Day 1 - Lively Night

Shortly after nightfall I was able to roll out the headsail with a 10 kt wind from the SW.

I had an active night dealing with lights and shipping all around me with the complication of a variable wind hampering my control of course and speed. Several times I started the engine in order to avoid trouble and twice I thought it prudent to contact a ship. The second contact was at 1.30 AM to a tanker named Neptune Glory bound for Singapore. He was only 4.5 miles away and the AIS indicated that we would pass within 0.2 miles of each other. I could not alter course to starboard because I was already sailing close to the wind, and I didn't want to fall to port because there were what appeared to be 2 large platforms 2 miles away on my port side. I made the contact, explained my situation and I was asked to go to working channel 06. We had a short discussion and then the officer told me that he would alter course to starboard. Within seconds AIS data on the ships ROT (rate of turn) and COG confirmed the course change, and he passed me 2 miles off my starboard side. During this time the wind began to dip below 8 kts and I had trouble keeping the sail filled. We were making only 2 kts but I didn't want to run the engine unless it was absolutely necessary. The prediction was for the wind to strengthen from the west throughout the day and I was hanging on for that – and for dawn. After a couple of hours of uncomfortable swell the ocean had calmed down again, which was why I was managing to keep the jib up. Sleep was out of the question, though I managed to lie down for 20 minutes.

Oh to be all by myself in the roaring 40's!

At 3.30 AM I gave up and started the engine. The boat speed was down to 1.6 kts, we were facing a semicircle of boats that had no AIS, there was another ship headed my way, and I didn't have enough control for the situation.

At 5 AM there was sufficient wind for sailing so I shut the engine down again and soon we were making over 4 kts to the south under headsail. I had three ships behind me and one ahead, but none posed a threat. Three boats on my port side had been matching my pace. Soon it would be dawn and I would have a look at them. I took advantage of the situation to get one hour of sleep. When the hour was up we were in daylight and our situation was still safe so I returned to the bunk setting the the alarm for 1120 UTC in order to make the morning SAMMNet session. That gave me another 1.5 hours of sleep.

I reported to SAMMNet that I was now 40 miles SSW of Cape Point at 35S59, 018E12, making 3.5 kt on course 190T. After the session I noted on the chart that we were now in 1800 meters of water, on the edge of the part of the notorious part of the continental shelf known as the Agulhas Bank. I planned to follow the advice of Ocean Passages and keep heading south until I cleared the southern tip of the bank at 37S, so I had 120 miles to go before feeling free to turn toward the east. The wind was expected to veer to the NW rising to 35 knots which promised good progress for the next 24 hours. At midday tomorrow I could expect to be in the back of the advancing cold front with a radical wind shift from NW to SW. I planned to deal with these winds with headsail only.

The engine had 378.5 hours on the clock which represented less than 9 hours of running since I topped up the fuel tanks on 19 January. I estimate that I have used 20 liters of fuel, with 120 liters remaining in the tanks.

Now that I was clear of the Cape Point there was much less shipping traffic in my area. I shut down the radar, which had been indispensable throughout the night in determining the range and bearing of the many targets that were not putting out an AIS signal.

It was 10 AM local time, the one ship that I had spotted since dawn was well clear of me, the boat was moving comfortably at 4.2 kts under headsail, the day was pleasant and calm, so it was a good time to return to the bunk and catch up on sleep. (Yawn!)

In the early afternoon I decided to put up the staysail while the wind was still below 20 kts. Setting it us is a tricky business because there are so many traps of crossing lines and allocation of winches. I got finally got it up and ran it for a while to make sure that everything was in order, then I dropped it on the deck and bound it up. I am going to try Steve's suggestion of leaving the staysail on the deck all of the time ready to hoist. He doesn't think that a roller furler sail should be used in winds of over 30 knt because of the stress it puts on the sail and the roller.

At noon UTC time our position was 35S26, 018E09. In 23 hours we had made good 95 miles which wasn't bad considering the slow motoring out of Table Bay and the periods of light wind.

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