Day 142 – A Quiet Day
Where Next?
Bob Williams
Wed 4 May 2022 08:06
Course: ESE Speed: 3 knots
Wind: NW F3 Sea: slight
Swell: W 1m
Weather: overcast, hot, humid
Day’s Run: 107 nm
We seem to have effectively worked our way south of the major shipping lane between the Red Sea and the southern end of Sri Lanka as we have not encountered any other ships since yesterday. And the wind has remained a fairly constant force three from the WNW. So it has been a quiet 24 hours.
The wind has slowly veered into the NW which was causing us to track back towards the shipping lane so this morning at 0835 we gybed so that we could maintain our ESE heading. This time I managed to complete the gybe without getting the headsail wrapped around the foil, though it would have been a difficult thing to do with the heavier and smaller jib. The genoa is now folded and sitting under a bit of canvas in the back of the cockpit. I reckon we will likely need it again when we recross the doldrums, so will keep it handy until we are back into the SE trades.
I really need to get a few more coats of varnish on the forehatch but at the moment it is just too hot. I reckon the varnish would go tacky before it got off the brush.
I notice that I made a typo with the position of our next waypoint – the longitude should read 096 E.
All is well.