Day 5 - Good Sailing, Good Progress

At midnight the wind was still a robust 15 kts and I went topside to check out the sail plan before retiring. Logically everything seemed alright, eg not too much heel, no pounding. But it just didn't feel right so I rolled in the headsail to its second mark. The boat now seemed to be sailing freer and down below looking at the instruments I could not discern any decrease in speed.

I got a scare at 4 AM. I had just returned to the bunk after doing a check of the boat when I heard the boom slam hard. I got up, saw that the wind speed was now below 6 kt, and rushed topside expecting to have to bring down the mainsail. The grib file had predicted a lull beginning at about this time. I saw that Jeff had not been able to cope and the boat was on a broad reach. I turned the boat back into the wind and got an apparent wind speed of only maybe 8 kts, but in the calm conditions it might be viable. I set the autopilot and went to bed, expecting to be up again soon to drop the sails, but after a few gently slams of the boom it held steady and I woke up at 9 AM to find the boat still tracking to the SE at 4.5 kts. Glory Be! The apparent wind was up to 10 and 11 kts and I put Jeff back in charge of the steering.

The sky was mostly cloudy, temperature very mild, and the sea amazingly calm, which was the key to the boat being able to hold sail in these light winds. And light they are, with the apparent wind dropping to 8 knots at times, suggesting a true wind speed of around 6 kts. In these conditions it was much better to be sailing upwind than downwind, at least according to my tastes. By now I was getting used to finding nothing afloat when scanning the horizon, and I had seen only 2 ships the previous days - "seen" them only with modern electronics because otherwise I would have been oblivious to them. And this solitude was not surprising because we were now more than 350 miles off the Brazilian coast. Even in this light wind the wind charger is still contributing half and amp, which on a small boat is precious.

I have been watching movies at the navigation station on the same Toshiba laptop that handles the navigation and communications. It works very well using head phones. Instead of using the Seagate external disc drive with its 300 or so movies I am now playing DVDs from the collection that I built up between Australia and the USA. Last night it was "Mr & Mrs Smith". I've got DVD's for all moods. I am saving "The Perfect Storm" for a scary rough night.

Just before noon I saw a seabird make two passes across my stern. It was a petrel, possibly an "Atlantic petrel".

At noon our position was 28S36, 041W47, giving us a n-n distance of 114 miles in the direction 157T (SSE). We were 363 miles from the Brazilian coast, 365 miles from our departure point at Angra, and 1580 miles from Tristan da Cunha, which was on a bearing of 108T. We were making 5 kts on COG 140T (SE)against an apparent wind of 10-13 kts. The barometer had risen 2 points to 1020 hPa. I was not receiving weather faxes and I wondered if we were not benefiting from the permanent High in the mid South Atlantic.

Using what I learned about the sailing jacket main zipper system I managed to get the main zipper of the Gore-Tex raincoat that Sandra provided before our departure from Fremantle. (Arnold's is now back with him at his ranch.) It was a big win because that zipper has not worked for literally years. It was only when I was forced to use it recently in lieu of the ordinary sailing jacket that I remembered that it needed attention. The zippers of the side pockets are still seized and I've started to work on them.

I finished the last of that bean stew that I cooked 5 days ago. Every night I would heat it up to full pressure then take what I wanted for the meal. The stew seemed to get better every day. Today there was enough left for two huge bowls of yummy bean soup for lunch, which left me sweating so much that I had to sit out in the cockpit for 20 minutes to cool off. I'll clean the pressure cooker and put it away, and for tonight I'll have a simple meal of a salad of chilled tomato and capsicum, rice boiled with a carrot, an onion, and 2 eggs, and a hunk of cheese, followed by some fruit and nuts. While I was outside cooling off two more birds flew by. One was like the one I had seen earlier in the day. The other was similar size and shape, but had a lot more white, particularly underneath. I'm sure that it was another petrel, but the book describes so many different types of petrels that I would not want to hazard a guess.

I took several short videos from the cockpit proudly showing Pachuca making 6.1-6.6 knots into the wind, which was in the 13-15 kt range. She is living up to the reputation of S&S 39's of being great upwind boats. The new rigging and headsail help a lot.

This day was hard to beat for sailing pleasure and satisfaction. The early morning cloud dissipated and the rest of the day was sunny and clear. The wind held steady and all day long the boat sailed itself to the SE generally in the range of 5.5-6.6 knots. I was more of a passenger than a crewman. I did a fairly thorough deck check in the morning, just before lunch I tightened Jeff's control lines, and in the afternoon I rolled a bit of headsail in than back out to deal with a 15 kt wind. Other than that I kept to myself, mooching around the boat. I napped a lot, had lunch, had a cup of tea in the cockpit, took some videos, had a leisurely dinner, and oh yes, read the Kindle for a while (the life of Alexander Hamilton). I didn't even have to worry about shipping (though still vigilant!) All of this while the boat steadily made good progress to our destination.

The further south we get the more confident I am of the winds.

At 9.30 PM we were still headed SE at 5.7 knots.

So Far So Good.

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