Current Position: 10 24.017’S 107 27.530’E; Local Timezone: UTC+7; SOG: 5.0 kt; COG: 260; TWS: 18 kt; TWD: 120; Distance to Waypoint (Christmas Island, 270): 103 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 10968 nm; Engine Hours: 242; Estimate Fuel: 51+11+50;
Comments: Sunset was at 17:38. Sunset will be at 17:58 in Flying Fish Cove on Tuesday. It is 21:00 and in contrast to previous nights I have not seen and fishing boats. Furthermore, there essentially no commercial traffic. I am setting an alarm for 1h and sleeping. At 22:30 I had to go on deck to reset the preventer. Still no fishing boats. Since about 1:00, I have had a 1 kt current off the starboard beam that has pushed me S. I passed a fishing boat about 4:00 off the starboard. It is 4:30 and I have 150 nm to go to CI. Without the help of a current, lesser winds, and following waves that are not had high have slowed me down overnight, averaging perhaps 5 kt. I downloaded new GRIB/AIS data. There is not much new regarding the GRIB … 15 kt winds with 22 kt gusts, loosing distance S, one jibe just before the island. The long-range AIS data show one cargo ship at CI and a second one on the way. There does not look like much commercial traffic between me at CI right now. By sunrise at 5:52, I was running against a 1 kt current. It is 7:00 and the wind has veered to 110, driving me further S. If it hits 109, I will jibe and make up some distance N. The current is running counterclockwise and right now is off my port bow. If it moved to my port beam, that would also be a good time to jibe … I will have to eventually. At 9:39 I jibed to take advantage of the current. The TWD was still 122. I was able to make a course of 324 starting at 10 28.4’S. I sailed on the starboard tack for 90m to 10 22.2’S, then jibed again. By this time the current was flowing in the direction of the waypoint. It is noon and I have 117 nm to go to the N side of the island. From there it is perhaps an hour to motor the anchorage. The distance sailed towards Christmas Island in the last 24h was 219-103=116 nm. The total distance sailed was 10968-10847=122 nm (121/24=5.0 kt avg.). I will need to cover the 103 nm in the next 24h to have time to pick up a mooring bouy before dark tomorrow. This will be 15:00, approximately 3h before it becomes too dark to navigate into Flying Fish Cove.
Comments: Sunset was at 17:38. Sunset will be at 17:58 in Flying Fish Cove on Tuesday. It is 21:00 and in contrast to previous nights I have not seen and fishing boats. Furthermore, there essentially no commercial traffic. I am setting an alarm for 1h and sleeping. At 22:30 I had to go on deck to reset the preventer. Still no fishing boats. Since about 1:00, I have had a 1 kt current off the starboard beam that has pushed me S. I passed a fishing boat about 4:00 off the starboard. It is 4:30 and I have 150 nm to go to CI. Without the help of a current, lesser winds, and following waves that are not had high have slowed me down overnight, averaging perhaps 5 kt. I downloaded new GRIB/AIS data. There is not much new regarding the GRIB … 15 kt winds with 22 kt gusts, loosing distance S, one jibe just before the island. The long-range AIS data show one cargo ship at CI and a second one on the way. There does not look like much commercial traffic between me at CI right now. By sunrise at 5:52, I was running against a 1 kt current. It is 7:00 and the wind has veered to 110, driving me further S. If it hits 109, I will jibe and make up some distance N. The current is running counterclockwise and right now is off my port bow. If it moved to my port beam, that would also be a good time to jibe … I will have to eventually. At 9:39 I jibed to take advantage of the current. The TWD was still 122. I was able to make a course of 324 starting at 10 28.4’S. I sailed on the starboard tack for 90m to 10 22.2’S, then jibed again. By this time the current was flowing in the direction of the waypoint. It is noon and I have 117 nm to go to the N side of the island. From there it is perhaps an hour to motor the anchorage. The distance sailed towards Christmas Island in the last 24h was 219-103=116 nm. The total distance sailed was 10968-10847=122 nm (121/24=5.0 kt avg.). I will need to cover the 103 nm in the next 24h to have time to pick up a mooring bouy before dark tomorrow. This will be 15:00, approximately 3h before it becomes too dark to navigate into Flying Fish Cove.