Current Position: 16 36.296’S 8 33.022’W; Timezone: UTC+0; SOG: 2.9 kt; COG: 284; TWS: 9; TWD: 135; Current Speed (includes effect of surfing): 0.9 kt; Current Direction: 322; Distance to Waypoint (BARB4, 289): 140 nm; Distance to Endpoint (Bridgetown): 3522 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 19165 nm; Engine Hours: 412; Estimate Fuel: 60+10+50;
Comments: I fell asleep again at 17:00 for 1.5h. I woke up to 17 kt wind … the usual sunset gust. Sunset is at 18:59 at 5.75W. At 7.5W it should be at 19:06. The sun went down behind a cloud bank on the horizon. I went to sleep at 20:30. The OTH AIS shows no threats tonight, so I set an alarm interval of 2h. At 22:00 the wind shifted, its speed decreased, and it began to rain. The “quiet” woke me up. After about 15m the wind picked up again. I had adjusted the windvane and suspected I would have to change it again after the storm. It is 2:20 for the fifth time tonight I had to adjust the windvane. The wind direction keeps changing. I’ve just gotten in the berth and it has changed again. It is 2:45 and I have spent the last half hour trying unsuccessfully to get the TillerPilot to work. It won’t hold a beam reach in 15 kt wind because there is too much weather helm. There must be an issue with the sails, but I cannot see the problem in the dark. I have given up, set up the windvane again, and steered a more northerly course than I would like. Will sort it out in the morning. I am starting to enter a commercial traffic pattern, so I need the steering to be reliable. By 3:00 I was becalmed with zero wind. I woke at 5:30 and the boat was moving again. It was raining hard and blowing 17 from 120. I set a course as westerly as possible given the wind direction. I am now at the latitude of BARB4, 16.5S, so the course is due W, which is not possible with the ESE wind. I didn’t try very hard to set the course or trim sails because I believe the wind will change again when the rain shower passes. Sunrise is at 5:58 at 5.75W, so at 8W it should be at 6:07. The sky is relatively clear to the E, although rain can be seen upwind. I downloaded the latest GRIB at 6:00. There were no surprises, continue on a port tack for 120 nm until tomorrow morning, then head NW. looks like the bigger wind will not come until Friday or Saturday. Looks like a ship will pass in about 8h. Note I am roughly halfway across from South Africa to the coast of Brazil. I installed the TillerPilot at 7:00. The winds are 10 kt from the ESE, so the best I can do is 2-3 kt to the SW. hardly making progress towards Barbados, but at least moving and keeping S of the dead air N of me. I can expect this for 36h. There was a full rainbow, the first I have seen in some time. I had my oatmeal without fresh fruit for the first time. Bananas have been gone a week and I finished the blueberries yesterday. I was surprised how long the blueberries have remained fresh. They were purchased 3 1/2 weeks ago (12/15) at Hout Bay. I have plenty of oranges, grapefruit, and apples for perhaps a piece a day. I also have an abundance of dry fruit. By 7:30 the wind had started its “morning veer”, so I was able to set a more productive course. Unfortunately, the wind speed was down to single digits. I need to recalibrate the paddle wheel sensor. The “current” is actually due to inaccuracy of the boat speed which when compared to SOG is interpreted as current. I need to empty the locker of canned goods to expose the sensor so I can make a Bluetooth connection. It would be nice to to that when the boat is not moving, but I need the boat moving as fast as possible to get an accurate setting. By 8:30 the rain showers stopped, there was sunshine, but only 6 kt wind. The SOG was only about 1 kt. At 9:00 I could see another rain showers on the way, but more compact than the earlier ones. It started raining at 9:30 and was finished by 10:00. I need to prepare another meal from stores today. Taking advantage of the relative calm, I am making a 12 bean Italian soup with diced Spam in the pressure cooker. Once fried, the Spam tastes like bacon. It should make 2-3 meals. It is almost 11:00 and another wave of rain is going to arrive soon. It seems this is going to be going on for a while. I got my dinner in the pressure cooker. The rain shower that hit at 11:30 was larger than the previous one and brought 15 kt winds. The wind was short-lived and fell to 6 kt after the rain passed. At 13:00 I began seeing some 10-12 kt gusts. Light rain started 13:30. The wind picks up and veers before each shower, the dies off and backs after. It makes it difficult to sail a course with the TillerPilot (unless I try to switch it to wind angle mode) and it is difficult to use the windvane in the very light wind. The wind picked up to almost 20 kt at 15:00 when more rain fell. I switched to the windvane as the TillerPilot was overwhelmed. The distance sailed towards BARB4 in the last 24h was 211-140=71 nm. The total distance sailed was 19165-19091=74 nm (74/24=3.1 kt avg).
Comments: I fell asleep again at 17:00 for 1.5h. I woke up to 17 kt wind … the usual sunset gust. Sunset is at 18:59 at 5.75W. At 7.5W it should be at 19:06. The sun went down behind a cloud bank on the horizon. I went to sleep at 20:30. The OTH AIS shows no threats tonight, so I set an alarm interval of 2h. At 22:00 the wind shifted, its speed decreased, and it began to rain. The “quiet” woke me up. After about 15m the wind picked up again. I had adjusted the windvane and suspected I would have to change it again after the storm. It is 2:20 for the fifth time tonight I had to adjust the windvane. The wind direction keeps changing. I’ve just gotten in the berth and it has changed again. It is 2:45 and I have spent the last half hour trying unsuccessfully to get the TillerPilot to work. It won’t hold a beam reach in 15 kt wind because there is too much weather helm. There must be an issue with the sails, but I cannot see the problem in the dark. I have given up, set up the windvane again, and steered a more northerly course than I would like. Will sort it out in the morning. I am starting to enter a commercial traffic pattern, so I need the steering to be reliable. By 3:00 I was becalmed with zero wind. I woke at 5:30 and the boat was moving again. It was raining hard and blowing 17 from 120. I set a course as westerly as possible given the wind direction. I am now at the latitude of BARB4, 16.5S, so the course is due W, which is not possible with the ESE wind. I didn’t try very hard to set the course or trim sails because I believe the wind will change again when the rain shower passes. Sunrise is at 5:58 at 5.75W, so at 8W it should be at 6:07. The sky is relatively clear to the E, although rain can be seen upwind. I downloaded the latest GRIB at 6:00. There were no surprises, continue on a port tack for 120 nm until tomorrow morning, then head NW. looks like the bigger wind will not come until Friday or Saturday. Looks like a ship will pass in about 8h. Note I am roughly halfway across from South Africa to the coast of Brazil. I installed the TillerPilot at 7:00. The winds are 10 kt from the ESE, so the best I can do is 2-3 kt to the SW. hardly making progress towards Barbados, but at least moving and keeping S of the dead air N of me. I can expect this for 36h. There was a full rainbow, the first I have seen in some time. I had my oatmeal without fresh fruit for the first time. Bananas have been gone a week and I finished the blueberries yesterday. I was surprised how long the blueberries have remained fresh. They were purchased 3 1/2 weeks ago (12/15) at Hout Bay. I have plenty of oranges, grapefruit, and apples for perhaps a piece a day. I also have an abundance of dry fruit. By 7:30 the wind had started its “morning veer”, so I was able to set a more productive course. Unfortunately, the wind speed was down to single digits. I need to recalibrate the paddle wheel sensor. The “current” is actually due to inaccuracy of the boat speed which when compared to SOG is interpreted as current. I need to empty the locker of canned goods to expose the sensor so I can make a Bluetooth connection. It would be nice to to that when the boat is not moving, but I need the boat moving as fast as possible to get an accurate setting. By 8:30 the rain showers stopped, there was sunshine, but only 6 kt wind. The SOG was only about 1 kt. At 9:00 I could see another rain showers on the way, but more compact than the earlier ones. It started raining at 9:30 and was finished by 10:00. I need to prepare another meal from stores today. Taking advantage of the relative calm, I am making a 12 bean Italian soup with diced Spam in the pressure cooker. Once fried, the Spam tastes like bacon. It should make 2-3 meals. It is almost 11:00 and another wave of rain is going to arrive soon. It seems this is going to be going on for a while. I got my dinner in the pressure cooker. The rain shower that hit at 11:30 was larger than the previous one and brought 15 kt winds. The wind was short-lived and fell to 6 kt after the rain passed. At 13:00 I began seeing some 10-12 kt gusts. Light rain started 13:30. The wind picks up and veers before each shower, the dies off and backs after. It makes it difficult to sail a course with the TillerPilot (unless I try to switch it to wind angle mode) and it is difficult to use the windvane in the very light wind. The wind picked up to almost 20 kt at 15:00 when more rain fell. I switched to the windvane as the TillerPilot was overwhelmed. The distance sailed towards BARB4 in the last 24h was 211-140=71 nm. The total distance sailed was 19165-19091=74 nm (74/24=3.1 kt avg).