Sunday 10:30am Tahiti/Hawaii time (Sun 2030GMT) A lovely warm, sunny day of pleasant sailing in good wind... Nice to have caught a few things and fixed them before they led to a major crisis.
Unfurled staysail but not seeming to have made a lot of difference to our speed. Ought to shake out the first reef- but slightly worried about possible squalls later in the day...
2pm Had a siesta to make up for very early start on boat jobs today.
Wind well up - making just over 7kt - sailing well with first reef in (glad it wasn't shaken out!), heeled somewhat but will stay with present sail plan for now and maybe tie in 2nd reef before nightfall, if wind and speed still well up then.
9pm Wind still well up at 18-20t from E so making good speed and excellent progress N. Leaving just first reef tied in for time being, although feeling pretty rough with seas having built more in stronger wind.
Tuesday 8:30am Tahiti/Hawaii time (Tues 1830GMT) Bright sunny day with scattered cloud - white cumulus. Made excellent progress at good speed overnight. Wind seems down a bit though from last evening and has also backed more to ENE from E- so not able to make quite the course we were - have had to fall off the wind a touch so as not to be too close-hauled now. A bumpy ride again and difficult moving around down below in a well-heeled boat, jerking around all the time... Makes for minimal meal preparation.
Spending a lot of time checking weather and route to take in order to stay in best wind N!
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North (Queensland) ABC (Cairns) interview went out on air Thursday morning and a link will be posted when available.
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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, 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!
(I hear that some readers might need to talk to their bank BEFORE trying to make a donation to the RNLI since many US banks routinely block foreign transactions unless
they are notified in advance.)
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1900GMT (= 9 a.m. LT = Tahiti/Hawaii time) - end of Day 307. We made 160 n.ml. DMG, measured in a straight line between the two 1900GMT positions. Excellent!
Total distance covered from Victoria, B.C., to end of Day 307 (by daily DMGs): 25,273 n.ml.
Distances (at 1700GMT): Cape Flattery LH: 2193 n.ml. to NNE; Honolulu: 407 n.ml. to WNW; Papeete, Tahiti: 2180 n.ml. to S; Cabo San Lucas, Mexico: 2319 n.ml. to E; San Francisco GG: 1886 n.ml. to NE.
Position, as posted to www.Winlink.org and www.Shiptrak.org (using my US callsign KC2IOV):
TIME: 2019/08/06 19:00GMT LATITUDE: 18-44.36N LONGITUDE: 151-11.67W
COURSE: 000T SPEED: 7.1kt
WIND_SPEED: 18kt WIND_DIR: ENE SWELL_DIR: ENE SWELL_HT: 2.5m CLOUDS: 60%
BARO: 1017.6hPa TREND: 1 AIR_TEMP: 30.0C SEA_TEMP: 35.0C
COMMENT: Close to wind - heeled, bumpy ride.Bright, sunny day