Current Position: 24 30.877’S 50 29.640’E; Local Timezone: UTC+4; SOG: 5.3; COG: 270; TWS: ? kt; TWD: ?; P (12:00): 1015.1; P (18:00): 1013.0; P (24:00): 1016.0; P (6:00): 1015.2; Distance to Waypoint (26s47e, 268): 98; Total Miles Sailed: 14603 nm; Engine Hours: 272; Estimate Fuel: 46+15+50;
Comments: It is 6:30, just after sunrise. In contrast to the past few days, it is cloudy, perhaps 80%. Nothing looks like rain at present. This may be my last day if relative calm. I need to spend it securing the boat below and preparing the topside for rough conditions that will likely begin Thursday. I will do an inspection of the rigging, but one thing that concerns me is the second reefing line. Besides being too short now, it is frayed in several places. I am not sure I have anything line enough to replace it, perhaps what is left of the old furling line, but it too has problems. It may be possible to take the strain off the second reefing line if I can fit a second line through the grommet to lash the sail to the boom (taking the pressure off the reefing line). With a TWD of 70, I am in a deep broad reach, slowing the boat down again. Also, I am running against a 0.8 kt current. The boat is only making 4.5 in 15 wind. There is not much I can do about it. The wind usually backs after the air heats up, so I expect to pick up speed later. It has been a dry spell for fishing, but I put my line out nonetheless. I examined the old furling line. The core is Dyneema and ai believe it is long enough for the furling line. My plan is to stitch the lines together and pull the furling line through the reefing grommet while the sail is aloft. This is the only way I will know for sure if it is long enough. The good news is the reefing line is fixed for now. The bad news is one of the two bolts that holds the r end cap of the boom is stripped out. I found it in the deck. It is the 10mm bolt I tapped in Tonga. The 5/16” bolt on the other side was loose. I don’t think there is any risk right now of the end of the boom becoming detached from the gooseneck because of the threaded rod that I installed. I will need to come up with a permanent fix in Richard’s Bay. I can see now how it can be done, by installing threaded stair less backing plates like the one I installed for the gooseneck. I can also see how they can be attached. The backing plate could be triangular with two more bolts aft. This will insure that the relatively little aluminum at the end of the boom does not wear through. I will just need to find the material (and spend another day manhandling the boom). In the meantime, for the remainder of this passage, I will need to inspect the gooseneck/boom daily to tighten the remaining bolt. It started to sprinkle at 7:45 and I saw my first gust of 20. I am going to put the first reef back in. The extra mainsail is not doing much in the deep broad reef but add to the heeling. In a positive note, the current has rotated and is now productive. I do not notice too much change in the boat speed, it is less heeled and the windvane appreciates the more balanced sails. It is 8:00 and the boat is averaging 4.8, the same as before I reefed. At this point I would be happy with anything over 5. As expected, the wind has backed to 50 as the air heats up. It is going to be a game of bumper ball rounding Madagascar as all the commercial traffic converges around RBay1. It is 10:30 and I just received Des’s report … he recommends I continue towards RBay1. This time tomorrow morning I should reach the SW 2 kt current around 48e, so I don’t have a problem straying N if it means having a better TWA. If necessary, I will motorsail across the dead air tomorrow morning. I want to catch the brisk air forecasted on the other side of RBay1 as there is a chance of becoming becalmed if I don’t. A dozen cargo ships passed by in the afternoon. The closest was UHL Fighter that passed within 0.5 nm at 15:00. It was an unusual cargo ships, smaller than most at 500’. The bridge was in the bow and it had large cranes. I assume it was a supply ship for one of the islands in the Mauritius archipelago. Indeed, the destination listed on the AIS was MU PLU, which I assume is Port Louis. It was close enough that with my binoculars I could see crew members standing at the rail and looking at Aegir-Ran.” Something g role my fishing line … must have been big. Sunset was at 18:40 at 51 26’e yesterday, so today at 49 30’e, it should be 8m later, 18:48. The sun sat behind a cloud bank. It is looking pretty nasty ahead. The barometer is dropping. It started raining hard at 21:15. During the squall the wind initially blew 30 kt and then was variable 5-22 from 50-310. The variable wind speed and direction required hand steering for about 2h. During the initial blast of wind, the ensign flag pole mount broke off the stern pulpit. Fortunately, I had seen the welds were weakening and I had tied a leash cord to it, so I retrieved it overboard. The convergence zone was very complex, so I lived with the fact that I was not going to sail in a straight line for a while. My goal was simply to point the boat in a direction whereby I was making some progress on. After 2h (23:15), the wind settled down a bit and blew 15 from due N. I knew it was temporary. Around midnight the wind had continued to back and was blowing 20 from 340. In a close haul, I was being driven S on a course of 240, aided in part by a cross-current. While the wind direction was predicted, it was blowing much harder than it was supposed to. I would have liked to reduce sail, furl in half the Yankee and possibly put the second reef in, but the winds were supposed to decrease and I wanted to make up some distance. By 4:00 the wind had backed to 320 and I was on a close haul at 240. In about 25 nm I expect to tack to port. By that point it will blowing 240 and I will be headed almost due S. By 5:30 I had become becalmed. The wind speed was only a couple of kt and the direction variable. I furled the Yankee, and ran the engine as it appeared I was only about 20 nm from the wind. I am 100 nm from RBay1. I expect to have to jibe by that point, so I readied the mainsail preventer and the storm staysail for that. It is 6:00 and getting light. There are dense, dark storm clouds behind me and clear skies ahead. The distance sailed towards RBay1 in the last 24h was 208-98=110 nm. Given all the gyrations of the past 24h, I feel fortunate to have made this distance on. The total distance sailed was 14604-14497=107 nm (107/24=4.46 kt avg.), which is inaccurate because of the currents.
Comments: It is 6:30, just after sunrise. In contrast to the past few days, it is cloudy, perhaps 80%. Nothing looks like rain at present. This may be my last day if relative calm. I need to spend it securing the boat below and preparing the topside for rough conditions that will likely begin Thursday. I will do an inspection of the rigging, but one thing that concerns me is the second reefing line. Besides being too short now, it is frayed in several places. I am not sure I have anything line enough to replace it, perhaps what is left of the old furling line, but it too has problems. It may be possible to take the strain off the second reefing line if I can fit a second line through the grommet to lash the sail to the boom (taking the pressure off the reefing line). With a TWD of 70, I am in a deep broad reach, slowing the boat down again. Also, I am running against a 0.8 kt current. The boat is only making 4.5 in 15 wind. There is not much I can do about it. The wind usually backs after the air heats up, so I expect to pick up speed later. It has been a dry spell for fishing, but I put my line out nonetheless. I examined the old furling line. The core is Dyneema and ai believe it is long enough for the furling line. My plan is to stitch the lines together and pull the furling line through the reefing grommet while the sail is aloft. This is the only way I will know for sure if it is long enough. The good news is the reefing line is fixed for now. The bad news is one of the two bolts that holds the r end cap of the boom is stripped out. I found it in the deck. It is the 10mm bolt I tapped in Tonga. The 5/16” bolt on the other side was loose. I don’t think there is any risk right now of the end of the boom becoming detached from the gooseneck because of the threaded rod that I installed. I will need to come up with a permanent fix in Richard’s Bay. I can see now how it can be done, by installing threaded stair less backing plates like the one I installed for the gooseneck. I can also see how they can be attached. The backing plate could be triangular with two more bolts aft. This will insure that the relatively little aluminum at the end of the boom does not wear through. I will just need to find the material (and spend another day manhandling the boom). In the meantime, for the remainder of this passage, I will need to inspect the gooseneck/boom daily to tighten the remaining bolt. It started to sprinkle at 7:45 and I saw my first gust of 20. I am going to put the first reef back in. The extra mainsail is not doing much in the deep broad reef but add to the heeling. In a positive note, the current has rotated and is now productive. I do not notice too much change in the boat speed, it is less heeled and the windvane appreciates the more balanced sails. It is 8:00 and the boat is averaging 4.8, the same as before I reefed. At this point I would be happy with anything over 5. As expected, the wind has backed to 50 as the air heats up. It is going to be a game of bumper ball rounding Madagascar as all the commercial traffic converges around RBay1. It is 10:30 and I just received Des’s report … he recommends I continue towards RBay1. This time tomorrow morning I should reach the SW 2 kt current around 48e, so I don’t have a problem straying N if it means having a better TWA. If necessary, I will motorsail across the dead air tomorrow morning. I want to catch the brisk air forecasted on the other side of RBay1 as there is a chance of becoming becalmed if I don’t. A dozen cargo ships passed by in the afternoon. The closest was UHL Fighter that passed within 0.5 nm at 15:00. It was an unusual cargo ships, smaller than most at 500’. The bridge was in the bow and it had large cranes. I assume it was a supply ship for one of the islands in the Mauritius archipelago. Indeed, the destination listed on the AIS was MU PLU, which I assume is Port Louis. It was close enough that with my binoculars I could see crew members standing at the rail and looking at Aegir-Ran.” Something g role my fishing line … must have been big. Sunset was at 18:40 at 51 26’e yesterday, so today at 49 30’e, it should be 8m later, 18:48. The sun sat behind a cloud bank. It is looking pretty nasty ahead. The barometer is dropping. It started raining hard at 21:15. During the squall the wind initially blew 30 kt and then was variable 5-22 from 50-310. The variable wind speed and direction required hand steering for about 2h. During the initial blast of wind, the ensign flag pole mount broke off the stern pulpit. Fortunately, I had seen the welds were weakening and I had tied a leash cord to it, so I retrieved it overboard. The convergence zone was very complex, so I lived with the fact that I was not going to sail in a straight line for a while. My goal was simply to point the boat in a direction whereby I was making some progress on. After 2h (23:15), the wind settled down a bit and blew 15 from due N. I knew it was temporary. Around midnight the wind had continued to back and was blowing 20 from 340. In a close haul, I was being driven S on a course of 240, aided in part by a cross-current. While the wind direction was predicted, it was blowing much harder than it was supposed to. I would have liked to reduce sail, furl in half the Yankee and possibly put the second reef in, but the winds were supposed to decrease and I wanted to make up some distance. By 4:00 the wind had backed to 320 and I was on a close haul at 240. In about 25 nm I expect to tack to port. By that point it will blowing 240 and I will be headed almost due S. By 5:30 I had become becalmed. The wind speed was only a couple of kt and the direction variable. I furled the Yankee, and ran the engine as it appeared I was only about 20 nm from the wind. I am 100 nm from RBay1. I expect to have to jibe by that point, so I readied the mainsail preventer and the storm staysail for that. It is 6:00 and getting light. There are dense, dark storm clouds behind me and clear skies ahead. The distance sailed towards RBay1 in the last 24h was 208-98=110 nm. Given all the gyrations of the past 24h, I feel fortunate to have made this distance on. The total distance sailed was 14604-14497=107 nm (107/24=4.46 kt avg.), which is inaccurate because of the currents.