HAPPY CANADA DAY! ....Monday 1st July
Monday 8am NZT (Sun 2000GMT) Hope my Canadian friends are having a good long weekend holiday!
It's mainly bright and sunny now, but with quite a few big clouds around, giving the usual gusts under them, with lulls in between, so our speed is up and down - varying a lot - the story of the last few days. Presently heeled a lot under one of them, making around 5.4kt (actually seeing result of swell - up to 6.4kt or more on a wave and then down to 4.2kt on its backside)
2:40pm Wind died right down again - to just 8kt, in a very light shower, with a big cloud overhead and off to port - but back up again now, so making rather better speed on a close reach. Not seeing any birds today - will look out around sunset when, if they're around, that's when they'll usually be seen. Posting a photo of bird I probably saw yesterday - Parkinson's Petrel - from the excellent, beautifully illustrated, bird book - 'Albatrosses, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World' by Derek Onley and Paul Scofield.
Pancakes for Canada Day today...
4pm Wow .... Nutella and raspberry sauce made for a very rich combination on those pancakes...!
No birds seen... but a faint rainbow seen before sunset, as sun was getting low.
5:30pm Drifting around in circles yet again....! Very frustrating...! Wind just died.
5:50pm Finally back on course at 3.5-4kt, moving in a straight line - great!
8pm Wind down to SE 8kt ... this will be a slow night....
9pm More going around in circles - several times - impossible to stop it in such light wind giving almost no boat speed, once genoa starts flapping and then gets backed, along with mainsail... round we go... Grrr!!!
Tuesday 4am NZT (Mon 1600GMT) Well before dawn and a good wind at present so a fair speed being made under a mainly clear, starry sky.
6:45am Bright sunshine. Clear overhead, some cloud on horizon - lined up along the wind direction - as in Trades. Sailing close to wind, so heeled all the time and often pounding into the seas - not a very comfortable or fast point of sail!
Also, being on starboard tack means I'm being leaned inboard from the chart table seat - I'm making good use of the hinged steel restraint that gives an arm rest there and stops me from falling off the seat and onto the floor!
Boat speed is still varying up and down quite a bit both with swell and as wind changes. Hopefully, it will be up more than down today.
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A note from Allen, ZL1AYH, about the eclipse around 1800GMT on 2nd July (see photo of map posted yesterday showing path of ecipse):
" It will reach Chile but at sunset and the totality is shorter. In fact the Astronomers there are rather excited as it is the first time a total eclipse has ever passed over the (newer) largest telescopes in the world."
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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 271. We made 82 n.ml. DMG, measured in a straight line between the two 1900GMT positions. Going round in circles in little wind doesn't make for a good DMG!
Total distance covered from Victoria, B.C., to end of Day 271 (by daily DMGs):22,007 n.ml
Distances (at 1900GMT): East Cape, N.Z.: 1423 n.ml. to SW; Tahiti: 713 n.ml. to NNE; Tubuai (Iles Australes): 430 n.ml. to NE
Position, as posted to www.Winlink.org and www.Shiptrak.org (using my US callsign KC2IOV):
TIME: 2019/07/01 19:00GMT LATITUDE: 28-24.37S LONGITUDE: 155-16.79W
COURSE: 055T SPEED: 5.2kt
WIND_SPEED: 12kt WIND_DIR: SE SWELL_DIR: SE SWELL_HT: 2.5m CLOUDS: 10%
BARO: 1027.6hPa TREND: 0 AIR_TEMP: 20.0C SEA_TEMP: 25.0C
