Day 50, April 25

The wind came back after a 2-hour lull and an hour before dark.

I took a chance of the spot forecast being accurate and rolled out the headsail with the whisker pole. There was a lot at stake for me because if I could keep the boat moving throughout the night I would gain 30 miles or more. I figured that if I was forced to the foredeck to attend to the pole and sail in the middle of the night it would be because the wind was too slack rather than too strong, and I knew that I could manage that safely, particularly since there was a nearly full moon overhead. It was a good call because an hour after dark the wind picked up enough to make the Rutland hum and I was able to point the boat more downwind.

I had another half successful session with Graham. At 0110 UTC it was lunch time in his part of the world but it was well after sunset for me, almost 4,500 miles to the east. I could barely hear him speaking, recognizing the odd word here and there. However, I am pretty sure that he got good copy from me because for some reason I always manage to hear "QSL". I find these sessions satisfying because I know that Graham is keen to know of my position and situation. He told me that he would send me a Sailmail message, which meant no doubt a weather report.

At 2000 - 3 hrs before dawn - I woke up to find that although the boat was somehow still on course there was so little wind that the sail was flapping back and forth. I looked at the sport forecast and saw that we were emerging from a period of weak winds declining in speed from 10.4 to 10.1 kts over a period of 12 hours to a period of even weaker winds in the 8-9 kt range for the next 18 hours. It was time to drop sail. There was no danger in the pole work on the foredeck because falling overboard would mean a moonlight swim around the boat before climbing up the Monitor frame. Nevertheless I wore my harness as always.

We had managed to average 3 kts over the 12.5 hour period since "noon" position, thanks to that whisker pole, and were now lying ahull 404 miles from Fremantle. I figured that in another 150 miles we would be within motoring range for Fremantle, though I would not consider motoring that far. In the coming day I would top up the diesel tanks and get a better estimate of the fuel situation. The weather was quite mild (cabin temperature 18.6C, 65F) so I would probably have my first bath in weeks.

I got a craving for fruit and ate one of the 3 remaining apples from Cape Town. It was not exactly crisp but quite edible. For lunch that that very day I had eaten the last of the cheese from Brazil. It showed no evidence of mold but was going dark around the edges. I still had potatoes, onions, and garlic. And I still had plenty of water. The starboard tank was still supplying the galley and I had barely touched the port tank. I also had 80 liters in plastic jugs. Even though the water situation was good I was still clinging to the austerity measures and was using about 3 liters a day, given that I had been living off the 140 liter tank for 50 days. Also, I was using the same gas cylinder and there were two other full ones: a smaller one in the lazarette connected and ready for a quick changeover, and another full sized one on the rail. In Fremantle I would discard each cylinder as it became empty because there was no way that they would be refilled in Australia due to age, condition, and lack of certification.

I was up at 0000 after the break of dawn and heard the Rutland humming and I decided to wait a few minutes to see if the wind was real. We had drifted 9 nm ESE and were now 397 nm from Fremantle. Twenty minutes later after a cup of coffee I set sail and would consider putting up the pole later.

I downloaded the wind forecast that Graham had mailed yesterday afternoon. He began by stating that he was still getting good copy from me - this when sometimes I cannot hear him at all. By now he knows that if I do not hear him he can expect me to begin a blind (deaf?) transmission after 90 seconds or so. His forecast was not good, W 5-10 for the next 2 days. However, I downloaded a fresh spot forecast that predicted much better winds: The first 9 hour period with winds at 9.8-10.7 kts then building up from 12 to up to 19 kts over the next 36 hours. That gave me some hope.

The wind faltered a bit so I soon put the whisker pole back up and the sail settled down.

It turned out to be the best sailing day of the entire passage so far, and conditions were ideal for the fueling and cockpit bath. It was the sunniest day of the passage since the Agulhas bank and the boat was moving gently through the water. I transferred 26 liters of diesel into the tanks which did not top them up, but I wanted to hold the 10 liter container of diesel in reserve. After that I had a bath in the cockpit with the sun shining on me directly and by reflection from the ocean, so I was relatively warm.

I had a pretty good session with Graham who told me that better winds were on the way, and he would send a fresh forecast via Sailmail. He could hear me very well so after reporting my numbers I told him that I seemed to be in a different climate of warmth and sun which I was enjoying very much after week after week of overcast skies, and that I could actually see and feel that I was getting close to Australia.

At 0800 UTC the sailing day numbers were:

POS 35S43, 109E36
NND 72 nm
DMG 4519 nm
DTG 371 nm

Those 72 nautical miles for the day were like a gift because I had expected to lie ahull all day.

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