Changed my local time into Eastern Australia time, GMT+10hr. Means a two-hour jump from my previous Western Australia time (Perth etc) but will feel more in line with sunset and sunrise soon enough.
Tuesday 6am EST (really should be 5am LT!) Dark. Bright moon, shining hazily through thin overcast - no stars visible. Gently rolling around in 3.5m/12ft swell. We're now sailing rather slowly, skirting a High pressure system along 40S, until the 'Anzac Day' storm system has passed by - late Friday, perhaps - before turning to head SE towards the SE Cape of Tasmania.
Preparing this report, and weather/position report posted to winlink, and then back to bunk for short sleep before dawn.
9:30am EST Bright day with sun just making it hazily through thin layer of overcast. Seas fairly well down but still quite rolly at times. Very short radio session after breakfast before getting on deck to pack JSD away - will take a time.
1pm Still very overcast and very little sun now - cloud layer is thicker.
JSD is now stowed back in its bags at the stern, ready to deploy, if needed again - I hope not!
Found that one of the liferaft brackets has come apart - welded joint clearly not strongly enough made. I'd wondered why the liferaft was moving slightly and had dropped a little onto the deck - now I know.... Will see if I can lash it somehow - it's held in place by the sturdier upper bracket but could do with something holding it lower down, to prevent any movement.
Tried listening to the Pacific Seafarers' Net - heard Fred, W3ZU, and Jane, NH7TZ, in the distance. but not well enough to make contact, especially with all the static noise on frequency. Should get better once we're well into the Pacific.
Now for trying to remove the windsteering rudder - a wet job!
5pm Close to sunset. I have to say that leaning out upside down over the back of the boat, with a swell running, is not my favourite pastime!
Spent quite a time, with pliers and cutters, getting rid of wire I'd added (very securely!) to the pin (often below the water) that holds the wind steering (Fred!) rudder in place.
Finally managed it only to find the pin wouldn't budge. Banged it with hammer and pushed it through its hole more - but then found the other end of the pin was bent and difficult to get hold of in order to pull it out. Decided I needed to rotate it in order to help get it out - but that was not easy with it being down below water level astern of the boat. I needed something bent, not straight, to insert into it, in order to rotate the pin's head - will see what I can find for that tomorrow, hopefully. (Photos show the problem area - rudder shaft bent to one side, so rudder now well out of alignment, and retaining pin bent at head end.)
Looked at the life-raft problem - decided it needs two shackles to be added to a support bracket, to take lashings without them chafing, to hold the life raft in place.. Tomorrow also.
10pm Time to get to my bunk at the end of a very slow day in very light winds - often only 7kt or so... Got another job done tonight, after dark, and that was to dry out the floor of the head from the water that had accumulated there - presumably from when we were 'pooped' and water got down below and into that area. With the shower pump not working, it had to be removed bit by bit using a cloth, after lifting the washboard out of the way and cleaning it and the floor beneath also. Good to have that job done.
Also spent a little time cleaning in the galley area and re-stocking and re-organising the galley dry locker - found a few tins of beef I didn't realise I still had - excellent!
1900GMT (= 5 a.m. LT) - end of Day 202. We made 77 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 202 (by daily DMGs):17,806 n.ml.
Distances (at 1900GMT): Cape Leeuwin LH (SW Australia):913 n.ml. to WNW; Melbourne (VIC, Aus): 553 n.ml. to ENE; SE Cape,Tasmania,LH: 659 n.ml. to SE; SW Cape, NZ: 1547 n.ml SE.
(773 n.ml. SE of Albany in W.Australia, 409 n.ml. SW of Adelaide, S.Australia)
Position & weather report for 1900 GMT posted to www.Winlink.org and www.Shiptrak.org (using my US callsign KC2IOV):
TIME: 2019/04/23 19:00GMT LATITUDE: 40-04.39S LONGITUDE: 132-53.48E
COURSE: 092T SPEED: 4.9kt
WIND_SPEED: 20kt WIND_DIR: WNW SWELL_DIR: WNW SWELL_HT: 4.0Mm
BARO: 1019.3hPa TREND: -2 AIR_TEMP: 16.0C SEA_TEMP: 16.0C
COMMENT: Wind slowly increasing.
