Day 14: An almost needed, relaxing day...but the mileage shows it!

Solo but not Alone
Howard Fairbank
Sat 22 Dec 2007 13:13
 

                                  Solo but not Alone!  

 

 

                                                        Newsletter  16:   22 December 2007 

                                                    

Day:                                                               14

Position:                                                       19:21.295N  52:06.413W 

Approx Miles from San Sebastian:              2134 

Approx Miles to go to Road Town:              684                                                              

 

Note:  All times are GMT time, and will be for the whole trip.

            Miles are Nautical Miles, where 1 mile = 1.8 km

 

            Ohh, for those non-nautically orientated, a 'knot', among other things,  is 1 nautical mile per hour

            If it seems all funny units...its not, there is a very good basis: 1 nautical mile is equal to one minute of latitude on the earth's surface.

 

 

Hello Friends, and Supporters,

 

Sorry for the incorrect date yesterday...and maybe a few others days.....As I said before, I'm not good on all these details....and need a publisher!! Checked them all today and all is 100%!

 

Well I have now been at sea for 2 weeks, each day adding a new milestone to the longest time I have spent ALONE at sea!  The other thing this milestone brings up is a review of how I am doing against my set out objectives?  Hmmm...the 12 day record has gone, and it looks like with a fair amount of good weather and good fortune I could just 'snuck in' on the 15 to 18 day, "Average performance"!!  With a day or so of light wind forecast ahead, I could move into the post 18 day time horizon. There is also a As those that have sailed will say.  "You will get there when you get there", and how true is that!.  I am also conscious of trying not to focus on the end point and to just manage each day as it comes, sailing as best as I can. 

 

As you will see from the distance to Road Town figures, yesterday was a bit of a 'slow' day, with 129 miles covered. Most of that was due to the light wind...I only had 6-12 knots for 14 hrs, and once again it was dead astern meaning I had to zig zag my way through the night. I took the opportunity to accurately calibrate the boatspeed instrument and try and work out the optimum downwind tack angle. Surprisingly at the low wind speeds it paid to go as far down as 50 degrees!  A bit of a challenge for the mind when one makes a course change to go 50 degrees away fro where you want to go, trusting that in the end it will get me there faster.!  So while the log shows I only did 129 miles the actual distance sailed would be maybe 20 to 25% more.  This is also the reason why I don't report true distance sailed each day. Sorry all technical, but some may find it interesting.

 

Conditions improved early this morning with the wind speed increasing and moving to a very favourable angle. Currently its blowing 20-25 knots, I am 'spot on' course and 'we' are doing 8 knots. Sun is shinning, the sky has a 'nice cloud' look, rather than a 'squall cloud' look, so hopefully 'we' have a great day ahead!

 

I took the light conditions opportunity of yesterday to recuperate from the previous two days. After doing all the boat stuff, and drying out all the wet gear (from the rainstorm) I settled down to starting to read my heavy book....'The Essential of Jung'!!  Haven't felt like getting into it to date, but yesterday it just provided amazing food for thought at the right time!  Probably needed to have the difficult time of the previous days to bring me back to reality!

 

Today I got back into my outside shower routine and decided to add a shave to the pre-breakfast activities!  Yeah..that unshaven look is not for me.....mainly because I don't have the good facial hair cover, so it looks all patchy! Oh also it was 'quite' grey/silver...and I REALLY didn't like that!  I found that my Pantene shampoo lathers in saltwater, so my hair should be happy having its treat too! 

 

For breakfast I made an 'almost fresh' fruit salad....fresh oranges, fresh apples, tinned peaches, and dried kiwi fruit, mixed with a special, and very nice, Soya / apple juice drink I found in San Sebastian.

 

I haven't seen a ship or any other signs of human beings for three days now...just open ocean and the odd wandering sea bird. The sunrise this morning was specially spectacular, and I have capture it (Another sunrise / sunset!) nicely on camera.

 

My alarm clock battery ran out today, so the alarm never went....fortunately I didn't need it, but with all its 'alarming' a new battery only lasted 2 weeks! 

 

Food stocks are going well.....the Jamon is still great, but I can see 'bone' in many pIaces now, and carving is becoming more difficult...if there is still some left, it will probably be a good idea to have it out of custom's sight in Tortola! If its almost finished.... There will be a memorial burial at sea!

 

 I include the above detail to give you some idea of how simple life gets 'out here'...it may seem odd, but its this simplicity of being and purpose that provides me with the clarity of mind and feeling of peace. In an email today, Ruth told me that my howfair {CHANGE TO AT} bigpond {DOT} com mailbox is full and rejecting new emails..... well normally that would have stressed me, but I thought..."It can all wait...what can I do from here anyway?"  Sorry if you have had returned mail...it will get solved once I get to Tortola. I REALLY can't wait to read some of your emails.....just a pity I can't get them out here, as it would just clog up my data link which is critical for the weather files I receive.

 

 

That's about it for now.....

 

  

Be good, and have a great weekend

 

 

Howard