Monday 1st July 2013 CANADA DAY
11am Finally gave up trying to sail, furled in flogging headsails and caught up on sleep instead ... Sea glassy smooth, drifting NW even when I managed to get the bow pointed E – SE. Weather faxes are downloading – so tonight – tomorrow we may get useful NW wind to help us lay our course to the Strait entrance but wind likely to be light.
To say I’ve been constantly feeling frustrated is an understatement! Seem to have been becalmed so frequently all the way up the Pacific as well as across the Indian Ocean ....
Had a brilliant fast finish last year to my previous circumnavigation – strong W wind gave a great sail along the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Victoria, arriving back there on 1st August 2012 after 251 sailing days. I wonder if I’ll be so lucky this time around ....?
9pm Last sunset colours lingering in NW below grey cloud layer. Calm, slow, gentle sailing at 2.4 kt in S wind. The good news from late afternoon, when I spent a lot of time at the helm in SSE wind of 5 kt, finding the settings needed, has been finally managing to lay our course to the Strait entrance. Victoria is now 420 n.mi. away – if the forecast better wind arrive (NW to NNW at 10 – 15 kt), landfall might be on Friday, but until Wednesday, exact ETA is still in doubt. I’ll have had a final delay of 2 weeks due to recent unfavourable or light winds – UNBELIEVABLE!
Had two enjoyable extended radio chat sessions today – on 20m this afternoon, after an unusually short email session, and on 40m this evening.
24hr DMG to 2300GMT: 32n.mi. Strait of Juan de Fuca: 373n.mi. (101T); Victoria: 431n.mi.
From: KC2IOV/MM by HF radio. Transcribed by Rick, VE7TK, Victoria, BC via Ham Radio for posting
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http://www.7163net.com Current Position Reported by Ham Radio with Google Earth Tracking