Thursday 8:45am NZT (Wed 2045GMT) Urgent job of the day - getting to course computer in aft cabin with spare control head and long spare cable and connecting up.
Heaved to a while ago - need peace and quiet and no distractions while working on autopilot wiring problem... Will take a time to get work done and we're slowly drifting hove-to in the meantime.
With course computer off and plotter on, have had no error messages on the plotter - it's been peaceful! Will switch off plotter while working to avoid shorting or damaging it.
2pm About to get underway again... Bright sunny day with quite a few big clouds around, giving frequent gusts and occasional light showers.
3:45pm NZT Sun is just setting. Pleased to say we're sailing under autopilot - with no beeping plotter giving error messages and no 'No Pilot' coming up on the AP control head display. The other good news is I did a bit more connecting up - of the Depth, Wind and Speed instruments to power in the cockpit - so they are all working now, in 'stand alone' mode, not connected to the Seatalk bus, so plotter not affected. Unfortunately, getting no wind direction, only speed.
Saw several birds this afternoon - including a black-headed, grey-bodied Light-mantled Sooty Albatross and a couple of other albatrosses, as well as several all-black birds - could be White-chinned petrels since we are just within their range although these seem slimmer and generally lighter-looking, soaring on fixed wings most of the time. Hoping to see them again tomorrow, to note more detail for ID purposes. Seems the Black-browed albatross is also common here so must take careful note of bill colour of birds seen, to separate them. They're very different, with Black-browed having a yellow bill, which is very distinct from the mainly black bill, with yellow lines on it, of Buller's - as shown in my photos posted off Timaru.
7pm Wind is clearly dying - sails are beginning to flap in the light air and our speed drops right down, at times, to almost nothing.
Friday 5:20am NZT (Thurs 1720 GMT) Sky quickly getting light, with orange-pink light preceding sunrise showing below broken, small grey clouds on E horizon, clear sky overhead. Pressure is well up at 1023hPa, sea temperature is 22C/72F and air in cabin is less - at 19C/66F.
Wind still down around 10kt, from SE - apparent wind is just for'd of the beam.
We're making steady but not spectacular progress ENE, on a course of 060T.
Running generator and water-maker for an hour - mainly trying to get water tank filled although gauge is not showing how full the tank is. It was showing 1/4 full over a week ago but now shows nothing and if I leave the water-pressure pump switched on, it often comes on again as though there's little water in the tank. It has started to make funny noises, so maybe it's now faulty or there's an airleak in the system. I have a foot-pump back-up to get water from the tank but that won't help for showers. Must check to see if I've a black shower-bag stored somewhere.
6am Sun rose ten minutes ago and there were large pink clouds to W, in sky over opposite horizon, and a slim, silver, crescent moon high up overhead.
Albatross and a few other birds are soaring around nearby.
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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 267. We made 55 n.ml. DMG, measured in a straight line between the two 1900GMT positions. Lost 7hrs while hove to, fixing AP and also Wind/Depth/Speed in cockpit.
Total distance covered from Victoria, B.C., to end of Day 267 (by daily DMGs):21,607 n.ml
Distances (at 1900GMT): Wellington, N.Island, N.Z.: 1254 n.ml. to SW; East Cape, N.Z.: 1027 n.ml. to SW; Christchurch, S.Island, N.Z.: 1387 n.ml. to SW; Tahiti: 1083 n.ml. to NE
Position, as posted to www.Winlink.org and www.Shiptrak.org (using my US callsign KC2IOV):
TIME: 2019/06/27 19:00GMT LATITUDE: 32-03.14S LONGITUDE: 161-41.85W
COURSE: 059T SPEED: 5.0kt
WIND_SPEED: 11kt WIND_DIR: SE SWELL_DIR: SSW SWELL_HT: 3.0m CLOUDS: 70%
BARO: 1023.5hPa TREND: 2 AIR_TEMP: 19.0C SEA_TEMP: 22.0C
COMMENT: Sunrise 1 hour ago. Wind very light.