Day 28 - Steady Progress

I started tracking a bit to the west again. A wind and wave spot prediction covering the next few days that I received from Stephen consistently stated that the winds would be ESE (and some E) for the next few days. My latest grib file also stated a wind direction of ESE today and tomorrow. However, I was tracking 200T when I should have been tracking 180T. A look at the wind indicator told me that the boat was pointing well. I then looked at the compass and allowing for deviation my heading was 180T or less. Between the current and the waves the boat was being pushed to the west again, though not seriously so.

I was up at 2 AM to download the polar fax of the South Pacific from station VMC in Charleville, Queensland Australia. I captured a clear image and was able to compare the position of those lows near the Horn over 2 successive days. I need to get a feel about the track and speed of those lows. My recollection is that they begin near the pole then move toward the east in a big arc which takes them back toward the pole.

I did some snooping around the weather fax software and discovered that it contains a schedule of every weather fax station in the world, including their frequencies. The document looked familiar and soon I discovered that I had downloaded the same document from the internet back at La Paz and had forgotten about it. The schedule for CBV in Chile turned out to be a big disappointment. It covers only zone "A", which is a band covering the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and the western approaches to Panama. Also, their hours of transmission are very limited. I was disappointed that Chile, whose navy is renowned for its presence in the SE Pacific and Drake Passage, supports such a limited weather fax service. Station PWZ out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will be useful to me after I've rounded the Horn.

The wind had veered 20 degrees in the previous afternoon and had slackened somewhat during the night. Shortly after waking up at 9 AM I actually heard the boom slam once in a wind of only 9 kt. However, within minutes it had picked up big time and soon we were hiking along to the SSE averaging 5.5 kt against a 17-19 kt wind.

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Because I have to access to the internet I cannot see directly comments that are sent to the blog. However, Brenda and Stephen at "mission headquarters" in Fremantle have been very good about passing on the gist - and sometimes verbatum - of many of the comments from Arnold, Simeon, Bill, Chris, Nigel & Patrick, Barry & Joyce, Sue, Peter, Glen, and others. I don't think that I need to go on at length about how much I appreciate the thoughts, suggestions, and encouragement in your comments, folks.

Barry and Joyce were asking about what wildlife I am seeing from the boat. First of all, I must confess that I do not spend as much time topside as I should. While the boat steers itself I am generally down below tending to the boat and the blog. Let's not forget that a solo sailor must play every role on the boat, from cook and dish washer to engineer to sail master to navigator and communications manager. In the early days I was too busy coming to grips with my new situation to worry much about the luxury of just sitting back and enjoying the ride. In the trade winds there is a different factor: we've been beating to windward quite hard a times and the cockpit has not been the friendliest place in the world, what with the boat's agitation, the wind, and the occasional spray. But those excuses to not completely absolve me. There have been many hours when the boat was quietly meandering along and I'd be down below reading a book.

Now for some responses. I know that there are many turtles as sea, but most of the accounts of their sightings have been from people drifting on a life raft or a disabled boat, where the turtles came to them probably out of curiosity. Out here in these conditions the sea is too roiled for seeing anything below the surface and besides, the boat is moving too fast. I have seen no whales or dolphins. I was frequently seeing mid-size sea birds circling the boat until a few days ago but they seem to have disappeared. Yesterday I did see one tiny bird - probably a petrel - land in the water near the boat. I've tried trolling every few days with no success, but that in no way reflects on the presence or absence of hungry fish, since I seem to be a poor example of a fisherman. Crossing the far end of the Peru current I may be passing into a relatively dead part of the ocean. I certainly expect to see much more sea life at the extreme latitudes.

Regarding the electrical power setup on the boat, yes I still have the two 60-watt solar panels over the cockpit and the wind charger at the stern. The house bank is composed of four gel batteries rated at 230 a/h each. The starter bank is composed of two large "maintenance free" batteries that are old but still work fine, probably because they have such an easy life. I am running the engine about one hour per day to keep up the voltage level in the house bank but I expect this situation to improve in the next few weeks as I consume the frozen food and sail into cooler latitudes. I'll first turn the refrigerator thermostat down then will later turn the fridge off altogether. Once this is done I expect to be almost power neutral.
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At noon our position was 05S44, 122W16. Our n-n distance was 113 miles in the direction of 204T. We had moved another 1.7 degrees to the south and were now firmly in the latitude of Peru, west of the city of Chiclayo 2500 miles away. Easter Island was 1470 miles to the SE and Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of Mexico's Baja peninsula was 1860 miles to the NE.

At 3 PM the wind began to abate. We had had 6 hours of hard and fast (over 6 kts at times) against an apparent wind that at times exceeded 20 kts, and the resultant seas had made for a rough ride. Once again I had resisted the temptation to put in a reef and I was glad that I had. Better yet, the wind had backed a bit and at 4 PM we were on a COG of 185T, making a more comfortable 5 knots.

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