For bed I slipped one of the wool blankets out of its plastic bag and found it to be dry, fluffy, and smelling sweet. Taking the trouble to wash and dry the blankets in La Paz was paying big dividends. I snuggled into the cosy bunk as contented as I would have been at the Waldorf Astoria. Thanks to Brenda Pachuca is equipped with four of these large and thick wool blankets.
At the 2 AM weather fax session I saw no reason to change the point of sail because the wind was still weak and we were moving at 3 kt or less.
I was up at 8 AM to find the wind a knot or two stronger with us headed S-SSW. It was an overcast day and the barometer was a steady 1018 hPa. The house battery bank was at a healthy 12.3 V. I had breakfast enjoying BBC News followed by a long report on the tragic introduction of cholera into Haiti by the UN. But the following story was on a more positive note, with an interview of the 92 year old man who developed Ibuprofen in the decade of 1953-1963. I had no idea of the significance of the drug. Until then the only treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, for example, had been the steroid cortisone or massive doses of aspirin which led to serious side effects on the stomach and kidneys. Ibuprofen changed all that. He had done his research working in an English town I had never heard of for a drug company I had never heard of, and he and his colleagues "rightly" got no personal reward for their discovery for which he expressed no regret whatsoever. And why would he, knowing that today his drug can be found in every part of the world and has helped untold millions. At 92 he had a sharp mind and exuded an infectious happiness even over the airwaves to this tiny point in the SE Pacific.
On that happy note I went to the cockpit and changed our course 20 degrees to 170T at varying speed depending on the wind, but at the time of this writing we were doing a satisfactory 5.5 knots.
Late in the morning I went topside for an hour of deck work. I made a valiant attempt to put the boat on a broad starboard reach to take us more downwind and toward the SE instead of the S. Unfortunately Jeff seemed to have trouble dealing with the enormous turning moments accompanying each surge of wind which made the boat want to round up into the wind. Slowly, inexorably, we would wind up on a beam reach. Perhaps I may have had success had I persisted by, say putting a bias on the wheel. Instead I went to the downwind configuration that I much prefer and works well with this boat. I first disengaged Jeff and allowed the boat to point upwind as she does naturally. Then I dropped the mainsail and tied it off while the boat steered itself reasonably well toward a broad reach with the two headsail at work. Then I dropped the staysail, which had been blanketing the headsail, rolled out more headsail, and soon Jeff was steering us SE at about 4 knots, which varied according to the strength of the wind. The boat was moving very comfortably with little weather helm and the headsail was happy, always full and not luffing or thrashing in any way. I tie down the peaks of both sails when they are down so that the sail won't ride up and I can put tension on the halyard to prevent it from swinging wildly and possibly get caught on something.
Our noon position was 36S30, 117W42, giving us a n-n distance of 75 miles to the SE.
Yesterday I brought out the muesli bars. There are 90 of them and eating 2 per day should see me well past the Falklands. The Milo is gone and I have started on the sachets of powdered chocolate, which is very good. I took my first one-a-day vitamin pill yesterday as a precaution. My nutrition is still good in my opinion, but I have run out of fresh fruit and vegetables. I get some vitamin C from the milk and raisins, and probably the sauces that I use, but why take a chance on a deficiency of this or any other vitamin or mineral? Also, I've started using that marvelous "Mountain" brand jacket that I purchased when Arnold and Sandra took me shopping in Seattle. If its Gortex-like material turns out to be as waterproof as it is supposed to be, it will be a great sailing jacket: roomy, velcro sealed cuffs, zippers and plenty of pockets all well protected, and hood.
At 3.30 PM it was time for a cup of tea and my first muesli bar. The apparent wind had increased to more than 15 knots and we were hiking along to the SE at 4-4.5 knots. The house battery bank was reading 4.6V and was charging well. The wind charger was contributing up to 4 amps but would have been averaging about 2 amps. The solar panels were contributing an amazing 4 amps from very weak sunlight. I turned on the refrigerator, which was a lot later than usual; but with the cabin temperature down to 63.5F in the middle of the day, so I figured that it was OK.
The talk of nutrition and vitamin pills reminded me that I've been meaning to have a go at sprouts. Brenda had encouraged me to do a test run in La Paz and in the warmth of that climate I had easily produced a very good batch, but this cooler climate might yield a different result. There was only one way to find out. I chose mung beans with my friend Jim Putt in mind (They're good for you, Jim!) and set them soaking for 8 hours, which would take it to about weather fax time at 2 AM.
At 9 PM I could look back on a splendid day of sailing. The entire day we had run downwind in front of a strong and steady westerly wind. Since mid morning the boat had sailed itself very comfortably pulled along by the headsail rolled out to a no. 2 and we had made good progress. I hoped, of course, that the conditions would continue throughout the night.
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