Day 100 - Mainsail Up and Moving Well

I spent the first hours of this great milestone, my 100th day at sea, wallowing in the water becalmed. The fair wind of the previous evening didn't last long and by dawn we had lost half of the ground that we had gained during that short fair wind. I was up at dawn to make sure that I would get a crack at climbing the mast before the wind returned. It was going to be a dry and sunny day - very good for climbing - but with the wind still below 5 knots the boat was still undergoing regular spasms of rolls because there was no effective steadying sail. I would try to be patient and wait until the predicted 15 knot southerly arrived before noon. ... I knew that the wind was below 5 knots because the wind speed data had magically reappeared on the chart plotter.

During the night I got two messages giving me more information on Mar de Plata.

Dieter confirmed that it is a port of entry and also said "Just as well you didn't stop in the Falklands, there is a $7000 fine for boats arriving from there." Wow, did I dodge a bullet there! The Argentina-UK struggle over the Malvinas/Falklands probably seems like a footnote to history from the Thatcher era to most of the world, but I learned from Falklands Radio that it is still a very hot issue, continuously smoldering along. Every day there was talk about the problem of sovereignty.

Brenda sent me all the information that I need to know about the entry procedure and the presence, facilities and contact information of 3 yacht clubs in the harbor. There is a boat yard and plenty of boat lifting capability.

It didn't take long for the wind to show some life, so I started the effort to get the mainsail up. I rolled out plenty of headsail then brought down the trysail and packed it neatly into its bag. I then climbed up the mast with the goal of freeing the halyard from its wrap around a step and installing fresh cord in that section, between the two crosstrees. On the way up I looked at the two D1 lower shrouds and neither had broken wires (Phew!). Unfortunately there was still too much rolling to allow a safe job so I compromised by reaching up past the radar dome to the cord, untying it with one hand, and letting it fly with the wind. This allowed an easy freeing of the halyard. Until I reached port I would have be very careful about always ensuring that the halyard was taut enough that it would not swing around a step. I was not too concerned about this because I did not plan to manipulate the sail much, keeping it at the second reef in fair weather or foul. Before freeing the halyard at the mast I prepared the sail for raising, freeing it from the boom, removing the line that restrained the back of the boom, freeing the mainsheet and reefing lines, etc. Then I rolled in the headsail, started the engine, and put the boat into the wind. This was especially necessary to ensure that the halyard would be pushed aft of the mast by the wind. I then freed the halyard at the mast, releasing its tension, then raised the sail using the engine to keep the boat into the wind. That worked fine and for the first time in weeks I had a mainsail. For some reason the sail has a better form with the second reef than the first reef and it looked great as it took to the wind.

The wind was from the north and we had the refreshing change of sailing on a starboard tack, which was the strong side of the rigging. After an hour was up I shut down the engine and we settled down to a comfortable beat in a lumpy but not rough sea, into a 17 knot apparent wind, doing 3.5-4.0 knots on course 300T. The boat looked good with the sails drawing nicely and a good angle of heel, and for once I was not worrying about the mast. Things got even better. The grib file predicted northerly winds as far as it could see, 30 hours ahead. Armed with the mainsail I was looking forward to some good progress to the west.

At noon our position was 45S49, 048W38, giving us a n-n distance of 31 miles to 292T, WNW. This reflected our 12 hours of laying becalmed. However, since early morning we had been moving well to the west at 3.0-3.5 knots with the prospects of maintaining this course and speed for another 24 hours. The wind out of the NNW had strengthened somewhat to about 22 knots and I had reduced a bit of headsail and eased the mainsheet to make reduce the amount of heel. The sea had risen to match the wind but there was no hull slamming and the boat rode remarkably well. The barometer was at 1017 Hpa, the highest I had seen it since 27 December.

During the afternoon the wind backed 15 degrees and its speed increased to the mid 20's with the seas rising correspondingly. The prediction was that it would gain another 2 knots in speed throughout the night. Before dark I reduced sail, dropping our speed from 3.3 kt to 2.2 kt. Much as I wanted to cover distance rapidly I wasn't willing to pound the boat all night for that extra knot in speed. Our course was slightly to the south of west.

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