Thursday 8pm Fog disappeared just before sunset - nice not to have the damp air and to see clear sky above! Expecting Cold Front to come through in a few hours' time with 15-20 kt wind from NW, backing to SW quite quickly - will need to gybe the genoa but should make better speed for a time. Noticing more of a swell now, ahead of the stronger wind.
9:30pm Radio contact with Florida on 20m not working too well - far better on 40m overnight (0300Z). Had to abandon 14160 kHz - too much static on frequency and signals too weak as well.
Friday 1am Wind behind Cold Front has backed to W/WSW so gybed the genoa and changed course from ENE to ESE - we'd followed the wind around, being under Fred's wind steering, so time to get back on course. Wind expected to back to SW by around dawn and on to SSW later in morning. Moon shining through cloud layer (foggy?) made a headlamp unnecessary - bright enough to see by. Very moist air and wet on deck.
7am Sunny sky with some cloud and no fog around. Now in SW wind but expected to back more - to SSW.. Made 5.7kt for a time, just before, but now making 4.7kt - wind varies a lot...
8am Well, so much for clearing skies and sunshine - back under total grey cloud cover and moisture in the air - but wind is up, so making around 5.7-6 kt now.
Several white-chinned petrels around.
2pm Bright sunshine and a few fluffy white cumulus. A few prions and white-chinned petrels - definitely no short-sighted ones...! Some sail trimming, as always, made for better speed in the S wind. Seas are a lot bigger and closer - so very rolly, especially since they're on the beam and steep.
Tried contacting the South African Maritime Mobile Net (SAMM Net) at 1100Z on 14316 but nothing heard - maybe they weren't expecting my call? Still a good distance away but a good rig should enable contact. Will try again tomorrow.
5pm Frequent adjustments of wind-steering (Fred) needed in shifty wind - partly caused by nearby clouds - some grey and threatening showers, although none have fallen so far. With S wind bringing colder air, air and sea temperatures are down - definitely feels cooler on deck now, even when sun is shining. Seas still well up although wind has dropped quite a bit.
Frequent birds around are prions and petrels - still none with spectacles, though...!
1900GMT (=1800LT) - end of Day 114. We made 88 n.ml. DMG over the 24 hr period, measured in a straight line between the two 1900 GMT positions.
Total distance covered from Victoria, B.C., to end of Day 114 (by daily DMGs): 10,848 n.ml.
Distances (at 1900Z): Cape Horn LH: 2227 n.ml. to SW; Montevideo: 1949 n.ml to W; Buenos Aires: 2054 n.ml to W; Rio de Janeiro: 1775 n.ml. to NW; Cape Agulhas LH (SA): 1707 n.ml. to ENE; Gough Island: 255n.ml. to ESE
Position & weather report, for 1900 GMT, posted to Winlink.org and Shiptrak.org (using my US callsign KC2IOV):
TIME: 2019/01/25 19:00GMT LATITUDE: 39-56.03S LONGITUDE: 015-29.49W COURSE: 098T SPEED: 4.5kt
WIND_SPEED: 12kt WIND_DIR: SSW SWELL_DIR: SSW SWELL_HT: 4.0m CLOUDS: 60%
BARO: 1025.6hPa TREND: 2 AIR_TEMP: 19.0C SEA_TEMP: 18.0C
COMMENT: Sunny day with plenty of cloud - some grey.
