Thursday 10:30am Tahiti/Hawaii time (Thurs 2030 GMT) Making fair speed - wind still well up but expecting it to die soon - probably slowly, over today and tomorrow.
Had a chat with Keith Vass of ChekTV News in Victoria at 1pm PDT (10am LT)
1:30pm Seas are definitely calmer than earlier, now that wind has died down as well.
Sky has been consistently light grey with sun only occasionally getting through the thin cloud layer.
2:45pm Slowed right down now - shook out 2nd reef to help improve speed... Very little wind...
Need to service main winch on port side. Used it to hoist mainsail and sounds/feels as though pawls have gone - not working too well so must deal with it - too important an item not to have it working well. Will do now while it's calm...
3:40pm Wind up a bit now - making 5.3kt - very pleasant. Seas relatively smooth so not too much of a problem for trying to deal with winch. Having difficulty removing the central spindle with its pawls - the precise part I need to get apart in order to resolve the fault it's showing.
6pm Wind has been down for a time now - pity, since we were sailing quite nicely, earlier. Had put winch back together, after a bit of cleaning and greasing, but might take it apart again and try removing the obstinate central spindle that is the cause of the problem - it can only come apart the one way so I need to try it again and just keep on trying....
8:40pm Chatted with Julian Clegg on BBC Radio Solent's Breakfast Show (Fri 0740 BST) - annoyingly cut short when Iridium satphone connection failed... Was just about to answer question on having enough food for extended journey.. A good thing I provisioned so well - still have plenty of choice of meals so won't go short before landfall! Even have some 'specials' for tomorrow's celebrations.
11pm Sailing gently under a full moon shining through thin cloud layer, making around 5kt - hope it keeps up!
Friday 7:30am Tahiti/Hawaii time (Fri 1730 GMT) Bright sunshine, little cloud - and little wind. Tried to bring the mainsail more inboard to increase our speed on a close reach (apparent wind was well forward) but the wind is far too light now. Wind generator blades are not turning, showing the wind is under 6-7 kt - just a very slight breeze! Pressure has increased a lot - to nearly 1029hPa now - well up on 1024 of yesterday and 1020 of day before.
Difficult to maintain a course - we ended up going round in a circle after I'd brought the mainsail inboard.
I've now eased the mainsheet more, to let the sail out again, in hope that will help us to keep going roughly on course. Problem was the swell - as we rock from side to side in so little wind, the wind gets behind the sails (they are 'backed') - and so we end up turning downwind (gybing) and I have to try to bring us back on course by completing the circling, back to where we'd been pointing before, and then try to hold us there.
Seems to be better now, with mainsheet eased. Only making ~1.5kt but direction is good - N!
Cargo vessel 'Thunder Bird' passed well ahead earlier, towards San Francisco maybe.
Just had call from CFAX1070 Radio in Victoria - being interviewed live this afternoon at 4:45pm PDT by Mark Brennae - Afternoon Drive Host.
*****************************************************
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.)
***************************************************
1900GMT (= 9 a.m. LT = Tahiti/Hawaii time) - end of Day 317. We made 103 n.ml. DMG, measured in a straight line between the two 1900GMT positions. Surprised to find it over 100ml!
Total distance covered from Victoria, B.C., to end of Day 317 (by daily DMGs): 26,546 n.ml.
Distances (are all Gt Circle, at 1900GMT): Cape Flattery LH (Tatoosh Island): 1088 n.ml. to NE (add ~60 n.ml. to Victoria); Honolulu: 1225 n.ml. to SSW; Papeete, Tahiti: 3416 n.ml. to S; San Francisco GG: 1135 n.ml. to E.
Position, as posted to www.Winlink.org and www.Shiptrak.org (using my US callsign KC2IOV):
TIME: 2019/08/16 19:00GMT LATITUDE: 39-19.75N LONGITUDE: 146-40.65W
COURSE: 009T SPEED: 1.0kt
WIND_SPEED: 5kt WIND_DIR: WSW SWELL_DIR: WSW SWELL_HT: 1.3m CLOUDS: 60%
BARO: 1028.7hPa TREND: 2 AIR_TEMP: 27.0C SEA_TEMP: 30.0C
COMMENT: Wind way down - windgen blades not turning. Pressure well up.
