Tuesday 10am The nearest New Zealand South Island coast is 45 n.ml. away to the SE (Resolution Island) and Cape Providence is 58 n.ml. off, to SE also. Puysegur Pt is just SSE of Cape Providence, 11 n.ml. further on and the weather area nearby is named after it... notorious for bad weather!
A grey, damp, cold day again - need to get N into warmer climes!!
Forecast is for more light wind - presently 7kt! - until nightfall, when wind is expected to veer to the NW and eventually to N around midnight, increasing rapidly late afternoon to ~25kt around nightfall and until dawn, reducing to ~20kt over tomorrow daytime. I'm looking forward to making some decent speed overnight onward - we're struggling to make way just now!
A graceful albatross was seen circling around us soon after dawn - same kind as seen yesterday.
12:30pm Getting into the forepeak now to check for possible wind generator blades - seas won't get much lower than they are now, so need to make good use of the lighter conditions to dig around under the bunk there. Fingers crossed...
1:15pm Yay...!!! A complete set of new identical blades... Took a bit of getting to, but clearly it was worth it! Now need calm conditions to get up there and replace the damaged/missing blade.
5pm Interview on ABC Tasmania/Hobart went fine - good sound quality after spending a time 'tweaking' the Aurora system to allow the wired handset to be used - far better sound - thanks again, Colin!
Before that, spent quite a time watching the albatrosses and tiny storm petrels around the boat - great! Intention had been to check cockpit locker, which I did, but couldn't see anything well enough to decide if one of the diesel containers was damaged or not - need calmer conditions to explore more thoroughly.
6:30pm Another chat, this time with BBC Radio Solent in Southampton on Julian Clegg's Breakfast Show (7:25am Tuesday BST). Phone worked fine again - good sound and almost no 'warbling'.
Winds should increase overnight but I'll try to keep speed down - would be nice (and safer) to pass Stewart Island in daylight, if possible. Expecting rain, possibly heavy, as a Cold Front passes over near midnight.
Wednesday 5am NZT (Tues 1700 GMT) Changed course towards Stewart Island in wind backed to WNW, down now at 18kt from NNW-N 22-25kt earlier in the night. Rain earlier, but not so heavy. Still rolling around a lot, as we have been all night.
Have now rounded Cape Providence and Puysegur Point - the SW 'corner' of South Island, New Zealand. The wind has just backed enough to allow a better course to be set - taking us to a waypoint well clear of Stewart Island, due S of its SW Cape, and also keeping us well clear of the North and South Traps - dangerous areas of rocks needing to be avoided to SE of Stewart Island. Wind should back a little further to come from W sometime soon.
Expecting a call around 6:30am NZT for a chat with CBC Victoria (at 11:30am Tuesday PDT) and at 7am NZT /12 noon PDT with CHEK News, also in Victoria, B.C., Canada.
Times are getting rather confusing as we get close to the Date Line - I keep referencing GMT to be sure. NZT is exactly 12 hours on from GMT, BST (British 'summertime') is GMT + 1 hr and PDT (Pacific Time now, in North America) is GMT + 8hr .
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While sailing around the world, I'm trying to raise funds to help support the superb life-saving work done by the RNLI (Lifeboats) in Britain each and every day of the year, regardless how bad the weather. In fact, the worse it is, the more likely they are out there, helping someone in distress - whether a swimmer, surfer, small boat or big ship, night or day, summer or winter. They are all volunteers with normal day-jobs who respond immediately to a call and it is a charity - no government funding - so they rely on our help to fund their intensive training and maintain their equipment.
It would be great if you would take a moment to click on the Lifeboats link here (https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Jeanne-Socrates2), if you'd like to show your support for my efforts at sailing solo, nonstop, unassisted around the globe, trying to set a World Record as the oldest person to do so, by donating something towards the great work the RNLI do every day. If a lot of people put in even a small amount, it all adds up... Thanks a lot! If you can help, it will be very much appreciated. Let's see if we can reach my target!
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1900GMT (= 7 a.m. NZT, 12 hrs on) - end of Day 230. We made 84 n.ml. DMG, over the 24hr period, measured in a straight line between the two 1900GMT positions. Slowed down deliberately.
Total distance covered from Victoria, B.C., to end of Day 230 (by daily DMGs):19,761 n.ml.
Distances (at 1900GMT): SW Cape, NZ: 84 n.ml SSE; nearest SW NZ coastline (Puysegur Point): 42 n.ml.; Hobart: 814 n.ml.
Position & weather report for 1900 GMT, posted to www.Winlink.org and www.Shiptrak.org (using my US callsign KC2IOV):
TIME: 2019/05/21 19:00GMT LATITUDE: 46-31.15S LONGITUDE: 165-44.99E
COURSE: 135T SPEED: 3.0kt
WIND_SPEED: 19kt WIND_DIR: WNW SWELL_DIR: NW SWELL_HT: 4.0m CLOUDS: 100%
BARO: 1012.2hPa TREND: 0 AIR_TEMP: 16.0C SEA_TEMP: 16.0C
COMMENT: 84 n.ml. off SW Cape on Stewart Island, S of S. Island, NZ
