Author: mtashby

Current Position: 12 59.241’S 17 15.282’W; Timezone: UTC+0; SOG: 4.5 kt; COG: 325; TWS: 16; TWD: 118; Current Speed (includes effect of surfing): 1.6 kt; Current Direction: 324; Distance to Waypoint (IFN, 300): 1044 nm; Distance to Endpoint (Bridgetown): 2992 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 19964 nm; Engine Hours: 414; Estimate Fuel: 60+8+50;
Comments: Sunset is at 19:00 at 5.75W. At 16.5W it should be at 19:43. There are almost no clouds, except where the sun set. The OTH AIS shows no threats tonight, so I went to sleep at 21:20 and set an alarm for 2h. I downloaded data at 5:30. The GRIB showed no surprises … starboard tack until 22:00, lighter air this week, but no evidence of becoming becalmed. The OTH AIS showed no threats. I got up at 6:00. Sunrise is at 6:01 at 5.75W. At 16.75W it should be at 6:45. The sun came up behind a cloud bank. It is partly cloudy. The SOG is 4.5 in a deep broad reach with 16 kt from 122 and a COG of 320 (IFN is 1082 nm at 301). Looks like I can expect lighter wind tomorrow, then perhaps some more wind. The general pattern will be starboard during daylight hours and port after dark-6:00. By noon there were no clouds in the sky. I made miso soup with some of the marlin and noodles. The propane solenoid did not work, but it was obviously from the lights that the blade fuse had blown again, and I had ready access to a replacement. The distance sailed towards IFN in the last 24h was 1139-1044=95 nm. The total distance sailed was 19964-19810=154 nm (154/24=6.4 kt avg).

Current Position: 14 28.534’S 16 18.000’W; Timezone: UTC+0; SOG: 4.5 kt; COG: 329; TWS: 13; TWD: 116; Current Speed (includes effect of surfing): 1.8 kt; Current Direction: 305; Distance to Waypoint (IFN, 303): 1139 nm; Distance to Endpoint (Bridgetown): 3066 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 19810 nm; Engine Hours: 413; Estimate Fuel: 60+9+50;
Comments: Sunset is at 19:00 at 5.75W. At 15W it should be at 19:37. Sunset was actually at 19:36. Because of the clouds, I had to run the engine for 30m this evening to charge the batteries. It is the price I am paying to keep the fish frozen. I went to sleep at 21:00. I am suppose to tack in 4h (1:00), but will play it by ear. Wind is light and the SOG IS 4.3 at 330. No traffic expected, so setting the timer for 2h. I woke at 22:00 to 19 kt wind and had to adjust the windvane. A little after midnight, I downloaded a GRIB and tacked to port. It looks like I might get light wind by Wednesday. The OTH AIS showed no threats before dawn, so I set a 2h alarm. At 4:30 the boat accidentally jibbed. Not sure why. I reset the windvane. I woke at 6:30. Sunrise is at 6:01 at 5.75W. At 15.5W it should be at 6:40. The sun rose behind a cloud bank and broke through the clouds at 6:51 to a mostly clear sky. The GRIB was 13h old so downloaded a new one. Not many surprises … tack to starboard at 10:00, good wind for 18h, then light wind for 4d. I am reaching a point far enough W that I will almost always be on a starboard tack until Barbados. I tacked starboard at 11:00 with a SOG of 5.7 and course of 320. The wind continued to back and by noon my course was close to the waypoint. The batteries were charged by 13:00 and I made water at 15:00. The distance sailed towards IFN in the last 24h was 1242-1139=103 nm. The total distance sailed was 19810-19654=156 nm (146/24=6.1 kt avg).

Current Position: 15 27.722’S 14 51.543’W; Timezone: UTC+0; SOG: 4.5 kt; COG: 338; TWS: 13; TWD: 119; Current Speed (includes effect of surfing): 1.7 kt; Current Direction: 320; Distance to Waypoint (IFN, 302): 1242 nm; Distance to Endpoint (Bridgetown): 3168 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 19654 nm; Engine Hours: 412; Estimate Fuel: 60+10+50;
Comments: Sunset is at 19:00 at 5.75W. At 13.50W it should be at 19:31. Sunset was actually at 19:30. I downloaded a new GRIB at 19:30. Not too much new. I am supposed to tack midnight, but will probably wait until dawn. Most days going forward should be strong wind. I made a mistake of eating a piece of chocolate with cocoa beans and 70 mg of caffeine, so had trouble getting to sleep. Sat up and thought of a dozen recipes for swordfish. No traffic to worry about on the OTH AIS and the windvane has been going all day without problems, so set alarms for 2h intervals and fell asleep about 21:00. At 1:00, after the time I was supposed to tack, the wind was 22, the SOG almost 6 on a course of 280, so everything was fine. I got up at 5:15 and downloaded a GRIB. There were no surprises. I tacked to starboard at 5:45 with a new heading of 330 and a SOG of 5.3 kt in 17-23 kt wind from 120. I am expected to tack again early afternoon. The one 48h tack to port and I should pretty much be on a starboard tack all the way to Barbados. The tack is primarily to avoid some soft air developing N. The OTH AIS shows one threat, a cargo ship 80 nm off my bow and headed on an opposite course. I expect it about 9:00. I went back to sleep and woke at 7:00. The sun had rose behind a cloud bank. The wind had slowed and the SOG was 4.8. The One Maxium was moving faster than I thought (17 kt) and is expected to pass my port side in about 1h. I brewed some tea to watch the show. I had forgotten to tach the staysail this morning in the dark. Didn’t understand why I was only doing 4.9 in 16-22 kt wind. Also, the lazy sheet of the Yankee was caught under the drum of the windless, causing the jib to be slightly misshapen. One threat sails were trimmed, I picked up 0.4 kt. One Maxium passed 1.5 nm S of me about 8:00. The wind is less, 14-17 kt, so I decreased the TWA from a deep to a true broad reach with a heading of 340 to make a SOG of 5 kt. The sun has not yet broken through the clouds and I restarted the fridge at 5:00, so I have drained about 20% of the lithium bank … necessary to keep the fish frozen. Hoping to break even energy-wise today. I have some fresh ginger to use, so I made a batch of Teriyaki sauce (with canned pineapple, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, and vinegar) to marinate the marlin for tonight and tomorrow. I will serve it over rice. While getting the fish out of the icebox, I noticed that the two bags I put against the cold plate were nearly frozen. It is rare that I can keep fresh fish for more than 5d, but I am going to try to double that. If I can supplement my provisions, the pre-packaged meals I organized in Hout Bay will last until Panama. That last meal (Italian beans and Spam) would have last four days instead of two, but I threw out the last portion when I caught the fish. It is 10:00 and some of the clouds have burned off, but I can see rain clouds upwind. Also, the wind has backed to 115 giving me a heading of 325 (IFN is at 302). I tacked to port at noon because the wind had veered to 135. I picked up over 1.5 kt SOG (6.6) heading due W. The wind died down again 30m later. At 14:30 I got hit be a rain that included 23 kt wind. The wind backed to 100, so I had to tack to starboard. The wind speed dropped to 12 as the storm passed in front of me. The distance sailed towards IFN in the last 24h was 1343-1242=101 nm. The total distance sailed was 19654-19492=162 nm (162/24=6.8 kt avg).

Current Position: 15 59.415’S 13 07.511’W; Timezone: UTC+0; SOG: 5.3 kt; COG: 270; TWS: 17; TWD: 132; Current Speed (includes effect of surfing): 1.9 kt; Current Direction: 263; Distance to Waypoint (IFN, 298): 1343 nm; Distance to Endpoint (Bridgetown): 3272 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 19492 nm; Engine Hours: 412; Estimate Fuel: 60+10+50;
Comments: Sunset is at 19:00 at 5.75W. At 11.33W it should be at 19:22. Sunset was actually at 19:22. As I am starting to cross an ill defined shipping channel, I downloaded fresh OTH AIS data at 20:00 before going to sleep. There is one cargo ship that will cross my bow in perhaps 6.5h. It seems like it will be 20 nm or more in front of me, but I will keep an eye on it. I see White Malkin has arrived at St. Helena. I am setting a sleeping interval for 2h for the first 4h, then 1h intervals until the cargo ship passes (or I am certain it posses no danger). I woke at 22:15 because the boat had rounded up. The trace indicated it had happened a few minutes earlier. I woke up at 23:00 with the same problem. There was a lot of weather helm, so I eased up on the main sheet to see if that would solve the problem. I downloaded OTH AIS data at 1:00 and it was clear the cargo ship was going to pass well in front of me. I woke at 4:00. The boat had drifted S and was practically stopped as the wind had dropped to 6 kt. The windvane was not steering, so I switched to the TillerPilot. Moments later it began to rain hard. By 4:10 the storm had passed and the wind was back, so I switched back to the windvane. Also, the TillerPilot is acting up. The connector is corroded. I checked the trace. The drifting S was gradual and didn’t wake me up. It was the quiet and the effects of the approaching storm that had awaken me. I had covered 17 nm in the last 3h (17/3=5.7 kt). My guess is I was on the edge of a very large storm and the wind direction had changed gradually until it passed. At 4:20 I started seeing gusts over 20 kt, as predicted. I can expect the higher 17-23 kt winds for 24h). Sunset is at 6:00 at 5.75W. At 12.25W it should be at 6:26. It was almost 7:00 by the time I woke up. I was once again surrounded by storms. They appeared to be higher energy than the ones I had seen the past week. This is consistent with the higher sustained winds (18 kt and SOG 5.8). I downloaded a GRIB. There were no surprises. I sail W on a port tack until midnight, then tack starboard for IFN, following close to the rhumb line with only brief tacks to port when the TWD exceeds 120. The OTH AIS shows no threats. At 7:40 I downloaded a GRIB that skips IFN. It has been sailing further W until Tuesday. It save some time but more importantly stays at this high-wind latitude and avoids some potential light air N. I don’t believe I will tack at midnight but rather stay on a port tack until the TWA demands I tack starboard. The other advantage of this is I will get a better TWA when I tack starboard, making for faster boat speeds. I enjoyed my tea and oatmeal in the cockpit. While not sunny, it as dry and the temperature was perfect. After strong winds overnight, there are big waves, but surprisingly little swell, unlike the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. At 9:15 I ran the engine for 10m to keep it lubricated. The skies were cloudless and the batteries were charged by 13:00. At 14:45 I was sleeping in my berth when I was awaken by the sound of the fishing reel spinning. I got to the reel and tightened the drag just in time to keep it from being stripped clean. It took me 30m to land the 7 1/2’ marlin. I tried to gaff it, but it broke my gaff trying to get it aboard. I ran a rope down the line, lassoed the tail, and hauled it aboard with the wench. By 15:30 it was processed. I am trying to freeze most of the meat. I had some sashimi and saved a large steak for dinner. I’m going to do my best to not waste any, but it is enough meat for the rest of the passage. I put most of it against the cold plate and will try to run the fridge for at least 24h straight to freeze it, which will probably mean running the engine at some point. I didn’t stop the boat while reeling in the fish, but I did heave to when I actually hauled it aboard. I was slowed down maybe 5m. The distance sailed towards IFN in the last 24h was 1446-1343=103 nm. The total distance sailed was 19492-19330=162 nm (162/24=6.8 kt avg).

Current Position: 16 02.942’S 11 06.530’W; Timezone: UTC+0; SOG: 4.4 kt; COG: 276; TWS: 13; TWD: 130; Current Speed (includes effect of surfing): 1.7 kt; Current Direction: 286; Distance to Waypoint (IFN, 298): 1446 nm; Distance to Endpoint (Bridgetown): 3375 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 19330 nm; Engine Hours: 412; Estimate Fuel: 60+10+50;
Comments: Beginning with this entry, I am using true (T) rather than magnetic (M) headings. Sunset is at 18:59 at 5.75W. At 10.0W it should be at 19:16. Some rain showers passed in front of me near dusk and reduced the wind speed to 6 kt for a half hour. I shook out the second reef and raised the staysail at 7:00 because my wind angle was between a broad and beam reach. It only added 0.2 kt, but I am trying to squeeze everything I can out of these light winds. Rain fell at 20:15 and the wind picked up to 16 kt. The OTH AIS showed no threats tonight, so I went to sleep at 20:30 and set a timer for 2h. I woke up a few times during the night to adjust the windvane. The wind was stronger than expected. I was supposed to tack to port about midnight but was making good progress so waited. I woke at 5:30 with a 20 kt gust and downloaded a GRIB. Not very many surprises. PW wants me to sail W with a port rack for 4-5d. The main reason seems to avoid some light air initially that is N. However, I am making good progress on a rhumb line to Ilha de Fernando de Noronha, the island off Brazil that is my target for the coastline. I am making it my waypoint, IFN (3 50S 32 15W). At 6:00 it is 1483 nm away. At 6:15 I am surrounded by storms. I tack to the port as recommended, afraid of catching light air to the N. The TWA is 115, only allowing a COG of 260 … heading slightly S after only just now making it back up to 16S. Only 9 kt wind I have a SOG of 2.8. I am going to get hit by heavy rain soon. I am going to have light wind for the next 24h, then strong winds for 4-5d until I tack to starboard. It is 7:00 and 20 kt wind arrived with a shower. It is 11:00, sunny, and I have had good wind all morning with a SOG of 4.6 kt in a deep broad reach and a heading close to due W. It may lighten up a bit this afternoon, but will blow even stronger (15-20) by midnight. I dozed 11-noon, got up a drained/cleaned the bilges, and made water because the batteries were charged by 13:00. It is nice the boat is finally moving again. I have a goal of reaching the Ilha de Fernando de Noronha (IFN) in two weeks, the 23rd. I should have good wind on the beam after that with about 1,800 nm to go and chance of doing that in 2w (which would require a SOG of 5.4). As expected, the wind decreased to 10-14 kt this afternoon. I can expect this 23h. The total distance sailed was 19330-19232=98 nm (98/24=4.1 kt avg).

Current Position: 16 34.525’S 9 51.088’W; Timezone: UTC+0; SOG: 3.0 kt; COG: 355; TWS: 10; TWD: 140; Current Speed (includes effect of surfing): 1.3 kt; Current Direction: 300; Distance to Waypoint (To tack, 292): 25 nm; Distance to Endpoint (Bridgetown): 3455 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 19232 nm; Engine Hours: 412; Estimate Fuel: 60+10+50;
Comments: Sunset is at 18:59 at 5.75W. At 8.75W it should be at 19:11, but it is unlikely I will see it given the cloud cover. It is 16:15 and I am about to get hit with another (tenth in the last 24h?) shower. It is 18:45 and I have the second rainbow of the day. This one is behind me, in dark rain clouds, and I can just see two small sections that flow into the water. It is like I am sailing out of it. I went to sleep at 20:00. The OTH AIS shows no threats tonight, so I set the timer interval for 2h. The nighttime was uneventful. The TillerPilot performed well, wind averaged about 10 kt, and the SOG averaged 3.5 in a deep broad reach on a course very close to the waypoint. It rained off and on. No traffic was encountered. I downloaded a new GRIB at 5:00. There were no surprises and I am to tack to the starboard this afternoon. It looks like the wind will return by Saturday morning (48h). On Sunday I should be able to set up a starboard tack for ten days or so, setting me up for the coastal run. The ITH AIS shows no obvious threats. Sunrise is a 5:58 at 5:75W, so it should at 9.25 it should be at 6:16. The sky is partly cloudy this morning with rain clouds on the horizon. It could be a repeat of yesterday with a dozen light rain showers. The sun rose behind clouds. I replaced the monofilament line of one of the squid lures with stainless steel wire and will try to catch a fish today. I have been told that the parasites I have seen in the fish are not toxic and can be removed. Strange that I see them here and did not in the Pacific. It is 6:30 and the sun just showed itself. While enjoying my tea in the cockpit I have noticed that the temperature is fairly constant and near perfect. Even when rained on in the wind yesterday it was not uncomfortable. The wind has been constant at 11 kt for the past 12h or so. Another 4-5 kt would be great, but at least the sails are not slatting anymore. Unfortunately, the boring worms are back. I will have to treat the wood with insecticide. It occurs to me that the infestation and hatching may be related to the temperature. I was at a similar latitude when I last saw them. It was in Richards Bay two months ago that I treated the wood. I sprayed the outside with insecticide and will wait to see if there is more activity. Another rainbow this morning. The rain showers seem to be smaller, more isolated. The batteries were not completely charged yesterday … the first time in months. Hopefully there will be more sun today. I saw a bird at 9:00, the first since St. Helena, which is about 225 nm to the E. I saw very large schools of flying fish this afternoon. As I approached the waypoint, I downloaded a new GRIB at 13:00 and there was a significant change. The wind is going to stay soft N of me longer than expected. I racked to starboard to take advantage of a change in wind direction, and I am supposed to tack back to port in 9h (21:00). I am supposed to be making 4 kt, but am only making 3.5. There was enough sun to make water today. The total distance sailed was 19232-19165=67 nm (67/24=2.8 kt avg).

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).

Current Position: 16 18.875’S 7 19.879’W; Timezone: UTC+0; SOG: 4.7 kt; COG: 284; TWS: 14; TWD: 159; Current Speed (includes effect of surfing): 1.6 kt; Current Direction: 285; Distance to Waypoint (BARB4, 282): 211 nm; Distance to Endpoint (Bridgetown): 3578 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 19091 nm; Engine Hours: 412; Estimate Fuel: 60+10+50;
Comments: As I leave the 12 nm limit of the western end of St. Helena at 23:00, the SOG was 4.8 kt in 16 kt wind. I am headed almost due W and have 290 nm to go to BARB1. I should reach it by dusk on Thursday. I do not see any traffic to be concerned about, so I set the timer for 2h. There were no issues overnight and I had made about 50 nm W. I woke up at 6:00. The sun had come up behind a cloud bank. The wind had veered overnight so I made an adjustment to the windvane. I expect the wind to be okay today, but lighten up tomorrow as I begin the skirt the dead air to the N. At 7:00 I went to the foredeck to do an inspection. The slack jib sheet had become wrapped around the windlass when I tacked last night, and it has caused the Yankee to be misshapen. I untangled the sheet, trimmed the sail, and picked up half a kt to 5 in 13 kt wind. I am in a shallow broad reach . If I were in a beam reach I would raise the staysail, shake out the second reef, and probably make 6 kt. It is cloudy today and the batteries are down because of Starlink. I never ran the engine yesterday, so if by the end of the day they are not charged, I’ll run the engine a bit. It needs to be exercised anyway. There is a rain storm behind me, over St. Helena. Not sure if it will hit me. The boat could use a good washing and so could I. It is 9:30 and I see a large rain storm approaching upwind. There is not much to worry about as the storms seem to by low energy and I am not exposing much sail. I slept for an hour at 10:00. By 13:00 the sky was cloudless, the seas were very calm, and the wind had dropped to 10-14 kt. The SOG had fallen to 4.5. This was more like the conditions expected tomorrow. On a positive note, the batteries were charging rapidly. The distance sailed towards BARB4 in the last 20h was 303-211=92 nm. The total distance sailed was 19091-18958=133 nm (133/20=6.7 kt avg).
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Current Position: 16 06.320’S 5 45.927’W; Timezone: UTC+0; SOG: 4.4 kt; COG: 276; TWS: 17; TWD: 141; Current Speed (includes effect of surfing): 1.3 kt; Current Direction: 276; Distance to Waypoint (BARB4, 279): 302 nm; Distance to Endpoint (Bridgetown): 3656 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 18958 nm; Engine Hours: 412; Estimate Fuel: 60+10+50;
Comments: At 17:45, I tacked starboard. I am 100 nm from the island and 92 nm from a point I am steering for that is 12 nm from the southern coast of the island. Sunset is at 18:59 at 5.75W. It should be at 18:55 at 4.75 W. The sun sat behind clouds. I went to sleep at 20:15. The SOG was 4.3 and I have 82 nm to go, which should take 82/4.3=19h or 15:00 tomorrow. I set a timer for 1h to make sure I stay on track. I woke up at 22:30 to unexpected 23 kt gusts. it is 3:00 and I have averaged 4.2 kt since going to sleep. The wind has been light during this time, but is supposed to pick up after dawn. I woke at 4:45. As expected, the wind started picking up about 5:15. I am 45 nm from the 12 nm limit. Sunrise should be about 5:56, but the sky is heavily overcast. It is 7:15 and apparent I am not going to get much solar energy this morning. There is some evidence the clouds may be breaking up on the horizon. It is not a good day not to have energy because I expect to run Starlink for 2-3 late in the day. I have not run the engine in a week, and it is due for its “service run”, so that may help. In the meantime, I have turned the fridge off to conserve energy. I saw a group of seabirds this morning, the first in a week, because I am so close to land. By 8:00 I started to see gusts in the 20s and patches of clear sky. It is 10:00 and I can see clouds over the island. It started to rain at noon. I ate a Greek meal at 13:00. It was enough for two servings. I am 14 nm from the waypoint. The island is covered in rainy clouds. At 14:00 I could barely make out the island. It is covered in clouds. I didn’t eat the rest of the Dorado I caught because it had some sort of parasite. I caught another Dorado this afternoon, but I could see immediately that it also had parasites, so I released it. I reached the 12 nm limit about 16:30 and was on Starlink long enough to take care of banking and make so calls. Sunset was at 5:58 at 5.75E. I have set a new waypoint (BARB4) at 16 30s 11w, about 300 nm due W of St. Helena. This course will allow me to avoid some light air developing to the N.
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Current Position: 17 27.781’S 4 31.100’W; Timezone: UTC+0; SOG: 5.2 kt; COG: 295; TWS: 19; TWD: 144; Current Speed (includes effect of surfing): 1.6 kt; Current Direction: 330; Distance to Waypoint (St. Helena, 334): 107 nm; Distance to Endpoint (Bridgetown): 3754 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 18792 nm; Engine Hours: 412; Estimate Fuel: 60+10+50;
Comments: Sunset is at 18:58 at 5.75W. It should be at 18:47 at 3.0W. The sun went down behind a cloud bank. It is 19:00 and the wind is veering m. It is at the break even point. Since it is expected to continue to veer until the early morning hours, I tacked to the port. I am going to get gusts in the 20s beginning around midnight for at least 24h, pretty much assuring I will reach St. Helena before dark on Monday as it is only 185 nm to the 12 nm limit. There does not appear to be any commercial traffic that I have to worry about tonight. The full moon was spectacular at 20:00 when I went to bed. I set an alarm interval of 2h. I woke up at 22:45 because the boat had rounded up in the higher wind. The trace suggested it did so over a 15m period. Once corrected, the boat was doing nearly 5 kt in 17 kt wind in a deep broad reach. It is almost as bright as daylight. I set an alarm for 1h. I woke up at 1:30 and the boat had rounded up again, this time quite suddenly, so it woke me up. I tacked to starboard at 4:45 in 18 kt wind and with about 150 nm to go. The full moon was still up and made it look like sunrise. I had averaged 5.1 kt overnight. I was averaging 5.3 after I tacked. I downloaded the latest GRIB at 5:00. There were no major changes. I expect the wind to slow down a bit in the early morning hours tomorrow, but otherwise gusting in the 20s. I am on track to arrive at St. Helena late tomorrow afternoon. Moana and Oda will arrive today. I checked on the 5.80 racers and they look like they’re about halfway to St. Helena, perhaps a week behind me. Since they spend a minimum of eight days at each stop, I should be at the coast by the time they leave and to Barbados by the time they get to Recife. Sunrise is at 5:56 at 5.75W so it should be 5:48 at 3.75W. Sunrise was at 5:47. The only traffic I see on the OTH AIS is a cargo ship behind me the should catch up in 15h or so. It’s will need to make a decision about the route forward tomorrow night, so I have been studying the weather models. All the models agree I should head W on a port tack for at least two days, then probably begin a starboard tack most of the reset of the way. The reason W is to avoid becalming conditions that are developing N. All of the models except the ECMWF recommend crossing the ITCZ about 150 nm off the South American coast. The ECMWF suggests crossing about 1000 nm offshore. I am going with the majority opinion to avoid becoming becalmed in the ITCZ. At 8:30 I tacked back to port. Just before dusk I am expected to tack back to starboard for the final run to the island. I slept for an hour at 11:00. When I woke a noon the wind was blowing 22 kt and the boat was doing almost 6 kt. I could expect this higher wind for another 5h, then it would start to weaken to 12-16 by midnight and back about 10 degrees. I prepared a stir fry with the leftover rice, last of the carrots, onion, ginger and egg. I used sesame oil and dark soy sauce and it was very good. It has been sunny all day so I made some water to bathe. The distance sailed towards St. Helena in the last 24h was 208-107=101 nm. The total distance sailed was 18782-18630=152 nm (152/24=6.3 kt avg).