Friday 15th March 2013
A quick note at just gone midnight - wind is up nicely - we're actually making around 6 knots - yippee!!
7.30am No fog, 95% broken cloud and sun not long up... A pair of Atlantic petrels nearby as I adjusted our course to come a little closer to the NNW wind for a beam reach and head us nearer to E. Seas not too bad at around 2m - a little bumpy in wind waves & slight chop. Full genoa and stays'l and 2nd reef in mains'l - as much canvas as I dare, due to ongoing problem with mast track insert. Making just over 5kt - so not too bad if it keeps up.
Made good contact on 40m, as usual, with Mark, AF6TC, in San Diego, and John, W1QS, in Maine and stations in Portsmouth, RI, and Michigan - not so many this morning but lovely clear signals just after my sunrise, around 0100-0120Z.
3pm Lovely sunny day up to now, although cloud has increased. Downloaded 0730Z weatherfax from Wiluna - shows centre of Indian Ocean High well S - centred well below 40S - which is amazing.... and basically the main reason for my lack of wind of late, although just now we're sailing well in NW-NNW wind, making 6 - 7+ kt -- best consistent speed since last Friday! There's a weak Cold Front approaching & behind the Front, early on Sunday maybe, the wind might ease as it backs, since the isobars are rather more spaced out than ahead of the Front ....
Was about to have some Brie for a light lunch earlier, when I realised I still had plenty of my thick soup waiting - so Brie is on hold for later... It was tinned and keeps well, but often the tinned can't be found in shops - I always stock up if I find it!
5pm Fog once more... Was standing in companionway an hour ago, before the fog arrived, having reduced the genoa quite a lot in stronger wind (we were making 7-8 kt!!), watching 4 Atlantic petrels swooping about, when suddenly along came a big brown skua - big, heavy-looking bird, flapping its wings a lot, unlike most of the other birds usually seen soaring around, with long white marking on outer half of upper- and underwings... otherwise, all dark..
Later: Still going well - SOG around 7kt ... great!! Hoping this keeps up for several days!
DMG AT 1100GMT: 121 n.ml. - that's more like it! ! C. Agulhas: 3081 n.ml.; WP due S of C. Leeuwin : 1188 n.ml. Ile Kerguelen: 742 n.ml. (241T) Ile St Paul: 553 n.ml. (304T)
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For my positions, see:
www.svnereida.com - 'Travels' - "Where is 'Nereida'?"
and/or:
http://www.exactearth.com/media-centre/recent-ship-tracks/tracking-nereida/