Saturday 2nd February, 2013
Dull, cold day (sea 11C, cabin 12C!) with lots of big swell tossing us around and causing frequent surfing and dark grey rainclouds - plenty of gusty winds in the late afternoon but no rain. Really feels like the Southern Ocean! Strong NE-flowing current - nice to see it helping our SOG.
With rather rough seas and good wind there were plenty of the 'usual gang'of birds around all day long - several each of Arctic prions, Atlantic petrels and Great shearwaters.. and this afternoon, a distinctive Sooty albatross flew by- all dark with dark bill - don't often see those!
I relaxed rather too long over a late breakfast in the calmer conditions of this morning (finished 'The Surgeon's Mate'!) and by the time I was hoping to have checked over the genoa furling - seas and wind had got up a tad too much to play about on the foredeck. No problem - either it's OK or it's not (hopefully, it is!), I'll find out soon enough - the stays'l is plenty in these winds and seas....
At almost exactly 2200GMT (10pm local time!), we crossed the Greenwich Meridian: 0 degrees E/W - take your pick! Latitude was 44:55S. We're now heading almost due East - for several days, probably. High pressure is forecast to stay close to the N until gone midweek so light wind to N give good reason to stay at this latitude where there should be some decent wind to sail by.
We're having a small celebration now for 'crossing the bump', as Graham, ZS2ABK, put it this morning, on the S.A.M.M.Net ... Some dark chocolate & Christmas cake (presents from Canada) and Bundaberg rum (from Tas, last year!)
Looking forward to hearing soon that Jean-Pierre on 'Virbac Paprec' has succeeded in getting into Les Sables d'Olonne safely... preferably in 4th place, ahead of the duo fighting for 5th place!
24hr DMG at 11pm local time (2300GMT): 131 n.ml. Cape Agulhas: 1093 n.ml. Cape of Good Hope: 1055 n.ml. ... Hoping to round those next weekend.
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For my positions, see:
www.svnereida.com - 'Travels' - "Where is 'Nereida'?"
http://www.exactearth.com/media-centre/recent-ship-tracks/tracking-nereida/