Day 105 – Welcome Showers

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Mon 28 Mar 2022 09:14
Noon Position: 42 09.9 S 063 27.8 E
Course: ENE Speed: 7 knots
Wind: NNW F6 Sea: moderate
Swell: WNW 2m
Weather: overcast, showers, mild
Day’s Run: 109nm (78nm Easting)

The wind took longer to fill in than I had hoped. We spent all of yesterday afternoon and evening tacking back and forth across the light variable wind, mostly out of the east, the direction in which we wished to go, and after eight hours we had made only four miles in said desired direction. But around midnight the wind started to fill in properly from the NNW, allowing us to beam reach under full sail to the ENE at a steady four knots. At 0350 the wind increased further requiring a reef in the main and by 0600 it was up to force 6. Expecting it to increase further, I put a second reef in and rolled up some jib.
This forenoon we have had a few welcome passing showers allowing us to collect some eight litres of fresh water thus far. We still have plenty of water on board for essential needs, namely drinking and cooking, but not enough to spare on anything else, in particular on some essential laundry, which at this stage of the voyage would certainly add to my quality of life. Ian Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail non-stop single handed around the world, apparently only had three sets of clothes on board due to lack of space. And his French nemesis, Moitessier, reckons he washed his clothes in sea water then hung them in the rigging and allowed the wind to dry and shake the salt out of them; a claim, I must confess, I find difficult to give credence to. Regardless, they were both clearly tougher souls than myself.
All is well.