Solo
but not Alone! ![]()
Newsletter
13: 19 December
2007
Day:
11
Position: 19:58.128N
43:34.737W
Approx Miles from San
Sebastian: 1670
Approx Miles to go to Road
Town: 1148
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,
You
will see that 'We' had another good day yesterday and have just snuck under the
20 degree North parallel! Its a case of 'make hay while the sun doesn't
shine'! Yesterday afternoon was pleasant sailing, 8-14 knots of wind flat sea
and boat sloping along doing 4-6 knots! Lovely stuff for recovering from
the hellish night of minimal sleep, and for bucket showering, reading etc. Not
so good for great progress, but hey don't get greedy, its still progress.
Many cruisers would love to average 5 knots for 24 hrs!
Then
come sunset the wind picked up to 18 -20 knots and off we went. It was a great
120 degree angle and stayed consistent like that until two hours before
sunrise Other than the odd cloud squall, that raised pulse rate a bit, but
because the sea was better than the night before, the autopilot dealt with it
all. So a lovely 5/8 moon night, lots of stars, so I didn't even put
navigation lights on, and I virtually had my 50 minutes uninterrupted
sleep, followed by a 10 minute wakeup check and chocolate. Full rig up,
averaging 8-9 knots, the stuff perfect sailing is made of! Two hours
before sunrise, I felt awake and needing to be active, so took over from the
autopilot 'driving' Solone. How pleasant and pretty emotional as I played my
favourite music track too! Soon the wind started increasing, but steering myself
I was comfortable I could hold the full rig. It was exhilarating stuff...reached
17.5 knots, with many long humming power surfs of 15 and 16 knots! Making hay
while the sun doesn't shine!
Eventually
I needed breakfast, so tried the autopilot but got into a few wild screwups. The
sea was quite big now and running across the beam, making it very difficult
steering conditions, and the power off Solone's big mainsail was just too much.
Reefed down, just managed to have breakfast as the wind increased further and
now down to 2 reefs and still managing 9 knots on autopilot, with surfs up to
10.5. Could be going faster if I was steering out there now, but I've made
the hay, and now I am enjoying the relative peace of writing to you!
The laptop keyboard is swinging around a lot as I type, but that's
sailing!
Yesterday
was a special day for me.... yes halfway, but even more special was the
fact that it was 'The furtherest from land I have EVER been on MY OWN' .
Not that it was scary, just that the enormity of where I am, the
vastness of the ocean and the earth, and the fact that I am living my
dream, all came together to be something very special.
Right
other stuff!
Fishing:
I FINALLY untangled the fishing line....at least 5 hrs of work involved!
Attached the new and special repala, launched the line, while 'we' were still
doing the 4-6 knots, and then waited! Ooops...I waited till this morning...got
so involved in the sailing! So this morning, first thing I see is that the line
has wound itself up again into a mini 'birds nest' ...hmm I wasn't born to
fish! Anyway I real in the line and yes....the repala has gone...taken but a
HUGE fish...I saw it get away!!!!! Time to retire from fishing!
While
bucket showering yesterday I lost the bucket as the handle came loose and I
waved it goodbye as it drifted towards the horizon.
I
hoped for a 'problem free' day and got one, so I'll hope again
today!
One
thing that is good having the smaller sail up is that the stress on the boat is
less and also all the sheets and halyards are now 'in new places' on the
cleats, blocks etc so wear and chaffing if its there, is shifted to new
places, reducing chances of failure.
I
just hope the wind keeps like this, but my grib file yesterday shows light stuff
coming around the 22nd Dec. Lets hope that's wrong and changes over the
next few days.
Because
I am travelling virtually due west I am really noticing how the time changes
rapidly. The sun rises noticeably later each day. Have to adjust my watch again
soon!
Lastly,
with the 'largish' and cross running sea I have now, I thought of the rowers
rowing in this...hmmm Thank God I am not rowing!'
That's
it for this Wednesday
Take
care
