2 November 2010
At 2am, my watch again, I had to get David up. A ship although still 9nm away was coming up behind. His CPA (closest point of approach) was just over 1nm so we wanted to make sure that he had seen us on his radar. I prefer not to talk to big ships. Once in the Atlantic I found myself being "chatted up" by the watch keeper and he started to ask a lot of questions. It may have been innocent enough but now I always think it best if David does the talking. Suddenly we had a wind shift of 130degrees, then heavy rain. Now the wind was coming straight out of the south west, bang on the nose. Luckily it was light, seven to eight knots, so the swell was minimal. We furled the genoa and motored on our rhumb line. But we could make no more than four and a half to five knots with the engine at 2200revs, a one and half knot counter current halting our progress. There is also a leeway of twenty degree so it is hard going. This ocean certainly throws up its challenges.....
A slog to the south west
Yesterday was a very difficult day indeed. We were against the wind, the seas, and the current. The primary winch started to slip so as soon as we went on the opposite tack north David stripped it down and replaced the pawls and springs. Trying to sail close hauled we rolled out the genoa to find a tear in it. It must have caught on our pole last night during the sudden wind shift. We debated a while whether we could drop the sail but the winds were now blowing force five and we thought better of it. Hopefully we can repair it tomorrow when lighter winds are forecast. Meanwhile we feel we cannot use it for fear of making it worse. We rigged our staysail, being the only other one available. It took ages to set it all up struggling on the pitching deck in the two to three metre swell. We did not get our usual rest with the result that we are now very fatigued. The stay sail really is too small to give us any real drive through the wind and the waves so we had to continue to motor sail, punching our way slowly into the headwinds. This is really hard work. And so much shipping. We have not encountered so many ships since the Panama Canal. Over a twenty four hour period we see on average ten to twelve. Obviously we are on a major shipping route. We have to call up on a regular basis to check that they see us. On two occasions the AIS has not been displayed so we have to keep a very good lookout.
Calms and Cyclones
The surface of the sea is calm and we have been motoring for hours and hours. I am not complaining. This morning we received an email from the WARC personal weather forecaster based in Perth that Cocos Keeling are in the path of a category three cyclone with expected winds of 80 to 115mph. I think of those idyllic islands with their friendly people and feel for them. I imagine they will all go into the cyclone shelters. I hope there are no yachts at anchor at Direction Island. I wonder if my Voyageur sign on the tree will survive the ravages of the wind. David nailed it quite high up but these atolls are only a few metres above sea level and it cyclones the ocean can wash right over them. It is hard to believe that all this is taking place on the same ocean but mercifully we are 2500nm away on the other side. I will be ever so glad to reach the safety of Richards Bay Marina......
Early this morning David woke me. The wind was light, around 7knots. We had to get the genoa down and repaired as quickly as possible. The whole operation went without a hitch. Luckily the swell of yesterday had died right down. We put a large patch over the tear, about 10 inches long. Now we just have to hope it will hold. We think it has a better chance of it remaining intact in winds coming from aft. At the moment they still come from south so we continue to motor sail with the mainsail and the stay sail.
Susan Mackay