Current Position: 19 21.248’S 172 03.930’E; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 7.3 kt COG: 234; TWS: 32 kt; TWD: 114; Distance to Waypoint (Vanuatu, Efata, Port Vila, 265): 235; Total Miles Sailed: 6338 nm;
Comments: The storm’s rain and wind arrived at 17:30. The wind is now coming from 95, making impossible to make a course for the waypoint. Unless the direction changes after the storm, I will loose latitude. At 18:15, the rain let up and I could actually see some small patches of sky in the distance. The 30 kt wind continued, but did veer a bit. I have made a habit of checking the shower sump for water and was shocked to see several gallons had accumulated in a couple of hours. I went on a search for the source. I reorganize the V-berth are so I could inspect the storage areas. The chain locker was wet, but not as wet as I expected, and there was little water collected. The drain is on the port (I put it in myself) and the boat was heeled to the starboard, so I expected a big pool of water there, but only found a few cups. It is possible that rolling had allowed it to drain before I inspected the locker. I found the screw-down latches on the forward hatch had vibrated loose, and combined with the loss of the canvas cover earlier, that could be a source, but the frame was only damp and there was no evidence that the items below it (mostly sails) had gotten wet. I opened up the forward compartment under the V-berth itself, but it was dry. If the chain locker was loosing water from anyplace but the drain, that forward compartment should have been wet. I then opened up the main compartment that has the bow thruster and secondary house battery bank, but it was dry. I had installed an emergency bilge pump in the bottom of it, but there was no evidence it was wet. This was a relief, because my friend Dylan had an Alajuela 38 and the metal bracket on the bow to which the dolphin striker is attached had been leaking through the hull and it was a major job to replace it. The lack of water in this compartment ruled out damage to the bow (I had heard the boat hit something some days ago). I then moved to the head. The cabinet beneath the sink was dry (no evidence of the sink/shower through-hull leaking. I opened up the compartment with the plumbing for the head, but it was dry. I couldn’t get to the through-hull for the head water supply (the heavy bins on the floor block it), but the compartment with the mast step was pretty dry … some water is suppose to leak down the inside of the mast when it rains because the sheaves at the top of the mast or open), but there was not enough water to account for what I was seeing. Also, I replaced the through-hull and ball valve for the water supply last year. The bilge in the galley was relatively dry, so water was not flowing from the stern forward across the baffles until the shower sump. I ran out of ideas. I put a bottle under the drain hose in the shower sump to confirm the water is coming from that hose. If it is, there is only two sources, the chain locker (which is wet) and the bow thruster compartment (which is dry). While I was typing this, the boat heeled over violently. I rushed to the cockpit to learn the block on the port side that supports one of the windvane control lines had busted free. The boat was out of control. I put the boat back on course and with one leg wrapped around the tiller, I lashed the block back into place temporarily, then I got some cord and secured it better. While doing this, it occurred to me I should check the pan of the shower (which is covered with a wooden lattice), but it was dry, so the head did not overflow (it shouldn’t because there is a check valve. Also, the “mud” in the shower sump did not smell. There is a little water coming out of the drain hose for the chain locker, but it does not look like enough to account for the volume of water I am seeing. Also, the clear drain hose is not dirty in the inside (although I suppose the mud could have been washed from the chain locker and the inside of the hose cleaned by subsequent fresh sea water. The bottom line is I can find no breach of the hull and the only source of water appears to be the chain locker. In another note, at 19:15, the wind is blowing from 85, forcing me S. The PW course has me loosing 90 nm of latitude, but I am hoping that won’t be the case. The mystery of the water has been solved. The cup I put under the hose for the chain locker had no water in it. The bilge pump in the shower sump has a check valve in it to keep water from flowing from the through-hull back into the bilge. The valve is leaking. It is a 2” hose that is perhaps 10’ long. It goes from the bottom of the shower sump as far as the top of the deck (behind the storage cabinets in the head) to form an anti-siphon loop before going to the same through-hull as the head (the liquids can never mix because of the way the hoses are routed). So what is happening is I am pumping the water out of the shower sump all the way to the anti-siphon loop, then it is slowly leaking through the check valve back into the shower sump. The hose volume must be several gallons. The temporary solution is to pump the water out of the shower sump into a bucket, thereby emptying the hose. The original water came from the chain locker (before I plugged the source with a rag). The sailing overnight was uneventful. The windvane kept the boat on the course plotted by PW. At 6:00 I downloaded a new GRIB and got the bad news. Over the next couple of days I was going to loose air. The ETA is now 15:30 on Friday, too late for the formalities. However, the boat speeds look conservative for the wind speeds predicted, so if I push hard there is still a chance. The current model has me jibing at 6:00 tomorrow. PW is on UTC+22 (Fiji time, because my iPhone received cell service there), the boat is on UTC+23 (Tonga time, because I said I was not going to change it until I got to Vanuatu), and Vanuatu is on UTC+21. It is 7:30 (5:30 local) and it is starting to get light. I can see blue sky for the first time in a couple of days. There are still storm clouds, but nothing that looks threatening. However, the forecast calls for 35 kt gusts today, so I will need to pay attention. I might need to furl the jib a bit more, but I want to make as much distance as possible today and tomorrow before I loose this wind. At 7:45, a fishing trawler suddenly appeared 10 nm S of me. It is the northern most part of a chain of them, like the ones I went through yesterday. They like to leave their AIS off and flip it on only when they are close (although they show up on the long-range PW AIS maps). Since 6:00, when I plotted a new course, for the past 6h I have been able to surprisingly head due W, averaging over 6 kt. The winds have been steadily building and I am currently averaging 7 kt in winds that are gusting to 30. The increasing wind is starting to drive me further S, but nothing nearly so much so as predicted. The closest land in the Vanuatu chain is the small island of Futuna, which is about 150 nm due W. I will be jibing past it and eventually passing between the main islands of Erromango and Efata to get to the W coast of the latter, where Port Vila is located. It is 10:30 and bright and sunny outside with relatively few clouds. I have not seen the sun in days and I am finally generating solar. I have not made tea. The cockpit is not inviting with waves routinely crashing over the cowling. The winds are 28-31 kt and the boat is averaging 7 kt and sometime surfing up to 10 with the double-reefed main and half the Yankee on nearly a run. Because of the obtuse angle to the wind, the boat does not feel overpowered. The main issue is the occasional rogue wave that knocks her sideways, necessitating I go to the cockpit to straighten her out (because the windvane isn’t strong enough to overcome the wind). This has happened a couple of time in the past few hours. I got the “GRIB is 15h old” message at 10:30, which generally means a new one is available. There was not much change in the forecast or the route except I am to arrive an hour earlier (because I made up an hour this morning) and I am in a thunderstorm watch. It is 11:00 and cloudy again with a storm coming in behind me. Also, the long-range AIS data suggests I am past all the Chinese fishing boats. The proposed route is becoming simpler as I get closer … head as W as I can without loosing any more latitude than necessary, jibe to head N parallel to the chain of islands, jibe W between Erromango and Efata, then jibe N again to reach Port Vila. Huge waves developed by 13:00, some 15’, causing the boat to roll and pitch more than I have ever seen. It became dangerous to move around, particularly outside the cabin. The forecast was for this to continue the rest of the passage, although I imagine the effect will depend on the angle I am sailing to the waves. At 16:00, the boat has averaged 7.6 kt, the fastest I have observed, sometimes surfing at 12 kt. Still, the boat does not feel overpowered. I believe it will be time to jibe northward about 2:00. Because of careful management of the sails and windvane, I am going to end up 40-50 nm further N than the original PW route. Furthermore, it is taking less time to sail E. I am clearly ahead of the schedule I plotted at 6:00 this morning. That is remarkable because PW usually overestimates my efficiency during the day and underestimates it at night. I don’t like the idea of going on deck to untie/retie the preventer under these conditions, but I do not have much choice. I will take every precaution (helmet, double tethers, overalls, etc.) and of course I will pick the best opportunity (between gusts). PW says the rolling will decrease after the jibe. It is more dangerous not to have a preventer on. An uncontrolled jibe with these wind strengths would break something. I have not been able to cook today, but fortunately I cooked when I was becalmed near Fiji, so I ate the curried lentils and squash cold. The distance travelled on in the last 24h has been 370-235=135 nm. The total distance sailed was 6654-6498=156 nm (average 6.7 kt, similar to yesterday).
Comments: The storm’s rain and wind arrived at 17:30. The wind is now coming from 95, making impossible to make a course for the waypoint. Unless the direction changes after the storm, I will loose latitude. At 18:15, the rain let up and I could actually see some small patches of sky in the distance. The 30 kt wind continued, but did veer a bit. I have made a habit of checking the shower sump for water and was shocked to see several gallons had accumulated in a couple of hours. I went on a search for the source. I reorganize the V-berth are so I could inspect the storage areas. The chain locker was wet, but not as wet as I expected, and there was little water collected. The drain is on the port (I put it in myself) and the boat was heeled to the starboard, so I expected a big pool of water there, but only found a few cups. It is possible that rolling had allowed it to drain before I inspected the locker. I found the screw-down latches on the forward hatch had vibrated loose, and combined with the loss of the canvas cover earlier, that could be a source, but the frame was only damp and there was no evidence that the items below it (mostly sails) had gotten wet. I opened up the forward compartment under the V-berth itself, but it was dry. If the chain locker was loosing water from anyplace but the drain, that forward compartment should have been wet. I then opened up the main compartment that has the bow thruster and secondary house battery bank, but it was dry. I had installed an emergency bilge pump in the bottom of it, but there was no evidence it was wet. This was a relief, because my friend Dylan had an Alajuela 38 and the metal bracket on the bow to which the dolphin striker is attached had been leaking through the hull and it was a major job to replace it. The lack of water in this compartment ruled out damage to the bow (I had heard the boat hit something some days ago). I then moved to the head. The cabinet beneath the sink was dry (no evidence of the sink/shower through-hull leaking. I opened up the compartment with the plumbing for the head, but it was dry. I couldn’t get to the through-hull for the head water supply (the heavy bins on the floor block it), but the compartment with the mast step was pretty dry … some water is suppose to leak down the inside of the mast when it rains because the sheaves at the top of the mast or open), but there was not enough water to account for what I was seeing. Also, I replaced the through-hull and ball valve for the water supply last year. The bilge in the galley was relatively dry, so water was not flowing from the stern forward across the baffles until the shower sump. I ran out of ideas. I put a bottle under the drain hose in the shower sump to confirm the water is coming from that hose. If it is, there is only two sources, the chain locker (which is wet) and the bow thruster compartment (which is dry). While I was typing this, the boat heeled over violently. I rushed to the cockpit to learn the block on the port side that supports one of the windvane control lines had busted free. The boat was out of control. I put the boat back on course and with one leg wrapped around the tiller, I lashed the block back into place temporarily, then I got some cord and secured it better. While doing this, it occurred to me I should check the pan of the shower (which is covered with a wooden lattice), but it was dry, so the head did not overflow (it shouldn’t because there is a check valve. Also, the “mud” in the shower sump did not smell. There is a little water coming out of the drain hose for the chain locker, but it does not look like enough to account for the volume of water I am seeing. Also, the clear drain hose is not dirty in the inside (although I suppose the mud could have been washed from the chain locker and the inside of the hose cleaned by subsequent fresh sea water. The bottom line is I can find no breach of the hull and the only source of water appears to be the chain locker. In another note, at 19:15, the wind is blowing from 85, forcing me S. The PW course has me loosing 90 nm of latitude, but I am hoping that won’t be the case. The mystery of the water has been solved. The cup I put under the hose for the chain locker had no water in it. The bilge pump in the shower sump has a check valve in it to keep water from flowing from the through-hull back into the bilge. The valve is leaking. It is a 2” hose that is perhaps 10’ long. It goes from the bottom of the shower sump as far as the top of the deck (behind the storage cabinets in the head) to form an anti-siphon loop before going to the same through-hull as the head (the liquids can never mix because of the way the hoses are routed). So what is happening is I am pumping the water out of the shower sump all the way to the anti-siphon loop, then it is slowly leaking through the check valve back into the shower sump. The hose volume must be several gallons. The temporary solution is to pump the water out of the shower sump into a bucket, thereby emptying the hose. The original water came from the chain locker (before I plugged the source with a rag). The sailing overnight was uneventful. The windvane kept the boat on the course plotted by PW. At 6:00 I downloaded a new GRIB and got the bad news. Over the next couple of days I was going to loose air. The ETA is now 15:30 on Friday, too late for the formalities. However, the boat speeds look conservative for the wind speeds predicted, so if I push hard there is still a chance. The current model has me jibing at 6:00 tomorrow. PW is on UTC+22 (Fiji time, because my iPhone received cell service there), the boat is on UTC+23 (Tonga time, because I said I was not going to change it until I got to Vanuatu), and Vanuatu is on UTC+21. It is 7:30 (5:30 local) and it is starting to get light. I can see blue sky for the first time in a couple of days. There are still storm clouds, but nothing that looks threatening. However, the forecast calls for 35 kt gusts today, so I will need to pay attention. I might need to furl the jib a bit more, but I want to make as much distance as possible today and tomorrow before I loose this wind. At 7:45, a fishing trawler suddenly appeared 10 nm S of me. It is the northern most part of a chain of them, like the ones I went through yesterday. They like to leave their AIS off and flip it on only when they are close (although they show up on the long-range PW AIS maps). Since 6:00, when I plotted a new course, for the past 6h I have been able to surprisingly head due W, averaging over 6 kt. The winds have been steadily building and I am currently averaging 7 kt in winds that are gusting to 30. The increasing wind is starting to drive me further S, but nothing nearly so much so as predicted. The closest land in the Vanuatu chain is the small island of Futuna, which is about 150 nm due W. I will be jibing past it and eventually passing between the main islands of Erromango and Efata to get to the W coast of the latter, where Port Vila is located. It is 10:30 and bright and sunny outside with relatively few clouds. I have not seen the sun in days and I am finally generating solar. I have not made tea. The cockpit is not inviting with waves routinely crashing over the cowling. The winds are 28-31 kt and the boat is averaging 7 kt and sometime surfing up to 10 with the double-reefed main and half the Yankee on nearly a run. Because of the obtuse angle to the wind, the boat does not feel overpowered. The main issue is the occasional rogue wave that knocks her sideways, necessitating I go to the cockpit to straighten her out (because the windvane isn’t strong enough to overcome the wind). This has happened a couple of time in the past few hours. I got the “GRIB is 15h old” message at 10:30, which generally means a new one is available. There was not much change in the forecast or the route except I am to arrive an hour earlier (because I made up an hour this morning) and I am in a thunderstorm watch. It is 11:00 and cloudy again with a storm coming in behind me. Also, the long-range AIS data suggests I am past all the Chinese fishing boats. The proposed route is becoming simpler as I get closer … head as W as I can without loosing any more latitude than necessary, jibe to head N parallel to the chain of islands, jibe W between Erromango and Efata, then jibe N again to reach Port Vila. Huge waves developed by 13:00, some 15’, causing the boat to roll and pitch more than I have ever seen. It became dangerous to move around, particularly outside the cabin. The forecast was for this to continue the rest of the passage, although I imagine the effect will depend on the angle I am sailing to the waves. At 16:00, the boat has averaged 7.6 kt, the fastest I have observed, sometimes surfing at 12 kt. Still, the boat does not feel overpowered. I believe it will be time to jibe northward about 2:00. Because of careful management of the sails and windvane, I am going to end up 40-50 nm further N than the original PW route. Furthermore, it is taking less time to sail E. I am clearly ahead of the schedule I plotted at 6:00 this morning. That is remarkable because PW usually overestimates my efficiency during the day and underestimates it at night. I don’t like the idea of going on deck to untie/retie the preventer under these conditions, but I do not have much choice. I will take every precaution (helmet, double tethers, overalls, etc.) and of course I will pick the best opportunity (between gusts). PW says the rolling will decrease after the jibe. It is more dangerous not to have a preventer on. An uncontrolled jibe with these wind strengths would break something. I have not been able to cook today, but fortunately I cooked when I was becalmed near Fiji, so I ate the curried lentils and squash cold. The distance travelled on in the last 24h has been 370-235=135 nm. The total distance sailed was 6654-6498=156 nm (average 6.7 kt, similar to yesterday).