DAY THREE NOON REPORT

Yesterday afternoon and last night presented terrible winds for sailing. I put in a few hours here and there tolerating the flogging sails to eke out anything from 2.5 kt to 1.3 kt whenever the wind crept up above 5 kt. Before the 7.30 PM session with Richard and Jeff I prepared the boat to lay ahull all night. I had a long and restful sleep until 6 AM. During the night I was woken up by a rushing sound. In the haze of half sleep I figured that it represented either rain or shallow water. I stuck my hand through the hatch and felt the rain.



Yesterday afternoon I noticed that the wind indicator was spinning around complete circles as the boat bobbed around. There might be just enough 360 degree spins of the indicator to complete a calibration. I set the wind indicator to factory default and waited. No response. I got onto other tasks then heard four beeps from the ST60 indicating successful calibration. I don't recall ever hearing this before. And to my amazement the wind direction indicator is finally starting to tell the truth. I'll watch it closely for the next few days before I make a final declaration.



We had a good radio session last night. I told Richard that he was an exquisite position, sandwiched between Highs 600 nm to the west and east, and Lows 500 nm to the north and south. If I extended lines between the centers of the Highs and between the centers of the Lows Richard would have been right on the cross hairs. He is in a dead zone where the winds could spring up from any direction. I told him that the grib file showed westerly winds of 10 kt at 41 N, 15 kt at 42 N, and 20 kt at 43 N. His instincts had already told him to head north instead of east but from his position of 38.11 N he has to make about 180 nm. For now he had no wind and was planning to lay ahull all night and get some serious sleep.



I woke up at 6 AM today and took my time about having coffee and toast and tidying up the boat. I came up on deck to see a cloudy day and a 6 kt breeze from the east. Soon I had the jib rolled out and was headed north at close to 4 kt.



With the boat sailing and on autopilot I put on my glasses and made my morning inspection of the deck, sails, and rigging. This is something new that I've learned from hard experience and advice from my friends at Ala Wai. I look for loose screws, broken wires, tangled ropes, frayed sails, bits lying on the deck - anything that might mean trouble.



After that the wind had picked up a bit so I hoisted the mainsail while underway. I am finally getting the knack of this, loosening the leeward lazy jack, letting out the boom, raising the mainsail by hand, timing the jerks on the halyard with the flapping of the mainsail to ensure that the battens do not get snagged on the lazy jack. Once the battens are clear I finish the hoist using the jib winch.



Then I decided to engage "Jeff", the Monitor wind steering. I've named the Monitor after Jeff Compton of Kaulia, who gave me so much help in setting up the Monitor and showing me how to use it. Thanks to the lessons from Jeff, the ex-school teacher, I was able to engage the Monitor with no drama.



At 9 AM the wind started to drop and I feared that it would die mid-day and stay dead for the rest of the day. The wind speed dropped to just over 5 kt. I re engaged the autopilot that does such an amazing job of steering the boat in light airs when steerage is minimal. The wind continued to sag so I dropped the mainsail and hand steered, willing the boat to keep moving. I noticed a rain cloud on the horizon that may have caused the problem. Then the wind veered to the east, steadied at about 6 kt, and I continued sailing on a beam reach, jib only, at 3.5 kt. My project for the morning was to store 5 Radio Australia frequencies, 1 Radio NZ, and 4 BBC in channels B1-B10 of the HF radio. Then it was then bacon and egg time (One thing that the USA produces is great bacon!), washing of dishes, and 30 minutes to prepare the noon reports.



It is 11.30 AM now and Pachuca scooting along at 4.3 kt steered north by Jeff.