Author: mtashby

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.

Current Position: 10 25.740’S 109 26.230’E; Local Timezone: UTC+7; SOG: 6.2kt; COG: 275; TWS: 21 kt; TWD: 128; Distance to Waypoint (Christmas Island, 270): 219 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 10847 nm; Engine Hours: 242; Estimate Fuel: 51+11+50;
Comments: Note that I have switched to the new time zone (UTC+7). This will be the time zone until I leave Christmas Island for the Cocos (when the time zone will change to UTC+6). I brought my fishing line in at dusk and discovered the reason I hadn’t had any bites … something had bitten the lure off the line. Sunset was at 17:28. I have not seen another boat all day, but as soon as it is dark I began seeing fishing boats all around me. I passed the first one in the port side at 18:50. It was about 1 nm away. At 20:00 there did not appear to be any lights ahead, so I set the alarm for 45m. At 21:00 no lights. 22:30 no lights. 23:30 no lights. At 1:00 there were two lights off the port side, but nothing ahead. At 2:00 I was passing a fishing boat on the port, but nothing ahead. At 3:20 there was nothing ahead. The wind had backed from 110 to 140, allowing me to make progress N again. At 3:45 I was awaken because for some reason the boat had rounded up (the heeling and rush of water had awaken me). The trace suggested it happened a few minutes earlier. Sunrise should be in about 2h, so it will start getting light in 1h. I saw far fewer fishing boats last night. The boat is averaging 6.6 kt and unexpectedly making progress N. I covered the ground overnight 3h faster than expected. I am beginning to think there is a chance I will arrive on Tuesday in time to moor before dark. I downloaded new GRIB/AIS data. No surprises for the weather … 15-18 with gusts 22-25 for the rest of the passage. The direction will oscillate 110-125. When >120, I can make set a course for the waypoint. When <120 I will loose ground S, necessitating a jibe before the island. I will be crossing another shipping lane just before Christmas Island, and it is probably not a good idea to jibe there, so will need to plan accordingly. It is 5:00, starting to get light, and the boat rounded up again with a gust. Not sure why it is doing that … perhaps too much weather helm because I am still flying the full jib with a double-reefed main. It may help to ease the jib sheet … will try to trim the sails when it is more light. It is almost 6:00, after sunrise, although I cannot see the sun yet because of clouds in the horizon. I trimmed the jib and no longer have a problem with the boat rounding up. The seas are big with periodic swell that sometime reached 15’ or more. I have changed my course to 280 (only possible because the wind is at least temporarily coming from 140) so the waves hit almost squarely at the stern. I am sitting towards the stern, enjoying my tea. And watching the towering waves roll towards me, causing the boat to lift like a cork and surf more than 8 kt. Neither the wave height nor the wind direction was predicted. At 8:00 I passed a large neon green float or canister. It was perhaps one-third the length of my boat. It might have been something used for fishing, but usually those have AIS beacons. About 8:30 I was putting out a fishing line and noticed a large vessel coming up behind me, perhaps 1-2 nm away. I didn’t notice it at first because of the large following waves I double-checked and it was not on AIS, so it is either a fishing or military vessel. After a while it fell back, either slowing down or stopping. My guess is it was a fishing vessel repositioning itself for another night of fishing. Christmas Island is at about 10 23’S and I am currently 10 28’S. I have been making up latitude lost yesterday and am currently the furthest N I have been. In contrast, the PW route would have had me 40 nm S of here, distance I would have had to make up. It is probably break even since a route further S would have resulted in faster boat speeds, but the real advantage of heading further north is there is less heeling (only 2 degrees) and less rolling with the following waves … making for a much more comfortable ride. The boat speed is only about 5 kt in 23 kt of wind, but the surfing acts almost like the effect of a current, adding 1.4 kt to the SOG.bit is 14:00 and I am at 10 26’S, having made 3’ of latitude today, half of what I need to be at the latitude of Christmas Island. Of course it does not matter, but it would be nice not to have to jibe as the time heading due N is essentially wasted. The distance sailed towards Christmas Island in the last 24h was 363-219=144 nm. The total distance sailed was 10847-10691=156 nm (156/24=6.5 kt avg.). If I am to arrive by Tuesday and have time to secure the boat before dark, I need to cover the remaining 219/48=4.6 kt. I have been averaging 140-150 nm on each day, so this seems very probable. There is no reason with the forecast that I cannot make at least 6 kt. My best guess is I will arrive by midday on Tuesday after a fast 8-day passage.

Current Position: 10 27.603’S 111 50.787’E; Local Timezone: UTC+8 SOG: 6.3 kt; COG: 268; TWS: 18 kt; TWD: 126; Distance to Waypoint (Christmas Island, 270): 363 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 10681 nm; Engine Hours: 242; Estimate Fuel: 51+11+50;
Comments: Just before dusk I was following a boat on the AIS that I was going to cross paths with. I thought I was a fishing boat, but later it came up as a 328’ “pleasure boat”, the Mutiara. However, it was only going 4.5 kt. I adjusted my course so that I could safely pass in front of it. As I waited until we approached our closest distance, hoping I caught a glimpse of it, a rain shower passed in front of the boat. “Squirrel” ..: my attention was drawn to the shower, wishing it would dump some water on me. It has been months since the boat was washed down and there is a thick coating of salt in everything … including me. My boat picked up speed interim, 7 kt, while the other boat slowed a bit to 4 kt, so the distance between us when we passed was going to be more than I expected. I finally spotted the boat when we were 3 nm apart. We passed within 2 nm at 17:30, about 40m before sunset. I could never really tell what it was, some sort of powerboat. I didn’t get any rain either. Around 20:00 it started gusting in the low 20s, as predicted, and I had to adjust the windvane. I saw the light of one fishing boat behind me but none in front, so I set an alarm for 1h. At 21:00 there were distant lights off the starboard bow, so a set an alarm for 30m. At 21:30 it was clear I was going to avoid the fishing boat on the starboard bow. I was doing close to 7 kt in 21 kt wind. There was broken radio chatter. I set an alarm for 45m. At 22:20 I had already passed the fishing boat on the starboard and saw nothing ahead, so set an alarm for 45m. At 23:15, I saw no lights ahead and set an alarm for 45m. 15m later the boat rounded up in a gust. The wind had veered to 150. There was a lot of weather helm in a beam reach and I needed to adjust the windvane. At this point PW has me gaining latitude and moving S, but I am trying to avoid that if I can as it adds 50-75 nm. The boat is surfing at 7.8 kt. I passed another fishing boat in the distance off the starboard about 00:30. I do not see any lights ahead, so set an alarm for 45m. 1:30 no lights. 2:40, lights off the starboard and port bow, but neither in the way. 3:15, lights off off starboard bow, but not in the way. 4:15 nothing ahead. It is 5:20. Sunrise will be at about 6:40. I just passed 13E, so am now further W than Australia and in a new timezone (UTC+7). I will start using that timezone with the next log entry. Light clouds this morning. I finally have the following seas I have been waiting on. I really have not had them since crossing the GBR. I enjoyed breakfast in the cockpit, including the last slice of mincemeat bread I purchased in Darwin the day before I left. It was round, baked in a can, and it’s held up pretty well during the past almost three weeks. There was a fairly large rain storm just N, but it looked clear windward. Funny … I dodged squalls in the South Pacific, but I’d steer towards one now if it meant a good soaking. I threw a flying fish overboard and a seabird promptly picked it up. I declare my back healed. For the first time since it was bruised on Monday, I don’t feel any pain or stiffness. I believe all the gymnastics of the past week helped the healing process by stretching the muscles and improving circulation. I averaged almost 7 kt overnight. The winds will be lighter later today, but I am still averaging 6.5 at 7:30, helped in part by the following seas. The latest PW has me drifting S, the jibing repeatedly to return to the rhumb line, but for now I am able to maintain the course towards the waypoint. It is 11:00 and after several days of roughy seas, the sailing is very pleasant. All of the clouds have burned off and the sea has settled down. The water is the deep blue color of deep water in bright sunlight. I have spent the whole morning in the cockpit and I just put in a fishing line. The winds are lighter, 14-18, but the boat is moving well, averaging 6.3 kt, because there is less rolling and the wind is getting dumped from the sails less often. The distance sailed towards Christmas Island in the last 24h was 515-363=152 nm. The total distance sailed was 10691-10525=166 nm (166/24=6.9 kt avg.). This is my best day in a long time. The change in wind direction means I have begun loosing distance S, so the actual distance I will need to sail will be more than 323.

Current Position: 10 40.071’S 114 25.065’E; Local Timezone: UTC+8 SOG: 5.8 kt; COG: 280; TWS: 17 kt; TWD: 148; Distance to Waypoint (Christmas Island, 270): 515 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 10525 nm; Engine Hours: 242; Estimate Fuel: 51+11+50;
Comments: I was wrong about not likely finding trawlers in the shipping lane. One popped up 3.5 nm in front of me at 16:00. I changed my course to pass 0.5 nm S of the trawler. At 18:00, sunset, I am entering the shipping channel. I will pass about 4.5 nm in front of the first ship heading N in about an hour. About the same time a second ship heading S will pass 10 nm in front of me. As predicted, the winds are back and it is blowing 22 kt, pushing through the lane quickly I am lucky. The long-range AIS suggests there is only one other cargo ship tonight that may be an issue. However, some of the ships leave the channel and go in various directions, so we’ll see. By 23:30 I appeared to have crossed the main channel and had no vessels on the AIS. I saw no lights from the cockpit. For the first time in quite a while, I had a current working against me, slowing the boat down to less than 5 kt in 18 kt wind. At 3:00 I had to avoid a fishing boat. I did not see the lights of any other trawlers in the area.I download a new GRIB and long-range AIS and it seemed that there were no cargo ships in the area. Sunrise should be about 6:30. It is cloudy this morning and I see a rain shower off the starboard quarter. The depth gauge says it is 130’, but I believe it is just a thermocline as it should be over 10,000’ deep here. When I went to heat water for my morning tea, I discovered there was no power at the gas-leak detector/solenoid controller. I crawled into the engine room to get to the fuses on the controller (not my favorite thing to do in a rolling boat) and pulled the two blade fuses. One is for the entire unit and the other is for the solenoid. Both had conductivity. I plugged them back in and I had power to the unit. This is not the first time this has happened. There must be a loose wire somewhere, but I have never been able to find it. The sea is big today and the cockpit not particularly comfortable, but at least it is dry. The wind is 16-19 this morning from 130, putting me in a broad reach. I am almost halfway. Going forward it is going to be increasingly difficult to maintain a course towards the waypoint, which is why I have been pleased to make way N the past few days. The wind is supposed to pick up tonight beginning early evening, with sustained winds of 20 and gusts to 25. The current sail configuration of the full Yankee and double-reefed main should be fine, especially in a broad reach. I am 115E and the western edge of Australia is 113E, so I should be beyond Australia by tomorrow morning and into a new time zone, UTC+7, the same as Christmas Island. I am about 100 nm S of Java and will essentially be following that coastline the rest of the way to Christmas Island. It is 8:00 and even though I am in a broad reach, the swell is still squarely on the beam, making for a very uncomfortable ride. Further, the swell is 10-12’, causing the jib to be shadowed as the boat rolls, dumping the air and causing slatting. There is not much I can do about it. Hopefully the direction of the waves will catch up to the direction of the wind soon, giving me some following seas. I finished off the food ai had prepared for the passage yesterday. So I either have to drop a line on move to canned food. I’ll wait to see if the sea settles down before fishing. It is 9:00, it is now partly cloudy, and the solar panels are producing for a change. My back is still not 100%, but it is getting better every day. It is not the spine, but well to the side, a muscle that has been bruised. I really surprised I have not been more banged up considering how violently the boat is moving around sometimes. My rock climbing skills have been put to good use. Just before noon, I went to the cockpit and observed a fishing boat 0.25 nm away off my port bow. I went below and turned in the RADAR. By the time I got back to the helm the fishing boat was upon me and I had to take emergency measures to steer my boat around it stern. It was under power, no evidence of anyone on watch, it did not have AIS, and it had absolutely zero RADAR signature. It appeared to be made of wood and more like a junke than a trawler. I recognized the shape of superstructure from what I have been passing at night. It is clear that I am going to have to make periodic observations with my binoculars until I am out of these waters. I am setting alarms at 1h intervals. Another fishing boat on a course to meet me showed up in the AIS about 15:30. It looks like we are about 2h from crossing. The distance sailed towards Christmas Island in the last 24h was 634-515=119 nm. The total distance sailed was 10525-10405=120 nm (120/24=5 kt avg.). I am at the halfway point to Christmas Island.

Current Position: 10 56.741’S 116 27.302’E; Local Timezone: UTC+8 SOG: 5.2 kt; COG: 283; TWS: 14 kt; TWD: 145; Distance to Waypoint (Christmas Island, 271): 634 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 10405 nm; Engine Hours: 242; Estimate Fuel: 51+11+50;
Comments: Note: PredictMail is no longer working correctly. Outgoing emails are apparently being received, but I have not received any PredictMail since Sunday. If you are trying to reach me, do not reply to PredictMail until the problem is resolved. Use one of my Gmail accounts. If you have sent an important message to the PredictMail account in the past four days, you might want to resend it to one of my Gmail accounts. Rain clouds arrived about 16:00. There appeared to be precipitation ahead, but nothing threatening. Sunset was at 18:00. Right at dusk I discovered I had passed a trawler, probably within one-quarter mile. I didn’t know it was there until it turned in its AIS after I had passed. It is going to be another night of watching for lights on the horizon. As predicted, the wind started decreasing shortly after dusk. By 23:00, 10 kt is expected. The wind will pick up again by dawn, but it will back overnight from 180 to 140. I am setting my alarm for 1h intervals to look for trawlers and periodically adjust the windvane. At 20:30 I saw faint lights on the horizon, but none in my path. At 22:30 I saw some light off my starboard bow that I might have to avoid. At 23:30 there were a dozen or more trawlers to the starboard and only one to the port. It did not appear that any were in my way. The ride has smoothed out quite a bit, perhaps because the wind had not exceeded 14 kt for 4h or so. At 1:00 I no longer saw distinctive lights ahead. The wind had backed to 150, so I adjusted the windvane. At 3:00 the trawlers seemed to be N of me. It is 5:30, about an hour before sunrise, but it is getting light, so I can no longer spot the trawlers using their lights. However, I will soon be in the shipping lane, and I suspect they do not fish there. I should start seeing the first of the commercial traffic in 3-4h, but most of it is about 50 nm away. The traffic is about 150 nm away (with most of it in the middle 50). This means ai will be avoiding it for the next 36h, but most of it during the night. There are not as many clouds this morning and they aren’t as dark. The seas are now like bluewater with big swells. As predicted, the first of the cargo ships (Shandong Ren He) showed up at 7:00 and is 25 nm away. We should cross paths in about 2h. I spotted the vessel 10 nm off my starboard bow at 8:30. The vessel passed my bow at a distance of 0.5 nm about 9:15. That sounds like a long way, but for an 1,100’ vessel, that is less than three ship lengths. It is hard to say when I will encounter the next vessel, but I should reach the main channel late afternoon. By 10:00 it had become heavily overcast. At 13:30 the first of the cargo ships from the shipping lane showed up on the AIS, 30 nm away. Another one showed up at 15:00. The distance sailed towards Christmas Island in the last 24h was 758-634=124 nm. The total distance sailed was 10405-10273=132 nm (134/24=5.58 kt avg.), even better than the previous two days.

Current Position: 11 18.658’S 118 32.035’E; Local Timezone: UTC+8 SOG: 6.9 kt; COG: 290; TWS: 18 kt; TWD: 183; Distance to Waypoint (Christmas Island, 272): 758 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 10273 nm; Engine Hours: 241; Estimate Fuel: 51+11+50;
Comments: Gusts in the low 20s is expected beginning about midnight, so I put a second reef in the main before it got dark. It was a bit rough on my back and it slowed the boat down a bit (5.3 to 5.0), but I will be glad I did it tonight if the wind picks up, especially as one of the slugs has become unleashed to the sail. With the second reef, the missing slug is still halfway up the sail. I would need to stop the boat and drop the main completely to effect a repair. However, now that it is double-reefed, there is a lot less pressure on the sail. Also, the wind has backed to 160 and will back further to 150, putting me in a broad reach, meaning the jib is doing most of the work. It has been my experience that the double-reefed main works better by shadowing the jib less. At 19:30 a tanker appeared on the AIS 28 nm away. It is going to pass my stern in about 90m. On queue, at 23:30 the stronger, 19 kt winds arrived. I checked the AIS and two vessels had “magically” appeared, one 9 nm to my port and the other 10 nm to my starboard. As I passed them their signals disappeared. They were turning their AIS on and off. I went to the cockpit and I could see the glow of their lights. More disturbingly, there was the glow of a third vessel directly ahead. I turned on the RADAR and they were 9 nm ahead. I adjusted my course to avoid them. My AIS was offering false security this evening. Like the fishing trawler I had seen at 7:00 this morning, the boats are not using their AIS. To make things more difficult, they do not have strong RADAR signatures. If I had not seen the glow ahead, I might not have noticed the intermittent RADAR signal. It is midnight and I can see the faint glow of at least a dozen fishing trawlers on the horizon. I downloaded PW AIS data, which sometimes shows vessels even if their AIS is on periodically, but none of the fishing trawlers show up. I passed the trawler ahead of me 1 nm to my port about 1:30. There were glows off my starboard bow, but I knew they must be at least 10 nm away. Since the trawlers had been stationary, I knew I had to be at more than 1h from the next one. I adjusted my course further S, away from the glowing horizon, and set an alarm for 1h. I got up after an alarm at 3:45. I counted five faint glows on the starboard, one on the port, and one off the starboard bow. Since there were none directly in front of me, I set an alarm for 1h. I got up at 4:45 and the horizon was clear. I woke up at 6:00., just before dawn. The skies had dark clouds, the seas were somewhat angry, and the cockpit was wet. I downloaded a new GRIB. I am coming up on a major passage for commercial traffic into Indonesia. There is a chain of four dozen cargo ships that I will have to cross over tonight. Today will be the last day the wind comes from the S. It will back to the SE tonight. Also? The wind speeds will decrease overnight to 13-18. I am hoping for a smoother ride tonight, especially as I will be dealing with the cargo ships. Winds in the 20s will be back midday tomorrow, but from 120 rather than 180, so I will be in broad reach with following seas rather than the close hall/beam reach ai am in now with swell on the port bow. At 8:00 a fishing trawler showed up on AIS 2 nm away off my starboard bow. In the present sea conditions, the trawlers are almost impossible to spot visually and sea clutter on the RADAR makes it useless. I changed my course to about 300 for a smoother ride. I need to move about 1 degree N eventually and it will be harder later when the wind backs. The new course made it possible to enjoy my breakfast in the cockpit. The boat was sailing through a school of flying fish and a hundred seabirds of a half dozen species had gathered to feed on them. I have not seen flying fish since the passage from Vanuatu. I suspect this is due to the fact the Timor Sea does not develop swells large enough for the fish to take flight. These are precisely the conditions that I can usually catch a tuna, but I don’t have the will to fish in a pitching boat. Also, I have not been able to run the fridge enough because of the cloudy weather. I laid down for an hour to catch up with my sleep, slept very deeply, and when I awoke at 10:00 the clouds were largely gone and the sun was shining. The boat was averaging 6.5 kt in winds that were gusting to almost 20. It is now clear that I won’t reach the shipping lane until tomorrow morning. The distance sailed towards Christmas Island in the last 24h was 878-758=120 nm. The total distance sailed was 10273-10146=127 nm (127/24=5.25 kt avg.), almost identical as yesterday.

Current Position: 11 47.830’S 120 33.771’E; Local Timezone: UTC+8 SOG: 5.4 kt; COG: 292; TWS: 15 kt; TWD: 170; Distance to Waypoint (Christmas Island, 273): 878 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 10146 nm; Engine Hours: 240; Estimate Fuel: 51+12+50;
Comments: It is almost dusk, 17:20, and the wind has been blowing at 11 steady for the last 4-5h. The boat has been averaging close to 5 kt, not fast, but the comfortable ride makes up for the rather leisurely pace. I have averaged 4.4 kt the last 8h, which is better than I expected this first day. The wind is supposed to pick up to 12-13 with gusts of 16-17 by morning, so I expect the pace to pick up. I am leaving one reef in overnight and the whole Yankee, but I will see gusts in the low 20s by this time tomorrow, so will probably put the second reef in, especially as I am in a beam reach. My back is sore, but not debilitating. I hope is is better in the morning (and not stiff). The weather appears good, there is no traffic in the area, and I am back in blue water, so I should get some good sleep tonight. I brought the fishing line in for the night. Have not gotten any bites since the bird this morning. It is about 19:00 and I am getting ready to sleep. I have been traveling close to the rate predicted by PW, which is unusual in that it usually overestimates my rate during the day (and underestimates it at night). At 23:30 the wind had increased to 14 and veered to 185, so the boat was headed too far N and the windvane was adjusted. The trace showed the boat had followed the rhumb line to the waypoint the past 12h. The wind speed increase had been predicted, but the direction was supposed to be 160 (and 180 by dawn). I woke at 3:00. There is a cargo ship (Star Marilana) 26 nm off my starboard stern quarter traveling 12 kt. It should pass my stern in 2h. At 5:00 the ship passed 12 nm to my stern. Sunrise is at 6:02. I got a sold 10h of sleep. My back is stiff, but feels better. I have made 100 nm since clearing the reef 20 h ago, averaging 5 kt, better than I expected. In contrast to the largely cloudless days of the past few weeks, it is cloudy this morning, consist with the warm front that is arriving. Nothing looks threatening. I downloaded new GRIBs and AIS data. There’s nothing much new except I will cross a major shipping channel Thursday. At 7:00 I spotted a vessel off my starboard bow. It was not on AIS. It appears to be a large fishing vessel. This is very disturbing. I turned the RADAR in and in addition to the vessel 2 nm off my starboard, there is another 9 nm off my port quarter. I may need to turn the RADAR on periodically to learn if there are other vessels like this in the area. I adjusted my course off the waypoint (274) to 290 in anticipation of the wind backing today and to provide a better TWA later. At 8:00 the wind started gusting to 18, earlier than expected. If it starts hitting 20, I will put the second reef back in the main. The boat is averaging 6.2 kt. It is13:30 and the wind has begun to back (currently 170). The boat has slowed down a little as it is now in a broad reach. The seas are bigger and the roll has started to cause slatting of the jib from time to time. The distance sailed towards Ashmore Reef in the last 24h was 1000-878=122 nm. The total distance sailed was 10146-10020=126 nm (126/24=5.25 kt avg.). I am pleased with the progress so far.

Current Position: 12 07.858’S 122 36.707’E; Local Timezone: UTC+8 SOG: 5.0 kt; COG: 280; TWS: 9 kt; TWD: 160; Distance to Waypoint (Christmas Island, 273): 1000 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 10020 nm; Engine Hours: 240; Estimate Fuel: 51+12+50;
Comments: Low tide is 5:51 tomorrow and high tide will be at 11:55. There is no rush to leave because there will probably not be a lot of wind in the morning, so I will take my time to make a nice breakfast and make sure everything is secured and organized. I expect it to be a fairly rough passage, as roll warnings exist almost the whole way. It is 7:30. I have 10 kt of wind from 145, so I am going to release the boat from its mooring and begin the passage. Leaving the lagoon is going to be challenging because a large cruise ship arrived shortly after dawn and the channel is choked with RIBs. By the time I got to the mouth of the channel, ai found the ship was blocking my way, with a string of RIBs behind it all the way to the reef. I hailed the Captain and told them I would be waiting until the RIBs were retrieved to pass close to her stern. I had to wait about 30. I might have waited longer, but to ABF RIBs showed up and I had the feeling words were exchanged. Exactly at 9:00 I cleared the reef. 1023 nm to CI. I have 12 kt of wind, more than expected. The seas are calm, perhaps because there has not been much wind. I am doing 3.2 kt with a TWA of 142 and a double reef in the main. The course is directly at the waypoint (273). I can probably get more, but I am enjoying the peace. I am going to have a lot of wind and beam waves most of the way, so I’ll take a little of this now. I slipped in the cockpit getting ready and landed on the edge on my back. It is sore , but does not seem to be serious. I am going to baby it today. About 9:15 I hooked a bird (by accident). I heaved to stop the boat and tried to reel the bird in to release it, but the line broke at the hook. The bird flew off. It is 12:15 and I just shook out the second reef in single-digit winds. In doing so I have noticed one of the slugs is no longer attached to the sail. I don’t think it is critical, but I will definitely need to repair it at Christmas Island (and check the other slugs for wear). While the wind has remained single digit for most of the day, it has veered by early afternoon to 160, allowing a TWA of 100 and average boat speeds approaching 4 kt. There will be one time change during this passage, about 111E, when I move from UTC+8 to UTC+7. I was buzzed by ABF 55 at 14:15 and contacted by VHF a few minutes later with the usual questions. It is 14:30 and I am In an unusually strong 1.8 kt current coming from about 170. It is contributing to a boat speed of 4.5-5 kt in 8-9 kt wind. I have had a look at both short and long-range AIS and I do not see much traffic. There is far fewer cargo ships and tanker W of Ashmore. As expected, by 15:09 I started seeing 10-11 kt winds and boat speeds of 5-5.5 kt.

Current Position: 12 14.324’S 122 58.918’E; Local Timezone: UTC+8 SOG: 0 kt; COG: 0; TWS: 6 kt; TWD: 125; Distance to Waypoint (Ashmore Reef): At Anchor; Total Miles Sailed: 10003 nm; Engine Hours: 236; Estimate Fuel: 51+14+50;
Comments: It is almost sunset and the water is glassy smooth. It is also slack tide, so the boats moored here are pointing in random directions. I have been counting the Loggerhead turtles that are coming by, and I am Up to 5 in the last hour. I have not had much luck fishing. I have tried lures and jigs … even some port rind. I have had a few hits, but except for the small Trevally, I have not landed anything. I woke at 5:15, 45m before sunrise (5:56). It was dead calm, but I expect the wind to pick up a bit today. It is quiet enough that I hear the turtles surface and take a deep breath … like a mini breaching whale. High tide is supposed to be 11:25. I noticed that several hours before, the surge has begun like yesterday, as the Ocean begins to clear the barrier reef. I tested the prop. It seems to flip from forward to reverse without any problem. The crew of the ABFC Thaiyak have been doing exercises all day … MOB, maneuvering the RIB in the surf, beaching the RIB, high-speed maneuver, etc. I had my main meal (left-over) early today and laid down for a rest because I want to go snorkeling this evening. i tried to go snorkeling at 15:30. Low tide was going to be 17:43 and sunset at 17:44. Unfortunately, the current was even stronger than yesterday and did not feel safe. For example, if the dinghy anchor dragged, the dinghy could have ended up too far away for me to recover it. Unfortunately, the timing was not great … by the time the winds died down enough to leave the boat, the low tide had moved to late in the day. Nonetheless, I saw many wonderful things, especially on West Island, but even during the little diving I did. I expect to have more opportunities at CI and especially the Cocos. I decided to be cautious, returned to the boat, and loaded the dinghy and outboard. I exchanged e-mails with my friend Mike on S/V White Malkin. We first met in the Marquesas. He is one of the support vessels for the 5.80 racers, who recently left TI. Mike is in Darwin having some work done on his standing rigging and picking up things for the racers (like I did) that cannot be found elsewhere. He expects leave Darwin on Friday and head to the Cocos, which he expects to reach about September 15. If I spend a week at Christmas Island, I should arrive in the Cocos about the same time (9d to CI + 7d at CI + 3d to Cocos = 19d … Sept. 13). It is 16:30, about an hour before sunset. As expected, the breeze has been building all day. I should see double-digit winds by late tomorrow afternoon and gusts in the 20s by Tuesday morning. It will be a slow start, but I should have strong winds for most of the passage.