Current Position: 19 02.728’S 164 11.787’W; Local Timezone: UTC-10; SOG: 5.7 kt COG: 240; TWS: 18 kt; TWD: 113; Distance to Waypoint (N1, 254): 319; Distance to Waypoint (Tonga, 258): 555; Total Miles Sailed: 5136 nm;
Comments: For sailing, yesterday started out very challenging in the early morning hours, but shortly after daybreak, sailing conditions became near perfect. The sailboat Stet that snuck up on me yesterday turned of its AIS before dark last night. It probably needs to conserve energy like I do. Since we two are the only boats writhing hundreds of miles out here, the AIS does not serve much purpose for vessel avoidance, although it is useful for tracking. Sunset was at 18:19. The tanker Alcyone passed 30 nm N of me at 1:00. I downloaded a new set of extended AIS data from PW and confirmed Stet was now 22 nm from me and falling behind. Further, the vessel Jumbo Top, which had been on a course towards me, had passed N by 15 nm. No other vessels were within two days of me. The sailboat Little Wren SoloSail, which was part of the 15 boats in the Global Mini Challenge race appeared on the AIS map for the first time in several days and was 285 nm from me, the same distance as when I left Tahiti, although they were going to pass Niue to the N and I to the S. I downloaded a new GRIB. The weather prediction did not change markedly, although the recommended course, which was consistent in all six models, suggested it was not necessary to go as far S before jibing past Niue, so I adjusted my course accordingly. The jibe is still expected Wednesday late afternoon. After that the wind is expected to slow down, making the last 300 a slower haul. If the forecast holds, there is a good chance I am becalmed Saturday (Sunday Tonga time), but if I am, wind should arrive Sunday (Monday Tonga time), which is fine, because I don’t want to arrive on Sunday. I was awake 1-2, then adjusted my course due E to a broad reach, reducing the speed to 5 kt, lessening the heal, and reorienting the seas to be following, making for a mellow ride. With nothing in my way, I did not set an alarm and went back to sleep. I woke at 3:30 and checked the Cortex to make sure I was on course, went back to sleep and woke at 6:20, almost 3h later. That is the longest I have slept while not at anchor since leaving San Carlos. It is partly cloudy (mostly clear except on the horizons). At 7:00, made about 676-595 = 81nm since the check-in yesterday (81/15 = 5.4kt average towards the waypoint. I am trying a new strategy with the fridge. I turn jt off at night after the batteries are fully charged and when the power consumption starts going negative (about 15:30), I turn it in for 30 m at 19:00. I turn it on for 30m at 7:00, and I turn it in when the solar starts positive when everything is running but the fridge (about 9:00). Today, the batteries started out at 89% at 7:30, after running the fridge for 30m (which is unusually high … it is usually about 82%). The wind is a little lighter this morning. I unfurled the last 20% of the Yankee at 8:00 (still a double reef in the main for the gusts). The TWD had backed to 105, and the Yankee flagged on the waypoint (257). I created a new waypoint a few nm S of Niue (N1 that is 358 nm away and 253 and I am steering towards that doing almost 6 kt in 17 kt wind coming from 145. I should reach N1 about the time the wind shifts direction and slows down. This will leave me about 230 nm to the N side of Neiafu (the main island of the northern group of Tonga). It is 9:00, the sun is shining, the batteries are still at 89% and down 65 Ah, I am producing an excess of energy, and I just turned on the fridge. With the fridge on, right now, it is about break-even. It is 10:00, exactly one week after leaving Tahiti. The batteries are still at 89%, but -63 Ah, so I am producing excess energy with the fridge on. At 11:00, the batteries were at 90% (-58 Ah). At 12:00, 92% (-49 Ah). At 13:00, 94% (-36 Ah). By midday, the seas were unusually calm and the winds relatively light, so I took advantage to cook split pea soup (bag of dried split peas, 3 carrots, 1 onion, 5 oz can of Hormel smoked ham, water to cover one inch, and cook in pressure cooker 20m from time flame was turned on). At 14:00, 96% (-25 Ah) and I turned off the fridge while the batteries finished charging. Note a lot of cloud cover came in about 14:00 and charging slowed down. By midafternoon, the wind also picked up a bit, as expected, and the speed increased a kt to 5.5. At 15:00, 98% (-16 Ah). At 16:00, 99% (-10 Ah). Note, the batteries just became charged at 16:00. The voltage is starting to shoot up to 14.5 V. The residual -10 Ah is due to siphoning of current from the shunt by a small inverter I use to charge my tablet computer. When I have time, I need to rewire that so it comes out of the correct side of the shunt. The distance sailed on in the past 24h was 676-555 = 121nm. The total distance sailed was 5136-50097 nm (124/24 = 5.2 kt average).
Comments: For sailing, yesterday started out very challenging in the early morning hours, but shortly after daybreak, sailing conditions became near perfect. The sailboat Stet that snuck up on me yesterday turned of its AIS before dark last night. It probably needs to conserve energy like I do. Since we two are the only boats writhing hundreds of miles out here, the AIS does not serve much purpose for vessel avoidance, although it is useful for tracking. Sunset was at 18:19. The tanker Alcyone passed 30 nm N of me at 1:00. I downloaded a new set of extended AIS data from PW and confirmed Stet was now 22 nm from me and falling behind. Further, the vessel Jumbo Top, which had been on a course towards me, had passed N by 15 nm. No other vessels were within two days of me. The sailboat Little Wren SoloSail, which was part of the 15 boats in the Global Mini Challenge race appeared on the AIS map for the first time in several days and was 285 nm from me, the same distance as when I left Tahiti, although they were going to pass Niue to the N and I to the S. I downloaded a new GRIB. The weather prediction did not change markedly, although the recommended course, which was consistent in all six models, suggested it was not necessary to go as far S before jibing past Niue, so I adjusted my course accordingly. The jibe is still expected Wednesday late afternoon. After that the wind is expected to slow down, making the last 300 a slower haul. If the forecast holds, there is a good chance I am becalmed Saturday (Sunday Tonga time), but if I am, wind should arrive Sunday (Monday Tonga time), which is fine, because I don’t want to arrive on Sunday. I was awake 1-2, then adjusted my course due E to a broad reach, reducing the speed to 5 kt, lessening the heal, and reorienting the seas to be following, making for a mellow ride. With nothing in my way, I did not set an alarm and went back to sleep. I woke at 3:30 and checked the Cortex to make sure I was on course, went back to sleep and woke at 6:20, almost 3h later. That is the longest I have slept while not at anchor since leaving San Carlos. It is partly cloudy (mostly clear except on the horizons). At 7:00, made about 676-595 = 81nm since the check-in yesterday (81/15 = 5.4kt average towards the waypoint. I am trying a new strategy with the fridge. I turn jt off at night after the batteries are fully charged and when the power consumption starts going negative (about 15:30), I turn it in for 30 m at 19:00. I turn it on for 30m at 7:00, and I turn it in when the solar starts positive when everything is running but the fridge (about 9:00). Today, the batteries started out at 89% at 7:30, after running the fridge for 30m (which is unusually high … it is usually about 82%). The wind is a little lighter this morning. I unfurled the last 20% of the Yankee at 8:00 (still a double reef in the main for the gusts). The TWD had backed to 105, and the Yankee flagged on the waypoint (257). I created a new waypoint a few nm S of Niue (N1 that is 358 nm away and 253 and I am steering towards that doing almost 6 kt in 17 kt wind coming from 145. I should reach N1 about the time the wind shifts direction and slows down. This will leave me about 230 nm to the N side of Neiafu (the main island of the northern group of Tonga). It is 9:00, the sun is shining, the batteries are still at 89% and down 65 Ah, I am producing an excess of energy, and I just turned on the fridge. With the fridge on, right now, it is about break-even. It is 10:00, exactly one week after leaving Tahiti. The batteries are still at 89%, but -63 Ah, so I am producing excess energy with the fridge on. At 11:00, the batteries were at 90% (-58 Ah). At 12:00, 92% (-49 Ah). At 13:00, 94% (-36 Ah). By midday, the seas were unusually calm and the winds relatively light, so I took advantage to cook split pea soup (bag of dried split peas, 3 carrots, 1 onion, 5 oz can of Hormel smoked ham, water to cover one inch, and cook in pressure cooker 20m from time flame was turned on). At 14:00, 96% (-25 Ah) and I turned off the fridge while the batteries finished charging. Note a lot of cloud cover came in about 14:00 and charging slowed down. By midafternoon, the wind also picked up a bit, as expected, and the speed increased a kt to 5.5. At 15:00, 98% (-16 Ah). At 16:00, 99% (-10 Ah). Note, the batteries just became charged at 16:00. The voltage is starting to shoot up to 14.5 V. The residual -10 Ah is due to siphoning of current from the shunt by a small inverter I use to charge my tablet computer. When I have time, I need to rewire that so it comes out of the correct side of the shunt. The distance sailed on in the past 24h was 676-555 = 121nm. The total distance sailed was 5136-50097 nm (124/24 = 5.2 kt average).