to remind me. With just a very few, occasional white crests showing, that makes the wind Beaufort Force 3 (7-10kt) and when there are frequent white horses, that's Force 4 (11-16kt). By the time the wind waves are 'moderate', with many whie crests... Force 5 (17-21kt) - time to reef down, if not already done! (In practice, I'm "driving by the seat of my pants" just now - if we heel too much, time to reduce sail - simple!!)

It's been a very pleasant, easy day - plenty of cloud around, a couple of short showers, but nothing strong. I saw a grey raincloud nearby a while ago, as dusk was falling, and furled in quite a bit of genoa - it had to be let out again fairly soon after because we dropped speed to almost nothing - but when I looked back at the cloud we'd just passed under, after our speed had picked up again, it had become part of a long line of dark grey cloud - busy with heavy downpours along its entire length!

Found two more small squid, one hidden in the cockpit - from yesterday... no wonder there had been a fishy smell!

Had to get out several towels the other day, to lean on and lie down on. Humidity is so high, I need to lean my arm and wrist on a towel when writing, to prevent the logbook from becoming really wet...!I

When I came on deck to check cloud cover and swell for my 3pm (2300GMT) weather report, I stayed for quite a time, watching three boobies (red-footed?) diving into the sea for fish and then resting on the surface while they swallowed them - small ones, it seemed. Have seen boobies fairly often the last few days - distinctive immature ones among them, with brown mottling, not the clean black and white patterning of the mature birds.

Looking at latest satellite picture of clouds around the ITCZ, seems we're doing OK - no strong convection where we are, nor where we're headed, although some off to the west... which is the direction it all moves in, so not a problem. Still quite likely to get the occasional squall, though. The line of the ITCZ, according to today's weather reports, is around 8N hereabouts. We're at 8deg 30'N just now, so clearly in the ITCZ region.

We got into a W-flowing current today, as compared with the NE-E-flowing current of yesterday, and the strong N-flowing current of previous days.

24hr DMG at 3pm: 116 n.ml. (we've not been setting any speed records while trying to aim for a less-active section of the ITCZ!);Golden Gate Bridge 1750n.ml & Strait of Juan de Fuca 2400n.ml away at 3pm & our position was then 907 n ml SSW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The Equator was 550 n.ml due S.... and the Galapagos Islands, 1590 ml to the SE!

Monday 19th November 2012

Now I know why the wind, puzzlingly, seemed to be coming from the SSE-SE overnight - it wasn't, except while the squall lasted, when the wind clearly was all over the place!!

I was looking up at the Windex early this morning, seeing it showing us to be clearly on a beam reach, while the wind display was showing us to be close-hauled... I noticed something moving about ... dangling from the mast top... Got out binoculars - still couldn't see clearly with the movement of the boat... Got the camera and took some close-up photos to look at on the computer in more detail... looks as though the wire loom at the mast top where it enters into the mast, for instruments and lights, has come adrift - looks as though possibly a cable tie holding the wires in place, has broken... There is NO wind display now - as I was nvestigating, I saw it had gone down completely. The transducer looks, from down here, to be fine - it's possibly a simple wiring problem - but up there, not so simple to fix!! Seems my trip up the mast, in calmer seas, is unavoidable...

Two small squid found on deck earlier - too small for calamari - pity! Flying fish are staying well away. For lunch, I had a VERY ripe brie - as yesterday, in fact. I've another waiting to be finished soon. I had it with the last few slices of a loaf of Dempster's Whole Grain bread that I've been enjoying - I'm amazed it's lasted this long out of a fridge! Tonight I had an onion omelette.

Seeing small groups of boobies fairly often over the day.

Pleasant on deck with the breeze and in the shade of the sails, but hot and sticky down below... Cabin 31C, sea 34.5C - getting close to blood temp(37C)!

Looking at latest satellite picture of clouds in the ITCZ, seems we're surrounded - they are everywhere except NW of us & we're in a clear area for the time being...! We clearly went through a mass of cloud when the wind piped up last night around midnight. Won't head S until I'm sure that's the best way to go...

Midnight- Well, we're heading S now! Waited to download the lates satpic, which showed an area of less activity just to S-ESE, with more cloud coming along from further E, soon after - so changed course and then unfurled a little more genoa to give us a touch more speed - just as it started to rain ... Not much, I thought - but, of course, it got heavy and the wind got up, its direction varying a lot... We were headed W on a beam reach for a short time - so clearly the wind was then from SE..

Shortly afer, the sky cleared a bit and things calmed down - we're now making due S at around 5kt - that's fine until daylight...... It'll take over a day to pass through the region of the ITCZ- presently, its axis is around 8N near here.

24hr DMG at 3pm: 107 n.ml. (after the squall at midnight last night, reduced sail a lot - just in case!);Golden Gate Bridge 1636n.ml & Strait of Juan de Fuca 2280n.ml away at 3pm & our position was then 820 n ml SW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The Equator was 661ml due S.... and the Galapagos Islands, 1657 ml to the SE!

its Sunday18th November 2012

Looked for Southern Cross overnight but too much cloud around to see it.

10am: Adjusting course more to east - big area of ITCZ convection boiling up on our path - so making use of a strong N-flowing current (has been cutting our speed down by 2 kt overnight!) to help head 140T or less in E wind, in hope that will get us east of the clump of clouds, as they move on to the west... Going slowly just now is not such a bad thing! Likely to get the occasional squall anyway ...

Had another visit from the dark booby this morning - but soon flew off.

Midday: Very pleasant on deck just now, in a nice breeze and in the shade of the sails - too hot in the sun to be out for long, earlier!

Still downloading first batch of weatherfaxes - there are quite a few, so I just let them run and check them over for the ones I need later.

Wind is E 10-11kt, boatspeed is over 5kt, SOG is under 4 kt - but that's OK, since I don't want to rush S for the time being - just want to make my course.

Some big clouds around now - but none upwind and, as yet, they're not dark grey, rainy and squally-looking - maybe by later in the day, they will have built up more... With clouds around, likely to find wind gusting up and down a lot.... so staying reefed down - but still making a fair speed.

6pm Sun disappeared a while back - still a few big clouds around - but no dark grey. threatening ones... All in all, a very pleasant day's sailing - still with the strong N-flowing current helping us to make more Easting than we would otherwise!

Midnight!! Just had our first squall - at least, that's how it seemed - wind suddenly veered by 30degrees to SE and increased just as quickly to around 20kt from its previous consistent 12-13kt - but couldn't see any dark cloud around, upwind or down,... just plenty of hazy stars with a few non-starry patches... and wind has stayed at SE 20kt since then - so maybe it's just a sudden wind change that's here to stay... not caused by a big cloud at all? No rain, certainly. Difficult to be sure in the darkness.. But our course is now SSE, not SE. The wind was not forecast to change to SE from E-ENE until we were S of the ITCZ - below 8N - and we're presently still at 12N... Maybe it will back again soon...

24hr DMG at 3pm: 119 n.ml. (slowed overnight and all morning by strong N-flowing current - cut our speed by easily 1.5kt);Golden Gate Bridge 1540n.ml & Strait of Juan de Fuca 2188n.ml away at 3pm & our position was then 782 n ml SW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The Equator was 747ml due S.... and the Galapagos Islands, 1750 ml to the SE!

Saturday17th November 2012

I've had several queries about 'no motor'.. I'm attempting a 'nonstop, unassisted, solo' circumnavigation, which means no help of any kind... & all to be done under sail alone and no setting foot on shore until my finish. So my engine forward gear has been wired and sealed for the duration, although in an emergency (like early last year when badly damaged due to my knockdown off C.Horn), I can break the seal and use my engine for motive power - but that immediately ends my 'unassisted' RTW attempt!

Overnight kept up good speed, around 6.5+ kt, with wind having strengthened to NE-ENE ~15kt - so good course maintained ... and on into the morning. Increased this afternoon to 16-18kt, but back to 15kt this evening. On AP overnight - kept course fine (but still no rudder bar in Standby) and then, after reducing genoa to lessen heeling, onto Fred (Hydrovane wind steering) mid-morning, with wheel fixed over to leeward. Fred maintained course fine -so that's good... I just wish the rudder reference unit problem with the AP sytem could be resolved - latest suggestion was to drop me off a new one - not possible!!

I left a small windward portlight above the galley open overnight - big mistake! No problem with lighter conditions over the day & it was nice to get the airflow down below in the humid heat, but during the night, when wind and seas got up more, one sea washed the decks so vigorously that some water came in through the port - curses!... I'd not long thought it might be prudent to close it - but hadn't... Fortunately, being where it was, no major damage & easily dried.

Not many flying fish seen so far.... One tiny one caught in the deck drain overnight, but none seen flying since the shoal of tiddlers a day back.

Hot, hot, hot..& everything metal or plastic on deck covered in a film of sticky salt....! Sea is 33-34C, cabin 29-30C. We're still tryig to head for a gap in the ITCZ's active regions.... Fingers crossed!

Routine tends to be: quick check in daylight on deck, breakfast before or after checking into Baja Net at 8am (copy getting difficult now, except to stations in the Baja itself), turn box of eggs, have coffee while checking emails/downloading weatherfaxes.. Clear up in galley. Check on deck more thoroughly, if not too rough, and look over weather info downloaded, to decide on route to take... More weatherfaxes downloaded later in day. Always, of course, with an eye on our course, wind conditions, sails & sail trim .... and state of battery charge.

Daily, a weather /position report made at 2300Z/1500PST - and posted to Winlnk soon after - and daily, while contact is possible, a check-in to Pacific Seafarers Net on 14300 kHz at 0300Z/1900PST - by which time I"ll hope to have cooked and eaten my evening meal. Lunch is often a bit hit-and-miss - maybe cheese or something else simple, if I bother. Plenty of water-bottles are kept topped up and lying around and nuts, cereal bars and dried fuit are to hand at the chart table...

Solar output to batteries is ~8A in sunshine (5A if sun behind a cloud) and with the KISS wind generator working well also, we're presently showing an overall charge going into the battery bank of up to 12A, even with instruments on and small fridge running (that takes quite a bit).

Was good for birds this afternoon, ....one white-tailed tropic bird, 3 red-footed boobies, another booby and finally, around dusk, an all-dark booby - don't know it's name (not in my book!) All flew around several times, looking for a roosting spot...

Was upset to hear of Sam Davies' dismasting (as well as the other earlier Vendée Globe retirees) - what bad luck...!

She reported:
"I have been dreaming of sailing fast in the Southern Ocean ...now I won't get to go this year. I didn't even see a flying fish, nor the Southern Cross.. nor the Albatrosses. ..... However,... WE WILL BE BACK!" Better luck next time, Sam!

Let's hope the remaining skippers all make it safely around ...

At least I've already seen some flying fish.... and even a (N.Pacific!) albatross early on. I look forward to seeing lots more albatross as we get closer to the Southern Ocean - and from where we are now, in the Tropics, the Southern Cross must already be visible - I'll look for it tonight, for sure!!

24hr DMG at 3pm: 143 n.ml.;Golden Gate Bridge 1431n.ml & Strait of Juan de Fuca 2080n.ml away at 3pm & our position was then 743 n ml SW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The Equator is 849ml due S.... about a week away.

...............................................
If you enjoy following my logs, maybe you'd like to go to my charity donation site by clicking on the daffodil on my website Home page (or visit http://www.justgiving.com/jeannesocrates) to make a donation to Marie Curie Cancer Care in aid of their free specialist home-nursing for the terminally ill - even the smallest of donations will be very welcome! Thank you!
...............................................
Position reports...

1) My own weather and position report, daily to Winlink/Shiptrak - link is on my website's 'Travels' page - click on "Where is Nereida?"

2) http://www.exactearth.com/media-centre/recent-ship-tracks/tracking-nereida/ - courtesy 'exactEarth' using their polar-orbiting satellites - good everywhere, especially nearer the poles, i.e. when in the Southern Ocean.

3) http://oceantracker.net?event=nereida - courtesy "Oceantracker' using geo-stationary satellites with good coverage just now - probably fine until Valparaiso, Chile, and then from 1000ml W of Australia, depending how far N we sail..

Friday16th November 2012

Midday:
Close-hauled, as usual, but not so much we lose all speed. That was the plan, which worked fine overnight and untl now, making just under 6 kt, almost on course. Just a few clouds around by mid-morning and the wind slowly died down, to 10 kt by midday, from the 14kt of earlier. The wind direction is not too helpful just now - it's just north of due East but, hopefully, might back to NE later, in which case we could make a better course. We're trying to head roughly 150T to keep clear of strong convection in the ITCZ to the W, when we arrive there (8-10N) early next week (Mon/Tues?), but that course not possible just now

Later:
A few small deck jobs were very pleasant to do in the breeze - checking bungy ties on toe-rail blocks, along with shackle pins...! Wasn't happy with a couple of leads on the leeward rail so changed things a touch there... Took quite a time and got a bit wet - swell is up just a little now... All very relaxed.... Sat on side-deck in shade of sails and enjoyed just being out at sea in these pleasantconditions! Went to make coffee - ended up cleaning the stove top thoroughly first! Generally, a fairly relaxed day, sailing nicely.

Weather forecast excerpt:
".... MONSOON TROUGH FROM 08N82W TO 06N94W...WHERE IT TRANSITIONS TO ITCZ..CONTINUING TO 08N121W TO 07N126W TO 09N131W TO BEYOND 08N140W. SCATTERED MODERATE (convection) (and) ISOLATED STRONG (convection) FROM 06N TO 10N BETWEEN 119W AND 122W.

.... so I'm presently aiming for 11N, 117W - we'll see how well that works out!!

Wind has backed nicely now (4.30pm) to ENE-NE so we're making a good course -would be nice to avoid that 'convection' activity if at all possible - but there's time for a change in its position - will just keep an eye on it...Downloading satellite photos daily showing where the active clouds are....

9.30pm A lovely starry night sky with BRIGHT Jupiter by the horns of Taurus ... and Orion lying on his side - ready to stand on his head when we're in the Southern hemisphere !! A hazy crescent moon disappeared soon after sunset. Lovely sparkles of light in our bow wave as we sail along.

Must catch up with emails - several well overdue.... !

24hr DMG: 127 n.ml.;Golden Gate Bridge 1320n.ml & Strait of Juan de Fuca 1967n.ml away at 3pm & our position was then 750 n ml SW of Cabo San Lucas and 1210 ml W of Acapulco, Mexico. The Equator is 960ml due S.... about 8 days away.
.........................................
If you enjoy following my logs, maybe you'd like to go to my charity donation site by clicking on the daffodil on my website Home page (or visit http://www.justgiving.com/jeannesocrates) to make a donation to Marie Curie Cancer Care in aid of their free specialist home-nursing for the terminally ill - even the smallest of donations will be very welcome! Thank you!
.........................................
Position reports...

1) My own weather and position report, daily to Winlink/Shiptrak - link is on my website's 'Travels' page - click on "Where is Nereida?"

2) http://www.exactearth.com/media-centre/recent-ship-tracks/tracking-nereida/ - courtesy 'exactEarth' using their polar-orbiting satellites - good everywhere, especially nearer the poles, i.e. when in the Southern Ocean.

3) http://oceantracker.net?event=nereida - courtesy "Oceantracker' using geo-stationary satellites with good coverage just now - probably fine until Valparaiso, Chile, and then from 1000ml W of Australia, depending how far N we sail..

Thursday15th November 2012

Job of the day was meant to be a complete re-set of the autopilot course computer in an effort to resolve the rudder bar display problem but in the meantime, it's working fine - at least in present easy conditions.

However, other more urgent jobs cropped up, to get in the way,,,,,

Went to run the generator in the morning, with the battery volts down after light wind overnight reduced input from the wind generator. The oil pressure light came on and it wouldn't start.... I knew straight away what the problem was - I hadn't checked the oil level recently and, sure enough, it was way down... I drained out what little there was and filled with fresh oil - it was very happy to start up immediately I tried it.. One success today!

In order to re-set the course computer for the instruments, I had to put ithe autopilot into 'standby' - so logically, it was a good time to try out the wind steering again - but I'd left the cover off and the pins in to stop it moving, so needed to perch out on the 'sugar scoop' again over the stern. It was also time to trim the sails, with our course needing to be much closer to the veered wind.. Bringing the traveller to windward and trimming nicely put our speed up a good knot!!

Centring the mains'l gave me a chance to look at a suspect pin on the shackle holding the mainsheet block to the boom end - It had caught my eye yesterday as seeming to be rather too proud of the shackle ... on closer inspection now, it was nearly out!! So, before working on the windsteering system, I decided the least I should do was to tie off the boom with another rope so it would be safe. I used the same pole guy line as when raising the anchor in SF Bay ...... around the boom end, through the blocks of the traveller, out to a turning block on the toe rail and thence to a winch. With the load off the block and shackle, I was later able to release the pin, re-tighten it, wire it safely and then allow it to take up the load. ......A nightmare scenario averted in the nick of time!!

I set the wind steering working again - without dropping anything into the sea, working safely again using the sturdy struts off the stern to stand between or sit on. Sailing close-hauled means that the boat pretty well steers herself, so the gear isn't really being tested very well, but all seems fine, for the moment.

As the sun was getting low in the sky, I finally got to the re-setting of the course computer.... I carefully went through the procedure, noting all previous settings, ready to re-enter them.. To be sure I'd got it right, I did it all twice... Nada! The rudder bar is still missing in Standby....grrr!!!! I'm now awaiting my next instructions... To be fair, things have to be tested in a sequence, in order to eliminate possibilities..... but....

I was famished ... nothing since breakfast ... Time for a quickly-prepared meal -a tin of tuna, half one of chick peas, mayonnaise.. works well, with no cooking or heating required ...with cheese and an apple and mandarin to follow... wonderful!!!

..... until I noticed a ship heading our way- CPA under1.5 ml in 45 mins... that's too close in my book!! As I finished eating, I got out the handheld VHF (the ship's radio doesn't often seem to work too well) and called .. and called... and called... I even switched on the deck light, which lit up the sails beautifully... Still no reply - but I could see them now in the distance! Finally, they replied, agreed to alter course to starboard and pass our stern.... I never found out what their cargo was, on its way to China from Panama, but had a long chat with the friendly Russian officer who several times asked if I had problem, after telling him I was a sailing yacht with no motor, headed for Cape Horn!!

Sky has been rather cloudy, but there's been some very hot sun when it got out... definitely getting into sticky climes - we're in the Tropics and the sea is now 32C!! We passed through a shoal of tiny flying fish (first seen so far) - they scattered every which way! Wind has veered into the east - we're probably going to be headed by light SSE winds nearer the Equator - but that might change. For now, I'm trying to make what Easting I can, partly to avoid convection regions in the ITCZ further W and partly to be ready for the SE Trades which might make it difficult to head due south.

24hr DMG: 147 n.ml.;Golden Gate Bridge 1202n.ml & Strait of Juan de Fuca 1847n.ml away at 3pm & our position was then 732 n ml WSW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

.........................................
Position reports...

I report my weather and position daily to Winlink/Shiptrak - link is on my website's 'Travels' page - click on "Where is Nereida?"

Then there's http://www.exactearth.com/media-centre/recent-ship-tracks/tracking-nereida/ - courtesy 'exactEarth' using their polar-orbiting satellites - good everywhere, especially nearer the poles, i.e. when in the Southern Ocean
and http://oceantracker.net?event=nereida - courtesy "Oceantracker' using geo-stationary satellites with good coverage just now.

Tuesday/Wednesday 13/14th November 2012

The autopilot rudder bar display disappeared again - while in 'Standby' and under windsteering....grrr!! Happened after I'd made some checks on the resistance of the wires from the rudder reference unit to the course computer - all seemed fine. Took a time to get to under-bunk spaces by course computer and rudder to make the checks, but with fairly calm conditions, it wasn't too difficult. So it would seem that the rudder reference unit itself is possibly OK and has not been stressed /damaged ... I'm waiting for a reply as to my next step in trying to fix the problem but used the AP over Tuesday night into Wednesday and it held course fine in light conditions, with only small movements of the wheel needed to keep us on course, despite the rudder ref problem - wind was only 6-10 kt from ENE-NE... and on Wed in slightly stronger wind, it still did OK... All very frustrating!

In the meantime, the windsteering has also been giving problems - the thinking was that there's possibly a loose bolt - I had a good look today (Wed) - bolt is so tight I can't budge it! And other items I've checked seem OK.... Managed to work safely on the system without heaving to - nice to have sturdy struts to stand in between while working from the lowest step on the 'sugar-scoop"!

Earlier in the day, I looked at the stored tomatoes, after a major galley and general tidy-up. They'd been carefully packed in plastic bags and then sealed in another, partly-evacuated bag - I can definitely confirm that this is NOT a system that works!! Whereas one large 'beefeater-type' tomato, left open to the air, is still firm and edible - I'll fry it tonight with some ham and eggs, along with some potato.... The mandarins wrapped in foil are doing reasonably well and potatoes, onions and apples are all fine.

Sky has been often cloudy - nothing too grey, mostly a thin white broken layer, but we've not seen the sun too often - although it is nice and warm - comfortable, just now, with cabin temperature around 26C - and sea temperature at 29C!! Swell has been far less over yesterday and until this evening - mostly from NE at around 1.5-2m. Sailing has been very pleasant, under full canvas.

Occasional ships pass in the distance - from Panama, usually making for Asia - all well clear.

No repeat of the booby that tried to roost in the rigging - it was well offshore!

DMG to 3pmPST/2300GMT:
Tues: 138 n.ml
Wed: 116 n.ml.(lighter wind than Tuesday);Golden Gate Bridge 1072n.ml & Strait of Juan de Fuca 1714n.ml away at 3pm & our position was then 980 ml W of Ipala which is just south of Cabo Corrientes in Guadalajara, Mexico.

.........................................
Position reports...

I report weather and position daily to Winlink/Shiptrak - link is on my website's 'Travels' page - click on "Where is Nereida?"

Then there's http://www.exactearth.com/media-centre/recent-ship-tracks/tracking-nereida/ - showing my position as transmitted via my AIS signal - courtesy 'exactEarth' using their polar-orbiting satellites - good everywhere, especially nearer the poles, i.e. when in the Southern Ocean (Has a problem in Chrome, I hear - try another browser!)

and http://oceantracker.net?event=nereida - showing my position via a GPS 'tracker' unit onboard - courtesy "Oceantracker' using geo-stationary satellites with good coverage just now.

Monday 12th November 2012

Not a lot of interest to report today - the same dull grey sky and lumpy grey seas with still a fair swell running from NNE. There's been a Low to the W of us, so it's taken away the warmth & blue skies I'd been expecting here (we even had some rain mid-afternoon) - but it must dissipate soon! Winds have been NE, becoming NNE as the day progressed, mostly 18-20kt, giving good boat speed around 7kt, easing to 16kt mid-afternoon and up to a boisterous 23kt in the early evening - when the 'Sven Maersk' crossed our path, a mere 1.5 ml ahead, on passage from Balboa, Panama Canal, to Russia with a cargo of containers. (We kept a good eye on each other!) From Russia (ETA 28th Nov), they'll go south to China and then back to the Panama Canal for their next load... We exchanged good wishes for a safe passage.

On going up on deck to keep an eye out for the ship, I was kept entertained for a good half hour by a brown booby trying to land in our rigging to roost overnight - darkness was just falling... It was amazingly agile and managed to grab hold of the wires just above the first spreader several times, but had to let go because there was nowhere suitable for it to land on in the lumpy seas running at the time - strings I have rigged between the mast steps and shrouds must have also been a problem for it. That's exactly what I thought might have happened at the mast top a few days back, when the wind instrument suddenly started giving silly readings... It was making the same kind of twittering noise I'd heard then.

Still heading just E of S - partly thinking about angle to Trade winds (NETrades now & then SE Trades once S of the ITCZ) but mainly looking at avoiding possible areas of strong convection around 10N where the ITCZ band starts. Presently making for 120W which looks nicely in between the nasty stuff - for the moment!! It's always such a gamble - and the forecasts never show all the real-life detail you get once you're there!!

The autopilot is defintely behaving fine now - that's a relief... Having received a prompt email response from Raymarine UK, I have some checks on the resistance of the wires from the rudder reference unit to the course computer to make, but that will be easier to do when the swell is less - no hurry. (That will show if the system has been stressed /damaged or not)

I was hoping to see a meteorite shower near sunrise - but the cloud layer prevented that! John, VK4DBJ, in Queensland, had kindly responded to my query on the name of the bright planet I'd seen just above Taurus the other night - Jupiter, he tells me, .... with Saturn becoming clearer in the E sky near sunrise - but he also mentioned the annual Taurid meteor shower we were passing through over these two days - no chance of seeing it unfortunately, with this cloud ....

DMG to 3pmPST/2300GMT: Much better than of late, at 145 n.ml !!; Golden Gate Bridge: 830n.ml; Strait of Juan de Fuca was 1466n.ml away at 3pm & our position was 720 ml W of the coast of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico, near Todos Santos.

.........................................
Position reports are available a-plenty!

I report weather and position daily to Winlink/Shiptrak - link is on my website's 'Travels' page - click on "Where is Nereida?"

Then there's http://www.exactearth.com/media-centre/recent-ship-tracks/tracking-nereida/ - showing my position as transmitted via my AIS signal - courtesy 'exactEarth' using their polar-orbiting satellites so good everywhere, especially nearer the poles, when in the Southern Ocean (Has a problem in Chrome, I hear - try another browser!)

and http://oceantracker.net?event=nereida - showing my position via a GPS 'tracker' unit onboard - courtesy "Oceantracker' using geo-stationary satellites with good coverage just now.

Tim Sell took these photos of Jeanne and Nereida in Sausalito.  Rob Tryon, LaDonna Bubak and Sal Sanchez (salsinflatables.com) delivered the new life raft to Jeanne who installed it.

Tools at the Ready. (c) 2012 Tim Sell / www.sausalitodiving.com 

Rob, LaDonna and Sal arrive with the new raft. (c) 2012 Tim Sell / www.sausalitodiving.com 

Under there somewhere. (c) 2012 Tim Sell / www.sausalitodiving.com 

Tighten it down. (c) 2012 Tim Sell / www.sausalitodiving.com

A job well done.  (c) 2012 Tim Sell / www.sausalitodiving.com

Sunday 11th November 2012

A dull grey day with occasional spits of rain - almost total cloud cover, with wind varying from ENE to NE, mostly around 10-12 kt but and gusting at times up to 16kt under the clouds. Swell now from NNE and down to 2m from the 3m of yesterday, So a relaxing day of ambling in easy conditions... Full genoa and stays'l helping to keep us at 5.5-6.3 kt SOG, occasionally dropping to beow 5kt in lulls.

Decided to head slightly E of due S to avoid possible area of strong convection in ITCZ around 10-15N - will probably have moved onto our path as we get closer, whichever way I head, but you never know... Problem with the ITCZ is that nasty areas of strong convection can pop up so quickly and without much warning, it's so unstable... So it really is a matter of luck as to whether the big stormclouds can be avoided - usually get caught by some, but hopefully not a lot!

I decided early on to have a relaxing day, other than keeping an eye on wind, sails and course, that is...! I've not downloaded a single weatherfax, although I get a set of gribs by default daily. We're clearly in the NE Tradewinds and no storms are forecast, so until we get into squally tropical weather or nearer to the ITCZ with its possible 'convection' giving areas of thunderclouds etc, there's no need to be concerned - so I decided to enjoy the day and take it easy - it's Sunday, isn't it??!!

I caught up on the Sailing Olympics reports from Portland ... only three months' late! Team GB did very well, with five medals, although not so many golds as in Qingdao, ... and well done, Ben Ainslie! What a superb sailor - yet another Olympic Gold!! I'm looking forward to getting reports on the Vendee Globe race. It will be of interest to see where they are when I'm near Cape Horn - they could well be somewhere nearby and about to head up the Atlantic to finish... (They go just a little faster than I do!!)

Have mostly been sailing last two days or so with Fred in control, but after taking a look at the rudder reference unit in the autopilot system, we stayed on that for a time to see how it coped - and if any error messages came up... I'd found that the base on which the unit was fixed had come loose and was allowing it to swivel as the 'tiller arm' on the rudder moved from side to side. There seemed to be nothing else wrong, so I fixed it firmly in place, making sure it was centred correctly, and switched the autopilot into 'Auto' mode - it took over the steering with no complaints (a.k.a.no error messages!), having started it up with the wheel centred, and seemed to be working fine, correctly showing the rudder movement on the rudder bar display ... But then, when I put it into 'Standby' to see what would happen - there was still no rudder bar shown on the display - it disappeared.... grrr!!! When I switched back to 'Auto', the AP was seemingly working fine again... I felt perplexed... . Decided to switch off everything - instruments and AP .... and then put AP on by itself - got error messages.. powered up instruments and managed to persuade it to work in 'Auto' ...seemingly OK.... Tried 'Standby' - rudder bar was magically there...??#*^#**!!! Back into 'Auto' - all fine... Back into 'Standby' - all fine - rudder bar displaying - all OK ... Somehow, I've solved my problem - but by 'black magic', it seems to me!! Seem to have managed to reset the system, after fixing rudder ref unit firmly in place, so now all seems OK ... Let's hope so.... Phew!!!

5pm - Had to furl in quite a lot of genoa - wind got up to 19kt and we made excellent speed - but heeled rather too much, especially being rather beam onto the seas, which also increased a bit... Since then, have had frequent repeats of wind up to 20kt from 12-15kt... so speed has often varied from 5-6.5kt to well over 7.5 kt! Those rainclouds...!

It was amazingly clear when I contacted the Pacific Seafarers Net this evening on 14300 kHz (Jane, NH7TZ, on Kauai and NZ and Aus stations as well) - propagation has been so variable lately and it made contact virtually impossible two nights ago. On the Baja Net this morning, it wasn't too bad, despite the 'bleeding' music from some adjacent station that seems a perpetual noise on that 7 MHz frequency at that time.

24hr DMG to 3pmPST/2300GMT: 115 n.ml - slow overnight and wandering a bit, with wind sometimes light & varying in direction; Golden Gate Bridge: 690n.ml; Strait of Juan de Fuca was 1320n.ml away at 3pm & our position was 650 ml due W of Bahia San Juanito, on the Baja Peninsula in Mexico.

Today's 3pm report:
TIME: 2012/11/11 23:00
LAT: 26-26.76N LONG: 124-31.08W COURSE: 175T SPEED: 5.7
WIND_SPEED: 14 WIND_DIR: NE
SWELL_DIR: NNE SWELL_HT: 2.0M SWELL_PER: 8
CLOUDS: 99% BARO: 1023 TREND: -3
AIR_TEMP: 22.0C SEA_TEMP: 23.0C

Saturday 10th November 2012 (Start of Vendee Globe!)

Overnight was beautiful - clear, full of bright stars .. a crescent moon rising later.... a bright planet just above Taurus - I wonder which it is??

When running the small generator recently, it's been taking quite a time to excite and rev up- I finally had to take a spanner to it last night, to release a nut on the end of the the speed actuator arm so it could do its job. I smeared it with grease to help it.

A very settled day, mostly sunny blue skies above, although with plenty of scattered white clouds around at times, a very big (easily 3m/10ft) swell from NNW and wind that has now veered more to NE over the day from N-NNE overnight, but rather light at times - down to around 10-12 kt, except when a cloud comes by (as now!) to give increased wind of 15-17 kt or so...

The wind indicator seems to have mostly decided to give what look to be correct readings, which is nice, but I've not had a chance to look at the rudder reference unit on the autopilot - the rudder bar is still missing from the display when in 'Standby' and has been, since trying to turn us hard to port in light winds the other day ... very worrying..... So Fred, the Hydrovane windsteering, has mainly been in charge since then and coping fairly well, although we wander around quite a bit .

The other good news is that the genoa furling gear seems to be fine - that's a relief! I went to furl in the genoa, as I was thinking of gybing the pole in the veered wind, and had no problem there. But after lowering the pole to the deck, I happened to have a look at the pin which had given a problem the other day - that was fine, after my 'fix', but I then noticed that another big pin, holding the pole end to the mast car attachment, was nearly out of its hole! A circlip holding the end in place was missing and there was nothing to stop the pin from falling out - which it was clearly well on its way to doing ...!! Lucky I'd spotted it before I'd raised the pole end up the mast again to stow it, since it would then have been well out of sight ....!!

I immediately went for a hammer, to bang it back into place - but it started moving again almost immediately and clearly had to be dealt with if I was to continue being able to use the pole - but what could I do? The end was only just showing when in place and I had no spare circlip.... I thought about using wire in the groove and around the jaw end, but didn't feelt that would secure it well enough... In the end, I decided the only solution was to replace it. I searched among my spare clevis pins to see if I had one to fit the hole, of roughly the right length ... I had quite a few possibles, but the only one which fitted the hole exactly (half-inch - a metric/imperial, Europe/N.America problem!) was too short. Most of my spares are metric and this had just been fitted in Canada - with imperial fittings .... grrr!! - Murphy is alive and kicking, as usual..!

The best fit turned out to be a mainsail halyard pin - with a flat piece at its end which swivelled to hold the pin in place. Just too short to use, as made, but if I could get rid of that metal piece, the hole that it swivelled on via a metal piece holding it through the pin, was just right for a split pin ... Of course, all this action was taking place in the big swell already mentioned...!!

Out with the electric drill, to try to drill out the hole and get rid of the metal holding the flat piece in place.... NOT easy, being steel.... and not helped by theswell! A companionway step became my workbench, as usual, with a clamp to hold the pin in place.... One broken drill later, and use of a slightly smaller, but much sharper drill, and I finally managed to clean out the hole - we were in business!! I used a washer on the split pin end of the clevis pin and it was then exactly right in length.... Bang out the old pin with the new one, place the split pin through the hole ... and then try to open the 'jaws'of the split pin - it kept turning... but finally, using flat screwdriver and pliers, it was done - a good,solid 'fix' - but it had taken several hours in all - I was feeling tired and more than ready for my missed breakfast cup of coffee - it was by now 3pm...and time for my daily position & weather report .....!! With only mainsail for most of the morning, our speed was down, so making 123n.ml DMG was, I felt, not too bad.

I caught up with the rest of my day, including looking over a load of weatherfaxes I'd downloaded while busy with the pole, and made sure I had a good meal before checking in at 7pm PST (dark for quite a time by then) with Cirrus, ZL2CVJ, on the Pacific Seafarers Net. It was good to hear that friends on 'Long Shot II' had got going from Tonga towards New Zealand, having waited out the recent bad storm - tied with ten lines to shore, in addition to their anchor, they'd told me...!

I then made for my bunk early - and I'm writing this at 4am, after the second time up to trim the sails and adjust Fred! The wind has veered more to ENE and we've been tending more to SSW, rather than due S.... Back to my bunk again, for some more sleep... I'll look at the rudder reference unit later in the mornnig...

24hr DMG to 1500PST/2300GMT: 123ml ; Golden Gate Bridge: 575n.ml; Strait of Juan de Fuca was 1208n.ml away and our 3pm position was 480 ml due W of Isla Cedros, just off the Baja peninsula in Mexico.

Friday 9th November 2012

After several overnight bands of squally rainclouds, with light winds in between, we've finally settled into a nice, sunny day with some white clouds around and fairly consistent good wind from the north.

There's quite a big swell from the NNW - up to 3m - but fairly well spaced out, so not a big problem - just making life onboard very 'rolly' at times!

Having fresh coffee while I download lots of weather info - trying to decide on routing for ITCZ and on Sth... always a bit of a lottery!

24hr DMG to 1500PST/2300GMT: 124n.ml ; Golden Gate Bridge: 452n.ml; Strait of Juan de Fuca is now 1085n.ml away and our position is 435 ml due W of El Socorro & Rosario on the Baja peninsula in Mexico, S of San Diego,...!

Not much change over the day - the rolling coninues in the heavy swell and the wind gusts from time to time, but is fairly consistent at 15-20kt - the wind display occasionally seems to be giving something like the correct reading. I wondered this afternoon whether the mast top wind transducer might have tangled with the genoa furling gear nearby - I found it impossible to unfurl the last bit of genoa earlier - even with a helping hand on the lower furler, it wouldn't budge... Tomorrow, I'll see if it's any better - in daylight.

I've been busily continuing to look at available weather info - including both text and weatherfaxes. It all takes time to download in order to see what exactly each item covers. I do find it fun to get grib (weather) files covering the entire region from here across the Equator and down towards the Horn - to give an idea of the positions of the High pressure areas, ITCZ and Tradewinds.

For the time being, we're heading S still and getting close to the Trades - already the wind is fairly consistently from the NNW-N and will slowly veer to become the NE Trades, reaching down to around 6-10N where the ITCZ lies (the area of unstable air, often with very squally, towering clouds with really heavy rain and a good chance of lightning, in between totally calm areas ... Can be quite unpleasant and good to get through as fast as possible, if you can!

Tim Sell, of Sausalito, has kindly agreed to send photos he took of me fixing the new cradle and liferaft in place on 'Nereida' in San Francisco Bay while tied to a Sausalito Y.C. buoy (Many thanks to S.Y.C. for agreeing that) - so friend Jak Mang will be posting them here for me (if not today, then very soon) as soon as he gets them - Thank you, Jak and Tim!

Thursday 8th November 2012

Went to heat coffee - propane had run out! Got slightly worried that it was so soon but then remembered it had been impossible to top it up before leaving - a problem with a valve (something on a list for my return already!) - so changed tank to new one. We'll see how long this one lasts... (I have a total of 60lbs of propane left for cooking on the hob burners - I shan't use the oven)

A grey, cold morning, but later the cloud started breaking and by 2pm there was a big area of blue sky & the sun was shining, with just a few white clouds ... I took off my warm jacket. The trouble was the wind was down - taking our 6-7kt of speed with it - so we were ambling at around 5.5kt - but the break in the clouds soon moved ahead and grey, showery clouds took its place again.... along with increasing NW wind and swell - so back to a good boatspeed again. It's frustrating not to know exactly what the wind is doing...! From the erroneous, under-reading display, I can only say what it's more than!

Well before sunset, the band of raincloud had passed on well ahead, leaving a completely clear sky behind - and not much wind again... But at least what current there is seems to be favourable, helping us along .. presently (6pm) back to ambling again at around 5kt ....

24hr DMG to 1500PST/2300GMT:144n.ml (best so far, since leaving Victoria!); Golden Gate Bridge:330n.ml; Strait of Juan de Fuca is now 961n.ml away and our position is 350ml due W of San Diego and Tijuana - we just crossed over into Mexico...!

Had email from cruising friends in Tonga - big storm system had caused havoc among boats returning to NZ - one was rolled with major damage, including hatches missing. In 50kt winds and enormous seas, boats and aircraft are standing by to help when conditions ease. Doesn't sound good, but so far the two onboard are OK, although slightly injured. A sailing yacht standing by has itself suffered some damage - & still has 700 miles to go to NZ. Other news - on the US election - everyone will have heard in detail, so no need to mention here...

Another email was from Diana Doyle who was the hard-working instigator of the first-ever "SeaBC - Sea Bird Count" last December. I'm reproducing it here, in the hope that some of you reading this will be able to contribute your own sightings to the project - It's a good excuse to get out on a boat.....yours or a friend's. You can contribute more than one day's sightings and if you're not sure what the bird is - take a photo & send it in... !

Diana writes:

"I'd like to encourage fellow birders to participate in the "SeaBC Sea Bird Count" this November, December or January. Hitch a coastal or offshore ride with a sailing or fishing buddy, or count while chartering or taking a cruise.

This project, in its second year, is organized by a group of nine long-distance birding sailors from around the world, including Wendy Clarke, Diana Doyle, Brenda Free, Yvonne Katchor, Beth Leonard, Katharine Lowrie, Devi Sharp, Jeanne Socrates, and Dorothy Wadlow.

Last year's inaugural count spanned 100º of latitude, from Maine to Antarctica. The Caribbean 1500, Baja Ha-Ha, Salty Dog Rally, Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, Seven Seas Cruising Association, Island Cruising Association, Ocean Cruising Club, and many other organizations helped spread the word to their fleets.

This year we are encouraging participants to take digital photos of any seabirds. All data goes to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's eBird database (www.ebird.org).

An instruction & tally sheet (under SeaBC/Resources) and additional information are available on the community page at Facebook.com/Birding.Aboard, or by direct PDF download at: http://bit.ly/IeKe95.

Please join the count in any way you can and contribute much-needed information about pelagic birds!"

Diana Doyle
m/v Semi-Local
St. Augustine, Florida

www.birdingaboard.org

Wednesday 7th November 2012

Wind had died down again by early morning and for most of the day - around 7 kt earlier but 10kt by mid-afternoon and, by evening, up to 15kt. Took the genoa over to starboard on its pole - we're headed downwind in a mainly NNW wind under grey skies with occasional light rain and a fair WNW swell. By 9pm, wind was up around 18kt with rain & I'd tied in the 1st reef ...making good speed ...

Soon after, I noticed the wind display was giving 'silly' readings - saying the wind was light and heading us when clearly it was strong and from astern and our speed was well up.. I'd heard some squeaky 'bird noises' earlier, so I wonder if a frigate bird or booby might have tried to roost at the mast top, damaging the anemometer in their efforts?? The Windex is still working fine... but it doesn't tell me wind speed and isn't connected electrically to the instruments to give a read-out. A nuisance, for sure! I have a spare transducer so sometime when it's calm, I'll have to go up the mast to change it over, I suppose... That will get interesting...!

For the next few days, the wind should be pretty consistently from around NNW-NW so we'll keep sailing downwind, as now...

Very little shipping, now I'm further out from the coast, and the coastline has disappeared from my AIS screen - doubt I'll see land showing on that for several months...

24hr DMG to 1500PST/2300GMT:113n.ml (best yet, with the slow conditions since leaving SF!); Golden Gate Bridge:188n.ml;Strait of Juan deFuca is now 818n.ml away and our position was 153n.ml due west of Point Sal (in between San Luis Obispo and Pt Conception - we were 165 ml WNW of that infamous Pt., which is renowned for frequent strong winds)

Checked in with the friendly Baja Net at 8am - made contact there with friend Steve on 'Westerly', nearing Ensenada, who did the SHTP race from San Francisco to Kauai (Hawaii) in '06, when I did. A lot of noise on that frequency - distorted music from nearby stations makes it difficult to hear clearly. More static noise on the PacSeaNet later - propagation has often been bad for a time now - solar flares.... but had fair copy again on NZ stations.

Finished up a tuna and sweetcorn pasta and then had some creamy brie afterwards - have plenty of that and I'm determined to enjoy it, rather than later finding it's got well past its 'eat-by' date and is inedible!!

The air feels cold still - but I'm not in my fleeces any more and I'm looking forward to warmer weather soon! But in the meantime, my bunk is a nice warm cosy place to be, when not busy with other things...

Tuesday 6th November 2012

10a.m. PST - We've not moved far from San Francisco since leaving there yesterday morning! We're just 55 ml W of Santa Cruz, at the N end of Monterey Bay, in fact With my coffee, I'm enjoying one of the Gayle's 'biscotti', full of almonds,sent to me from there. Thanks again, Brian - they're lovely!

Overnight the wind was very light and, from the 8 kt from NNW of early evening (which was fine since we could make a good S-SSW course), it gradually got even lighter, to 3kt, and veered to the E-SE. When the fast 'Pacific Link' passed by, at 2am, we had zero boat speed and were making 0.3kt with current, heading SW after gybing around earlier to prevent us from getting any closer inshore - not that the sails were doing very much!!.

This morning, the decks are drying out from the very heavy dew, the sky is clear blue and the sea is oily smooth, with a big W swell very clear to see: 3m every 9 sec. Around 8am, when I spoke to the Maritime Mobile Net and then to the 'Baja Net', we had actually got up to 3-4kt, headed WSW in 8kt of SSW wind - but that didn't last long and the wind has now become 'light and variable' (2 kt and swinging around all over the place!) - meaning it's very difficult to know how to set the sails to make any progress! We're basically just drifting in the current.... but we're mainly going S!

This is likely to continue for another 1-2 days, with good wind not expected until Thursday.

There's a lot of traffic around, going up & down the coast, so it would have been better to have been further out to sea, to avoid most of it, as I'd hoped to be. Because we're transmitting on AIS, 'Nereida" is seen by the ships - and they usually steer clear.... Good news since I can't use my motor.

4pm Earlier, the tanker 'Alpine Persefone' and now 'Clipper Harmony' both altered course to starboard, heading N, to keep well away - had them worried, I think, seeing me swinging around in light wind under wind steering, after telling them I was a sailboat with no motor.....! "Please hold your course!" the guy on 'Clipper Harmony' begged of me!! Actually, we were averaging a consistent 195T and they were well off our port bow (over a mile away), so there wasn't any real problem. Thick fog at the time, so radar and AIS combined to keep an eye out for any traffic... and there's been a lot, moving up & down the coast.

By 1pm, the wind had swung to NNW and settled at NW 10-12kt - so suddenly, we were making an excellent 6 knots...! Still foggy, so feeling decidedly chilly and damp, but in the fairly calm conditions was able to open the galley seacock & wash some underwear - something that's not possible if it's rough.

Contact on 14300kHz with the Pacific Seafarers Net at 0300GMT/1900PST takes place in darkness now - spoke to Cirrus, ZL2CVJ, in Ligar, S. Island, New Zealand - good copy on her and also Gary, ZL1GLM, on the N. Island.

Good sailing continued into the night - it feels good to be making good progress at last! We averaged 2 kt over the 24hrs to my daily report at 2300Z/1500PST!

Weather/position report to Winlink/Yotreps:
TIME: 2012/11/06 23:00GMT
LAT: 36-41.26N LONG: 123-11.30W COURSE: 195T SPEED: 6.0
WIND_SPEED: 13 WIND_DIR: NW SWELL_DIR: WNW SWELL_HT: 2.5M SWELL_PER: 8
CLOUDS: 100% BARO: 1017 TREND: 0 AIR_TEMP: 21.0C SEA_TEMP: 17.0C
COMMENT: 24hr DMG:49ml; Golden Gate Bridge:76ml; 61ml W of Monterey. Foggy-feels much colder!

Sunday/Monday 4th/5th November 2012

Bright, hot sunshine again on Sunday - a busy day on the water, with lots of sailing boats around - several of which came close to wish me well - and two even offered me a bottle of wine! (Pity I'm not allowed any visitors nor to accept anything from anyone, liferaft apart......'unassisted, solo' ....!)

I busied myself with some more jobs while keeping an eye on the wind and checking yet again on timing of the ebb tides. With virtually no wind all day long, people were motoring everywhere - and I was clearly going nowhere although I'd been hoping for a possible 4pm departure on the ebb tide - but at that time there was a W wind (which would be heading us when sailing SW down the channel) of only 5kt... which died to 2 knots not long after, so it was a good thing I didn't start off.....

I thought about how I could raise 30m of anchor chain with no windlass to help... I made use of a spare pole guy- one end of the line shackled onto the chain, the other taken to a mast winch ...and another short loop of line on a bow cleat with a shackle - to keep the chain in place while I re-positioned the long line from the mast, once I'd winched some of the chain up. When I used it finally,, the system worked well, albeit with plenty of dodging about between bow and mast, with lots of time taken fixing and releasing the shackles onto and off the chain... 5m of chain were brought up at a time, once I'd got started.

After that, and in between chatting to a few boats and relaxing in the sun having my lunch, I fixed the Lexan washboard firmly in place with sticky-backed foam strip to act as a water-barrier in case we get 'pooped'. As we approach the S. Ocean, I shall add some duct tape all around the edges on the cockpit side, to ensure a water-tight fit!

I went to use the seawater pump - and found it totally unresponsive- the seal must have gone... I dug around and found the service kit with all the rubber bits and pieces...and instructions. Started dismantling the pump to see what needed replacing and then remembered I had a complete spare unit somewhere ... Found it and replaced just the top half - it's working fine! Sometime, I'll investigate further and service the old part ... but not just now.

Final job of the day, which continued well into darknessl, was to service one of the winches I was conscious of not having seen to during my preparations. It definitely needed the attention... It's always good to hear the winch purring in action after a thorough cleaning and greasing... and no bits dropped overboard!

Looking at local weather forecasts, it had seemed earlier that on Monday there might be NE 5-7 kt when the afternoon ebb was running - but later that was changed to N wind Monday morning, dying away during the day and staying very light for several more days - so I planned to wake up at sunrise to check on the wind, ready to leave if it was helpful - assuming I could raise the anchor OK - I had nagging doubts!

Another lovely, starry night - with a great view of everywhere in the Bay area, all lit up brightly, with a waning, bright moon over the dark outline of Angel Island.

A beautiful dawn sky on Monday...the tide was clearly already ebbing - and the wind was 7-10 kt from NW - perfect!!! I set to, raising first the full mainsail, whose sheet I left loose so as not to start us sailing while I raised the anchor. The lead wasn't quite right - I shifted to the other side of the mast where I could use my body to lean on the line and keep it from over-riding on the winch... As the sun came up higher over San Francisco, all was going well. We had plenty of water room, so although we started drifting as the chain came up, that didn't pose a problem... Suddenly. I saw the anchor above the water ... and ran back to the wheel to get us sailing nicely towards the point leading to the Golden Gate Bridge... What a lovely, sunny day! Clear blue sky contrasting with the red of the famous towers of the bridge - which we soon sailed under - with loud noise coming from the rush-hour Bay traffic. Not a ship in sight...excellent! I contacted Traffic Control and the CG - thanked both and they wished me 'Bon voyage". We were making over 6 kt SOG with the ebb current ...! We'd escaped - and were having a lovely, enjoyable sail in bright sunshine!!

Tonight, as forecast, we're struggling to make headway South in light wind from the North - but we're at sea and on our way - finally!

Dawn over Angel Island and San Francisco Bay, 2 November 2012

Leaving San Francisco Bay, 5 November 2012

Saturday 3rd November 2012

Bright, hot sunshine today, as I busied myself with several jobs while preparing to leave around 4.30pm on an ebb tide. The diesel leak, as I suspected, looks to have been from two jerry cans which were not firmly enough tightened up.

With the boat finally all tidied up, I was about to hoist the main, when I realised the pole was still lowered onto deck.from when I'd had to re-tie the release line to one end.. As I went to raise it, I spotted a pin about to come out of the mast jaw fitting... lucky I saw it... Hammer was needed to knock it back into place and a ring found in my spares to secure the end....

I raised full main and genoa and let go the buoy mooring line, to leave on the ebb tide - but NO GO!!! Do you ever have that feeling that Fate is conspiring against you?? The ebb was weak and the wind soon became nearly non-existent...!

A boat came up, recognised me and offered help .... Jake with 8-mth pregnant wife Petiana - a boy - already named William..!! Jake came back later to take some photos & stayed around for quite a bit, seeing I was in trouble getting anywhere in the oh-so-light conditions- kind of him! We very slowly got part of the way towards the Bridge, but after drifting around in the dark for several hours, worried I'd be taken into deep water (or over to Angel Island or shallows across the way from it) and definitely 'not under command', I had to get out my ground tackle and anchor while the depth wasn't too bad - found that the windlass isn't working, of course...grrr!!!

So, as well as having to lift the anchor out of the chain locker and over pulpit, I then had to manhandle the chain and gypsy so the chain could run freely... 30m of chain is now waiting to be raised when some wind comes with an ebb tide... Couldn't get anywhere near Sausalito YC to pick up the buoy again - but not for want of trying!

So here I am in a flat calm, with a fabulous night view of everywhere in the Bay area, under a lovely starry sky with a bright moon over Angel Island - and with the same CG boat as when I entered overnight Wed/Thurs very close by us again, tied to their buoy overnight...!!!

We'll see what tomorrow brings... Don't know if I'll get away - wind must come up at the right time to catch the ebb, of course...