Current Position: 26 07.579’S 46 03.383’E; Timezone: UTC+4; SOG: 7.0; COG: 297; TWS: 20 kt; TWD: 172; P (12:00): 1016.5; P (18:00): 1017.3; P (24:00): 1016.6; P (6:00): 1019.0; Distance to Waypoint (26s34e, 294): 649; Total Miles Sailed: 14760nm; Engine Hours: 282; Estimate Fuel: 36+15+50;
Comments: It is 7:00 and I have been motor sailing in about 5 kt wind for an hour. I transferred fuel to fill the day tank and while doing so separated out a cup of water. That is the most water I have seen since I replumbed the vent line in Darwin. Since I have not been doing much sailing where the starboard side has been submerged, I imaging the water is due to condensation (cooler air and water). I am 95 nm from RBay1 (274) and have set a course (260) that favored reaching 26s, about 30 nm to my S. I am doing this in part because I am more likely to find wind there. I have a NW current at present, but expect it to change to the SW. I have had my morning tea.m and since the I can rely on the TillerPilot, I am going to lay down for an hour or two as I got very little sleep last night and mostly in 15m increments. There does not seem to be any commercial traffic to be concerned with and ai figure I have at least 2h more of motoring. Since the engine was running, I fully charged the batteries and made water. Also, looks like there will be serious rolling once I am S of Madagascar, so I hard boiled a half dozen eggs. A pocket of dead air opened up S of me, so at 7:30 I changed my course to 280. It looks like I should have air from the SW in 1-2h. At 9:30, 82 nm from RBay1, I shut off the engine for a minute to confirm what the waves were telling me, that it was still blowing 6 kt from the N. By now I had cleared most of the cloud cover and was clearly downwind of the low. PW is telling me another hour (maybe 2) along the rhumb line before I will see double digit southerly winds. By 10:00 the seas were becoming complex. The wind was still northerly … I could feel it blowing from starboard … but there was no longer a clearly-defined direction of the swell and waves. I downloaded an AIS file and saw Greij, a boat I first met at Thursday Island (first spotted anchored off Cape York on July 20) and the first sailboat I have observed since passing the Mauritius archipelago. We parted ways at Christmas Island. They left a day before me headed for Madagascar. They must have changed their mind about going via the Mozambique Channel and are now hugging the E coast making good use of the current. They are about 45 nm from RBay1 (I am currently 80). They are at a disadvantage in that they are beating into a strong headwind. Or, perhaps they are motoring. It is possible they changed their minds because of the civil unrest in Madagascar. At 10:30 I stopped the engine again … still 6 kt, but has backed to 330. At 11:30 and 48 15’e, I suddenly started to see large amounts of plastic and wood debris, suggesting I might be getting close to the current that flows S along the coast of Madagascar. At 14:00 I was below and felt the boat heel to starboard. For the first time there was a southerly wind. I stopped the engine and learned the wind was blowing 6 kt from 275. There was also a 0.9 kt current from 260. This was not enough to warrant switching to sails, so I continued to motor. I woke at 15:20 after an hour-long nap and could tell immediately something was different. The sound of the water in the hull suggested the boat was moving faster. The sound of the engine suggested it was not working as hard. The boat was heeled over to starboard. I went to the cockpit and it was clear from the waves and the full sails the wind was coming from the SW quarter. I put on my harness and went forward to take care of business … move a preventer, rethread the starboard staysail sheet under the jack line, check the bolts in the gooseneck were tight, and make sure the dinghy was secure. Coming back to the cockpit I checked the instruments … averaging over 6 kt at 1800 rpm and 47 nm to go to RBay1. The TWS said 8 and the AWS 10 and the boat was in a close reach. I was close to being able to sail at a decent speed. I unfurled a little less than half of the Yankee, and to gather with the storm staysail and the single-reefed main was making 7 kt at 1800 rpm. Then the wind reached the 29s later tonight, this is all the foresail I will need and I will need to put the second reef in the main for a beam reach. I will do that at the first hint of 20 kt gusts. I decided to enjoy a snack and motor sail until I was clearly I the current, probably within the hour. This is the furthest I have ever motored the boat, but I know if I had not done it It would have taken me two more days to reach RBay1 and I would have missed the wind that is going to carry across the southern coast of Madagascar over the next two days, probably adding four days or more to the passage. That’s four more days in the crosshairs of a buster. I will do it again if necessary to reach the Agulhas current if becalmed. I turned the engine off at 16:39 with 40 nm to go to RBay1. The wind is blowing 13-15 from 205 and I am making 5 kt in a close haul. I expect to start seeing gusts in the low 20s soon. I am guessing I will make RBay1 about midnight. I will put a second reef in the main before dark. It is 18:15 and there are sustained 20 kt winds. I put the second reef the main with some difficulty. I don’t trust the reefing line I replaced with the old furling line, so I tied the reefing point to the boom with a second line, thereby relieving the pressure on the reefing line. I don’t expect the second moline to last too long as it is just 1/4” double-braid, so I will need to keep an eye on it. The boat speed is about 5.6 with one-third of the Yankee, the storm staysail, and the double-reefed main. On top of that I gave a 1.7 kt current giving a SOG of about 7 kt. The boat is handling well in a close reach. I still have the TillerPilot engaged and will leave it on for the next 30 nm to RBay1. I don’t want to accidentally stray N or it may be hard to get back. I reached RBay1 at 22:20 and set course for RBay2 (26s 34e), an arbitrary point about 700 nm due W. The boat was averaging 8.2 kt in 25 kt wind and a strong current. Now in a beam reach and not a close haul, the boat was not heeled over as severely and was much more comfortable. Needing sleep and not wanting to be concerned with navigation overnight, I left the TillerPilot engaged as it seemed to be doing a good job. I’ll sort out the windvane in the morning. One real advantage of heading due W is I begin to loose the commercial traffic which by and large continue SW. Griej has continued on a SW course. I woke at 2:00 and found the current was driving me S, so I adjusted the course to 305. The wind speed had fallen to 18 and together with the larger TWA, the boat slowed down a bit. The boat has been slamming, so I am wearing my helmet when going to the cockpit. At 3:00, I went in search of a knocking noise. I could have sworn it was coming from the deck. I thought at first it was a loose preventer allowing the traveler to slide and knock against stops. It was a can of corn deep in the bilge. Always amazes me how sound travels in peculiar way on a boat. I checked the trace and my course adjustment worked and am now headed due W, corrected for the current that wants to push me S. I woke up just before 6:00. Despite a rough night (vertical acceleration, slamming, etc.), I slept well. I have removed the TillerPilot and engaged the windvane, which seems to be doing a good job. The total distance sailed in the last 24h was 14760-14604=156 nm (156/24=6.5 kt avg.). This number is probably inaccurate due to the currents.
Comments: It is 7:00 and I have been motor sailing in about 5 kt wind for an hour. I transferred fuel to fill the day tank and while doing so separated out a cup of water. That is the most water I have seen since I replumbed the vent line in Darwin. Since I have not been doing much sailing where the starboard side has been submerged, I imaging the water is due to condensation (cooler air and water). I am 95 nm from RBay1 (274) and have set a course (260) that favored reaching 26s, about 30 nm to my S. I am doing this in part because I am more likely to find wind there. I have a NW current at present, but expect it to change to the SW. I have had my morning tea.m and since the I can rely on the TillerPilot, I am going to lay down for an hour or two as I got very little sleep last night and mostly in 15m increments. There does not seem to be any commercial traffic to be concerned with and ai figure I have at least 2h more of motoring. Since the engine was running, I fully charged the batteries and made water. Also, looks like there will be serious rolling once I am S of Madagascar, so I hard boiled a half dozen eggs. A pocket of dead air opened up S of me, so at 7:30 I changed my course to 280. It looks like I should have air from the SW in 1-2h. At 9:30, 82 nm from RBay1, I shut off the engine for a minute to confirm what the waves were telling me, that it was still blowing 6 kt from the N. By now I had cleared most of the cloud cover and was clearly downwind of the low. PW is telling me another hour (maybe 2) along the rhumb line before I will see double digit southerly winds. By 10:00 the seas were becoming complex. The wind was still northerly … I could feel it blowing from starboard … but there was no longer a clearly-defined direction of the swell and waves. I downloaded an AIS file and saw Greij, a boat I first met at Thursday Island (first spotted anchored off Cape York on July 20) and the first sailboat I have observed since passing the Mauritius archipelago. We parted ways at Christmas Island. They left a day before me headed for Madagascar. They must have changed their mind about going via the Mozambique Channel and are now hugging the E coast making good use of the current. They are about 45 nm from RBay1 (I am currently 80). They are at a disadvantage in that they are beating into a strong headwind. Or, perhaps they are motoring. It is possible they changed their minds because of the civil unrest in Madagascar. At 10:30 I stopped the engine again … still 6 kt, but has backed to 330. At 11:30 and 48 15’e, I suddenly started to see large amounts of plastic and wood debris, suggesting I might be getting close to the current that flows S along the coast of Madagascar. At 14:00 I was below and felt the boat heel to starboard. For the first time there was a southerly wind. I stopped the engine and learned the wind was blowing 6 kt from 275. There was also a 0.9 kt current from 260. This was not enough to warrant switching to sails, so I continued to motor. I woke at 15:20 after an hour-long nap and could tell immediately something was different. The sound of the water in the hull suggested the boat was moving faster. The sound of the engine suggested it was not working as hard. The boat was heeled over to starboard. I went to the cockpit and it was clear from the waves and the full sails the wind was coming from the SW quarter. I put on my harness and went forward to take care of business … move a preventer, rethread the starboard staysail sheet under the jack line, check the bolts in the gooseneck were tight, and make sure the dinghy was secure. Coming back to the cockpit I checked the instruments … averaging over 6 kt at 1800 rpm and 47 nm to go to RBay1. The TWS said 8 and the AWS 10 and the boat was in a close reach. I was close to being able to sail at a decent speed. I unfurled a little less than half of the Yankee, and to gather with the storm staysail and the single-reefed main was making 7 kt at 1800 rpm. Then the wind reached the 29s later tonight, this is all the foresail I will need and I will need to put the second reef in the main for a beam reach. I will do that at the first hint of 20 kt gusts. I decided to enjoy a snack and motor sail until I was clearly I the current, probably within the hour. This is the furthest I have ever motored the boat, but I know if I had not done it It would have taken me two more days to reach RBay1 and I would have missed the wind that is going to carry across the southern coast of Madagascar over the next two days, probably adding four days or more to the passage. That’s four more days in the crosshairs of a buster. I will do it again if necessary to reach the Agulhas current if becalmed. I turned the engine off at 16:39 with 40 nm to go to RBay1. The wind is blowing 13-15 from 205 and I am making 5 kt in a close haul. I expect to start seeing gusts in the low 20s soon. I am guessing I will make RBay1 about midnight. I will put a second reef in the main before dark. It is 18:15 and there are sustained 20 kt winds. I put the second reef the main with some difficulty. I don’t trust the reefing line I replaced with the old furling line, so I tied the reefing point to the boom with a second line, thereby relieving the pressure on the reefing line. I don’t expect the second moline to last too long as it is just 1/4” double-braid, so I will need to keep an eye on it. The boat speed is about 5.6 with one-third of the Yankee, the storm staysail, and the double-reefed main. On top of that I gave a 1.7 kt current giving a SOG of about 7 kt. The boat is handling well in a close reach. I still have the TillerPilot engaged and will leave it on for the next 30 nm to RBay1. I don’t want to accidentally stray N or it may be hard to get back. I reached RBay1 at 22:20 and set course for RBay2 (26s 34e), an arbitrary point about 700 nm due W. The boat was averaging 8.2 kt in 25 kt wind and a strong current. Now in a beam reach and not a close haul, the boat was not heeled over as severely and was much more comfortable. Needing sleep and not wanting to be concerned with navigation overnight, I left the TillerPilot engaged as it seemed to be doing a good job. I’ll sort out the windvane in the morning. One real advantage of heading due W is I begin to loose the commercial traffic which by and large continue SW. Griej has continued on a SW course. I woke at 2:00 and found the current was driving me S, so I adjusted the course to 305. The wind speed had fallen to 18 and together with the larger TWA, the boat slowed down a bit. The boat has been slamming, so I am wearing my helmet when going to the cockpit. At 3:00, I went in search of a knocking noise. I could have sworn it was coming from the deck. I thought at first it was a loose preventer allowing the traveler to slide and knock against stops. It was a can of corn deep in the bilge. Always amazes me how sound travels in peculiar way on a boat. I checked the trace and my course adjustment worked and am now headed due W, corrected for the current that wants to push me S. I woke up just before 6:00. Despite a rough night (vertical acceleration, slamming, etc.), I slept well. I have removed the TillerPilot and engaged the windvane, which seems to be doing a good job. The total distance sailed in the last 24h was 14760-14604=156 nm (156/24=6.5 kt avg.). This number is probably inaccurate due to the currents.