Departure for Angra

I had not planned on getting up particularly early because with the prediction of desultory winds I knew that I had little chance of making Angra before nightfall and expected to spend one night at sea. However at 5.30 AM I was waken up by the sound and feel of wind, which was at 12 kt from the south. I got myself and the boat ready and was ready to sail. I switched off the anchor light and switched on the masthead navigation tricolor. (I keep one these lights on day and night while I am moving around in the boat.) I remembered to turn on the AIS alarm and increase the alarm parameters from 0.5 to 2.0 miles security circle and from 6 min. to 24 min. notice. At 6.30 AM, first light, we were ready to sail. But there was one more job that I wanted to do.

In preparing the deck the previous afternoon I gave the D1 shrouds a shake and they felt slack enough to warrant tightening before the passage to Angra. They were not hopelessly slack but certainly night taut enough. I started off by reviewing the excellent book "Sail & Rig Tuning by Dedekam, which Dan at Port Townsend Rigging had introduced me to. The book stated that one could not overtighten the wires using tools 40-50 cm in length, which was an extremely useful bench mark. I went topside with a bucket of tools and set to work. The most difficult part was getting the cotter pins out. The riggers in their wisdom had folded them right back, and at one of the riggers had taken a short cut and turned one of the turnbuckles with the cotter pins in place, bending and flattening the head. I gave the lower (D1) and intermediate (D2) shrouds one complete revolution of the turnbuckle. I had noticed while sailing that the D2's were a little slack but the cap shrouds (D3) had been nice and tight. Satisfied with the new tensions I restored the cotter pins, leaving the only slightly open to make future adjustments easier. I replaced the two with the folded heads. I then eyeballed the mast and it was straight athwart ships. There was a slight bend aft of the mast where the inner forestay was attached. I then recorded the adjustments in a "rigging log" that I started at the suggestion of Dedekam. It had been the first adjustment of my new rigging and I was very satisfied with the job that I had done.

At 7.30 AM I sat down to have a cup of coffee and settle down a bit. The wind had dropped to less than 10 kt, still fair from the south. Perhaps I might be able to do some reaching when I cleared the island. The grib file had reported weak and variable winds but then again grib files for coastal areas are notoriously unreliable. The winds were going to be very unpredictable and I would find what I would find.

At 8 AM with a gentle southerly under a cloudy sky I cast off from the mooring. As we motored north under autopilot steering I got the mainsail ready for a hoist then rolled out some headsail and we began to move well. I engaged Jeff and put the autopilot on standby then shut the engine down. At 9 AM we rounded the NW corner of Ilha Bella and set the course for Angra. We were making over 5 knots under sail. It had been a great exit - ideal, really - from the Sao Sebastiao Channel.

But when I got under the lee of the island the wind dropped off and when I got a little too close to a fishing boat I started the engine and rolled in the sail. An hour later the wind picked up from the port quarter and soon we were under sail again making over 3 knots. I expected a lot of these changes on the passage.

The day settled down to one of motoring usually with bare poles. The sun made an appearance through partly cloudy skies and the sea was flat, calm, and impossibly green. After leaving the bulk of the fishing boats behind near the northern shore of the island we had the sea pretty much to ourselves, with the odd fishing boat on the horizon. I didn't expect any encounters with international ships and it appeared that the tankers taking on oil at Sao Sebastiao entered and departed via the southern end of the channel because the northern approaches offered depths of no more than 15 meters. Once I got past the islands off Ilha Bella and Ubatuba I had plenty of sea room. At 3 PM we were making 4 knots at 1500 rpm with a little bit of headsail to get some assistance from a 5 knot wind off the starboard beam. It all seemed too easy, with the boat steering itself through calm waters with no threats in sight. I instinctively kept looking for dangers but there were none. This was so different from the rough and tumble of the passage from MdP to Ilha Bella. I did a lot of snoozing then made preparations for tonight's meal. The pressure cooker was clean and ready to go, and the beef was thawing.

At 5.30 PM we were at 23S33.235, 044W51.138, about 33 miles from Ilha Grande, motoring at 3.1 kt against a gentle headwind. I had enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine as I watched the day wane and smelled the beef stew cooking away.

I wasn't sure how I would play things out. To travel all night would put me at the anchorage I wanted on the NW side of Ilha Grande still in the dark of the early morning. I could do it with my electronic navigation systems but I wanted the pleasure of seeing the terrain unfold as I entered the bay of Angra Dos Reis. Most likely I would lie ahull 10 miles from the nearest land at Ponta de Juatinga from about 1 AM until dawn. That would put me about 25 miles from my destination.

For good measure I switched on the radar for the night. I got the "feel" of the radar pattern and took comfort in confirming the distance and bearing of blips representing islands with the chart.

I had to be wary of the autopilot. For the second time since leaving MdP the autopilot threw itself into Standby with no warning. I happened to be in the cockpit and witnessed our swing to port into the sun. I suspect that under these conditions the boat would travel in circles due to the bias of prop walk, but I was not about to test this theory - nor go to sleep for more than 30 minutes while the autopilot was engaged.

But for now there was another glass of wine, what promised to be a yummy stew, and perhaps the second half of one of my favorite fun movies, "RED" with Bruce Willis, Ernest Borgnine, and others.

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