Southern Princess Day 4 12z 23:18N 24:43W

Southern Princess
John & Irene Hunt
Thu 29 Nov 2007 12:12
Trying something new today as there is not a heck of a lot to talk about except for a rising sense of frustration trying to find some wind. Ran the motor over 14 hours in the last 24! I have copied our ship's log into this email and I hope it comes out. I have asked my mate Helen Campbell to look at the ARC site and the Southern Princess Blog site to see if it presents ok.

Ocean sailing at the moment is as boring as bat ........!

Haven't caught a fish yet but then again we haven't had a line until there is room in the freezer.

Cheers J&I&J

12:00 24:02.345N 21:57.600W 1497.0 1028 Completed all reports. Wind from 068°m at 15knots. Course 271°m at 5.8 knots. Sea with no defined swell pattern yet. Lumpy.
18:00 23:55.875N 22:31.350W 1497.0 1025 Speed down to 4knts and wind to 10knts from 077°m. Pulled in both genoas, turned on motor at 17:45 and headed further south (250m to 20N 30W). Sent Bruce an email for a suggested wind route.
24:00 23:37.565N 23:15.645W 1501.4 1025 4.4 hours run on motor (4hrs 24mins) stopped motor at 22:00 and managed to sail on 250°m for an hour. Latest suggestion from BB is to steer 290°m and reach across until 23:50W and then to 250°m again. Currently reaching with light weight genoa and full main with 15-16 over the deck and 8 knots speed. RAYMARINE has gone from AUTO to STANDBY three times since 18:00 hours.
29/11/2007 02:00 23:40.794N 23:27.561W 1501.4 1025 02:00 started motor again. Wind has been veering between 065° and 095° and fluctuating in strength from 5 - 10 over the deck. Speed was down to 3.9 knots!
05:00 23:40.036N 23:50.409W 1504.5 1025 RAYMARINE went from Auto to Standby with the error message 'Pilot Disengaged' at around 03:00. Still motoring, seas nearly flat calm and wind indicator lazily revolving around the dial. Turned to new course 250°.
09:00 23:21.000N 24:19.130W 1508.7 1024 Same old, same old! Nothings changed from above except we are now steering 245°. Now that I have learned to use a degree sign I am going to stop saying m for magnetic. At 10:00 received an email from BB suggesting we go north again to waypoint 23:30N 30:00W and we are now motor sailing with main and genoa on course 283°. Wind across the deck only 10 knots and sea is lumpy with no rhythm.
12:00 23:18.702N 24:42.699W 1511.6 1024 Wind from 84° Course 283° Wind 7.9 knots over the deck. Motor sailing with main sail only at 7.8 knots. Engine hours in the last 24 hours is 14.6 (14:36)