Saturday 3:30am we're now on starboard tack after gybing around in SW wind, headed ESE at 1-2kt - not looking forward to yet another slow couple of days in very light winds ... Looks as though we shan't be able to change onto port tack until Monday morning - so no sewing of mainsail will be possible for time being unless it becomes really calm on Sunday.
Back to my bunk for a some sleep....
8am Dull, grey day with some slight, narrow breaks appearing in the otherwise-solid overcast layer. Struggling to make way at around 1-1.5kt, occasionally making 2kt.. Not going very far today! Feeling I need more sleep, so back to my bunk after breakfast for another nap. No work to be done on the mainsail yet - we're rolling a lot in 3m/10ft swell with short period from two directions but hoping that later on, or maybe tomorrow, might be better.
Midday Sun is getting out quite nicely, at last, although still hazy. Listening in on ANZA Net - lots of VK4 (Queensland) stations heard well, not so many VK6 (WA/Perth) heard so well today. Busy Net for well over half an hour, people calling other parts of Australia - a big country! Was lovely to get a call from VK4SWE, Lin, who sent greetings from Women who Sail in Queensland - sent my greetings back to them!
4:30pm Lovely blue sky ahead and to the S .. Bank of dark grey cloud astern - overtaking us, no doubt! Making 2.3kt in little wind - wind generator blades having trouble turning.
About to have some hot bean and barley soup with ham - good and thick.
5:45pm Light beginning to fade. Still some patches of blue sky - the cloud bank wasn't as thick as it looked. Running generator before radio scheds coming up - need to run it twice a day for about half an hour each time - not enough sunlight nor strong enough wind to keep batteries topped up.
11pm Was awoken by the genoa flogging unhappily - came on deck to see what the wind was up to - Windex was turning around merrily at the mast top and really had no idea where the wind was - what little there was clearly was coming from every which way! Took the genoa over to starboard - but that didn't help or make much difference... Beautiful clear, starry sky ..with stars reflecting in the calm sea surface and enough starlight to see by... but the wind has died totally. I'll have to furl in the genoa for now and wait for the wind to come up. We're drifting at 0.3-0.5kt....NNW so I guess either current or very slight wind is from SSE to make us drift in that direction... The only wind I can feel on my face when on deck is from either beam, depending which way we happen to be rolling in the swell!
11:30pm That's better - peace and quiet - no noise from genoa, now it's mostly furled in... Pressure is up at 1025hPa so we're right into a High.
Drifting N now. Back to my bunk for an hour or two - we'll see then if there's any difference.
2am No change - still no wind, still a starry sky, although a slight haze possibly, and drifting now WNW at 0.4kt. Time for more sleep, after posting reports.
1900GMT (= 1 a.m.LT) - end of Day 185. We made 29 n.ml. DMG, over the 24 hr period, measured in a straight line between the two 1900 GMT positions. The number says it all...!
Total distance covered from Victoria, B.C., to end of Day 185 (by daily DMGs):16,244 n.ml.
Distances (at 1900GMT): Cape Leeuwin LH (SW Australia): 779 n.ml. to ENE (667 n.ml. to pt due S); Melbourne (VIC, Aus): 2030 n.ml. to E; SE Cape,Tasmania,LH: 2052 n.ml. to ESE; SW Cape, NZ: 2843 n.ml to ESE; Cape Agulhas LH (S.Africa): 3710 n.ml. to WNW.
Position & weather report, for 1900 GMT, posted to www.Winlink.org and www.Shiptrak.org (using my US callsign KC2IOV):
TIME: 2019/04/06 19:00GMT LATITUDE: 40-12.76S LONGITUDE: 100-31.57E
COURSE: 280T SPEED: 0.3kt
WIND_SPEED: 2kt WIND_DIR: ENE SWELL_DIR: SW SWELL_HT: 3.0m CLOUDS: 10%
BARO: 1025hPa TREND: -2 AIR_TEMP: 14.0C SEA_TEMP: 16.0C
COMMENT: Wind died totally - drifting with genoa furled away