Friday 7:20pm Sunset a short while ago, and a Wandering albatross circles the boat, as yesterday, under a clearing sky. From the mighty to the tiny - by contrast, I spotted a storm petrel also circling us - so small by comparison. A slender crescent moon is high up above a long line of dark grey cloud astern, contrasting with the orange-pink on the western horizon... We're even making a good speed, for a change ... and on course ... wonderful... Exhilarating!! I don't need a sundowner to make me feel good... I'm drinking in the scene....
Time for my evening meal and some sleep before the 'night shift' as Matt, WiMBB, calls it - Pacific Seafarers' Net at 0310Z (12:10am LT) and a radio sched on 7160 at 0330Z.
I was delighted to make contact yesterday with the US South Pole station - marvellous to chat with KC4AAA in Antarctica just yards from the Pole!! Felt very special, somehow. I have previously made contact with KC4AAA, near the McMurdo Sound US Antarctic station, and their other station on the peninsula S of Drake Passage - but that was in Jan 2011 on my approach to Cape Horn, just before my knockdown...
Saturday 1:25am Beautiful starry night - almost no cloud to be seen, although always difficult to spot clouds in dark of night, with no moon just now. Adjusted Fred to head more off the wind - necessary in order to make a better ENE course.
Had a good radio session on 7160 an hour ago - excellent propagation tonight. Back to my bunk...
3:30am Dawn already! Line of gold along E horizon, with a line of grey clouds over. Adjusted Fred - light conditions - then back to sleep.
6am Radio weather session for Mark and Uku - I could hear Mark well but had no copy on Uku at all. Later gybed around - trying to make a bit more northing.
Downloaded emails and weather files - looks as though this slow progress will continue for several days as we skirt around a developing High pressure system - no avoiding it and winds will be very light. Frustrating!
Lovely sunshine again with just a few scattered white clouds. Making 3.5kt in W-WSW light wind.
Making up on sleep in short timed sessions - wind varies too much for long naps.
Spent quite some time trying to remove one of the remaining rivets in the kicker-to-mast connection - moved it a lot but it won't quite come out - has part of a lip inside still, I think. Keep re-positioning the anti-chafe lashing protector which keeps moving.
2pm Going even slower now in dying wind - 2.5kt, swell rolling us around often.
Getting warm on deck in the bright sunlight - too warm for fleece tops.
Trying to organise more anti-chafe for rod-kicker lashings on mast.
1900GMT (=1600LT) - end of Day 101. We made just 83 n.ml. DMG over the 24 hr period, measured in a straight line between the two 1900 GMT positions. Another very slow day in light winds.
Total distance covered from Victoria, B.C., to end of Day 101 (by daily DMGs): 9,615 n.ml.
Distances (at 1900Z): Cape Horn LH: 1372 n.ml. to SW; Falklands: 947 n.ml. to SW; Montevideo: 865 n.ml to NW; Buenos Aires: 947 n.ml to NW Rio de Janeiro: 1130 n.ml. to N; Cape Agulhas (SA): 2798 n.ml. to ENE
Position & weather report for 1900 GMT posted to Winlink.org and Shiptrak.org (using my US callsign KC2IOV):
TIME: 2019/01/12 19:00GMT LATITUDE: 41-30.91S LONGITUDE: 039-54.41W COURSE: 051T
SPEED: 3.0kt WIND_SPEED: 6kt WIND_DIR: WNW SWELL_DIR: SSW SWELL_HT: 2.0m CLOUDS: 20%
BARO: 1017.9hPa TREND: 0 AIR_TEMP: 25.0C SEA_TEMP: 20.0C
COMMENT: Another very slow day, skirting High pressure system. Sunny,warm.
