Day 216 Mon-Tues 6-7 May 2019
Tuesday 6:30am Getting light now. Grey cloud layer is back again - overcast sky.
Still trying to persuade the boat to head S in a very light wind ... So difficult! Wind is now ESE, but so very light it's difficult to make a close-hauled course. The best we seem to be able to make is 200T ....at under 1kt - so AP having trouble keeping us pointing in the right direction... Hoping the wind will back some more...
Want some more sleep but having to keep an eye on AP and heading - just went around in a circle... wind just too light...
Will have to furl in sail and just drift until wind comes up again. Wind generator blades are now totally still - not managing to turn even a little.
2:45pm Came down below to pass message about forthcoming radio sched - too busy on deck to make it... Had spent some time clearing up and searching for trysail sailbag and also for wind instrument transducer and mount (which I have not found) plus cables I might need.
Rolling about quite a lot, quite often, in the SE 3m swell but otherwise hardly any movement - no wind at all, so we're drifting SE at around half a knot.
5pm Had been hoping to get to mainsail repair but in order to access that area of the sail on the boom had to get the trysail out of the way. That turned into needing to undo my lashing of the boom to the mast since it went over the trysail track. It was then necessary to remove trysail from boom and release outhaul and downhaul at clew, near boom end, to release the foot of the sail so as to lower slides in its track (after halyard moved over to mainsail) and bagging it and then stowing the bagged sail on deck safely. Everything took longer than expected.
Could not release the slide stop on the track so was forced to leave slides in track base and bag sail beside mast, rather than bringing it down below, as I'd hoped to do.
By time all finished, was nearing sunset - so sail repair finishing, followed by replacing sail slides in track, will have to be done another day. Not sure if conditions will allow that on Wednesday - we'll see...
Fog was clear to W of us at sunset but we were away from it, under cloudy sky, for quite a time. Still no wind....
11pm Unfurled the genoa completely and we're underway finally - in wind that is only up slightly so we're moving SE at 3kt in a very fine drizzle - or maybe it's the thin fog I saw on the horizon at sunset - difficult to tell in the dark.
Had a word with Robert about the wind transducer - he confirmed that, from my multimeter measurements, the masthead unit is no good so I have to use a spare if I want wind info - but I'll try to mount it on the stern steel arch somehow. Can't find the base section with its cable - will search again tomorrow.
Need to get to sleep - to my bunk....
5am Wed LT (1900Z Tues) Wind very light and from SW - struggling (and mostly failing) to make SE course - need a stronger wind - presently only just under 10kt, I reckon. A frustrating day.
1900GMT (= 5 a.m. LT) - end of Day 216. We drifted 25 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 216 (by daily DMGs):18,757 n.ml.
Distances (at 1900GMT): SW Cape, NZ: 725 n.ml ESE; Cape Leeuwin LH (SW Australia): 1739 n.ml. to NW; SE Cape,Tasmania,LH: 170 n.ml. to WNW; Hobart 166 n.ml. to NW; Melbourne (Victoria, Australia): 445 n.ml. NW.
Position & weather report for 1900 GMT posted to www.Winlink.org and www.Shiptrak.org (using my US callsign KC2IOV):
TIME: 2019/05/07 19:00GMT LATITUDE: 44-06.81S LONGITUDE: 150-44.92E
COURSE: 090T SPEED: 1.0kt
WIND_SPEED: 9kt WIND_DIR: SW SWELL_HT: 2.5m CLOUDS: 100%
BARO: 1000.8hPa TREND: -2 AIR_TEMP: 17.0C
COMMENT: Struggling to make course in light wind & just genoa while close-hauled
