Talking to Fiji, Rail Timbers, Navigation Publications

Yesterday I rode the bicycle to the timber yard and got good help in selecting four 8-ft lengths with a profile of 3.5" x 1.5".  The wood looks like some sort of a pine because it is light in both color and weight, but it appears to be strong.  The man asked me how I was going to get the planks to the marina and I told him that I planned to carry them two at a time on my shoulder.  Without any hesitation he loaded the timber and my bicycle on the truck and off we went.  I gave the man 40 pesos (para dos cervezas, mi amigo) for his help, thinking that there are going to be a lot of things that I will miss about Mexico.

Last night I noticed that Ib and Yadranka were up on Skype so I called them and we had our first conversation since they left La Paz last January.  They are in Fiji now, enjoying the place and also having work done on their boat.  I contacted them just in time because in about a week they will push on to New Caledonia then on to their home port in Bundaberg, Queensland in Australia.
Ib told me something that may be very helpful to me in the coming cruise.  He said that he had not used his mainsail since Mexico.  He got tired of reefing the mainsail so he put up his storm trysail and used it all the way across the South Pacific.  That meant that he had no boom to deal with, no reefing to do, and was working with a tame loose-footed small sail.  He reckons that he lost only about a half knot in speed and the tradeoff was worth it.  It had crossed my mind to use only my trysail as I approach the Horn and now I am more likely to do it. The trysail will leave me prepared me for the unexpected (e.g. strong gust of wind, heavy "rogue" wave) and have me ready for heaving to.

1. Bob Carroll arriving for a visit

I began the day by putting up the rail timbers for the spare fuel containers.  The first photograph catches a glimpse of Bob Carroll who paid a visit where we wound up discussing my route to the Horn with charts from Ocean Passages in front of us.  He brought an example of a pilot chart which was to inspire me to do some productive downloading from the internet later in the day.  We then discussed various techniques of downwind sailing and I've yet to decide on what to try out (e.g. Asymmetrical spinnaker? Twin headsails? Headsail with staysail?)  I've never been inclined to pole out a sail, and now that I've sold my heavy spinnaker pole I would have a real challenge in figuring out how to hold the headsails out.

2. Port Side, roller furler line underneath

Anyway, after some measuring and drilling I put up the rail timbers, using thin rope to fasten the timber to the stanchions. Note in the second photo showing the port side timbers how the lower board will sit on the bollards, allowing free run to the white roller furler line running along the deck.  The third photo shows the lower board on the starboard side riding above the bollards, which are in use.  I'll probably lower this board when I am on my way.

The final photo shows 5 containers fitting comfortably on the starboard side.  This means that I have the capacity to carry four more 5-gallon containers on deck than I had planned, making a total of 50 gallons of spare diesel on deck.  (I've had trouble finding the amber diesel containers and have been forced to purchase the red gasoline containers.)

3. Starboard side

In the afternoon I searched the internet for pilot charts and hit pay dirt.  I've downloaded pilot charts of the South Pacific for November and December, the South Atlantic for December and January, and the Indian Ocean for February and March. These charts are an image of the paper version but better in that I can zoom up as much as I want to for a comfortable inspection of an area.

4. Note ample room for jib block and walking

I kept looking for material and downloaded the Pub. No. 229 sight reduction tables, volumes 1-5, covering the latitudes from 0 to 75 degrees.  This solves a problem that has been worrying me, the fact that I have only volumes 2 and 3 on board, covering latitudes 15 to 45 degrees.  These tables provide an easy look-up way of solving the spherical triangle in celestial navigation.  This could be done by computation, but first I would have to figure out how to do it from my copy of Bowditch.

I'll be making copies of these publications in each of my 3 computers and two of my external disc drives.