(I'm quite a few days behind on the really important world news of the day...!)
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Not only are we now N of 40S ... but we also just passed over the 180 Meridian - so we're now in the western hemisphere.
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Friends Steve and Danny on board 'Tikka' are sailing all around Britain in difficult conditions, fundraising for 'Children in Need'. If you are anywhere near the many ports where they are stopping overnight or waiting out the stormy weather they have often been experiencing, go meet them and help their fund-raising efforts.
Google 'Tikka's Travels' to find out more (or click here). They have reached Ireland and are about to sail N to Scotland - do support them if you can. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Monday 8:30am NZT (Sun 2030 GMT) A very pleasant, sunny day. Seas were quite rough but seem to have died down now, with less wind also than overnight. Making 5-5.5kt in SW wind around 15kt. Just a few clouds in sky - pleasant morning - time for breakfast.
11am NZT (GMT-12 hr) We're close to crossing the 180 degrees Meridian that divides the Eastern hemisphere from the Western hemisphere - labelling of longitude lines will change from E to W. But the Date Line is still 7.5 degrees further away to the E from here, so there's no change in time zone from NZT until we cross the line of longitude at 172.5W - probably in over three days' time. Have just been exploring the Date Line positioning - and very wiggly it is, too!
Think I'll have my Meridian-crossing party today and postpone the confusion of crossing the Date Line to another time... Keeping to NZT will work fine until we cross into Polynesia (at the Austral Islands) where the time zone everywhere is GMT-10 hrs.
12:20pm Just got the important world (basketball) news of the day - well done, Raptors! All Canada is celebrating! Beat the Oakland Warriors at an away match in the Bay area.
2pm Just passed into Western hemisphere! Now in W longitudes, as well as being N of 40S - all good.
6:20pm Moon rose an hour or so ago, with bright Jupiter not far off, after sun had not long set.
Finished chatting on a few Nets - both ham and Cruisers' radio Nets - contacts from Fiji to Melbourne to Hawaii to Bay of Islands. All very sociable.
Coast leading N to East Cape of North Island, New Zealand, is still just visible in top left corner of AIS screen, 96 miles off - definitely last land to be near enough to 'see' for quite a time.. maybe for over two months..
Celebrating crossing the Meridian with a small glass of Pinot Noir (thanks, Elaine!) and some cashew nuts, before a big bowl of hot, thick bean & barley & ham soup, followed by some chocolate. Soon enough, I shan't be looking for hot soups, with the expected/hoped-for rise in temperature over the next few weeks.
11:30pm Wind not as strong as expected but definitely backing slowly. Will need to change course a little to compensate before gybing eventually onto starboard from port tack - around dawn, maybe. Getting to sleep.
Tuesday 2am (Mon 1400GMT) Back down below after gybing onto starboard tack in SSW wind. Moon shining so brightly, no headlamp was needed to see what I was doing. Seas are easily 3m and close-to, as I've come to expect hereabouts, with steep faces but always pleasanter to be running downwind. We're making around 5.5 kt on 063T - good to be making some better Easting - we need that just now, while we can.
Back to my bunk again...
6:15am Had to get out of my bunk to tension the genoa to stop it from flogging in the wind shadow of the mainsail - sounds a lot more peaceful without all that noise...
Dawn light is just starting up in the East and the bright full moon is just going down behind a few clouds over the W horizon. A bright star is close to the E horizon - possibly not Mercury (?) since it could be too far from the sun (usually only seen nearby within half an hour of sunrise/set), but maybe Venus, since Jupiter was seen near the E horizon last night at sunset so would not still be there now.
Our speed still seems to be around 5kt in wind from SW quadrant that feels as though it is getting lighter.
Time to prepare my reports for posting. Photos are of albatross (almost certainly a Southern Buller's, from head colouring and thick yellow base to upper yellow line on bill), that came close to 'Nereida' last week, off Timaru, in no wind.
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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) - end of Day 257. We made 127 n.ml. DMG, measured in a straight line between the two 1900GMT positions. A lot better...!
Total distance covered from Victoria, B.C., to end of Day 257 (by daily DMGs): 20,823 n.ml
Distances (at 1900GMT): Wellington, N.Island, N.Z.: 373 n.ml. to SW; Napier, N.Island, N.Z.: 237 n.ml. to WSW; East Cape, N.Z.: 133 n.ml. to W; Cape Palliser LH, N.Island, N.Z.: 366 n.ml. to SW; Christchurch, S.Island, N.Z.: 526 n.ml. to SW; Tahiti: 1942 n.ml. to NE
Position, as posted to www.Winlink.org and www.Shiptrak.org (using my US callsign KC2IOV):
TIME: 2019/06/17 19:00GMT LATITUDE: 37-41.39S LONGITUDE: 178-39.23W
COURSE: 064T SPEED: 5.4kt
WIND_SPEED: 18kt WIND_DIR: SW SWELL_DIR: SW SWELL_HT: 3.0m CLOUDS: 10%
BARO: 1011.9hPa TREND: 0 AIR_TEMP: 16.0C
COMMENT: Full moon setting as dawn breaks. A bit rolly, sailing downwind.
