Current Position: 24 13.700’S 5 23.508’E; Timezone: UTC+0; SOG: 4.3 kt; COG: 350; TWS: 8; TWD: 155; Current Speed (includes effect of surfing): 0.9 kt; Current Direction: 335; Distance to Waypoint (BARB2, 005): 805 nm; Distance to Endpoint (Bridgetown): 4432 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 17761 nm; Engine Hours: 409; Estimate Fuel: 60+12+50;
Comments: Starting with this entry, I am switching to UTC+0 (e.g., Jamestown, St.Helena). I contacted Erick Galvez, an agent in Panama to help through the canal. While the virtual “inspection” can take place in advance (I will send the necessary paperwork while at Barbados), the canal will not be scheduled until I arrive. I am told because I will be going through during the high period (February 6 to March 10) and because of the ARC rally, I can expect a delay of 10-15 days. Sunset was at 18:22 (6.5E). Sunrise will be a 5:51 at St. Helena (5.75W). I should be about 5.5E, so sunrise should be 10.5*4=42m earlier, or 5:09. I went to sleep at 18:40. Because I have not seen any traffic in 36h, I have not seen a fishing trawler in several days, no traffic shows up on the over-the-horizon AIS, and the wind is so light and expected to remain so, I am going to set the alarm interval for 2h. At 3:00 a ship appeared on AIS that will pass within 1.5 nm in 1h. I got up at 4:00 as it passes. As expected, the wind was only blowing 9-12kt. I downloaded the latest GRIB. I am going to have single digit winds for the next four days from about 120 with practically zero wind tomorrow (Monday) afternoon. After my tea, I am going to switch over to the TillerPilot this morning so I can swap out the smaller windvane for the larger one. I will need to drill holes in the larger one so I can secure it with zip-ties like the smaller one. It is likely the wind will pick up a bit after sunrise. After it warms up, the wind speed and direction has stabilized, and I am sure I am in single digits, I will tack to starboard, stow the storm staysail, furl the jib, and launch the asymm. I am going to try to only fly the foresail so I can sail as close to a run as possible, so I will drop the main. This will also help keep the shoot inflated during the light winds. Hopefully, I can get an angle that put me on a NW course and out of the shipping lanes. It looks like the main lane starts about 70 nm to my E and runs NW to SE. I will hit it in about a day if I am forced due N or in a couple of days if NNW. However, there are outsiders like the one that just passed that I will encounter in increasing numbers. Clouds prevented me from seeing the sunrise. I just tallied up the fees for the canal … $4000. This included the $500 fee for the agent, the cruising permit, etc. It is 6:00 and as expected there is a “sunrise wind” of 14 kt. I am going to let this play out because I cannot put the asymm up until I tack and I don’t want to tack any earlier than necessary (to avoid the shipping lanes). I am still averaging 4.2, faster than predicted by PW (3.7). I am 820 from St. Helena and 1520 nm from Ascension, probably 8 and 15d, respectively. At 7:30 I could see the front moving in from the SE. I modified the large windvane and installed it. I had trouble with the TillerPilot. The + contact is become corroded and only makes intermittent contact. Unfortunately, I have not seen any electrical contact cleaner in a while. I will have to try to scrape away the corrosion when I have a chance. Since I do not plan to motor if I don’t have wind, I imagine the windvane will serve me fine, especially now that I have the larger blade installed. I took an inventory of the fresh food. Unfortunately, the two remaining pizzas did not make it. I have some ravioli/sauce and some pea soup that need to be used up. I will eat those in the next two days. There is also some nan. I will eat that with the two meals. This will take me to Monday. I will Make a nice meal with the smoked salmon, fresh green beans, etc. that should last me two days. On Wednesday, New Years Eve, I will make the ham, sweet potatoes, and peas. This will Last me a few days as I have bread (hopefully) to make sandwiches. This will be the end of the fresh food. As expected, it will have lasted two weeks, almost three weeks after the food was actually purchased. I should be pretty close to St. Helena by then, or somewhere downwind. It is 7:45, 11 kt wind from 124, and a SOG of 3.4. I am Just wait for single digits to start switching over the sails. At 8:00 the wind backed and I tacked N. At 8:30 I stowed the staysail. Winds are down to 8 kt. I am waiting for the front to finish passing. There is a rain storm to the NE. I am close to being parallel to the shipping channel. I have lost the current and the SOG is only 2.6. It took more than 2h to full deploy the asymm. There was a kink in the cable the caught the middle of the shoot and wouldn’t allow me to fully deploy it. Working it back and forth with different tensions finally released it. The cable has Indians kinks in it. It took about 30m to get the kinks out. I hope that a couple of weeks of pressure by the sail will help straighten it out. The SOG is 4.2 in 7-9 kt wind using just the asymm. I am headed due N (M) in a broad reach. The COG is actually about 340 (T). St. Helena and Ascension are at a bearing of about 310 (T), so I am E by 30 degrees. This will take me across the shipping lanes in a day or two, and then keep me in the lane for a week or more. The first ship is already on the AIS, about 100 nm N of me. In the long run, it will pay to reach the trade winds N, so I intend to maintain this course until I do. The crossing to Brazil is where the cost of the asymm will pay off. The nice thing is the sea is very calm, the boat steady, and I am heeled to port for the first time in months (don’t need the lee cloth on the berth). I made the ravioli at noon. It is 15:00 and the SOG has averaged 4.3 since the asymm was launched with a COG of 340 (T). I am setting a new waypoint (BARB2) at 12S 3E, about 800 nm N of my current location. It should take about 8d to reach the point. BARB2 should put me in a good position to sail on a port tack to the Brazilian coast (about 2000 nm, about 15s). The total distance sailed was 17761-17615=146 (146/24=6.0 kt avg).
Comments: Starting with this entry, I am switching to UTC+0 (e.g., Jamestown, St.Helena). I contacted Erick Galvez, an agent in Panama to help through the canal. While the virtual “inspection” can take place in advance (I will send the necessary paperwork while at Barbados), the canal will not be scheduled until I arrive. I am told because I will be going through during the high period (February 6 to March 10) and because of the ARC rally, I can expect a delay of 10-15 days. Sunset was at 18:22 (6.5E). Sunrise will be a 5:51 at St. Helena (5.75W). I should be about 5.5E, so sunrise should be 10.5*4=42m earlier, or 5:09. I went to sleep at 18:40. Because I have not seen any traffic in 36h, I have not seen a fishing trawler in several days, no traffic shows up on the over-the-horizon AIS, and the wind is so light and expected to remain so, I am going to set the alarm interval for 2h. At 3:00 a ship appeared on AIS that will pass within 1.5 nm in 1h. I got up at 4:00 as it passes. As expected, the wind was only blowing 9-12kt. I downloaded the latest GRIB. I am going to have single digit winds for the next four days from about 120 with practically zero wind tomorrow (Monday) afternoon. After my tea, I am going to switch over to the TillerPilot this morning so I can swap out the smaller windvane for the larger one. I will need to drill holes in the larger one so I can secure it with zip-ties like the smaller one. It is likely the wind will pick up a bit after sunrise. After it warms up, the wind speed and direction has stabilized, and I am sure I am in single digits, I will tack to starboard, stow the storm staysail, furl the jib, and launch the asymm. I am going to try to only fly the foresail so I can sail as close to a run as possible, so I will drop the main. This will also help keep the shoot inflated during the light winds. Hopefully, I can get an angle that put me on a NW course and out of the shipping lanes. It looks like the main lane starts about 70 nm to my E and runs NW to SE. I will hit it in about a day if I am forced due N or in a couple of days if NNW. However, there are outsiders like the one that just passed that I will encounter in increasing numbers. Clouds prevented me from seeing the sunrise. I just tallied up the fees for the canal … $4000. This included the $500 fee for the agent, the cruising permit, etc. It is 6:00 and as expected there is a “sunrise wind” of 14 kt. I am going to let this play out because I cannot put the asymm up until I tack and I don’t want to tack any earlier than necessary (to avoid the shipping lanes). I am still averaging 4.2, faster than predicted by PW (3.7). I am 820 from St. Helena and 1520 nm from Ascension, probably 8 and 15d, respectively. At 7:30 I could see the front moving in from the SE. I modified the large windvane and installed it. I had trouble with the TillerPilot. The + contact is become corroded and only makes intermittent contact. Unfortunately, I have not seen any electrical contact cleaner in a while. I will have to try to scrape away the corrosion when I have a chance. Since I do not plan to motor if I don’t have wind, I imagine the windvane will serve me fine, especially now that I have the larger blade installed. I took an inventory of the fresh food. Unfortunately, the two remaining pizzas did not make it. I have some ravioli/sauce and some pea soup that need to be used up. I will eat those in the next two days. There is also some nan. I will eat that with the two meals. This will take me to Monday. I will Make a nice meal with the smoked salmon, fresh green beans, etc. that should last me two days. On Wednesday, New Years Eve, I will make the ham, sweet potatoes, and peas. This will Last me a few days as I have bread (hopefully) to make sandwiches. This will be the end of the fresh food. As expected, it will have lasted two weeks, almost three weeks after the food was actually purchased. I should be pretty close to St. Helena by then, or somewhere downwind. It is 7:45, 11 kt wind from 124, and a SOG of 3.4. I am Just wait for single digits to start switching over the sails. At 8:00 the wind backed and I tacked N. At 8:30 I stowed the staysail. Winds are down to 8 kt. I am waiting for the front to finish passing. There is a rain storm to the NE. I am close to being parallel to the shipping channel. I have lost the current and the SOG is only 2.6. It took more than 2h to full deploy the asymm. There was a kink in the cable the caught the middle of the shoot and wouldn’t allow me to fully deploy it. Working it back and forth with different tensions finally released it. The cable has Indians kinks in it. It took about 30m to get the kinks out. I hope that a couple of weeks of pressure by the sail will help straighten it out. The SOG is 4.2 in 7-9 kt wind using just the asymm. I am headed due N (M) in a broad reach. The COG is actually about 340 (T). St. Helena and Ascension are at a bearing of about 310 (T), so I am E by 30 degrees. This will take me across the shipping lanes in a day or two, and then keep me in the lane for a week or more. The first ship is already on the AIS, about 100 nm N of me. In the long run, it will pay to reach the trade winds N, so I intend to maintain this course until I do. The crossing to Brazil is where the cost of the asymm will pay off. The nice thing is the sea is very calm, the boat steady, and I am heeled to port for the first time in months (don’t need the lee cloth on the berth). I made the ravioli at noon. It is 15:00 and the SOG has averaged 4.3 since the asymm was launched with a COG of 340 (T). I am setting a new waypoint (BARB2) at 12S 3E, about 800 nm N of my current location. It should take about 8d to reach the point. BARB2 should put me in a good position to sail on a port tack to the Brazilian coast (about 2000 nm, about 15s). The total distance sailed was 17761-17615=146 (146/24=6.0 kt avg).