Day 88

I had set the alarm for 0700 UTC in order to try to download my first weather fax out of Rio. However, I was up at 0600 after 4 hours of sleep to the sound and feel of wind. Up on deck in the gloom of what passes for night I saw on the instrument that the wind was at 17 knots. Fortunately the boat had managed to lay ahull beam to the weak wind so we were still pointing in the right direction. Soon we were making a satisfactory 4 knots to the NE. I used the precise position and time data that I had recorded to calculate that we had drifted 6.2 miles in 6 hours in the direction ESE, 102T, so the current in this area was not set strongly to the north as I had expected.

A few hours later I was settling in for a nap when the chart plotter gave an alarm. I went to it, zoomed in, and Yikes! there was a ship less than 3 miles away. I suited up, went topside, and saw that it was a big and modern passenger liner headed toward the Horn. The AIS report was that it was the "Seabourn Sojourn", bound for Ushuaia doing 12.7 knots on course 241T, almost the exact reciprocal of my 045T. Even though we were passing 3 miles apart my boat must have yawed enough to momentarily give an estimate of less than 2 miles of separation, i.e. within my security ring. I thought of that ship with its complement of passengers much smarter than me in visiting the end of the world in the luxury of a modern cruise liner with all that it has to offer. ("Hmm. Shall I do my banking then catch up with CNN News on the satellite internet this morning? No, I think that I'll visit the spa before a Steak Chateaubriand for lunch at the restaurant then visit the casino for a bit of gambling. Anyway, when does this place get to Ushawa or whatever it's called?")

I visited the side deck with tools for tightening the shroud that I had jury rigged the day before. To my surprise it was nice and taut, even when the boat rolled to its side. That increased my confidence in the fix a little bit more.

At noon our position was 53S41, 062W04, giving us a n-n distance of 49 miles toward 044T. We were still over 100 miles from the southern shores of the Falklands. It was slow progress, no doubt about it, but at least the weather was good. For 2 days the winds had been much lighter than predicted by the grib and spot files. Just before the noon report the wind died down again. I took measures with our sails and course and managed to keep the boat moving at less than 1.5 knots. But at least the current wasn't dragging us back. I was making an effort to move to the east enough to pass to the south of Beauchine Island in order to sail up the east side of the Falklands. Beauchine Island is only 30 miles from the coast of East Falkland and I didn't want to risk being caught near a lee shore by a gale.

I tried as an experiment to run downwind with the headsail stretched out on the whisker pole but the wind was too weak and kept overpowering the sail. It was worth a try.

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