Day 27 - A Fair Wind and Following Sea

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Sun 9 Jan 2022 23:22
Noon Position: 45 51.0 S 159 04.2 W
Course: ESE Speed: 5.5 knots
Wind: SbE, F4 Sea: moderate
Swell: SW, 2 meters
Weather: cloudy, mild
Day's Run: 120 nm

The winds have at last turned more favourable, veering into the WNW and steadying at a gentle force four, so that at 2000 we were able to pole the jib out to port and run wing-on-wing under full sail for a very peaceful night. Since 2000 we have averaged a course of SE by E, gradually working our way back south. At midday we gybed to bring Sylph's heading more to the east.
During last night's sked, Coconut reported a good run for yesterday, some 140nm, so she has maintained her lead of about 230nm. My plan is to work our way down to Coconut's latitude, about 46° 10'S, and then follow the parallel until we overhaul her, which very likely will be well before the Horn. While my original plan was to time things so that we would rendezvous more or less in the approaches to the Horn, unfortunately I don't think it will be practical to slow down sufficiently to make that plan work. Mark suggested (facetiously I suspect) I do a lap around Easter Island but I think that might be a bit of an over-correction. For now we will attempt to catch up with Coconut, see where that puts us, and then decide what to do next.
Meanwhile, this forenoon while the weather is fair, I have attempted to deal with some of my solar charging problems. I decided to remove the new 'smart' charging system seeing as it does not work and reinstall the old not-so-smart charging system. The old regulator can only handle ten amps so I won't be able to connect all the new panels I have installed for this voyage to it. Instead, I will install a switch in a convenient location so I can manually switch the additional panels in or out depending on the battery state. Which is this afternoon's job.

All is well.