On The Way to Tristan da Cunha

I am too much of a sailor to allow a good wind to go to waste. This morning the wind was so good as I motored toward my anchorage at Ilha Grande that I decided to set sail and be on my way. Last night's grib file helped me to make the decision. It predicted good east winds until the morning of 2 November, and it was just too good an opportunity to miss.

I weighed anchor at about 8.30 AM under a clear sky and gentle breeze. As I motored around the east side of Ilha da Gipoia I noticed that the breeze was up to 12-15 knots. I thought about it for a while then decided to set sail for the open ocean. Once I was clear of local dangers I rounded into the wind, set the autopilot, then hoisted the mainsail with one reef. Then I rolled out some jib and we were on our way at about 12.30 PM, and I celebrated with a chilled mango followed by a chilled banana. The wind died before I could clear the west in of Ilha Grande did a bizarre 180 degree shift, but then came back from the east in force. Soon we were doing 6.5 kt on a port tack against an 18 kt wind, but that did not last too long because when the seas built up I was forced to roll in some headsail to slow the boat down.

There were the usual teething problems, made worse by my snap decision to sail. I had to climb onto the Monitor (wind steering) frame to retrieve a boat fender that I had used for protection at the marina. Then I fastened the air vane and dropped the water paddle before I built up the boat speed. Punching into the heavy sea brought out other problems. I closed the cabin hatch and when I checked the forward hatch I found it to be clamped down in its "loose" position and I got a nice dose of sea water while I frantically worked to tighten it down. Then I remembered the anchor. It had to come off the stem roller lest it jump off and start banging against the side of the boat. That meant putting on the wet weather gear in the Brazilian heat then heaving to. I left the anchor on deck, lashed against the mast. I will stow it below when conditions are calmer and I am well clear of land. I unshackled the chain from the anchor and fed it back down the hawse pipe so that it would not rattle as it slid across the deck. Then I had trouble setting up "Jeff" the Monitor wind steering. The control lines that had been recommended in Seattle might be OK from the Monitor into the cockpit (time will tell), but they were hopeless at the wheel because they were too slippery and the knots that I tied through the bowline knots of the control lines would not hold. After a frustrating 45 minutes (and one accidental gybe) I put together a new set of lines for the wheel and thereafter all was well. The autopilot had done a marvelous job of supporting me through the hazards of the bay and the sail hoist, but for rough long haul conditions the wind steering is the way to go.

Then I remembered to put the loop of shock cord over the computer's screen so that it would not slide off the desk on a heavy heel to starboard. I also tied shock cord around the mouse cable, and I can guarantee that it will do scores of bungee jumps off the desk during this passage. I will put up the shower curtain that protects the navigation station before the day is out.

By 3 PM things had settled down and we were making a respectable 5 kt to the south with an 18 kt wind just forward of the beam. My main concern was to clear Ilha Bela, and thereafter the South American continent would fall away to the west. I thanked my lucky stars that I had brought up the mainsail with one reef, and the boat was managing well with a small bit of headsail. I was tired and pepped myself up with two cans of Itaipava pilsner. Once I've settled down in the passage I'll go easy on the beer - I'll have to, actually, because I departed from Bracui with 30 cans of beer, the 26 bottles of wine that I reported earlier, and no hard liquor.

I set the boat's clocks to UTC (GMT)and for the rest of this passage deal with UTC. Western Australia is at UTC+8 and I figure that Seattle is at UTC-9. During this passage to Cape Town I'll try to report my daily position at noon UTC.

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