Thursday 11am Tahiti/Hawaii time (Thurs 2100 GMT) Breakfast - at last!
Going to have to finish this trip within ten days - my cereal, already down to quite small measured portions, will run out then! Still have plenty of dried fruit, nuts and seeds though - and there's always the pancake mix which is so easy to use and which I've enjoyed a lot.
Feeling very buoyant just now - we're making excellent speed NNE in bright sunshine with one reef in mainsail, staysail 'goose-winged' (brought over to opposite side from main) and storm jib flying on removable inner forestay (just aft of damaged furled genoa). Frequently seeing over 6kt - fabulous!
Really glad I checked weather ahead - clearly best to stay on port tack since SW wind expected to veer further. Also, if we head directly for the 'barn door', seems we'd end up becalmed again in the next High coming along in a few days' time - better to keep heading more N to keep clear of its centre and in better wind.
Will make as much easting as possible, but will try to avoid those light winds. Might have to make 47N, maybe even 48N, before we can head for Cape Flattery directly without losing reasonable wind - forecasts will change so will work on best route from day to day.
About to open a fresh mango juice to have some after breakfast - two cartons left - just enough!
Found a security ring missing from its pin on a mainsail batten car attachment to mast track - will put some wire there to hold in place - far easier than a fiddly ring and just as safe, if not more so. Wouldn't have seen it if first reef weren't in - it would have been up out of sight from deck level.
Keep finding tiny flying fish hidden on deck - picked up several small to middling ones the other day - a memento of the trip up from Hawaii.
4pm Sunshine has gone - grey sky with total overcast now and pressure has dropped steadily over last few hours to 1017hPa now. Seas are tossing us around quite often.
Making a mug of soup - it's not quite so warm now! We're sailing very well in good SW wind still - goose-winged staysail is working well, running downwind on a course of 035T.
9pm Has been raining for some time and wind has veered a lot more - to W. Took staysail over to join other sails to starboard and sheeted in main quite a bit. Boat speed has dropped dramatically - from over 6kt to around 4.5kt. Was nice to have the speed while it lasted.
Friday 7am Tahiti/Hawaii time (Fri 1700 GMT) Bright, sunny morning - so different from the murky, miserable grey of yesterday. There's a lot of wispy cloud overhead and cloud on the horizon everywhere, so maybe we've just found a small gap - but it's very pleasant and welcome! Pressure has stayed constant overnight to now, at 1017hPa.
Sea surface temperature is 22.4C/81F and cabin temperature is about the same. Wind is from W at about 14kt and seas are around 2m, every 8sec, so it's a bit bumpy but not too bad. We're heeling a little with the beam wind and making a course of 033T at ~5.7kt - quite a good speed.
Time for breakfast - if it stays not too rough, think I'll have some pancakes later on, after my (carefully measured!) cereal this morning.
8:30am Downloaded fresh weather info... Expecting wind on our route to become around 12kt or so over today but getting lighter towards tomorrow morning - maybe down to 6kt, from W still, by dawn - but back up to 12kt, from SW, by mid-morning and for rest of the day. So outlook not too bad...but definitely slower than the excellent speed of earlier today
DTF: 782 n.ml., measured along my planned route.
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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 324. We made 131 n.ml. DMG, measured in a straight line between the two 1900GMT positions. Good to see!
Total distance covered from Victoria, B.C., to end of Day 324 (by daily DMGs): 27,027 n.ml.
Distances (are all Gt Circle, at 1900GMT): Cape Flattery LH (Tatoosh Island): 690 n.ml. to ENE (add ~60 n.ml. to Victoria); Honolulu: 1660 n.ml. to SSW; Papeete, Tahiti: 3795 n.ml. to S; San Francisco GG: 942 n.ml. to SE.
Position, as posted to www.Winlink.org and www.Shiptrak.org (using my US callsign KC2IOV):
TIME: 2019/08/23 19:00GMT LATITUDE: 45-14.19N LONGITUDE: 141-04.04W
COURSE: 034T SPEED: 5.5kt
WIND_SPEED: 14kt WIND_DIR: W SWELL_DIR: WSW SWELL_HT: 2.0m SWELL_PER: 8s
CLOUDS: 95% BARO: 1016.6hPa TREND: 0 AIR_TEMP: 23.0C SEA_TEMP: 22.0C
COMMENT: DTF 782 n.ml. Bright day, occasional sun, light broken cloud
