25.31S 159.07E
Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Sat 15 Oct 2011 03:24
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Gerards nice easy introduction to ocean
sailing is well and truly over and we are now down to a more
challenging part of the crossing.
Last night the winds slowly started to shift
further to the north and intensify. We had been sailing with no mainsail and the
genoa and genneker winged out but the shifting wind forced us to drop the genoa
and continue with just the genneker. This was going well until around 9am when
the wind steadily lifted to 25-26 knots from close to north, forcing us to sail
on with just the genoa. With the wind came larger seas but they have been off
our starboard quarter so things were still reasonably comfortable. We had a
reasonable sail overnight despite being bounced around.
This morning at 8am we sailed over Banc Capel, a
30NM wide seamount around halfway from Noumea to Brisbane. The seamount comes to
within 46 metres of the surface over a wide area and one small area is just
8 metres below the surface. We made sure we were south of the 8 metre section
but it felt weird to be 400NM from land and suddenly see the depth sounder go
from being too deep to get a reading, to 50 metres depth in the space of 5
minutes.
We had intended to sail all day with the mainsail
but we abandoned this when we realised the connection from the first travel car
onto the mainsail had been broken in yesterday's sailing. We will continue to
sail with just the headsails and will only use the mainsail in light winds, so
as to avoid damaging the sail itself.
With the increase in wind and seas we have
abandoned any attempt at fishing. The forecast is for the winds to ease later
today so we may be able to try our luck fishing again soon.
This afternoon we have an overcast sky and a
northerly wind still blowing at 20+ knots. The boat is not riding as well as
last night as the seas are coming across our starboard stern. This is
affecting our comfort on board but not the performance of the
boat.
Today we passed the halfway point of this crossing,
in just 3 days. If we can maintain 120NM per day for the next 3 days we should
reach our waypoint off Moreton Island at first light on Tuesday morning.
That should see us enter the Brisbane River around early afternoon to clear into
Australia. Once again if we have to we will slow down our boat speed as we
approach Moreton Island so that we reach it in daylight.
It is 2.15pm right now and we are 324NM from our
waypoint off Moreton Island. The wind is still from the north at 20+ knots and
we are still making a very healthy 6-7 knots boat speed. With a bit of luck
things will ease down tonight for a more pleasant overnight sail.
Andrew.
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