Day 5, 11 March - Sailing Again, and Blubber Blog Bulletin

Just before nightfall I rolled out the jib on a 7 kt breeze from the east. Normally the sails require at least 9 kt of wind but the sea was calm enough to allow the sail to stay filled instead of being overpowered by the movement of the mast. We sailed all night long averaging about 3 kts to the SSE. Sometimes the wind would sag allowing the boat speed to drop to 2.1 or 2.2 kts but Jeff the Monitor always managed to hold course until the next lift. It was a peaceful night and I could see no reason for interrupting my sleep so after a good meal followed by a movie ("The Punisher") I hit the bunk at about 9 PM. I woke naturally several times throughout the night and went on deck to enjoy the gentle progress of the boat through the calm sea in a comfortable temperature and under a full canopy of stars, then returned to sleep after a few minutes.

At first light I awoke to the sound and feel of a stronger wind, which had backed to the NE and strengthened to 13 kts. I adjusted our course and the headsail then went back to sleep knowing that the alarm would wake me at 6 AM for the SAMMNet session, which had become the centre of my life.

Sam was happy to hear that I was sailing again and gave me the good news that the wind conditions would continue until midnight. By then I was at lat 39S30 so I figured that I had a good chance of crossing lat 40S30 during the night. Unfortunately there was another High headed my way and the wind prospects for tomorrow were dismal although I might get a S/SE 10-20 at 1800. But I was grateful for the unexpected sailing of the current day and Sam agreed that by lat 40S this section of the Aghulas current will have completed its turn to join the east-set southern current, which meant that when I was forced to lay ahull our drift would tend to be toward Australia.

Sam also passed on the news from Graham that Brenda had replied to his message. He read the full text of the her message which was up to Brenda's usual high standard of eloquence. Sam then passed on an invitation from Graham to pass on a short personal message for Brenda and the blog during the afternoon SAMMNet session.

Given the prospects of the wind conditions continuing for the rest of the day I decided that it was time to raise the mainsail. Conditions were ideal and it was a good time to try out the new methods following the changes in Cape Town. I started out by going over the procedure very thoroughly in my head because it was a new one and it would be easy to fall into a trap.

The hoist went exceptionally well and met all of my expectations. I had departed from Cape Town with the sail cover off, the sail strapped to the boom in about 6 places, and the halyard shackled to the peak of the sail. We were headed SE off a NE wind. I started off by altering Jeff's wind vane to put the boat into the wind then hardening the jib. With the boat into the wind I loosened the starboard running backstay, the only line that could possibly catch one of the battens now that the lazy jacks were gone. I went on deck and removed all of the straps holding the mainsail to the boom. The topping lift was holding the back of the boom high enough that the loose sail did not chafe on the spray dodger. I then loosened all reefing lines and the mainsheet. While removing the straps along the boom I had felt secure in leaning on the boom because I knew that its end was securely tied with lines to each side of the cockpit frame. I removed those lines then released the mainsheet and pushed the boom out to line it up with the wind. Then came the interesting part.

I went to the mast, got on my knees, and started hoisting the mainsail. It was so much quicker and easier than grinding the cabin top winch. I was able to time the lifts to avoid tangling the end of a backstay with the running backstay as it swayed back and forth. Before I knew it the sail was up to its first reef point. I put the reefing ring into the restraint at the goosneck. I then put the halyard into the jam cleat at the base of the mast that I had installed in Cape Town the returned to the cockpit to draw in the slack and jam the line with the clutch. I then went forward and remove the halyard from the jam cleat with the loss of maybe 15 cm in height. I then returned to the cockpit, gave the winch a few turns to stretch the luff of the sail, and now it was at full height.

But there were a few more things to do. I brought on the 1st reefing line to bring the clew of the sail to the boom. Then I grabbed the shock cord that I had prepared in Cape Town then went back to the mast where I released the topping lift to allow the leech of the sail to stretch out then tied the shock cord around the mast and worked my way back to the cabin threading the shock cord through the cringles along the 1st reef line. At the aft end of the boom I tightened the shock cord, tied it off, and now the excess sail was neatly held to the boom and well clear of the spray dodger. I then took the boat off the wind, trimmed the sails, and we were done. We had not gained a startling amount of speed - maybe another 3/4 kt, but every increase of speed was vital.

At this point I much, much prefer this traditional setup to the stack pack and lazy jacks arrangement I had before. I estimate that raising the mainsail now takes about 30% of the effort, time, and frustration of that with the earlier method. And under sail everything looks neater and cleaner. No longer is the boom obscured by the stack pack and no longer is the stack pack on the leeward side hanging untidily because I've had to ease the lazy jacks in order to allow the mainsail to curve out.

There are still a couple of items to attend to. In Cape Town I got confused when putting in the longer reef line for its dual role of 1st and 3rd reefing and put it through the 2nd reef cringle at the leech of the sail, with the 2nd reef line now through the 1st reef cringle. I'll be able to fix that with relative ease. The other problem is that I made the new 3rd reef downhaul too short. I should be able to also correct this with little problem.

At 12.30 PM we crossed the fabled Lat 40S. I hadn't been this far south since those anxious days when I was sailing the crippled to Argentina. At this point the current had a set to the east at 0.8 kt. I had another 3 degrees (180 miles) to go for the prevailing westerly winds.

In the late afternoon I faced the fact that it was time for another Blubber Blog Bulletin. With great trepidation I found Jean's magic tape measure, backed myself to one of the cabin posts and took a measurement of my waist to see how much damage I had inflicted myself during the indulgent holiday time in Cape Town. To my amazement my waste line was still at 42", the same as when I had arrived. Certainly Brenda and I had eaten good food, and perhaps that nasty virus that we went through caused some loss of weight. Anyway, now that life on the boat was settling down I would begin tightening up on the food and drink with the goal of arriving in Fremantle with a 40" waist. 40" is still pretty big for a man of my modest height, but I've got to set a modest goal and settle for what I can get.

As darkness approached the boat was still moving well to the SE at over 7 kts, though at times the wind would sag and the boat speed would drop to 6 kts. We had made good progress and were now at 40S24. According to the afternoon weather report from SAMMNet I was being wedged in between a receding High to the east and an advancing one from the the west. Tomorrow I would encounter a period of weak wind followed by a modest southerly, meaning that I would then be under the influence of the advancing High. I planned to get as far south as possible during the night, perhaps before the southerly wind forced me to sail to the east. The boat was well set up and tending to itself so there was nothing to do but have a short brandy followed by dinner, a movie, and bed.

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