{"id":1996,"date":"2025-08-01T06:08:44","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T06:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aegir-ran.com\/?p=1996"},"modified":"2025-08-01T06:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T06:12:11","slug":"check-in-august-1-2025-600-utc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aegir-ran.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/01\/check-in-august-1-2025-600-utc\/","title":{"rendered":"Check-in August 1, 2025; 6:00 UTC"},"content":{"rendered":"
Current Position: 11 01.050\u2019S 131 52.077\u2019E; Local Timezone: UTC+9.5 SOG: 4.8 kt COG: 220; TWS: 21 kt; TWD: 80; Distance to Waypoint (Darwin, 214): 105; Total Miles Sailed: 9450 nm; Engine Hours: 209; Estimate Fuel: 53+15+50;
\nComments: It is 15:30 and 127 nm to the NE entrance to the passage using the route recommended by PW. PW says it can be done in 24h, but I gave looked at the wind speeds and the effects I have seen by the currents, and I would be lucky to be ably to do it in 30h, say 22:00 tomorrow night. According to my go\/no go criterion from yesterday, I need to be at the NE entrance tomorrow by 15:00. Unless I am surprised by my progress, I will plan on spending the night at Trepang Bay and start the passage early Saturday morning. The PW route from the NE entrance to Fannie Bay is 100 nm, which means I would arrive Sunday morning. I note that Ambler has made very little progress today, perhaps only 30 nm in the last 10h, and is currently doing 2 kt with a 1 kt current against them. I think they got a late start. Also, I plan to motorsail if necessary to make the requisite windows. If I spend the night at Trepang, I\u2019d like to be at the NE entrance by 6:00, which means leaving the anchorage by 2:00 (not 5:30 like Ambler). One last consideration \u2026 there will be very good wind early Saturday morning to Sunday dawn \u2026 and I don\u2019t want to waste that at anchor somewhere. I put a reef in the main before it got dark. I fixed a large meal today \u2026 a salad with the rest of the lettuce and part of a tomato, the mushrooms with rice, and a smaller fillet of the fish I caught this morning. The fish was not gamey like bonito. It was actually lighter than most tuna and quite tasty. Sunset was about 18:30. I am about 7.5 nm from tacking to avoid New Year I Island. AIS shows a cargo ship between here and there, but it will be gone by the time I get there. I jibed at 20:00. I could see the lighthouse for New Year I about 15 nm away off the port now. I was averaging almost 4 kt against a 1 kt current in 14 kt wind at 145. I need to sail this course about 20 nm before giving again, probably around 1:30. By 23:30, I was clear of New Year I, still had 5 nm to go before the jibe, and there were no hazards in my path, so I slept with 30m intervals. The wind had backed to 70, as predicted, and that was causing the boat to wrap around the coastline, but except for the island, I was offshore from the shoals by at least 10 nm, so I wasn\u2019t going to get in trouble in half an hour. It is 2:30 and I have gone about 2nm beyond the point where PW suggested I should, because the wind has not shifted as predicted. Biding time to wake up from deep sleep before going on deck to move the preventer, I downloaded a new GRIB as the old one was dated. The prediction now is the wind shifted should come in a couple of hours. I am glad I went a little further because it gives my room, just barely, to jibe now. With the help of a friendly current, I am making 4.8 kt and am 60 nm from Trepang. I would probably make it by dark if I chose to anchor. I would probably make the NE entrance right at slack tide \u2026 we\u2019ll see. I have 2-3h before I have to worry about shoals, so I get some more sleep. I check the AIS before dozing and there is a tug 11 nm N of me, but going in the opposite direction. I note Ambler is only now, 24 h after entering the passage, going through the Vernon Island channel. She has a favorable 2.5 kt current. I should resign myself to the last 100 nm it going to take the better part of two days. I note however I may have better wind in the channel than Ambler did. It is 4:30. I was 15m into going back to sleep for 1h when I was awaken because the jib was slatting. The boat had rounded up and was headed for shore. Not sure why. It had happened gradually. I made some adjustments to the windvane. There is a land mass that sticks out further than the rest, Cape Croker, that has some shoals I need to avoid. It is about 10 nm away. I adjusted the course to almost a run sacrificing some speed, to get safely past it. It is clear I am not going back to sleep. In the 2h since jibing, I have made 9.6 nm. I would be happy if I could keep up the 4.8 kt pace. Sunrise will be at 6:58, 2h from now. I am only 9 nm from the shore, so should have a good view. 15m into resetting the windvane, it has started rounding up again. The reason this time is clear. The wind has bumped up to 18 and backed to 105. It is supposed to be 128. I made another adjust, but I am close to a run and don\u2019t have much more room. My only other choice at this point is jibing to get further offshore. However, the wind shift may be temporary \u2026 so I am waiting it out. It is 6:30, starting to get light, the windvane has held for the last hour, and the 20 kt winds have arrived as promised. I am just rounding Cape Croker. It is almost 7:00 and the wind has veered to 125 as promised, so I adjusted the windvane. I have averaged 5 kt over the past four hours, but the boat is picking up speed. My SOG with a 1 kt current to my stern is 6.5-7. I am supposed to have these 20 kt winds until Trepang, 40 nm away, so I should be there by mid-afternoon. It is 7:30 and I have started to see gusts of 25, which were not predicted. I may have to put the second reef in, but I am reluctant because I want to cash in on this wind, even if I have to babysit the tiller. If this keeps up, I could be at the NE entrance around 14:90-15:00, and I\u2019d have to fight a 1.5 kt current, which might not be too bad if I still had strong winds, but I will be in the shadow of the cape. It would be better to pace myself to arrive about 17:00, giving me 12h to cover the 60 nm to Vernon (60\/12=5 kt). To do that I would almost certainly have to motorsail. I have decided not to anchor. The fact is it is highly unlikely I will his all if the currents at the ideal times. It is 8:00 and I am 50 nm from the NW entrance. There is a squall coming in, so I put a second reef in the main \u2026 never fun in 25 kt winds, but I have my technique down and it was done without drama. The boat speed dropped to about 5, but us handling much better. It is 8:30 and I see Ambler is anchored in Fannie Bay. It\u2019s 9:30 and 1.5h since putting the second reef in. The average has been 5.4 kt on a heading close to due W (250) . I\u2019d like to head a little more S, both for course and speed, but the boat tends to round up when I do. 10:00 and I am 40 nm from the beginning of the passage. My guess is I will enter the exactly just before slack tide, 17:56. To do that would require an average speed of 40\/8=5. The wild card is current between now and then. I just measured the distance across the recommended course to Vernon, and it is 72 nm. Realistically, even motor sailing, I cannot make more than 4.5 kt, so it would take 72\/4.5=15 to make it to the Vernon Island passage. That would be 10:00 on Saturday (as I calculated before). 10:00 is 2h after slack tide between ebb and flood \u2026 in other words, after that I will be fighting a 2.5 kt current that builds rapidly to 4 kt. Clearly that is not doable. The next slack tide at 14:30, 4.5 h later, 20.5h from the beginning of the passage \u2026 72\/20.5=3.5 kt. This should be my goal, a little over 3.5 kt. If I cannot do that under sail, I will motorsail. Since there are few obstacles once I am in the Van Diemen Gulf (the water between Melville and the mainland), I should be able to get some sleep. It is noon and 30 nm to go to the beginning of the passage. As predicted, the wind has veered back to 100 and is bellowing at 18 with gusts of 22. However, the gusts are less frequent since the front blew over this morning. The squally clouds have been replaced with sunshine a a few high, thin clouds. The sea is no longer calm. There is 3\u2019 chop. The boat is averaging 5.3 kt assisted by a 2 kt current from about 60. I lived fuel from the main tank to the day tank. There was no evidence of water, but that is not definitive proof the redirected vent hose is helping as I have not experienced very rough seas yet. Although I am only 5 nm from the shore, I have not yet spotted land. Earlier I thought it was because of the visibility and now I think the land is low-lying. At 13:30 I finally saw the shore, Wanaraij Point. The wind had now backed to 85, making it difficult to set a course away from the coast. I managed to do it, but only at the cost of boat speed. I am 22 nm from the beginning of the passage. I have a shallow area in about 5 nm. If I can get past that, it won\u2019t be necessary to jibe, but I am down to perhaps 4.5 kt. By 14:10 the wind had shifted to 65, making impossible to maintain course. As I was tacking, I was buzzed by an ABF aircraft. Before I could finish I was radioed. They knew exactly who I was, probably from AIS. I had heard an ABF aircraft on the radio once before, but they didn\u2019t know the name of the vessel, only its location and type (a tug). I asked for 30s, finished tacking, and returned their call. They just wanted to know what my last port was, where I was going, and what my home port is. They said they\u2019d check in on me the next time they were in the area. Because of the wind shift, I didn\u2019t have to set a course very far N, a heading of 290. It seems likely that the wind is going to continue to back as I approach the cape, so I am headed out to sea for about one hour before jibing again for the NE entrance. That should bring me to the recommended course for the passage. Because I once again have a good TWA, the boat picked up speed and is averaging 6.1. At 15:00 I was radioed by the port authorities, who asked basically the same questions. At 15:20 I reached the marker for the preferred course through the passage and jibed to a new course of 220, which I follow for about 16 nm until the NE entrance, when I will change course into the Van Diemen Gulf. I have a 1.1 kt current to my port bow, but I expect that to reverse over the next couple of hours. Right now I am averaging 4.7 kt, essentially straight at the waypoint at 214. The distance sailed towards Darwin in the last 24h was 188-105=83 nm. The total distance sailed was 9450-9347=103 nm (103\/24=4.3 kt avg.).<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Current Position: 11 01.050\u2019S 131 52.077\u2019E; Local Timezone: UTC+9.5 SOG: 4.8 kt COG: 220; TWS: 21 kt; TWD: 80; Distance to Waypoint (Darwin, 214): 105; Total Miles Sailed: 9450 nm; Engine Hours: 209; Estimate Fuel: 53+15+50; Comments: It is 15:30 and 127 nm to the NE entrance to the passage using the route recommended by … <\/p>\n

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