Current Position: 18 24.085’S 160 00.810’W; Local Timezone: UTC-10; SOG: 5.5 kt COG: 262; TWS: 16 kt; TWD: 135; Distance to Waypoint (Tonga, 254): 793; Total Miles Sailed: 4884 nm;
Comments: At the end of the day the storms keep coming, one after another. They are not really squalls, just rain storms, but the changes in wind direction and speed make it difficult to trim the sails to make steady progress. The seas are also becoming more angry, as expected, and the rolling and pitching are not only uncomfortable, it affects the efficiency of sailing. The prediction is it is going to get much worse as the week progresses. I ran the engine at the end of the day yesterday and topped off the house battery bank in about 20m. The sea became more angry at night. Waves were hitting the port stern quarter and spinning the boat southward. The wind vane would recover, but it would take time. The result was a more southerly course than I intended, straight for the Aitutaki atoll, some 80 nm away at 21:30. I tweaked the wind vane, but it was hard to find a sweet spot in the 25 kt wind. I set 1h sleep intervals fully expecting the boat to accidentally jibe if the wind decreased. However, the wind kept up most of the night and the boat ran true. I made almost exactly the same distance towards the waypoint last night as I did the night before (905-838=67 nm). The difference is I did it with half the sail area. This was achieved because of the higher wind velocity. In general, until the very end, the wind speed is expected to increase as the week progresses. On that note, the GRIB is 20h old. I downloaded a new weather map and plotted a course. There were no major changes from yesterday. It is 6:20 and I am waiting for it to be light enough to learn if today is going to be a repeat of yesterday with squalls. It is partly cloudy, but unlike yesterday the clouds are small and non-threatening. The sea is not as angry. I am averaging 5 kt with half the Yankee and two reefs, so I believe I will leave the sail configuration the way it is for now. I am making good progress towards the waypoint. I thought about fishing … my fresh stores are dwindling, but the truth is it was hard enough to make tea this morning and the idea of handling a pan of hot oil to cook is not appealing. At 7:30, the wind fell off a bit 12-15 kt from 120, so I unfurled most of the Yankee. This increased the speed from 4.8 to 5.4. I am leaving the two reefs in the main for now. Since there is more foresail, the boat wants to run when there is a gust. It could be a decent day for solar, which is good because I left the fridge on all night. Sine it only draws energy when the compressor is on, I am experimenting to see if leaving it on at night might actually result in drawing less energy during the day (because the compressor does not have to work as hard to cool the fridge back down). I have studied the weather forecast. It looks like I can expect the present wind conditions until early Monday morning, when the wind will increase from 15 to 20 (meaning gusts will increase from 20 to 25). I believe it is safe to shake out the second reef until tomorrow evening, when I should go back to half a Yankee and a double reef). After unfurling the last 10% of the Yankee, removing the reef, trimming the sails, and balancing the wind vane, I gained perhaps half a kt to 5.5 in 14 kt wind. The batteries bottomed out at 77% before the solar helped them break even about 9:00. By 9:30, there was a significant excess of amperage. However, I am sailing almost due E and am now at a significantly low latitude that the sun is N, and sails shade the panels by midday. So I really only have 2h of direct sunlight to charge.i doubt the batteries will be charged by the end of the day, but I am going to continue the experiment, leave the fridge on, and try to minimize other uses of energy. It does not help that it is getting more cloudy as the day progresses. A cargo ship appeared on the AIS about 30 nm away, but it is anchored at Aitutaki, were it has been the past few days. It looks like storm clouds are building behind me, but upwind and down course look almost completely clear of clouds. The sun is almost over the cloud cover to the E, so maybe I will get some decent solar energy after all. I passed Aitutaki at 13:00, 25 nm to my S. No more land until Niue, 575 nm away. By 14:00, it was heavily overcast. While nothing specific looked threatening, there was definitely a chance of storms. Very little solar energy was being produced. Winds were blowing steady at 15 and gusting to 20. My plan is to leave the sails as they are for the rest of the daylight hours, but reduce sail overnight. There are now a whole string of boats behind me, basically on the same course from Tahiti. I count 12 at the same latitude stretched back 300 nm, the range of AIS on PW. It started to sprinkle and the wind picked up to 20 at 15:30. While it does not look threatening, after this report I am going to reduce the foresail by 50%. I have made 905-793 = 112 nm on and 4884-4766= 123 nm total in the last 24 h. Note as predicted, the wind is veering more southerly.
Comments: At the end of the day the storms keep coming, one after another. They are not really squalls, just rain storms, but the changes in wind direction and speed make it difficult to trim the sails to make steady progress. The seas are also becoming more angry, as expected, and the rolling and pitching are not only uncomfortable, it affects the efficiency of sailing. The prediction is it is going to get much worse as the week progresses. I ran the engine at the end of the day yesterday and topped off the house battery bank in about 20m. The sea became more angry at night. Waves were hitting the port stern quarter and spinning the boat southward. The wind vane would recover, but it would take time. The result was a more southerly course than I intended, straight for the Aitutaki atoll, some 80 nm away at 21:30. I tweaked the wind vane, but it was hard to find a sweet spot in the 25 kt wind. I set 1h sleep intervals fully expecting the boat to accidentally jibe if the wind decreased. However, the wind kept up most of the night and the boat ran true. I made almost exactly the same distance towards the waypoint last night as I did the night before (905-838=67 nm). The difference is I did it with half the sail area. This was achieved because of the higher wind velocity. In general, until the very end, the wind speed is expected to increase as the week progresses. On that note, the GRIB is 20h old. I downloaded a new weather map and plotted a course. There were no major changes from yesterday. It is 6:20 and I am waiting for it to be light enough to learn if today is going to be a repeat of yesterday with squalls. It is partly cloudy, but unlike yesterday the clouds are small and non-threatening. The sea is not as angry. I am averaging 5 kt with half the Yankee and two reefs, so I believe I will leave the sail configuration the way it is for now. I am making good progress towards the waypoint. I thought about fishing … my fresh stores are dwindling, but the truth is it was hard enough to make tea this morning and the idea of handling a pan of hot oil to cook is not appealing. At 7:30, the wind fell off a bit 12-15 kt from 120, so I unfurled most of the Yankee. This increased the speed from 4.8 to 5.4. I am leaving the two reefs in the main for now. Since there is more foresail, the boat wants to run when there is a gust. It could be a decent day for solar, which is good because I left the fridge on all night. Sine it only draws energy when the compressor is on, I am experimenting to see if leaving it on at night might actually result in drawing less energy during the day (because the compressor does not have to work as hard to cool the fridge back down). I have studied the weather forecast. It looks like I can expect the present wind conditions until early Monday morning, when the wind will increase from 15 to 20 (meaning gusts will increase from 20 to 25). I believe it is safe to shake out the second reef until tomorrow evening, when I should go back to half a Yankee and a double reef). After unfurling the last 10% of the Yankee, removing the reef, trimming the sails, and balancing the wind vane, I gained perhaps half a kt to 5.5 in 14 kt wind. The batteries bottomed out at 77% before the solar helped them break even about 9:00. By 9:30, there was a significant excess of amperage. However, I am sailing almost due E and am now at a significantly low latitude that the sun is N, and sails shade the panels by midday. So I really only have 2h of direct sunlight to charge.i doubt the batteries will be charged by the end of the day, but I am going to continue the experiment, leave the fridge on, and try to minimize other uses of energy. It does not help that it is getting more cloudy as the day progresses. A cargo ship appeared on the AIS about 30 nm away, but it is anchored at Aitutaki, were it has been the past few days. It looks like storm clouds are building behind me, but upwind and down course look almost completely clear of clouds. The sun is almost over the cloud cover to the E, so maybe I will get some decent solar energy after all. I passed Aitutaki at 13:00, 25 nm to my S. No more land until Niue, 575 nm away. By 14:00, it was heavily overcast. While nothing specific looked threatening, there was definitely a chance of storms. Very little solar energy was being produced. Winds were blowing steady at 15 and gusting to 20. My plan is to leave the sails as they are for the rest of the daylight hours, but reduce sail overnight. There are now a whole string of boats behind me, basically on the same course from Tahiti. I count 12 at the same latitude stretched back 300 nm, the range of AIS on PW. It started to sprinkle and the wind picked up to 20 at 15:30. While it does not look threatening, after this report I am going to reduce the foresail by 50%. I have made 905-793 = 112 nm on and 4884-4766= 123 nm total in the last 24 h. Note as predicted, the wind is veering more southerly.