Day 4 - Sailing Again

I watched a movie (Denzel Washington in "The Mighty Quinn") then hit the sack at 11 PM for a normal sleep with no alarms. At 4 AM I woke up and had a look around. The wind was still from the SE at 6 or 7 kt and a ship was passing 15 miles to the north. I went back to bed then started to hear the faint humming of the wind charger. Then it got strong enough to make me get up, because when the wind charger hums there is enough wind for sailing. I did some calculations and concluded that I would be better off on a port tack heading to the west of south than on a starboard tack heading to the north of east because it is most important to reach the better winds of the south.

I rolled out a small amount of headsail to make way, gybed the boat, then rolled out more sail to test the wind. It wasn't too bad - I was doing 3 kt to 200T (200 degrees true). On that basis I decided to raise the mainsail in the glow of moonlight through the clouds. I did it under sail as close hauled as I could get under the control of the autopilot, and that part worked out well. I got the starboard lazy jacks out of the way, loosened the starboard running backstay, and started winching up the sail. It seemed to go well but twice I got resistance, found the lazy jack tight with the block inside of the sail, and let out more line. The sail was almost up when I got more resistance, found the lazy jack block on the wrong side again, then realized that the block had crept up 10 ft higher than it should be. That had to mean that the lazy jack line was wrapped over the leech of the sail higher up, but I could not see well enough in the dark. Jamming the mainsail where it won't come down is a risk to avoid at all costs so I dropped to sail to try to sort things out. The problem is that the great new backstays each have a heavy block part way up, and the weight of these blocks prevent the lines from being pushed out of the way by the wind. Thus the backstays are a new management issue and next time I'll get the leeward backstay completely out of the way and fixed to the mast, as I do with the leeward lazy jacks. The glow of the moonlight was helpful and the super duper head torch that Arnold gave me was, well, brilliant.

At 6.30 AM the boat was sailing on a course of 220T (almost SW) with the single reef mainsail and no. 2 jib rollout, making 4.3 kt under control of "Jeff", the Monitor wind steering. Even beating into the wind its apparent speed was less than 10 kts. It was not a great course but at least we were heading toward the south and were sailing pleasantly in the calm sea. If there was any significant veering of the wind I would throw a tack.

Not long after that the boat began a 20 degree swing to starboard and the wind dropped to below 6 kts. I went topside ready for a tack and saw that Jeff had lost control and the boat was on a beam reach with the sails still close hauled. I swung the boat back into the wind and engaged "Vistar", the autopilot, and soon we were doing a satisfactory 4 kts on course 200T. The problem wasn't really Jeff's fault. In front of it is the gas cylinder clamped to the stern rail, which interferes with the flow to the air vane. (On the other tack its the outboard motor that is in the way.) Fortunately this is not a problem when the wind is stronger.

Just before going back to sleep I spotted a large radar target 15 miles ahead. I checked its relative moment using the radius and azimuth tools provided by the radar unit and saw that it would pass to my port side. At 9 miles away I started to see its AIS transmission and saw that it would pass 6 miles to port. With that I went back to sleep.

What a magnificent morning it turned out to be. I woke up at 8.30 AM and at 9 AM I had the clothes back out to dry, a fishing line in tow, and was munching on toast while I watched the boat glide effortlessly across the flat sea and under a bright sun in a partly cloudy sky. This is what cruising is about.

At noon our position was 26S52, 042W37, giving us a n-n distance of 29 miles to the south. During the heave to we had drifted 5 nm to the NE. That did not represent much progress for the day but at least we were on the move again.

In the afternoon I took out the Frieberger sextant and found the bag that held the sextant box was covered in powdery mold. The sextant itself was OK because it is protected by a very good box, but the mechanism was stiff from lack of use and no doubt the need of lubrication. Nevertheless I got a sun shot that using the laptop navigation software put the line of position only 2.2 miles from our true position. Then I did the calculations myself using nautical almanac stored in the computer and the 229 tables in the bookshelf for solving the celestial triangle and got a difference of 5 miles - close enough for my purposes. I'll make sure that the two metal sextants on board get professional attention when I am back in Australia.

As of 6 PM the day had been one of outstanding sailing conditions. The wind held steady at 11-14 kts, which was good enough to drive us at over 5 knots but not strong enough to build up the seas too high. Better yet, as the day progressed the wind steadily backed until we were sailing at 163T. I had sailed almost the entire day with the mainsail single reefed and the headsail fully rolled out to genoa size, and I would keep this configuration into the night and roll in headsail before going to the second reef if the wind piped up.

I spent over an hour in the cockpit enjoying the scenery and cool breeze over a tall cup of tea and during that time I did not see one sea bird. In fact I haven't notice much wildlife since Angra and I wonder if it may be due to the fact that we're in the warm current descending from the north. At about the latitude of Mar del Plata the northern current will converge with the southern one which I think is nutrient rich, and that might bring more sea life. I trailed a lure most of the day with no result. In a few days I'll switch from the squid-like lure to the fish-like one.

I had a big win late in the afternoon. Since leaving Angra I have not been able to use the "Mountain" brand outdoor jacket that served me so well as a waterproof, well pocketed, and well sealed sailing jacket during my passage around the Horn. The problem was that I could not get the main zipper started. Then I noticed that all of the other zippers were seized up. During the recent bouts of heavy weather I was forced to use a lighter raincoat that also had no zipper. After a week of persistent but gentle effort with WD-40 and a pair of piers I freed up all of the zippers and today finally managed to get the main one to work properly. I was very pleased because I need that jacket. I am good about washing all salt-encrusted wet weather gear after arriving in port but now I must also remember to lubricate all zippers before putting the garments away.

At 8.30 PM the cargo ship "Peter S" passed 9 miles off my stern on the way to Cape Town.

At 11 PM we were sailing to the SE at 5 kts against a 15 kt wind.

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