Day 12 - Weak Wind, Steady Progress

Somehow the Monitor managed to keep Pachuca on course all night before a wind of 6 kts and making 2.5 kts though the water. The gains had been modest but at least we had gained and not lost ground. In the morning the sea was lumpier than the night before and the headsail was fretting a lot. I decided to roll in the sail and motor 2 hours to gain some ground while charging the batteries even though he house bank was at a satisfactory 12.6 V and the starter bank was at 12.7 V. After coffee and toast I went up the companionway to start the engine, head a soft hum from the Rutland, looked at the wind numbers on the display above the companionway, and just in the nick of time the wind speed had picked up enough to keep the sail full and pick up our pace to 3.5 kts.

I have an alcohol problem on board. I received a long message from Brenda last night giving me comprehensive information on making my entry into SA. One piece of information is that there is a 2 liter limit on the importation of wine. That's a shame because I was looking forward to arriving with a good stock of wine for Brenda's visit. I had one bottle of white at an anchorage in Angra but have not had any more wine since then, leaving me with 25 bottles, so I figure that I must somehow get rid of 22 bottles. Perhaps I can barter/give some of it away at TdC. (Hmm ... I wonder how many cans of beer a bottle of fine Argentine wine is worth.)

I also received a long message from Jeanne Socrates that included more details on Cape Town and Simons Town (e.g. shopping, safety). She recommends staying a few days at the Royal Cape Yacht Club (RCYC) in cape town for the first few days because clearance and reprovisioning will be much easier from there, then moving on to the False Bay Yacht Club (FBYC) in Simons Town. She suggested that I give RCYC advance notice of my arrival and supplied me with and email contact at the club. She didn't mention Hout Bay, but Brenda did, regarding strong katabatic winds that hit the area.

Last night's grib file predicted difficult winds throughout the day with the wind beginning to build up tonight night reaching 32 kts from the north the day after tomorrow, which means a broad reach for us. (It could exceed 32 kts because I am relying on snapshots at every 6 hours.) At this point I plan to put of the storm trysail late today to get whatever drive I can get out of it throughout the night then carrying it throughout the blow. If things get too frisky I'll shorten the headsail to a minimum and run downwind with the trysail.

It's time for a Blubber Blog Bulletin. I've reached a waistline of 44", representing a loss of 2" since the Party Time days in Argentina and the USA. It would be nice to lose another 2" before Cape Town, but I'll settle for 1".

At noon our position was 32S26, 028W33, giving us a n-n distance of 83 miles in the direction 105T. We were now 826 miles from TdC. The barometer had risen 3 points to 1016 hPa.

In the early afternoon we were beginning to sail comfortably with a slightly strengthening wind off the port beam so I decided to put up the trysail. I was working with the luxury of a gentle wind and plenty of time, so I worked carefully and deliberately, looking for traps and looking for ways to improve the procedure. After an hour the sail was up assisting the headsail and at 2 PM off a modest 10 kt wind we were making just over 4 kts directly for the island. I felt satisfied that the boat was prepared for the approaching day of high winds. I then tidied up and rinsed a set of underclothes that had been in partly filled bucket of soapy water cleaning itself with the motion of the boat (very effective!). I then hung them off the lee lifeline.

After lunch (large tomato, small capsicum, modest slice of cheese) I had a long nap then spent over an hour at the steering station enjoying the setting over a big mug of tea. The sea was lumpy but blue to the horizon and dominated by a large and lazy swell from the SW. The air was cool but pleasant in a T-shirt. Pachuca was ambling along at about 3 kts with her sails giving the occasional flutter when the weak 9 kt wind was overcome by the sea acting on the boat. There were varying numbers of birds in flight and afloat to be seen. The clothes were hanging on the line, the fishing line was trailing behind the boat, and everything looked in order with the boat. To me it seemed like the classical cruising scene and I enjoyed very much being part of it.

At 7.45 PM we were 800 miles from Tristan da Cunha.

At 10 PM the wind picked up to 17-18 kts so I rolled in headsail to reduce the heel of the boat and slow our speed to 5 kts. We were sailing about 60 degrees off the wind with the shortened headsail and storm trysail and they were providing plenty of drive for the boat.

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