{"id":1994,"date":"2025-07-31T05:49:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T05:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aegir-ran.com\/?p=1994"},"modified":"2025-07-31T05:58:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T05:58:17","slug":"check-in-july-31-2025-600-utc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aegir-ran.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/31\/check-in-july-31-2025-600-utc\/","title":{"rendered":"Check-in July 31, 2025; 6:00 UTC"},"content":{"rendered":"
Current Position: 10 46.887\u2019S 133 34.122\u2019E; Local Timezone: UTC+9.5 SOG: 4.5 kt COG: 336; TWS: 12 kt; TWD: 89; Distance to Waypoint (Darwin, 236): 188; Total Miles Sailed: 9347 nm; Engine Hours: 208; Estimate Fuel: 57+11+50;
\nComments: I have been studying the passage around Melville Island, the last challenge of the passage. There are two narrow parts in the passage between the island and the mainland, the NE entrance and the narrow channels between the Vernon Islands in the middle of the passage. It is desirable to reach the NE entrance between slack tides during flooding (between low tide and high tide) and to reach the Vernon Islands between the slack tides of ebbing (between high tide and low tide. The distance between the NE entrance and the Vernon Islands about 55 nm. The time between low and high tide is about 7h. I would have to do 8 kt to cover that distance, which is possible with the help of the current, but I would not count on it. The maximum current at the NE entrance is about 2 kt, but at the Vernon Islands can be 4 kt. So, between the two, it is most desirable to reach the Vernon Islands at the optimum time. Worse case is I can hang out between the two narrows until the optimum time as the wide area in between has a current of less than 1 kt. Sunset was about 6:25. The windvane has worked great all day, ever since I fixed it. I will continue on the starboard tack until about 1:00 with a 1 kt current to my beam, then I will jibe for the mainland. I should have that strong current all day until I reach the mainland. The current will follow the mainland all Thursday night and Friday morning to the beginning of the Melville passage. I have noticed Ambler, a sailboat that passed me, is anchored at one of the last coves before the passage (Treping Bay) in about 36\u2019 of water. I am going to keep that in mind if I the timing is not right to transverse the passage. At 20:30 a gas tanker showed up on the AIS 20 nm W. It will pass my stern in about 70m. I am moving less than 3 kt because I am fighting a 1 kt current. I expect the current to shift to my starboard beam, which will signal it is time to jibe. By 21:30 the wind had shifted to 120, driving me further N. At 23:30 the 43\u2019 sailboat Krait appeared on the AIS 16 nm N of me. By midnight the current was almost on the beam \u2026 still 7 nm to go. I tacked at 2:00 to a beam reach in 10 kt wind to make 4.6 kt almost directly towards the northern entrance of the passage around Melville Island. There was a fishing vessel in my path about 30 nm, which I had seen earlier by long-range AIS, and it appeared to be anchored earlier, but was now underway at 9 kt going away from me, but on a similar course. At 3:00 I realize Krait has a buddy boat, a 43\u2019 sailboat called Yamay. The two boat names sound familiar. I believe they were at TI. I was just falling back to sleep when I was awaken by the boat heeling in a 16 kt gusts that drove the boat to almost 7 kt. I had not been using a leecloth for several days, and I almost rolled out of my berth. It was nice to be moving again. I set a waypoint for New Year I, a tiny island with a lighthouse near the mainland, 70 nm away. I was awaken at 4:30 to a slatting jib. The boat had rounded up, the trace said over 0.5 nm. I may need to switch back to the smaller windvane in these stronger winds. At 5:00 I downloaded new long-range AIS data to confirm the fishing boat had indeed moved on. I noted that Ambler is still anchored in the cove outside the passage. I will be curious when she chooses to leave. She is 2-3h from the NE end of the passage and the window opened up about an hour ago. Sunrise should be about 6:50. Although I have enjoyed some relatively fast sailing, averaging over 5 kt, I have been added by a 0.7 kt tail-current. The current is now shifting, so I anticipate the boat will slow down. I put the fishing line back out. My experience has been that I catch most of the fish at dawn or dusk. Before I could finish typing the last sentence, I had a strike. The line had been in the water 5m. I couldn\u2019t land the rush so I put the line out a second time. Before I could even set the bale on the reel, I had a second fish on. I landed it easily without slowing the boat down. it was about 15\u201d long and looked like some species of bonito. I filleted the fish. The meat looks relatively light. Dinner! Clearly my homemade South African pot-metal lure did the trick. It is 7:40 and I am 50 nm from New Year I. I have travelled 20 nm in the last 4h, about 5 kt average, about half the distance I travelled in the preceding 24h. It is 8:30 and Ambler is perhaps 10-12 nm from her anchorage and is doing 6 kt. It looks like she left sometime between 5:30-6:30. I note the NE entrance to the passage is right now at the maximum of flood stage and the current is 2 kt. However, Ambler is perhaps 2h from that position. She will reach it perhaps 1h before slack (high) tide at 11:36. It will be interesting to see if she is planning to be at the Vernon Islands at ebb tide, 16:13. It is 9:00 and I just downloaded a new GRIB. I can anticipate sustained 20 kt winds starting tonight around midnight. I will need to check the rigging and reef the main before dark. In about 45 nm, I will be jibing for about 30 nm before jibbing again to make the final 55 nm approach to the channel. I have slowed download. Realistically, I will probably average 4 kt for the next 45 nm, meaning I will do the first jibe around 20:00. The wind will be picking up and I think I will have the current, so the second jibe will be about 1:00. I will have strong wind for the rest of the early morning, so I may be able to cover the last 55 nm in 10h or less. This would place me at the NE entrance around 11:00 on Saturday the 1st. Flooding will have been 9:35 and there would still be a positive 1 kt current. I would be facing 60 nm to the Vernon Islands. I would have a positive current going by the islands until about 19:30. So, I would have 10 h to cover the 60 nm. That is unrealistic, even if I motorsail, because there is always substantial less wind in the passage. I would have to wait until 3:00 on Sunday for the next window past the islands. The bottom line is I need at least 15h to make that 60 nm. To make the 3:00 window for the islands on Saturday, I need to be at the NE entrance around noon tomorrow (26 h from now). At noon I would have to a buck a slight negative current at the entrance. I would need to average 130\/26=5 kt to get to the entrance. I could however reach the island passage as late as 8:00 on Saturday, meaning the cutoff for the 3:00-8:00 window is reaching the NE entrance by 17:00 tomorrow (31 h from now, 130\/31=4.2 kt avg.). I think this is realistic given the forecast. Sunrise is at 7:00 on Saturday, so that is when I believe I should be at the Vernon Island passage. So my go\/no go criterion will be if I can be at the NE entrance tomorrow by 15:00 (130\/29=4.5 kt, to give myself some wiggle room), I will enter the passage. If I cannot be there by then, I will anchor Friday night at Trepang Bay and start the passage early Saturday morning. The tanker Sti Osceola is 28 nm off my bow and heading straight for me at 13 kt. I expect our paths to cross in 90m. Ambler is crossing the NE passage at 11:00 doing 5 kt). I spotted the tanker at 11:15 off the port now and 8 nm away. Our courses were sufficiently in conflict that I hand-steered the last 30m. We passed each other at 11:50, close enough that I could see people on the deck. The distance sailed towards Darwin in the last 24h was 256-188=68 nm. The total distance sailed was 9347-9256=91 nm (91\/24=3.8 kt avg.).<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Current Position: 10 46.887\u2019S 133 34.122\u2019E; Local Timezone: UTC+9.5 SOG: 4.5 kt COG: 336; TWS: 12 kt; TWD: 89; Distance to Waypoint (Darwin, 236): 188; Total Miles Sailed: 9347 nm; Engine Hours: 208; Estimate Fuel: 57+11+50; Comments: I have been studying the passage around Melville Island, the last challenge of the passage. There are two … <\/p>\n

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