West of Darwin - Day Two - 12 26.668S 126 06.973E
Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Sat 7 Sep 2013 08:39
|
The pattern of light winds in the evening and overnight
repeated itself over the last 24 hours with the wind almost dropping out
completely for a while overnight. What wind there was, was from the northeast
(we hoped for east or southeast). The stronger winds during the day had built up
quite a big sea and this combined with little wind caused the sails to collapse
and fill (not good), even though both genoas were rolled in to keep them
tight. Also the motion was not good as we rolled with the bigger waves. But by
morning the seas had calmed down, the wind was back again and the speed started
to look more respectable (6 to 7kts). We ran the engine for 1 1/2 hours during
the night when the speed dropped to 2kts as the wind disappeared almost
completely, but we are trying to use it as little as possible to conserve fuel.
Not sure when we will next be able to get any. With the lack
of wind overnight the noon to noon run was 122.3 miles and we are 288.3 miles
west of Darwin.
It was overcast today (the first real cloud we have seen since
arriving in Darwin) and the cloud was accompanied by rain squalls. We had to
shorten sail, but the worst of it, and particularly the rain, missed us.
Jacaranda was not so lucky! Had a real bird visit us last
night. A booby (gannet sized) landed on the side of the cockpit and was totally
unfazed by our presence. After the last one, we shooed it off, not wanting to
have to clear up the mess, but after circling the boat a few times it was back
and perched on the mainsail that's on the boom and not being used. It was
definitely not going to stay there, getting the mess off the sail and sail cover
would not be easy. So shooed off again it was. Next time it landed next to the
tow generator and kept getting it's wing bashed by the turning rope, so it was
shooed off again for it's own safety. These birds are real persistent - the next
landing spot was on the solar panels. It's difficult to get up there, so we
decided it could stay and turned off the wind generator to save it from being
minced, and the expensive blades from being broken, expecting it to fly off
after a rest. It stayed the whole night and had a good kip. It also left a huge
mess over all the panels, so the skipper had to find a way up this morning, with
bucket and sponge in hand, as the boat rolled. Not easy, but the solar panels
are clean again. Our compassion for tired birds is now all used up! Unless it's
the size of a wren, it can sleep somewhere else! Customs didn't over-fly us this
morning, but did call from some way off saying they had spotted us on radar and
went through the usual questions, commenting at the end that the long
distance call had saved their fuel bill!
|