Day 192 – Home Waters
Where Next?
Bob Williams
Thu 23 Jun 2022 03:10
Course: ESE Speed: 7 knots
Wind: NNW Force 4
Sea: moderate Swell: W 1,5 m
Weather: mostly sunny, mild
Day’s Run: 173 nm
An excellent day’s run of 173 miles, for an average speed of 7.2 knots, which I think is the best day’s run for the voyage, has brought us back to our home waters of South Australia.
The breeze freshened during the night but had a bit more north in it than was forecast so instead of running wing-on-wing as I was expecting, we have been broad reaching, initially with full sail but then as the wind picked up, with one reef in the main and 80% jib. We are now just south of Wedge Island at the entrance to Spencer Gulf and the wind has eased a little so we are back under full sail again, keeping our speed up at around seven knots. I think we have enjoyed about a knot of favourable current for the last 24 hours which has of course helped our daily figures significantly, by 24 miles to be precise.
The big question now is when will we arrive in Adelaide. At the moment I am estimating an arrival time at Outer Harbour of midday, but this figure is rather uncertain. Once we round Troubridge Shoals and start heading up the Gulf of St Vincent then I expect that the wind may well head us which will slow us down to maybe four knots or less. A front is due sometime tomorrow morning and will bring W to SW’ly winds which will help a lot. Hopefully it will arrive earlier rather than later. I expect to arrive off Troubridge Shoals around midnight which will leave 40 miles to go to Adelaide, so with the excellent day’s run we have managed to build a bit of time in hand.
With a little luck, this time tomorrow we will have crossed our outbound track thereby completing our non-stop circumnavigation, and will be picking up our tow to take us alongside the Yacht Squadron where my first challenge will be to get my land-legs again.
All is well.