Saturday 16th February 2013
5.30am Dawn - sky cleared of grey clouds, just some broken thin cloud layer in places... Slowed right down in light wind.... 3.7 kt! Impossible to make radio contact for emails overnight now, so getting up early to make contact - works well at this time and up to mid-afternoon, but no later.
Sky became overcast and by mid-afternoon it was quite foggy - sea temperature had dropped from a high yesterday of 17.9C to just under 14C so that was probably why.. Fog gave way to slight drizzle which soon cleared up - sea was back up to 17C tonight and the evening air felt quite warm (but I'm still in several fleeces, so that's relative!)
Wind has died down - we've been struggling to make over 5 knots DDW, even with slight current help - slow!! Similar conditions for another day or two -and then a complicated weather scenario, with Lows coming off Africa and the remains of a Tropical Storm coming down from the Mozambique Channel - bringing heavy rain and probably some strong winds - but that's a few days away, so things could change... We're in the Indian Ocean cyclone season now.....
Very few birds around today - too calm! But among the few, an immature Wandering albatross passed by again - looking very much like yesterday's, with a lot of brown on its back.
Had fun on the radio quite a bit today! As well as my usual lunch-time contacts, I later listened in on the BBC World Service, having just been sent times and frequencies for Southern Africa by Peter, ZS6PHD. After the S.A.M.M. Net, I finally made contact with boat friend Scott, N6ABC, as he made his way to Simon's Town from Knysna and, in the late afternoon, chatted on 7163 and 7150 to both Sam and Matt in False Bay. I was taken aback a short time later, when I clearly heard, on 7150 LSB, people chatting - from Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA....!! I joined in and agreed to join them again tomorrow - Their signal was amazingly good, although that from San Diego not so - they said to come up slightly earlier, when propagation from California should be better!
24hr DMG at 1100GMT: 133 n.ml. Cape Agulhas: 622 n.ml. WP Sth of Cape Leeuwin (Australia): 3612 n.ml. (by Gt Circle)
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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/