Evening All,
Great News…….we have a tracker again. We have got the Irridium Go updating directly to Windyty tracker. Thank you so much to the team from Windyty for your help. Link is available on the home page of my website.
Last night the winds were mostly 18-25 knots and given that I was on a broad reach it meant that I was able to get some sleep finally however in the wee hours of the morning the winds built up to 30 knots for a time so I needed to go on deck and furl away most of the stay sail. It was lovely being able to just don my lifejacket and go on deck, the temperature has really warmed up, so I had no need for all the foulies and gloves. It really simplifies things when I can do that. When the weather is cold and I need all the protection it is such a chore to go on deck but in the conditions like last night and today it is a nice place to be. My sea temperature and air temp are much the same, both at 8 degrees Celsius. That cold bite on the hands isn’t there at the moment, so no gloves……yeh! I am sure it will get cold again, but for now I am enjoying my tropical vacation.
It almost feels like a holiday at the moment. There is very little needed to be done with the sails so I have had that break to rest my body up from all the storms. It’s a really nice change. I have even been putting in a bit more effort with my meals. For breakfast, this morning I had my regular porridge with sultanas and coconut and for dinner I went the extra mile and turned one of my freeze dried meals into a gourmet feast. I took a plain pasta dish, added a small tin of corn, some olives, a tomato based pasta sauce and even some freshly grated cheese. In between jobs around the boat I have been reading books and watching the odd tv series on my computer and even though there are still many obstacles to come I feel rested from the ones that I have just overcome.
Looking forward there are still a few more challenges. My next one will be the Edvard Island which I should reach late tomorrow night. I am still just over 200 nm away and I hope that this weather holds for a few more days as there is also a sea mount just after the island and then the Island of Corzet before I am back over deep water and in open ocean. All those things have large areas of shallow water around them that I will need to stay off and they done allow for much room to the north of them if I am to keep below 45 South. If I go below the islands there is some very cold sea water and again back into iceberg territory. We are aiming to go above them all but will just need to see how the weather holds.
The winds throughout the day have remained from the WNW to NW and have been mostly around 20 knots however they have just fallen to 15 knots so it might be time to put out a little more sail. The swell is approximately 5 meters so it is still a large rolling swell but it is forecast to drop off a little over the next day. And so, I am making good use of the break and should be ready for action when the next blow arrives. Some wind is forecast for Thursday from the North.
