{"id":2088,"date":"2025-10-07T08:19:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T08:19:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aegir-ran.com\/?p=2088"},"modified":"2025-10-07T08:22:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T08:22:11","slug":"check-in-october-7-2025-800-utc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aegir-ran.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/07\/check-in-october-7-2025-800-utc\/","title":{"rendered":"Check-in October 7, 2025; 8:00 UTC"},"content":{"rendered":"
Current Position: 18 58.566\u2019S 65 18.071\u2019E; Local Timezone: UTC+4; SOG: 7.1 kt; COG: 265; TWS: 24 kt; TWD: 179; Distance to Waypoint (Rodrigues, 265): 113 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 13505 nm; Engine Hours: 264; Estimate Fuel: 50+15+50;
\nComments: The cargo ship I was expecting passed 14 nm N of me a t 16:15.by 16:00 the wind had veered to 125, but was still only blowing 6. I was able to make 3 at 250 (265 in the waypoint). Sunset is at 17:45 at Rodrigues (63.5e) so at my current location (66e) it should be about 10m earlier, 17:35. The usual 15-25 is expected back tomorrow morning. I have 170 to go and expect to do 30-40 overnight. This means I need to average at least 140\/32=4.3 kt to arrive before dark on Wednesday, which should be easy with the expected wind. I will take the pole down in the morning to get ready door the higher winds. I will continue to use the TillerPilot overnight. The sun went behind clouds on the horizon at 17:30. The full moon was already up as the sun went down. The wind had veered to 140 and I am starting to see double-digits. I am now able to set a course for the waypoint at 265. By midnight the 7 kt eind had backed to 75 and I was only make 1 kt against a current. I changed the course from 260 to 240, but could only make 1.5, so I switched it back to 260 and made the same speed \u2026 essentially wing-on-wing. I downloaded a GRIB and learned I cannot expect double-digit winds for another 12h. I have only made 10 nm on in the past 6h. It is now looking like arriving before dark on Wednesday may be a challenge. There is a tanker behind me that will catch up in about 4h. It is 0:15 and the tanker has showed up on AIS at 42 nm to my stern. It should reach me about 3:30. The tanker Leni P passed 1 nm S of me at 3:50. I lt was clear the ship changed course to avoid a collision. I am still 150 nm and moving at 1 kt against a current in 5 kt wind. I will need to average 4.2 kt to reach Port Mathurin before dark tomorrow. Sunrise is at 5:22 at Rodrigues (63.5e) so at my current location (66e) it should be about 10m earlier, 5:12. Sunrise was at 5:13. I have begun my pre-arrival checklist. I checked the engine fluids, emptied water in the fuel traps, cleaned the pump trap, and pumped fuel from the main tank to fill the day tank. The engine ran slowly at first. I discovered the reason was the axillary fuel pump was restricting flow to the engine while it was pumping fuel from the main tank. Not sure why, but I suspect it was because I had not run in a long time and I pumped some air into the fuel line. I ran the engine for an hour, made a little distance, made water, and charged the batteries. Mostly I wanted to make sure it was running well. After running it at idle for so long while charging batteries, it is probably a good idea to run it at full speed for a bit. I continued with my chores with general housekeeping \u2026 sweeping, processing the trash, etc. All of this is a lot easier now while the seas are relatively flat than later when the wind picks up. Although I expect to be told by the port authorities that I should tie up to the pier, I also sorted out the anchor chain (my least favorite task) in case I arrive after hours or the pier is full, which it might be, with the 5.80 group arriving. Motoring, I made 6.5 average SOG against a 0.7 kt current. In other words, hull speed. The seas are starting to get bigger as I move W. While motoring, I went ahead and furled the jib and removed the whisker pole in anticipation of enough wind to fill the jib and give it better shape. It is a good thing I did when I didn\u2019t absolutely have to (\u201creef early and often\u201d), because I had difficulty lowering the pole. It is particularly challenging because of the Yankee cut that puts the pole 15-20\u2019 off the deck I eventually the lifting halyard had wrapped around the top of the sail when I furled it. I have started to see seabirds and flying fish again and I had quite a few squid on the deck. It is 9:00 and I have motored to double-digit winds. It is blowing 19 kt from 145. I am only making 3.6 kt on as I am sailing against a 1 kt current. It has started to rain lightly, so I don\u2019t know if this local weather is affecting the wind direction or speed. Most importantly, there is enough wind that the sails are not slatting in the swell that is now coming from the SW, the direction of the sheer line. I am seeing some gusts of 14. I am clearly out of the doldrums. Given the fact I am now only 125 nm from Rodrigues, the wind is expected to increase, and the direction allows me to sail toward the waypoint at 265 in a beam reach, I am pretty confident now that I will reach the harbor before dusk. There is now pretty of wind to operate the windvane, so I retired the TillerPilot. By 10:00 I was doing 5 kt on in pretty steady 15 kt winds against a cross current. I could see the sheer line approaching from the SW. The sheer line hit at 19:30 with rain, and after an initial burst of wind, the wind dropped to 5 kt. By 10:15 it was back up to double-digits, but had backed to 140. I just went with the flow until it got sorted out. The forecast was for it to come back to 15 from 140. By 11:30 I could see blue sky on the other side of the line and the wind was blowing 20 kt, driving the boat 7 kt. Gusts approaching 30 are expected overnight. The boat is overpowered with the whole Yankee and the double-reefed main in that is not a close reach. I will wait for the sheer line to pass and will then furl in some of the jib to better balance the sails and allow the windvane to operate better. The distance sailed towards Rodrigues in the last 24h was 179-113=66 nm. The total distance sailed was 13545-13505=40 nm (40\/24=1.67 kt avg.). Note the difference is due to current.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Current Position: 18 58.566\u2019S 65 18.071\u2019E; Local Timezone: UTC+4; SOG: 7.1 kt; COG: 265; TWS: 24 kt; TWD: 179; Distance to Waypoint (Rodrigues, 265): 113 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 13505 nm; Engine Hours: 264; Estimate Fuel: 50+15+50; Comments: The cargo ship I was expecting passed 14 nm N of me a t 16:15.by 16:00 the … <\/p>\n

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