Sunday - a day of rest and relaxation....

Plenty of good intentions - but not a lot achieved!!

Slept until awoken at 11am by knocking on hull - Jonathan, husband of helpful Roxana, came by ... Lexan, instead of glass, in windscreen, he suggested. Sleeve over broken boom to repair -a couple of good guys here Fly canopy& framework in from Sweden to Punta Arenas 'Free zone' ...to Pto Williams, to bring here on a boat - that plan is to avoid excessive Argentinian customs fees and complications!!

Very windy here - and cold! Midsummer but not very warm - lots of small sailing boats and big cruise ships heading down to Antarctic from here.

Evening spent relaxing with neighbouring French boat and company - testing my rusty French!! Nice people - they kept toasting me and filling my glass - thoroughly thirsty overnight and next morning.....!!

Monday - cleared Customs and continued trying to clean and clear boat - very slow process. Had well-recommended welder come by to look at metal repairs needed - boom, sprayhood/awning/windscreen and also repair of broken pole - was pleased to hear that sounded perfectly feasible - so much easier using carbon pole than heavy telescopic Al one.

Sent off sea-wetted big items to be washed - settee long cushion, pillows, small cushions and other items.

Dinner with neighbouring French boat - Alain and Anne being so very helpful and supportive.

Day seemed to disappear with not a lot achieved... but got a local phone simcard - good news for communications... Lots of supportive emails received (wifi here, if I take my computer into the 'yacht club' building) - thank you to so many of you for that - it definitely helps my morale which is often a bit low just now - so much to do and not easy to effect proper repairs here since almost no facilities ... and Argentinian Customs situation not helpful.

Tuesday - Motored away from dock and turned boat around when a boat moved nearby - general shuffling around of boats (normally rafted up to dock 2-3 deep). With strong NW winds so prevalent here (~25knots), it was better to be bows into wind, rather than stern-to, as I was initially.

Alain and another neighbour helped me take sail off boom (and also stays'l, since furling gear and foil damaged) , ready to try to remove boom halves - ran into a problem with outhaul - complicated and not looking hopeful for successful repair - might be best to try to bring new boom in.

Back to boat after pause in clubhouse for wi-fi to check emails etc (& write this well-overdue log update!) - more clearing down below and looking for items among mess in aft cabin and forepeak. Alain & Anne have friends flying in from France next week who could bring me small items direct - if I can tell them what I need (such as the damaged relay between chart table and AP course computer power lead) - and maybe some sail material for repair - can't get such things here.

LATER:  With Alain's help, managed to get gas flowing to galley - so can put little (highly unsafe!) camping burner away - and will cook a 'proper' meal tonight...  There seems to be a big problem with electrics on board - presumably got seawater in them somewhere - gas solenoid was OK but every time I tried to enable it, it blew the circuit - and the main  ship's supply from batteries closed down with it... had to manually re-set the main switch.   So the only way to get gas flowing was to take the solenoid valve out of the gas suppply system - means I'm back to manual shut-off below stove - so not the end of the world...!

Also managed finally to get shore power connection - thanks to Fred (another French cruiser nearby)  - mine being left in Pt Townsend before I left there who lent me the cable I needed (who needs shorepower on a nonstop RTW sail?!)

While clearing up today, I found the battery chargers I'd lost sight of for my camera - so I'll try to post some photos of Ushuaia soon - quite a dramatic setting here - reminiscent of Alaska with mountains and snow close by the town...

Sometimes I think things are going well - other times I wonder if I'll manage ever to get away with adequate repairs effected ... I just have to keep plugging away and trying to stay positive ...

Thanks again for all the supportive emails - they've often kept me smiling when I've read them!!

Saturday 8th January 2011

Raised the anchor without a problem in the darkness at 1.30 am local time - calm water conditions but wind around 15 knots... which helped speed initially - we were making over 7 knots for quite a time after leaving anchorage! Light in S sky, clear and full of stars overhead. Birds resting on water overnight suddenly taking off as we closed on them,.. Not as cold as expected, although plenty of fleece layers on! An excellent start to what was to be a long day -100 miles to cover to Ushuaia.

Made our way through the islands to open water on 25 mile run N through the chop of Bahia Nassau - got very 'bumpy"! Got to start of Beagle Channel in broad daylight - LOTS of sightings of Magellanic penguins in the water, often in big groups. Also lots of black and white cormorants - new to me - as well as plenty of other unfamiliar birds.

The Channel winds its way with frequent kelp beds, islets, shallows and rocks between Chile and Argentina (Tierra del Fuego) in a roughly E-W direction with craggy mountains, with remnants of snow, coming down close to the water - no wonder the air is so chilly.

With motor running, giving hot air heating, I worked hard at salvaging several books which had got soaked, including my bird book of albatrosses etc- separating pages gently, one by one, and placing book near hot air vent to help dry out.

After passing Puerto Williams, a Chilean patrol boat came over to me - to tell me I had to go to Pto. Williams before heading to Ushuaia - "Why?" I asked - no good answer, so I told them I was making for Ushuaia for repairs not possible to do in Pto Williams - and , by the way, I'm in Argentine waters now....!! They left, looking pretty glum... and later, when clearing Immigration in Ushuaia, I had to sign receipt of a fax telling me that when in Chilean waters, I had to report my position , course and speed regularly to Port Control - and respond to requests for same over radio...! "Control freaks!" was Roxana's response....as she returned with me to the pontoon where I'd rafted up alongside a Spanish boat, after accompanying me to help with translating... On to my French neighbour's boat to take up an invitation for celebratory 'Cape Horn' drinks and a light meal.

Being Sunday, I'll have a chance to do some clearing up and get my joblist organized - Roxana has already put on her list getting a local laundry to come and get my seawater-wet things for washing and French neighbour Alain has offered me whatever help I might need - kind of both of them!

Off to sleep now - lots to catch up on...

Friday 7th January 2011

Continued on towards Cape Horn (Cabo de Hornos) overnight in much-reduced swell, even when continental shelf was reached, where it normally gets far worse, making good use of the genoa - my only good sail remaining! Slowed down a good distance from Cape so could safely catch some sleep before getting too close.

By early morning, around 6am, the grey, misty mountains of Isla Hermite, the main island of the group containing Isla Hornos, were visible in the distance, once rain had cleared away. And soon after, I realized I could see Cape Horn in the far distance ahead - at which point two lively dolphins came to greet us - "Welcome to Cape Horn" they clearly said...!!

CAPE HORN AHEAD!

Two hours later, I was due S of the Cape, passing it in company with a bigger group of dolphins with lots of albatross around, mainly black-browed, some white-chinned petrels and a flock of excited terns - diving on a shoal of fish! The Cape is spectacular with jagged tall 'spires' to one side and dramatic rock formations. Soon afterwards, I realized that the approach from the W that I had made was by far the best way .... looking back from the E, it looks quite different, with far gentler slopes up to the high point.

I'd decided, in view of the distance involved, that I needed to anchor for a time to rest, to be ready for a long day tomorrow to and through the Beagle Channel, which I didn't want to be going through in darkness hours.

An anchorage quite close to Cape Horn came recommended - so here I am, anchored in Calleta Martial, on Herschel Island, just ten miles due north of the Cape.
Anchoring - involved getting anchor out from locker where it has been safely stowed off the bow roller, attaching anchor to chain (making sure it was lead correctly) and then heaving anchor over pulpit.... easy to write...!! I'd also got a stern anchor out ready as a back up - although with the strong wind we've had in this anchorage, I doubt it would have been of much use.

As I approached the anchorage, I spotted a penguin in the water close by....great delight! Antartica is not far away... the air reminds one of that - it's chilly!

This is definitely a place with GPS/chart error! If I hadn't been careful, we would have hit rock twice, following a 'safe' course under autopilot... I had to keep an eye out every time our course took us close to land (which looks like hard granite) - both times we were clearly headed way too close to jagged rocks disappearing into the water ahead! And in the anchorage, I'm anchored on land almost!

Green/brown clothed mountains, mostly bare of trees, birds everywhere,....strong, cold wind, .....misty rain with a rainbow later.... no humans or houses in sight on the many islands hereabouts ( came past one named Isla Deceit!).... some snow on a mountain peak.... very dramatic, wild scenery. I suppose the upside of my mishap is that I get to see such scenery and wildlife close to - it's certainly impressive!

Once settled in, and satisfied we were holding well (50m of chain in just under 10m depth!), I got ready to settle down to sleep, but got a call first from Falmouth CG checking all was well....! I also checked in with the MMNet to update on my position - Bill,KII4MMZ had good copy and took my details. (I'd also had a call from the Armada de Chile as I approached the Cape). Then to a relaxed sleep - bliss! Followed by a lovely shower in HOT water - lots of it! After which I made an effort to tie down the unruly sail - it's not quite so loose now, so will catch the wind less, I hope. I also dug out my back up camping stove and butane cylinder - and had a lovely hot meal of my thick stew/soup (broth?) followed by tea. Since the knockdown, my solenoid gas valve has stopped working, so no gas comes through to the galley stove.... so no hot drinks or meals until now..

NEREIDA

Soon I'll raise the anchor and head for the Beagle Channel, where Puerto Williams (Chile) and Ushuaia (Argentina) are both situated....

Wednesday/Thursday 5/6th January 2011

Wednesday 5th January

The NW winds of 30-35kt of Tues evening were up to 36kt, gusting 41kt, by midnight with seas of 5-6m, occasionally with sections of breaking crests. Hit by waves often and frequently surfing to 11-12 kt..... By early morning, it seemed to have calmed down a lot, with a weak sun trying to get through a thin layer of cloud and wind down to 24-30 kt. Among the prions, I spotted a white-chinned petrel and there was a pair of black-browed albatross. Checked in to Patagonia Cruisers' Net with Wolfgang - asked him about ice situation - he felt it was OK and in chatting to someone else, it seemed that within 200 miles S of Chile, there was no problem.

By midday, with occasional waves hitting us and washing the decks, I was beginning to feel decidedly concerned, with the wind back up to 35-37kt, forecast to increase, and big seas to match, we hove to with triple-reefed mains'l and stays'l. Changed the running backstay over and centred the mains'l.  Grey skies, some rain. We were well heeled, and there were plenty of big seas...and suddenly, near 2.30pm LT, while I was fortunately leaning back against a wall in the head, all hell let loose - and everything that could move was re-located to the port side of the boat.... Water was pouring in from under the sliding hatch and there was chaos everywhere.

Slowly we righted and soon after I looked to see what damage there was - clearly there was some - no instruments, for a start!.. but I could not budge the hatch to open it - try as might...! I had to climb out of the aft cabin hatch to access the cockpit - which I'd already seen enough of to realize the boom was broken in half and the canopy/dodger over the companionway was missing, along with its framework ..... there was safety glass everywhere. I soon realized why the hatch wouldn't slide open - the halyard bag full of heavy wet lines, was lying on top and was soon removed along with several lines lying loose... Going down below, I noticed the perspex hatch was cracked in half vertically - a worry if we should ever get pooped. Next, I got the instruments working - a connection in the aft cabin had been hit by flying/sliding objects...
.
In brief, I didn't know where to start... Tried to clear up a bit on deck - not much I could achieve there... down below - impossible to clear up wet things ( all pillows and bedding were sopping wet at their end.. still beam on to oncoming seas... not good ... another knockdown imminent??- I tried everything I could to get us to head downwind... a bit of genoa plus some stays'l... downed the remaining main as much as I could.. tried to tie it but that got dangerous in the big seas running, so was forced to abandon that... Later decided to reduce all sail since series drogue shouldn't need any - furling line on stays'l broke - sail unfurled totally and flapped madly and violently - whole boat shook with the violence... not good ... what to do? Had to lower it - and keep it inboard and low down and together in the strong wind, not easy to lash it down... As it flapped, it caught the pole and broke it in half .. Things were going from bad to worse...!

Once finished on deck, I returned below to the awful,dripping, wet mess there - even the chart table lid had clearly been flung open and its contents had been thrown across to the galley, to mix with spilled items there, including toiletries from the head - wet paper all over everything else... impossible to deal with and not drying in the cold, damp air. Decided I'd better let the authorities know of my plight - not yet life-threatening but not good... Here I was in the Southern Ocean ... and fore-reaching south in the dark at over 2 knots!

- - - - -

To cut a long story short, the Chilean Navy and Falmouth CG both got involved - it was lovely to get the friendly, helpful Falmouth phone calls - an English person at the other end of the phone - no language problems!!! Helping with all that was Bob McDavitt initially - deeply appreciated, Bob - and the American Maritime Mobile Net on 14300 kHz - Bill (KI4MMZ) in particular, with Fred (W3ZU) helping with relay. Good for my morale was chatting to the Pacific Seafarers Net also.

A fishing vessel, Magallanes III, came along, ready to tow us to safety ... the winds not expected to ease much until next day...and seas even later...

Conditions were pretty strong then and for a time after - no sleep until early morning (3hrs). I felt another knockdown was only too likely since we were beam on still to the seas - makes for feeling very vulnerable! The only ray of light was my realization that we had an engine - I tried it in neutral - it worked!!  Slight problem was two lines I'd seen overboard - one I retrieved but the other was jammed in something - the prop?? ... or the rudder??  Another problem came later after the realization that I could keep us headed more downwind (and so less at risk from beam seas) by using the autopilot to steer us - but then, to my dismay, we took off SE at over 4 knots, with just the still strong wind catching the lowered, but not very well tied down, mains'l - the series drogue was doing nothing - had the fishing boat, in circling near me, run over the line??  Yes,it had.... Our course was taking us away from land.... but we were no longer so much at risk of another knockdown and conditions were expected to ease next day....

Thursday 6th January

Been a good day since waking up to clear skies & bright sun after 3 hrs sleep this morning - and then getting engine going OK. Removed wire on gear shift cable with some difficulty - but I finally won out and was delighted to find there was no problem with the propeller, having thought a line might be caught around it. (There's a sharp rope-cutter on propshaft near to the prop so it could have been cut away) End result was no tow was needed.. sigh of relief on my part - no worries about additional resulting damage..! The fishermen, who'd been not far away all night, didn't seem to mind too much losing the income from a tow and sent me their best wishes!

I'm making a straight line for the Horn now - the sunny, clear skies of this morning have slowly clouded over and there's invariably an albatross of one kind or another not too far away. Swell has slowly been dying down - hardly noticeable now - just an occasional one, bigger than usual.

When I retrieved my series drogue, my suspicions were confirmed ... Looks as though the fishing vessel, when approaching and circling us in the night, cut the line with its prop - of 125 cones, only six are now there with a very reduced length of line... and no chain, of course...!

I've been contacted by Falmouth CG and the Chile Navy by satphone, and have had regular radio contacts on 14300 over the day - all very supportive and friendly - very many thanks to all of them. (The Chilean Navy phone me for 4-hrly position updates from Puerto Williams!)

I'm also looking forward now to rounding Cape Horn in daylight and in good conditions! The reason for heaving to in the strong winds and big seas of Wednesday was to let that system pass so as to be on the shallow shelf near the Horn in reasonable conditions - now and for the next two days. Should be at Horn around 1400Z on 7th Jan and in to Beagle Channel early on 8th Jan. - have slowed down to avoid arriving too early in morning but looks as though I'll need to anchor for a few hours at least.......

24hr DMG to noon UTC: Wednesday: 140 n.ml. Thursday: 69ml (supposedly hove to!) (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 Wednesday UTC: Position was 55:40S, 072:34W. Cape Horn 180 ml; Chile (nearest point) 58 ml ; N.Z. (S.Island) 3916 ml 222T; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 5080ml 326T.   At 1200 Thursday UTC: Position was 56:33S, 071:15W. Cape Horn 137 ml.

Very busy conditions at this time.

Cold and wet. 5kts

Tuesday 4th January 2011

We've had wind around 30kt since dawn, gusting to 35 kt, but now it's more consistently up to and, since 5pm often over, 35kt.   But so far, we're doing fine...! The seas weren't too bad, at 4-5m until now ( over 5m ) but fairly smooth in general, so we weren't getting tossed about too much - just the occasional sudden lurch and always the need to be careful moving about.   There's the constant noise of the wind in the rigging - a low-throated sound, rather than the shrieking caused by even stronger winds!    You can almost gauge the wind speed from the noise it makes - I can always tell when the wind gets up to 35 from 30 knots!

Sky has been bright but overcast all day - slight breaks in places, giving the sun a chance to try to struggle through - not very successfully or often...  Occasional very fine rain.   Overnight, there was a long line of light below the cloud close to the S horizon - where the sun was not far below, as it made its way from W to E ready for dawn here!   It never really got fully dark - which was useful when I tied in the third reef finally.

I gybed the mains'l at dusk last night, when the wind had begun to strengthen and had veered sufficiently for us to broad reach deep on port tack - which I expect to be on for several days..   I also raised the pole for the genoa - which has slowly been reduced to its present 'handkerchief' size!  I find we go better with a small amount in addition to the small staysail, rather than furl it away completely - to help balance, I suppose.

Having been up  so much over the night and early morning, and with the boat behaving fine in the conditions, I had a good sleep for the rest of the morning
- gorgeous to be snug and warm in my sleeping bag under a thick double duvet!!  When I was buying the sleeping bag in Victoria before leaving, the guy looked at me dubiously as he told me it was for extreme conditions and rated for -3C - but soon agreed it would be a good buy when he heard where it was to be used!  He showed me how it was designed to cover the head to keep warmth in - that's been so effective and useful - the moment I pull it up over my head, I feel so much warmer and snug - cabin temperature is 9-10C..... brr!

I totally overlooked my usual check-in with Wolfgang on the Patagonia Cruisers' Net at 7am LT this morning, being so busy with my  noon UTC position & weather report - which exactly coincides with the Net timing.   But when I eventually posted my report (it always takes quite a time to collate all the data needed), I found an email from him asking if all was OK.  I thought that was very kind of him and promptly replied, reassuring him and explaining.

Fresh attempt at stopping the propshaft spinning is on hold for now!   Thanks to those of you who have emailed me with suggestions!    Strop around and wooden wedge (I need to change the angle, I think, but must avoid the engine intake seacock close by) are the two separate options I'll be hoping to try, when things calm down here.  Photo shows the failed attempts - but also shows the problem area!   Strop will be my first option - sounds quick and easy!

Finally - many apologies for my lack of email replies just now.   To all of you who sent me New Year greetings and other emails - Thank you very much!    I was doing really well, keeping up with replying, until the New Year - but I'm sure you can appreciate that they're on hold now.   I hope to get to them from time to time, as and when when conditions permit.   My only really regular contact now is by radio with the Pacific Seafarers Net on 14300 around 0315-0345 UTC where I check in daily (and with the Patagonia Net while I'm in these waters.)   I stay on frequency until about 0430 UTC if anyone wishes to contact me, ready to switch to 14305 where reception is less noisy..

24hr  DMG to noon UTC:  103 n.ml.   (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)  (I hear there may be a problem with the main

link - hopefully it will be fixed very soon...)

At 1200 (Tuesday) UTC:  55:00S, 079:19W.    Cape Horn 422 ml 108T;  Chile (nearest point) 194 ml 059T (P. Montt 831 ml, 032T) ;  N.Z. (Owaka, S.Island)

3806 ml 226T; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4900ml 332T.

 (At time of writing this. Tues 2110 UTC,  55:16S, 075:01W)

want!
X-Via: SAILMAIL
X-MID: 7745_KC2IOV
X-Date: 2011/01/04 05:52:34

Monday 3rd January 2011

1pm (LT) Finally finished breakfast - delayed and re-started a few times..! I'd been up since soon after dawn, on & off. Up at 3.30am (daylight already!) to wish a little grand daughter "Happy Birthday!" - and found the wind had dropped to just 7-8 knots and we were only making 3.2 kt. Then up again for my noon UTC position and weather report at 7am local time, by which time the wind had backed to WSW - so onto starboard tack on a close-reach. Pole was taken down and

stowed and mainsail gybed.

We're lucky to make over 3 knots just now. Wind is expected to increase tonight, veer to N, and continue to increase over tomorrow, maybe getting up to over 30 knots by tomorrow night before easing after midnight.... A bit stronger than was showing yesterday! It's going to take 3-4 days (longer if the wind doesn't increase as forecast!) to get to Cape Horn, which is 400 miles from here as I write this and another Low is expected to come by just then, giving very strong winds again ...

I suppose it's appropriate weather for rounding the Horn, so I mustn't complain!! Pity I'm forced to go so slowly today, so I'm unlikely to get to the Cape a little sooner to sneak round the corner quickly to avoid the worst of the wind and resulting seas...! Still - it's a few days away yet so things might change for the better - fingers crossed (yet again!!) I must just try to make the best speed possible in the meantime.

I looked at the propshaft area after changing tack this morning. We were moving so slowly through the water the propshaft was still - so I promptly set about wedging in place the piece of wood I had ready, to prevent the shaft from spinning. After a bit of playing around, I soon realized that wiring it to hold it in position was not going to work, but with a bit more cutting, I was able to knock it into place firmly just under a nut on a connection to the gearbox. I then took the Vise-grips and tried to fix them in place on the small section of propshaft available - after a bit more playing around, I finally managed to get them to grip the shaft - making sure I did so such that I could remove them easily! So I've the two things preventing the shaft from spinning - hopefully, at least one will work! I shan't have to wait long to find out, I think!

8pm Well , neither worked - with the stronger wind coming in gradually, we're making better speed ... and t's spinning gaily again... grrr!! Next time, I'll try the wood again - from a different angle - and also a strop around the shaft. My previous cord wrapped around lasted two months, and a friend has sent me an even better way of doing it - so next time, that's what I'll try as well....

Another rather grey day, but no fog, overnight rain stopped early on and the seas lay right down over the day- to almost total calm with just a very slight swell. We've still the two young Grey-headed (not Grey-faced - although they are!) albatross around, and an occasional 2-3 prions.

Hot soup and freshly-made hot stew...... warming! (Air temperature in the main cabin is 10C.)

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 130 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page) (I hear there may be a

problem with the main link - hopefully it will be fixed very soon...)

At 1200 (Monday) UTC: 54:28S, 079:19W. Cape Horn 422 ml 108T; Chile (nearest point) 194 ml 059T (P. Montt 831 ml, 032T) ; N.Z. (Owaka, S.Island) 3806 ml 226T; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4900ml 332T.

Sunday 2nd January 2011

Photo shows a Black-browed albatross flying close to "Nereida"

Photo shows my 'woodwork bench'!

I looked at the propshaft area - spinning too much to do anything safely, with present good boat speed, but wind is forecast to ease in a day or so, so I want to be prepared for the job... Not made easier due to CV joint aft of gearbox, with only a tiny length of actual metal shaft in engine compartment - and that not easily accessible nor visible, although I can feel it. Not sure that my Vise-grips are big enough to use for the simple 'fix' - but I checked out how to operate them, in readiness. (They've invariably defeated me previously but, once I'd played around with them for a bit, they turned out to be really easy to use - if you do it right!) The other idea is to wedge the piece of wood under one of the several nuts in the joint connection to stop the rotation - the wood is a sturdy piece of teak so should be strong enough if I can wedge it in place firmly - I may have to wire it as well, to stop it 'jumping' out of place, maybe.... Having cut it, it should be the right size/shape for the job now.... we'll see.

SSB/HF radio - decided to have a go at missing GPS connection once more (lat/long/UTC info has been annoyingly missing/flashing in the display since some rough weather a few weeks ago). Checked the connection behind the (remote) fascia, which I had thought might be the problem - that seemed fine but undid and re-did the connector anyway - no change. So checked the connection at the main unit - also seemed good but again released and tightened all the connectors there.... Hey presto! Display was complete! Took all of ten minutes maybe .... Wish every problem had such a quick'n'easy fix!

Time is really confusing me now! I have to keep an eye on GMT as a reference (UTC is a few millionths, or less, of a second different!) because, as I move East, I have to adjust my ship's clocks to keep myself in 'sync' with day and night... So, instead of being in Pacific Standard Time (PST - which is the time kept by all the west coast of N. America, except Alaska), which is 8 hrs behind Greenwich, I'm now just 5 hrs behind GMT - so adjusted my ship's clocks by 2 hrs a week ago and another hour today.... In fact, I hear Chile operate daylight saving and are one, probably two, hours even more ahead (Z-3). My body is totally confused! So I'm eating when I feel hungry and sleeping when I feel tired....

Another murky, dull, grey, often foggy day today, although we've been making good speed in NNW wind. The fog was especially thick as evening fell... I was delighted to find a new kind of albatross visiting us this morning... Firstly, two Wandering albatross - BIG birds, chocolate brown on top with a white face - very distinctive! A short while later, two Black-browed albatross joined them and the two Grey-faced albatross who are still keeping us company near the boat. They were very curious and definitely checking us out, coming very close lots of times - so a good photo-opportunity! 20

Just before dusk, I had a nice long chat with Alex (and skipper Michael) on the Australian boat 'Drina', on passage from Brisbane to Puerto Montt, in Chile -

only 3-4 days more to landfall for them! Alex mentioned hot springs - they sound really inviting in the 9-10C air temperatures I'm experiencing just now..!

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 116 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 (Sunday) UTC: 53:41S, 082:46W. Cape Horn 553 ml 111T; Chile (nearest point) 294 ml 083T (P. Montt 831 ml, 032T) ; N.Z. (Owaka, S.Island) 3750 ml 228T; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4805ml 335T.

Saturday 1st January 2011 - Happy New Year!

I'm so far south now that the nights are getting really short - in fact, there was a remnant of light in the sky to the S all night long, with pink clouds and the early pre-dawn light in the East by around 2am local time! I stood in the cockpit for a long time, absorbing the scene ....and just had to sing out loud for joy, it was just so exhilarating! Sailing gently in the Southern Oean, en route to not-so-far-distant-now Cape Horn, with a beautiful, dramatic skyscape - and the seas, despite a big swell, relatively calm ....! What a start to the New Year!!

In fact, conditions were so good that I decided to celebrate the New Year by changing course and gybing the mains'l there and then, in the pink pre-dawn light, to make for Cape Horn directly (by great circle route) -no need to keep going East to avoid what were clearly not such bad swells as had been feared. I was also hoping to keep better wind for longer with the course change, the wind being expected to die down a lot more over the day, but possibly a touch stronger to the S.

8am: The lovely start to the year continued, with two Grey-headed Albatross swooping around the boat in the weak sunshine as I shook out two reefs - the wind, as expected, was dying ... and with it, our speed!

After more sleep, I came up on deck mid-morning to overcast skies and drizzle - and it's been like that, on & off, for the rest of the day - very murky and hazy in the distance with lots of moisture in the air, - foggy, later this afternoon.... I was clearly very lucky with weather conditions last night and first thing this moning!

Contacted the Patagonia Cruisers' Net on 8164 kHz soon after making my position report early this morning to wish them 'Happy New Year!' - not many boats checking in just now. Also finally made radio contact with an Australian boat that friends had told me was to my north, headed to Chile - we had a good long chat - they'd not spoken to anyone for over a month! And tonight, after my usual sociable check-in with Pacific Seafarers Net, another chat with Andy at the S. Pole station in Antarctica, followed by one with Mike at McMurdo Sound base... Andy is kindly trying to get up-to-date info for me on the ice situation in the waters near to Cape Horn from a skipper who does regular runs across those waters to the Peninsula US Base - that would be really useful.

Decided that the more urgent of my two important jobs for today was to deal with the generator oil - badly needed changing....well overdue..... Can't afford
anything to happen to the generator, so while seas fairly calm (only the occasional big swell), I got that job done - took a time, but I feel far more relaxed now it's over.

Still thinking about my options for the spinning propshaft problem - have vice-grips but possibly not big enough... or have bits of wood - will have a look and another think tomorrow....

Tonight changed course slightly for Cape Horn LH - with weather expected being from NW and not too strong, looks as though I can safely take the 'shortcut' and go much closer to the Cape than I was planning previously - I may yet see the lighthouse itself... That would be quite nice - we'll see if that works out or not!

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 118 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 (Saturday) UTC: 52:50S, 085:40W. Cape Horn WP 672 ml 120T; Chile 387 ml 083T; N.Z. (C.Saunders, Dunedin, S.Island) 3705 ml 230T; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4710ml 337T.

Friday 31st December 2010

Wishing all of you a very Happy New Year! Cheers!!

This evenimg's delicate sunset, seen from "Nereida" in swell of the Southern Ocean - last of the year 2010

An albatross resting close to Nereida's stern..!

Albatross soaring on those long, stiff wings....

I was awake early, as usual, to note down my midday UTC position and weather report - which is now at 6am local time (GMT-6), which should be one hour20 out from Chile time (GMT-5?). I'd been intending to contact the Patagonia Cruisers' Net on 8164 kHz for some time but kept overlooking it because its timing coincides with my report - which takes me quite a time to collate and send off.

Well, today (having posted myself a big notice in my logbook!), I finally managed it - and made contact with Wolfgang, the Net Controller/Manager, who I understand is based in Porte Montt. Lots of static on frequency, but we just managed to exchange greetings and for me to give him my details.

There is a surprising number of cruisers in Chile, attracted to the hundreds of remote islands and anchorages waiting to be explored, and it seems to have the same wild beauty of such places as SE Alaska, with which I'm more familiar.

But, like Alaska, the cruising season is short due to the latitude and one problem is that in many places, it's minimally charted - one hears of many uncharted rocks, in a very rocky area.... which, together with nasty 'williwaws' off hillsides and mountains, can easily lead to disaster - not a good place for a single-hander, unfamiliar with the area, to be sailing in, close to shore!

Conditions since late yesterday have been much easier, although the occasional bigger wave knocks us about still - and the swell is expected to increase, if anything, over today and tomorrow possibly, with the wind dying right down by this time tomorrow and maybe also over the following day - so progress will be slow for a day or more. (Just heard a crash of water as a wave washed over our side deck!)

When I ran the generator yesterday in very 'bumpy' conditions, the oil light came on when we were heeled over a lot - the generator doesn't like extreme
angles of heel. Fortunately, we came up again quickly enough that the oil light went out - but I'm taking that as a warning to check the oil level - and maybe it needs an oil change - to be checked on and done in calmer conditions - when the swell has died down a bit over the next two days. I depend on the generator for battery charging if wind and sun aren't available, so must look after it.

A lovely delicate 'end of the year' sunset tonight ... I've been on deck several times this afternoon, once the grey clouds and drizzle cleared away - enjoying the scene and the last day of the year. Very few birds today - but two albatross and a couple of handsome prions/petrels from time to time....

The propshaft is still spinning and doesn't stop when the gear is put into reverse - another job waiting for calmer conditions. Not going to be easy to fix....

Enjoying music, olives, salmon pate and blue cheese (separately!) on crackers, to be followed by some hot stew (with a glass of pinot noir) - it's cold without heating here! Somewhere there's a tiny bottle to see in the New Year.... Happy New Year!

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 143 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 (Friday) UTC: 52:16S, 088:46W. Cape Horn WP 787 ml 120T; Chile 499 ml 091T; N.Z. (C.Saunders, Dunedin, S.Island) 3640 ml 232T; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4640ml 340T.

Thursday 30th December 2010

Wishing all of you a very Happy New Year 2011! Cheers!!

Had a very enjoyable 'blue cheese' omelette last night - fresh eggs still fine with my regular turning of the box they're all stored in. They're possibly being helped now by the current low ambient temperatures - 11C at night, 13C daytime, but I've quite simply tried to remember to turn them every couple of days or so ... no vaseline or other messy coating! Not being chilled initially was vitally important, as was getting them from 'under the hen', straight from the farm!! (I'd stowed the pressure cooker, holding the stew I made earlier in the day, inside a galley locker for safety, in advance of the expected 'bumpy' conditions today - I'm looking forward to having that hot this evening! I've no heating just now....)

I was woken quite early, soon after daybreak, around 5.30am LT (local time), by the wind having increased - to around 35knots from NNW. Skies were very grey and seas were getting up, really knocking the boat around. The propshaft is spinning again - but it will have to wait to calmer conditions for me to try anything there. It's 'two hands for the boat' today, not just the usual one, preferably leaning against something. The motion can be quite violent at times, so sitting (or lying in my warm bunk!) is the safest position! Winds soon were gusting up to around 40 knots, sometimes sustained - but not going much higher, I was pleased to see... We were coping fine on a very broad reach with 3 reefs in mains'l and a scrap of genoa on the pole and some stays'l also out, although very small. (I have this worry that I might need that in a hurry if I wanted to heave to for some reason, but really it's not doing a lot, except that when a big wave knocks us over and we suddenly turn upwind, I feel it might be helping our balance to get us back off the wind...).

I say we were coping fine - in fact, seeing 40 knots of wind regularly when I first came up to check on deck, I wanted to reduce the genoa a bit more from its overnight size - but had run out of port winches (pole, genoa sheet and running backstay). so decided to take the furling line over to a stbd winch - not the best of options but it works.... if you're careful! Unfortunately, I managed to over-ride the furling line really badly on the winch. (Didn't keep an eye on a very bad lead! ) I tried taking the end onto another winch nearby, and did manage to undo it a little - but nothing like enough ... What an idiot!! So there we were with a bar-taut furling line crossing the cockpit from one side to the other, with two winches unuseable (to help the lead, I'd taken it around the main port sheet winch!) and impossible to furl the genoa in or out... and even stronger, rising winds and seas possibly imminent...!! Not a comfortable feeling!

The last thing I wanted to do was to cut the line, although I seriously considered that ... Time to try a rolling hitch to take the strain off the line where it was tangled. I found some Spectra line, which was about the same size and is very strong, and after several attempts (it's quite slippery), the knot held and I got some slack.... sigh of relief!! I had to use the winch I'd released the running backstay from and just hoped that for a short while that wouldn't matter. Of course then, with no tension on the line, ....no problem releasing the tangle! While I had the port winch available, I furled in a touch more genoa - in these strong conditions, a little canvas does a lot - we were making good speed and surfing often with the big waves....!

At some point I glanced up - to see a large Royal Albatross, hovering just above me, eyeing me....!! The 3 Grey-headed albatross and lots of prions/petrels from yesterday are still with us, soaring over the waves - they love these strong winds and big seas...!

Afterwards, I sat at the chart table for quite a while, in full foul weather gear, feeling cold, tired and very damp (I'd only slept for 3-4 hrs) but wanting to keep an eye on the wind and the boat's behaviour when the big waves hit ... Tried to relax and close my eyes ... but eventually, having reassured myself that conditions weren't worsening and the boat was coping fine, I made for my bunk where I warmed up and got some very welcome sleep!

The winds had eased a bit by 2-3pm, to a fairly steady 30 knots from WNW, so hopefully, that's the most we'll see and the winds will slowly ease further, although seas are still well up, of course.

Evening: Winds are still around 27kt, from WNW, and seas are big but well-spaced, so although it's a bit bumpy at times, all is well... I'm about to have some nice hot stew!!

I've had some enjoyable radio chats (one with MacMurdoSound, Antarctica, and one with S. Africa), in addition to usual chats on checking in to the Pacific Seafarers Net - they're all beginning to feel like old friends, we've talked every day now for so long!

Now I'm looking forward to increasing swell over the coming New Year weekend.... Not far to Cape Horn now (816ml to WP 60mls S of the Cape, as I write this) ... beginning to feel excited but trepidatious... And there's still a lot of the Southern Ocean to cover as yet, over the coming months...

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 123 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 (Thursday) UTC: 51:35S, 092:27W. Cape Horn WP 926 ml 120T; Chile 638 ml 097T; N.Z. (C.Saunders, Dunedin, S.Island) 3555 ml 234T; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4560ml 343T.

Wednesday 29th December 2010

Heavy rain overnight gave way quite early in the morning to a backed WSW wind for a short time and clear blue skies - which only became rather cloudy near 6pm local time, by which time the sun was getting rather low anyway. (I'm having to adjust my ship's clock to GMT-6, instead of keeping to PST , which is GMT-8) Wind has been right down to around 12 knots, from W-WNW since late morning, but I'm not in a hurry to move too far S just now - so I accepted our boatspeed of around 5 knots - not a fast day today! But still that big swell (4-5m easily) - seems to be from two directions ... mainly from W but some from more SW - when they meet, they 'lump' up.

There have been lots of prions around all day. Actually look as though they might be blue petrels from beak colour - similar dainty blue-grey markings, same distinctive dark 'M' across their wings, have very dark beak. Trouble is the birds I'm seeing have a white head with black eye-not the dark cap my book shows....?

Most exciting, first thing this morning, was coming up on deck and finding a large Grey-headed albatross sitting in the water right beside our stern - and two more flying around!! They've been close by all day long - so many birds today!!

The weather concern now is of strong winds imminent (increasing over tomorrow) and of unavoidable major swells (maybe up to 9m/30ft!!) over the coming

weekend - around the New Year... Seems I'll either be blown into the New Year - or knocked into it....

At least the sunny, calm conditions today gave me the chance to change the pole over safely when I had to gybe the mains'l - we're now on port tack - and check everything on deck - including the series drogue deployment routine. I was glad I did that because the chain which acts as a weight at the end of the drogue was NOT as easy to extract from its bag as it should have been - so I've taken it out and tied it down, ready to be deployed easily.

I've also made another big lot of beef and vegetable stew - the last lot was very welcome when I was feeling cold, and lasted for several days ... so it's definitely something to be repeated when nasty weather is looming in these cold conditions!!

Tried taking more photos.... Such bright sunshine all day long, and so many of the birds coming so very close - eyeing me as they hovered close by momentarily, as though they want to inspect me as well! But that always happens when my camera is NOT to hand, or not switched on...!

Spoke to Andy (WA2DKJ) at the South Pole US Antarctic base, KC4AAA, tonight! Clear as a bell - 200 yds from the geographic South Pole!!!

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 130 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 (Wednesday) UTC: 50:58S, 095:35W. Cape Horn WP 1046 ml 122T; Chile 760 ml 101T; N.Z. (C.Saunders, Dunedin, S.Island) 3482 ml 235T; Mexico

(Cabo S. Lucas) 4490ml 346T.

Tuesday 28th December 2010

4-5 petrels flying close to waves and then soaring on uplift in bright sun at 4-5am PST. They seem to be around always now - never far away - that's really

nice - I've company!! About a dozen... one of which, at least, was possibly a sooty shearwater again... much darker and not the white underparts of the

petrels. One albatross seen early on - not seen well enough to be able to say whether Royal or Wandering... So distinctively different from the others! I

tried to take photos of the birds - so difficult, they swoop past so very fast in the strong wind...

This morning was grey and rainy but the sun is trying to get out now (midday) through thinning clouds. It feels like the norm now to have winds frequently

getting up to around 30 knots! We're well reefed down, so if the wind does increase unexpectedly, it's not too much of a worry - within reason, of course!

1.20pm JUST finished an unexpected job for today! As I was writing, I suddenly realized I could hear the propshaft spinning... I'd tied it off early in the

passage with cord and it had seemed fine - up to now! But it had worked loose, the string was frayed and no longer holding .... Took a time to figure out

that I could hold it still to work on it, using a wrap of cord again, once it had slowed down from time to time.... I've wedged a metal vice-grip against a nut

in the assembly to stop the rotation, as well as using more cord wrapped around a joint in the shaft - I just hope I'm not causing myself a future problem

doing that, but I clearly don't want the shaft to be spinning continuously for the next five months... Something I'll need to keep an eye on from time to

time.... (In an emergency, I hope to cut the cord and knock the grips away.)

I had been about to look at the photos I took earlier.... but first I just had to go and sit in the cockpit - such bright sun, blue sky ..and the petrels swooping

about the boat and soaring up over the nearby waves ... adjusted Fred, while sitting there, to keep course..... Time for cheese and biscuits, feeling relaxed,

with wind down to 22kt,.... pleasant, if COLD sailing in big, but well-spaced, swell.

Well, the photos, as usual, mainly show lots of water and sky - but some hints of birds here and there... enough to make me realize the birds were different

- not Juan Fernandez petrels - no dark cap and no all-white underwings... back to the bird book...!

This evening, I enjoyed chatting again to the US Antarctic base, KC4USV, at MacMurdo Sound ... initially to Mike, K1LRZ, and later to Ben, KB1LOL, who called

me on 14300, hearing me on frequency as I was trying to make a contact for a phone 'patch'. For the people there, in an isolated environment like me, it's

nice to be able to chat to someone!

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 144 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 (Tuesday) UTC: 50:13S, 098:47W. Cape Horn WP 1173 ml 122T; Easter Island 1467ml 337T; Chile 886ml 101T; N.Z. (C.Saunders, Dunedin,

S.Island) 3406ml 236T; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4425ml. 349T.

Monday 27th December 2010

Day 63 marks my longest time nonstop at sea so far! I took 62 days from Cape Town, South Africa, to Nelson, New Zealand in March-May this year and that

was just one day more than my passage down to Cape Town from Puerto Calero, Lanzarote, in the Canaries, from October to December last year - meant to

be a nonstop RTW attempt, but I had to pull in to Cape Town for unavoidable repairs, reaching there, under sail alone, on 6th December 2009.

This morning was murky, grey and damp! Air temperature 11C and sea 8C. A day for hot soup .... and a hot stew very welcome in the evening!

I got into my bunk for warmth!! With loads of emails to reply to, I was just settled in nicely when I realized the wind had increased ... In fact, to 35-40kt ....

I'd been aware of the pressure dropping, from 1006 late last night to 1003 around 6am, after I'd had to gybe the mains'l, with rain starting soon after. But I

was unprepared for this sudden strong wind - although, looking at the pressure when the wind was at its height, it had dropped right down to 995 hPa!! I knew a Low was set to pass well S of us at some point, and I hadn't thought much of the pressure drop earlier. Another learning curve!! Of course, with it raining, I'd had to put my foul weather gear on - that takes an age!! Especially over all my layers...

I reduced the aleady small headsails (we were surfing to well over 8 knots) and watched how the boat performed - she did fine. The pressure dropped a

bit more, to 994, and steadied... The wind stayed up at around 35 knots and slowly backed, with occasional stronger gusts... We made good speed!!

An hour or so later, the sun came out - the sky had cleared totally.. and there, soaring on fixed wings ahead of us, was a Wandering Albatross (a New Zealand

albatross) with distinctive white splashes on its dark upper wing surfaces, white body and mainly white underparts.... Two albatrosses in two days...!!

The wind stayed strong on & off all day ... mainly 27 knots, often 30+. Cloud banks came and went, with clear sky in between - a real mix!! But the wind

stayed WNW, while pressure very slowly rose- to 1001 hPa by evening.

Of course, with such strong wind, the swell increased too - becoming 4-5 m. and regularly catching us and knocking us about...

The Low giving a worry for later in the week, just before New Year's Eve, is causing a change of mind about our course. After reaching 50S 100W, the plan was to

head directly for a WP 60 ml S of Cape Horn (off the continental shelf) via a Great Circle route (the quickest way) but with a 9m steep swell forecast with that

Low, peaking at around 53S, I'll stay on my 112T course for a bit longer after reaching 50S, rather than change to 120T. The hope is that by staying a bit

further north, we'll miss the worst of that nasty swell... We'll see how that works out!

A lovely clear sky after sunset, with stars (Orion high up - standing on his head!) and , later, a bright moon - but very cold!! Winter weather, to my mind!

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 126 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 (Monday) UTC: 49:27S, 102:18W. Cape Horn WP 1313 ml SE; Easter Island 1377ml N; Chile 1030ml ESE; N.Z. (South Island) 3314ml WSW; Mexico

(Cabo S. Lucas) 4358ml. N.

Sunday 26th December 2010 (Boxing Day)

A lovely morning again, with the sun shining out of occasional patches of blue sky quite often... Spent quite a lot of time over the day wedged in the companionway looking out at the impressive swell - felt so exhilarated at times - marvellous to be out here in such good weather, despite the cold! Late in the afternoon, a cloud bank approached and blanketed the sun with grey.... But as the sun disappeared, the birds arrived - not just a few .... lots of them!!

I thought some were sooty shearwaters, all dark with lighter underwing parts, but then realized that some, at least, were not - they had yellow beaks and a touch of white nearby - White-chinned petrels...! Then I spotted several Juan Fernandez petrels, as seen the other day - distinctive in their grey and white plumage with black and white heads. As I was trying to see two of them better, I suddenly saw this much larger bird nearby - distinctive with its big wingspan, white body and underparts, dark wings above and dark tips to the white of its wings beneath.... a Royal albatross! It circled and came quite close, so we each got a good look at each other! A great Boxing Day present!

The expected front came through around dawn. The wind had been slowly backing over yesterday and overnight, and by midnight was dropping... by dawn, it had died almost completely to just 6 knots from the SW, preceded by rain... our boatspeed dropped to near zero! An hour later, it had veered to WNW and increased to 11 knots - and continued to increase a little... we were moving again - good news!! The wind strength has varied a lot over the day, from 11 to 25 knots, just as the cloud cover has - one moment, lovely clear sky overhead, with bright sun, .... a short while later, murky grey skies....

Sea temperature is down to 8C and, with air temperature down to 13C, I finally succumbed - and donned fleeces as my third layer .... I'm definitely getting into 'Michelin man' mode...,. Hat is being worn most of the day now and I'm thinking about hot soups and warm gloves! And it's just gone midsummer hereabouts!

I monitored 14300 kHz after 0400GMT for a short while, in case anyone wanted to contact me there - propagation at that time is excellent. Hearing no-one, I tuned into the Antarctic station frequency I had been told about recently - and immediately made contact with Andy, WA2DKJ, from New Jersey, who has been working for the last two months at maintaining communications at out-stations, this particular one being 550 miles from the S. Pole. We had quite a long chat and then I heard another station calling me - from MacMurdo Sound ... Ben, KB1LOL, from Boston, MA, was on frequency - wanting to chat, as one sailor to another! (His work is on maintaining VHF repeater stations in the US sector.) Ham radio has become a great source of communication and human contact for me of late!!

I'm keeping an eye on that nasty-looking Low heading this way, ready for New Year's Eve ... looks slightly less compressed today - but has plenty of time to get worse....and is still packing quite a punch, even now.

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 143 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 (Sunday) UTC: 48:32S, 105:12W. Cape Horn WP 1438 ml SE; Easter Island 1297ml N; Chile 1155ml ESE; N.Z. (Portland Island) 3230ml WSW; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4292ml. N.

Saturday 25th December (Christmas Day)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I hope you all have a lovely peaceful holiday - I'll be thinking of many of you - thank you very much for your emails!

My postbag took a time to look through - my after-breakfast treat! A lovely morning, with the sun struggling out early through broken, thin cloud layer - even saw some blue sky now and then... Saw one solitary bird (petrel) in the distance - but so far no albatross.

My last fresh grapefruit, fresh coffee, home-made marmalade (- thanks, R&D!) on crispbread - with butter that has survived my fridge malfunction (temperature is now low enough not to need a fridge!) ... Wedged against the swell's motion in the companionway with music playing, having breakfast up in the cool air and weak sunshine, looking out to the sea - if I don't keep looking, I definitely won't see any birds ...!

Good wind again (around 25 knots at present), consistent downwind sailing - I've hardly needed to touch the sails for the last day or so!

2.30pm On wind steering, with Fred in charge, tried to check in to the Maritime Mobile Net on 14300 kHz - they had a bit of a problem finding a relay with good enough copy on me to take my report, but finally found KD4CMV (Warren?) who took my report - with a bit of trying and a helping hand from W7WZ (John?). I then switched to 21.402 MHz, my usual frequency for contacts in the daytime now - rather late, since I normally try to be there at 2.45pm PST (2245GMT) and it was now gone 3pm. I was able to make contact with Tom (WA6TLL), near LA, and Jerry (KL7EDK), in Alaska - enough to exchange Christmas greetings, although they had trouble hearing me - they were faint but readable to me. It's a bit of an effort, but worthwhile - it's nice to make the contact with human voices!!

4pm Foggy in the distance - very reduced visibility and a lot of moisture on the air... Wind slowly backing as a front comes closer - expected to pass by early tomorrow, wind has already backed from WNW at dawn to just S of W now - hopefully continuing to do so gradually, although last year I experienced a change from NNW to SW in extreme winds (well over 50 knots!) in almost no time at all, as a front passed over.... not pleasant, especially with big seas from two different directions!

Of course, as I was writing that, a gap in the clouds came along - and suddenly the sun was shining! Clearly the foggy conditions are patchy, since a short while later the sun was very watery with the fog bank just a thin layer, hovering not very high above - but it was good to see the sun shining nicely while it lasted.

5.30pm Time for tea & Christmas cake!

Another good day - a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas! Enjoyed my Pacific Seafarers Net session around 7.30pm, as usual - lots of Christmas greetings exchanged, although the Aussies and Kiwis are into Boxing Day now - being a day ahead almost! Interesting that propagation is now such that, after sunset, I'm having excellent copy with stations in the eastern USA - Florida and Georgia.... (after 0330 GMT/1930 PST). I'm monitoring 14300 after 0400Z for a short while now, if anyone wants to contact me.

The only blot on the horizon is a nasty-looking Low heading for me - all ready to blow me into the New Year with a vengeance.... I might yet be testing out my Jordan Series Drogue.... Watch this space!

My Christmas dinner of salmon with fresh potatoes, green peas and tartare sauce is waiting for me ... with a little white wine ...followed by some Christmas pudding ... and some very nice chocolate...(thanks, Tom & Maggie - I kept it specially!)

I'm raising a glass to everyone - "To a happy 2011 and your very good health! Cheers!" (Note the fleece and warm hat - not so warm here!)

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 152 n.ml. (See maps showing track & position via links on my website 'Travels' page)

At 1200 (Saturday) UTC: 47:27S, 108:22W. Cape Horn WP 1579 ml SE; Easter Island 1218ml N; Chile 1295ml ESE; N.Z. (Portland Island) 3133ml WSW; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4220ml. N.

Friday 24th December Christmas Eve - Day 60

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I hope you all have a lovely peaceful holiday - I'll be thinking of many of you - thank you for your emails!

1pm Lots of greetings received by email - always nice to get news from friends. My postbag was full - I'm leaving opening some of the post until later

today - just to spread out the enjoyment of the 'Christmas presents'! A lovely morning - the sun struggled out at midday - even had some blue sky for a

short while - and sun again now, with patches of blue... Stood in companionway gazing around at the awesome seas, made some fresh coffee .. and sang

some carols! To be more truthful, since I couldn't remember all the words, there was a lot of "la-la" - but that's fine - I enjoyed it, although it's a bit difficult

to sing descant to yourself!

No fog today! Just good wind (up to 25 knots at present), downwind sailing, good boat speed - and, even more welcome, a favourable current! But still not

a bird in sight, most unusual... I keep looking, expecting to see one somewhere in the distance maybe ... but - nada!

Debating whether to make a glorious beef stew (best of M&S!) with lots of fresh-boiled potato, chopped tomatoes, sweetcorn, green beans and fried onion

added ... or whether to have chicken tikka masala with Basmati rice and maybe add in some aubergine... that would work well.

One of the presents I opened early was tins of stuffed green olives and pate de campagne (thanks, Liz - remember?!) - that's for an hors d'oeuvre today and

tomorrow.... Mmm - might relent and delve into it early... My main Christmas present is just being out here in the middle of this mighty wilderness - it's

awe-inspiring, especially when those big seas come tumbling along and pick us up... Really puts us mere humans into perspective... We've been surfing

nicely quite often, although I'm keeping an eye always on our speed - don't want it to get too high, especially when surfing.... Generally, in 25knots of wind

from astern now, we're making 6-7.5 knots - with that slight helpful 'push' from the current - and the waves. I took a video of the seas . but I'm sure, like

the photos that were posted here on Wednesday of the stormy seas in winds of 35kt, it won't show the reality of the high crests and deep troughs - it's like

looking down at the troughs out of a high upstairs window, they're so deep down! And this swell isn't particularly big, by Southern Ocean standards...!

5.30pm Sitting with a big mug of tea - and some Christmas cake. At least, that's what I'm calling it! It's a rich dark fruit cake - so it's very similar, just

lacking the marzipan coating and the icing decoration. Opening my post.... and then I've promised myself to get to reading my book - "Luxton's Pacific

Crossing"! Fascinating!!

Wind seems to be consistently in the mid-20s and we're still going well - almost dead downwind with slightly quartering seas, but well apart, at around 10

seconds. Sun disappeared a while ago and grey skies were threatening rain, I thought, but no sign of that as yet. So I've had a good day - relaxing and

enjoyable!

Finished making a big stew - enough for 3 meals, I'd say! Tomorrow's 'special' is to be the salmon I was given before leaving - with fresh potatoes, green

peas and tartare sauce ... and a little white wine, if it's calm enough! A little red wine with the stew tonight should go well.... I'm breaking my 'dry boat on

passage' rule - but I normally do that on special occasions! I'll be raising a glass tomorrow to the various friends who will be doing the same to me - "To

your good health!"

7pm - Foggy cloudy conditions just dropped down - but wind unchanged. Was just checking cloud cover for Pacific Net daily weather report - blue sky one

moment - and then this layer of low cloud blew over fast - and blotted out the sun and sky in no time!

Looking forward to relaxing over my book after my meal. That's after emails and this log report sent - if I can connect - not easy these days - takes a long

time, sometimes...

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 141 n.ml. (See track on 'Travels' page)

At 1200 UTC: 46:11S, 111:35W. Cape Horn WP 1730 ml SE; Easter Island 1143ml N; Chile 1146ml ESE; N.Z. (Portland Island) 3034ml WSW; Mexico (Cabo S. Lucas) 4145 ml. N.

Thursday 23rd December Day 59 - Still big swell, but wind down - rockin' & rollin' downwind in THICK FOG!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I hope you all have a lovely peaceful holiday - I'll be thinking of many of you - thank you for your emails!

Photo shows my Christmas card from "Nereida" to all of you... Enjoy the holiday!

Fog today! Quite thick in the early morning, lifted a bit by midday - but still lurking, with visibility very restricted .... dropped down again by mid-afternoon.
Now the wind has dropped down, it's very calm downwind sailing - but not a bird in sight, just big swell and dripping fog. All very peaceful, now we're back under wind steering.

Spent an age yesterday and again today looking over routeing options: whether to go directly from here on a Great Circle route to the Horn (WP is quite a way
S of Cape Horn, in fact) or whether to put in an extra WP that would keep us from dropping quite as far S as the first option.... and so lessen the chances of really big swell - far bigger than the big swell we've had so far. It's a lottery whether the winds will be much different, possibly not. The wind and the swell often really build up close in to Chile - the winds building with a compression effect as the Lows come in towards the continent. Nothing to be done to avoid that since that's where Cape Horn is - other than to stand well off the continental shelf if conditions look to be bad as we get closer!

Tied down a couple of crates in the aft cabin which had worked loose with the jarring motion of the boat in the big seas. In fact, another empty one had come away completely a day ago and knocked into the AP/instruments connector that I't rigged up - and disconnected it... I suddenyl noticed that the AP noise had stopped ... and the instrument displays were blank! Fortunately, since we were in strong conditions at the time, I was able quickly to re-connect the wiring and sort out the steering - but one other job today has been to protect that item rather better! I also had to wedge one of the fuel jerrycans in the cockpit locker- I'd heard a banging noise from time to time when the bigger waves hit yesterday but had had difficulty locating the source of the noise. In the calmer conditions this morning, I was able to see what the problem was - with the occasional bigger wave coming along conveniently to show me what was moving!

I've been enjoying frequent cheese and biscuits - at present, I'm slowly finishing the tasty little Mt Townsend cheeses I got in the Saturday market just before I left Pt Townsend - it's a good thing I like ripe cheeses! That's definitely an item on my Christmas Day menu!

It's been really heartwarming to be getting so many 'Season's Greetings' by way of email - I've tried to reply to them all and hope I've not overlooked anyone. I've not had time to compose my own 'Season's Greetings' email - maybe later today.. I hope my friends will forgive me... In the meantime, I hope that everyone reading this will have a very enjoyable Christmas. (BTW, can someone remind me of the times/frequencies of BBC Overseas so I can listen on my SSB radio - I'm missing my carol-singing...!! Are they broadcasting the Cambridge Cathedral Choir Carols - or something similar?)

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 147 n.ml.

At 1200 UTC: Cape Horn WP 1870 ml SE; Easter Island 1091ml NNE; Pitcairn 1412ml NNW; Chile 1585ml ESE; N.Z. (Portland Island) 2947ml WSW; Mexico (Cabo San Lucas) 4073 ml. N.

Wednesday 22nd December Day 58 - 4-5m swell with 35 kt winds - rough!

Bright full moon overnight, with increasing cloud.

By dawn, the WSW 20knot wind had dropped a bit to around 17kt and had veered to WNW, ahead of the expected strong winds. We went goose-winged but soon after , I decided it would be better to pole out the genoa since the wind was so nearly from astern and not expected to change much when it strengthened. That done, in fairly calm conditions, the wind soon began to increase - to 23 knots and rising ... so time to tie in the 3rd reef... while it was still easy...

Good timing!! Within an hour, pressure had dropped and the wind was gusting to 30knots... with 3 reefs in the mains'l and a tiny scrap of genoa poled out, we were doing fine in building seas... I'd deliberately left the boom end high, when finishing the reefing, and had similarly raised the pole end high and took it forward. In the big seas expected soon, I didn't want the ends of either dipping in the sea if it could be avoided.

After that, the wind increased to 35 knots regularly, and the seas slowly built up to well over 4m, often catching us on the beam and knocking us around with slightly breaking crests. Nothing too worrying, since the swell was well-spaced apart, but uncomfortable at times! The photos really don't do justice to the reality!!

While I was sitting safely in my bunk, I checked out the birds I've been seeing - the sooty shearwater was unmistakeable but the others turned out to be petrels - the Juan Fernandez Petrel!! It's a great help having maps showing where different birds are found - gets rid of lots of possibilities!

This evening, pressure has dropped further and the wind is still up, but tending often to be under 30 knots - so maybe it's decreasing - but the seas will take a time to subside...

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 134 n.ml.

At 1200 UTC: Easter Island 1035ml NNE; Pitcairn 1268ml NW; Chile 1727ml ESE; Cape Horn WP 2017 ml SE; N.Z. (Portland Island) 2872ml WSW; Mexico

(Cabo San Lucas) 3988 ml. (007T)

Stormy sea:

Big sea approaches:

Tuesday 21st December Day 57 - Swell builds up with 20 kt winds - but no rain!

Full eclipse of the moon - I'd really been looking forward to seeing an orange eclipsed moon rising in the East just as the sun set orange in the West - but

the murky drizzly conditions yesterday prevented it. Didn't see the moon at all last night, although I did see the sun rise as the overcast began to disperse

to give a very pleasant morning with broken cloud for a few hours.

The 3-4 birds I've been seeing over the last few days, shearwaters, I think, seem to have adopted us - they're usually somewhere nearby soaring and

swooping, using the waves for uplift - I could spend hours watching them, they're so graceful and totally in their element - especially now that the seas have

built up to over 3m in the consistent 20 knots or so of WSW wind we've had overnight and on into this afternoon.

Urgent job of today was carrying out the switch-over from butane to propane for cooking. With an already quite big swell running, forecast to increase over

the next day or so with the expected increase in wind, I was beginning to get worried that I'd run out of gas in the very near future in the galley and not be in

safe conditions to make the change over. So, seeing a bright sky, with just thin overcast, and a dry deck this morning, I got ready: dressed up in foul-weather gear (guaranteed if I didn't wear it, I'd get a wave breaking over me!), harness & two safety lines (deck was pitching every which way, with the occasional extra large wave to concentrate the mind), the gas pipe I needed for the connection and a couple of tools. It took almost as long getting everything and myself organized as it did to do the job!

Basically, I had to undo the Camping Gaz cylinder from the pipework by rotating it bodily, - such a stupid, awkward system in a confined space! The only practical way to deal with it is to remove it from its holder and bring it up on deck. Then I attached the end of the propane pipe connection with the special adaptor to the solenoid & regulator, in place of the cylinder, at the end of the pipe leading to the galley and attached the other end to the propane tank. The propane connection uses a nice simple system with a collar, easy to connect & tighten up without moving the tank at all, unlike the stupid butane system.... Just to help things along, the butane tank was completely covered in rust.... (I'd installed aluminium propane tanks, to avoid the rust problem of steel tanks.) I checked at the galley - all working OK - relief! When the time comes to switch from one propane tank to the other, that's a simple matter of removing the pipe from one tank and onto the other - a simple unscrewing and re-screwing of the pipe connector end... no moving of tanks - they stay fixed in place.

Early afternoon - the fair-sized swell continues - a wave often catching hold of us & making us lurch to leeward. Sun trying unsuccessfully to get out again. The cabin is still full of clothing hung up to dry - I'm pleased that it seems to have almost dried now. It's still fairly warm down below compared with outside so that has helped.

6pm A 'hole' in the grey overcast appeared - clear blue sky for a short while overhead before it moved on downwind.... and a fleeting glimpse of the sun.

One of the birds soaring nearby was a definite sooty shearwater - dark below as well as above - but the others are clearly white below with dark underwing

edges and tips and dark eye patches and cap.

Wind is still from WSW around 20 kts, very occasionally dropping to 15-16 kt, sometimes rising to 22-23 kt. I'm keeping an eye out, waiting for the wind to

rise higher, ready to reef down again. I'm expecting the wind to increase a lot over tomorrow (Wed), probably from the early morning on, so it won't harm to

reef well in advance - but I don't want to do it too soon, since that would kill our present good speed .... our 3rd reef is a very deep one.

24hr DMG to noon UTC: 109 n.ml. (reflecting the 7 knot winds giving low boat speed over much of the day yesterday)

At 1200 UTC: Easter Island 1002ml NE; Pitcairn 1140ml NNW; Chile 1857ml ESE; Cape Horn WP 2151 ml SE; N.Z. (Portland Island) 2802ml WSW; Mexico (Cabo San Lucas) 3917 ml. (010T)