Day 35 - Under 300

The 2 PM Sailmail session yesterday went extremely well. I got 2700 bytes/min transmitting and more than 1000 bytes/min receiving, and I was able to clear the backlog of incoming mail, including a vital grib file. Perhaps at last my Sailmail throughput problems are over.

I received two messages directly from the False Bay Yacht Club in Simons Town and now have all of the information that I need in order to make a decision on accommodation of the boat. Regardless, I MUST visit the RCYC in order to discharge the formalities of my entering the country, so Cape Town bound I am. The question is whether I'll move on to Simons Town, and when. I like the idea of spending some time at Simons Town. I've been informed that it is a great little town that is very safe, and on principle it would be nice to experience both marinas.

We had a rough night. The Monitor could not deal with the weather helm so I put my trust into the autopilot for the night. However, I set up the alarm for 1.5 hours before every session of sleep so that I could make frequent checks on the autopilot. I was settling in for another round of sleep at 1.30 AM when I heard the headsail luffing. That meant that we were into the wind which meant that the autopilot had thrown itself into standby. I suited up and went topside and witnessed near gale conditions with the wind at about 30 kt and the seas very high. I pointed the boat downwind and tried the Monitor without success so I went back to the autopilot, which behaved for the rest of the night.

I was disappointed to see the autopilot go to standby because during the afternoon I had made a change in its settings that I thought might solve the problem. There are 3 levels of "rudder response". Level 1, the default, is a more relaxed and laid back response to course changes whose great virtue is that minimal battery power is used. Level 2 gives a more lively response and level 3 gives super tight rudder control. I had gone to level 2. On the other hand, the unit went on standby during horrendous conditions so there is still a chance that the problem has been solved for lighter conditions.

I then spent some time going through the Monitor documentation, primarily looking for a list of agents worldwide. None were listed. However, the documentation is so good, with excellent diagrams and step-by-step instructions for replacing parts, that I have no doubt that I can refurbish the unit myself when we get back to Fremantle. But Fremantle is another 5000 miles away so if I can find a technician that I trust in the Cape Town area I will have the work done there. To that end I will be sending a message to Scanmar asking for their advice on the matter. Failing that, I have a few parts in my package of spares that would enable me to improve the prospects of the Monitor on the passage to Australia.

I had a good session with Graham on SAMMNet today. I told him about my rough time with the 30 knot wind (which didn't last long) and he told me that it must have been that cold front that was over the Cape at the moment. He expressed regret at not telling me about the front because at the time it appeared to be weak in my area. That made me feel a bit bad because he has been delivering brilliant personalized weather reports to me and the question of blame hadn't even entered my mind.

Graham advised me to drop down to 36S for the final approach to Cape Town. I was at 35S28 so it meant moving south 32 miles. This means that I will not be closing in on Cape Town as fast as I have been because CT is currently on a bearing of 72T and I must adopt headings greater than 90T whenever possible (like now, when we are on a heading of 110T). However, once I make that turn to run up the coast to CT I expect to make fast progress with the favorable (0.9 kt) current and winds. Regarding winds, I told Graham that I am terrified of approaching CT in one of those strong SE blows and I would be willing to stand off for a day or two if I had to. He noted that and I'm sure that I will get excellent advice on the matter.

At 9.30 AM we were 300 miles from Cape Town.

At 11.30 AM I established contact with Sam (call sign ZS1SAM) who deals with the coastal weather for the first time on 7.120 MHz LSB and he seemed to be glad to hear from me since he and Graham (ZS2ABK, 14.316 MHz USB) keep in close touch with each other. Graham is the long distance man and besides, soon I will be too close to receive his signal, so I expect to work with Sam until my landfall.

At noon our position was 35S31, 012E57, giving us a n-n distance of 103 miles to the east (089T). I was amazed at the 103 miles given the slow pace that we seemed to have been making, particularly during that rough weather from the south. The barometer had risen 2 points to 1020 HPa.

The wind had abated, the sea had calmed down, and we were now making 4.5-5.0 kts under headsail. I was feeling better, particularly with the bright sun beginning to peep through the clouds.

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