Milestone Overload and Stocktakes
Digiboat's "Product Testing"
Simon Blundell
Sat 7 Dec 2013 06:55
0559z 07/12
Turned off the motor yesterday morning when finally a few ripples
started appearing on our mirrored ocean. The breeze built slowly through
the morning to max out at around 8kn from the SSE later in the day. Seas
still flat so a perfect day for a broad reach with the spinnaker. Mostly
managing 7 kn but peak speeds up to 9 kn. Dropped the kite on sunset and
continued off the wind with Bali aimed perfectly in our sights less than
2,000 miles ahead. Today we have arrived in the southerly stream of the
Southern Ocean trade winds as they bend up the W Aus coast and now with
full genoa and 1 reef main we continue straight at Bali in 18-20kn winds
off the beam, and back up to our usual speed around 9kn. At current
course and speed we are less than a day behind scheduled ETA early
morning 16th Dec, but this is highly dependent on this wind staying with
us for a week.
Yesterday's sail under full mains and spinnaker in the calm ocean
conditions and full sunshine was our first true summer's day with temp
readings in the aft cockpit up towards 30°C. Warmer temps haven't
improved the fishing though, so it was steak and mash for dinner created
by the ever smoother functioning Kay and Robbo Galley Show.
Too many milestones to remember over last 48 hrs, from crossing Sydney's
latitude, to 12,000 miles travelled, and 2,000 miles to go, then there
was Ryan waking on time for his watch, and a favourite being air temp
over 25°, but the one that woke up Capt Morgan was passing another ship
in the night. First contact since a few days out of South Africa.
Somewhere deep in the recesses was a Col Regs memory, so I went to turn
on our nav lights, first time in weeks - nothing to see or hit out here
so hasn't been much point using them - HAL had other ideas and the only
one that worked was the stern light. We managed to improvise and flashed
the glow from Game of Thrones playing on a laptop in the cockpit at
them. Suspect they didn't see too much from 5 miles away ... A session
in the bilge rewiring the mast connection box which was acid-green with
corrosion and more mast/nav lights are now working than before, so we
can face Mr ColRegs with confidence if we see another boat.
With just over a week remaining, stock-taking is becoming a daily task.
Butter and Oil are low. Eggs have been rationed for the last week. Nuts
and Smokes are very low - but some hidden stashes in grab bags and
pilfered throughout cabins, along with extra rolling and pipe tobacco
should see us through. No fresh tuna so it's tinned or our fishing team
getting their act together. Biltong and steak in good supply though.
Plenty of Gin and Capt Morgan's too. So all essentials looking not too
bad, with the exception of fuel and fresh water. With the genset still
not quite right, and diminishing fuel reserves, making water has become
rare, and using the engine for battery charging uses 3 times more fuel
than the genset. A long engine room session overnight and the genset is
ready for another test today, but either way we'll need to have good
winds for the remainder so we can sail right up to Indo and on to the
dock in Bali and conserve our remaining diesel fumes for emergency use -
or if necessary, for a quick Christmas Island detour for some extra
fuel.
SJB