Solo
but not Alone! ![]()
Newsletter
9: 15 December
2007
Day:
7
Position: 21:48.482N
32:37.196W
Approx Miles from San
Sebastian: 1074
Approx Miles to go to Road
Town: 1744
Note:
All times are GMT time, and will be for the whole trip.
Miles are Nautical Miles, where 1 mile =
1.8 km
Ohh, for those non-nautically
orientated, a 'knot', among other things, is 1 nautical mile per
hour
If it seems all funny units...its not,
there is a very good basis: 1 nautical mile is equal to one minute of
latitude on the earth's surface.
Hello Friends, and Supporters,
Well being a Saturday, when I 'woke up' I thought I'd wander
down to Restaurant Solone for a leisurely flat white coffee and
breakfast...Hmm...., there was a sign up that said "Owner had a tough night, and
is resting so restaurant is closed today!
Yeah last night was the least sleep yet......good in a way as it means I
am getting into a new weather environment...that Trades I think! Around
22h30 last night, after I had 'retired to bed', content that there was a
'better moon' and lovely starry sky, I was woken with the loud pelting noise on
the coachroof, and Solone was really accelerating and humming!..... I soon
realised it was raining hard outside, the wind was up, there was a huge dark
cloud above me and if I didn't do something soon Solone would screw up into the
wind with not a nice mess inside! The wind was up to 28 knots, and I had full
rig up so the autopilot was struggling to avoid the 'crash'. Hey its
raining hard outside...too late for oilskins, strip off naked and get out there
to fix things....! As I get out there the autopilot alarm goes to see
"I can't do any more and am switching off" The speed meter is showing 16 knots
and increasing, so I take over the helm forcing with all my strength the tiller
to weather so Solone will bear away, initially accelerating more but then
slowing down as she get almost downwind. While this is happening the blessed
alarm that I told you about yesterday goes off, a bit late to wake me, but
continues getting louder and louder, as it should until I hit the off
switch...this being a low priority at this point! Finally its all under
control, nothing major wrong, the rain stops and the wind dies down, and I shout
bout aloud...."Welcome to the tropics, Trade winds and cloud
squalls! Brought back many memories of my South Atlantic crossing,
when with no gear on, we used to soap up and wait for the cloud and rain to
arrive for our daily shower.
Well the was the start of the evening and it continued much like that the
whole night.....wind coming and going, not so much rain though, but lots of
threatening clouds around. Interestingly the barometric pressure hasn't
moved, and I still think I have another day ahead before I am in the REAL
Trades.... I guess its always a transition...not just a black and white change
as I sometimes dream about!
This morning the wind moved more to the east again, and forced me to gybe
to avoid heading further north than I have to. This lasted a few hours, and I
helmed quite a bit, and now I am back on starboard gybe, 150 degree apparent
wind angle, 12 knots apparent wind and we are doing about 8 knots
average....all pretty good, but I have had my wake up call! Spanish lessons
outside today!
Overall distance covered for the 24 hrs is still disappointing but I
guess not unexpected given the large percentage of time I had light winds in the
24 hrs. The stories above may make it sound the opposite. I am hoping for more
consistent and 18-25 knots winds ahead...Can't wait to get some bigger mileage
days in!
Even more flying fish around. I am starting to think they see Solone as
their predator! Had one fly onto the deck yesterday, but he has dead by the time
I found him/her.
What more freedom than setting your own time of day! I feel I have
earned my first 1 hour time change, as I have gone more than 15 degrees west of
San Sebastian, and it's one hour for each 15 degrees. Also its a bit dark at
8h30 in the morning, so I think I'll make that 7h30 from tomorrow!
I'll still carry on reporting times here as
GMT:
That's probably all for today, as things are a bit more serious than
yesterday. Still great fun though!
Enjoy your weekend! Have a REAL Flat white or Latte for
me!
