Friday 11:30am Tahiti/Hawaii time (Fri 2130 GMT) Bright sunshine and pressure even higher than over last two days - has been increasing rapidly as centre of High edges closer. Wind generator blades still not turning, so wind is under 6-7 kt - only the very slightest of a breeze!
Having a mug of tea with my breakfast as I finish with daily reports and look over emails.
Will be taking the big port winch apart again - somehow need to persuade the central stainless steel spindle to slide out of the bronze casing it's held in, so I can get it working properly again...
7:15pm Worked on port sheet winch for a good time in very pleaant sunshine this afternoon - finally got the central spindle out only to find it wasn't the cause of the problem - nothing there to go wrong! So looked again and realised the problem had to be with some of the base cogs. Took one set apart and found a pawl with a missing spring - cleaned, replaced the missing spring, greased and re-assembled - all working fine now - a present to me of a sweet-sounding winch!
While in middle of doing all that, suddenly realised the wind had backed into the ESE and needed to gybe the mainsail... Puzzling, since was expecting S wind of this morning to continue. With pressure up to 1029hPa, same as given for centre of High we've been skirting, can only surely mean that the High has moved N so we're at the S end of it.
Stowed pole, since no longer needed - nice to have a fairly stable deck to do that. Found several flying fishes on deck from a day or more ago.
Sunset - had a sundowner, having decided to celebrate both my Australian-time birthday (Happy Birthday, Tex!) as well as for my present position - gives me two days of special 'treats' and enjoyment!! Weather is cooperating for once - looks like two days of gentle sailing conditions in bright sunshine - how lucky am I?
9pm Not long finished a very pleasant ham radio session on 7160kHz - lots of chats with people and even had a candle lit and blown out for me in Fiji to a tuneful "Happy Birthday"...! (9pm Fri LT = 7pm Sat in Fiji!)
Saturday 3am Tahiti/Hawaii time (Sat 1300 GMT) Moon still shining brightly but sky much more cloudy than earlier in the night, when it was almost clear and the sea was lit up with the near-full moon's silver light on the slightly ruffled surface. Very little wind and we're struggling again to stay on course - boat speed is under 2kt - slow!
Looks as though we might be able to avoid the worst of the gale coming on Monday - forecast is changing slightly for the better from my perspective...possibly strong winds to ~30kt but might be able to dodge the stronger winds.
8am Bright, sunny day - clear overhead, with just a very little light cloud near the horizon, and wind not strong enough to turn blades of wind generator so boat speed under 3kt.
Struggling on 8173kHz - very difficult trying to contact Polynesian Magellan Net, with a lot of noise on frequency not helping. At end of Net, made contact on 12353kHz - nice to hear 'Winsome' and 'Malahia'.
9am Changing course to 036T and trimming sails after checking weather ahead - trying to make best speed and course for expected weather coming up! A beautiful, if gentle, sailing day ... perfect!
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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 318. We made 59 n.ml. DMG, measured in a straight line between the two 1900GMT positions. A very slow, light wind day.
Total distance covered from Victoria, B.C., to end of Day 318 (by daily DMGs): 26,605 n.ml.
Distances (are all Gt Circle, at 1900GMT): Cape Flattery LH (Tatoosh Island): 1046 n.ml. to NE (add ~60 n.ml. to Victoria); Honolulu: 1277 n.ml. to SSW; Papeete, Tahiti: 3475 n.ml. to S; San Francisco GG: 1128 n.ml. to E.
Position, as posted to www.Winlink.org and www.Shiptrak.org (using my US callsign KC2IOV):TIME: 2019/08/17 19:00GMT LATITUDE: 40-18.48N LONGITUDE: 146-37.83W
COURSE: 003T SPEED: 3.0kt
WIND_SPEED: 8kt WIND_DIR: SSE SWELL_DIR: SSE SWELL_HT: 1.5m CLOUDS: 15%
BARO: 1028.8hPa TREND: 0 AIR_TEMP: 29.0C SEA_TEMP: 30.0C
COMMENT: Bright, sunny day - calm, peaceful...
