d'Albora's Action Project: AUS 360 Blog Update
Presented by Pivotel
Hi All,
Finally I am sailing in some steady trade winds and managed for the first time since I have been at sea to get over 4 hours sleep. I feel amazing...this is what rested feels like... With the steady winds and the open water I increased my naps to 30 minutes and only needed to go on deck once to alter course 10 degrees to give some reef a little more room. I also amazingly managed to get to bed relatively early so I think I actually likely managed 6-7 hours of sleep.
This is great as there is some more tricky navigation coming up soon so it is great that I was able to get some rest. I bounced out of bed this morning at around 7am and got stuck right in to jobs around the boat. Managed a little spring clean, sponged the water out of the bilges (there was only a bucket full across the whole boat) and then set the water maker up.
On-board I have 2 x 120 litre water tanks plus 1 x 60 litre tank so as I am sailing solo 300 litres is plenty to do me for drinking water for the whole trip, however, if I would like to use some of that water for bathing etc than I need to run the water maker. This is a little machine that pushes salt water piped from the ocean through a really really thin membrane which filters the salt out and freshwater is then sent to the tanks. Water makers are great when they work but they can be a little temperamental if not cared for properly and one of the easiest ways to care for them is to use them. They don’t like sitting stagnate as the salt can seal up the holes in the membrane and prevent them from working again.
We re-installed my water maker before departure but I was waiting to use some of the water in the tanks before starting to use it so today I set about priming the system and getting it up and running. Happy to report that I now have a rather endless supply of fresh water and may even indulge in a bucket bath soon...
Once this was all completed I had a great chat with one of my media team Debbie and then set about looking at the up and coming navigation. I am going to be sailing through a sections of reef outcrops over the next 24 hours so I just wanted to cross check the paper charts and electronic charts for any missed reefs, shallow waters or un-surveyed waters. All clear so it should be simple navigation from here on.
Currently I am just over 20 nm from Tregrosse Reefs and will pass them in a few hours to my starboard side at 10nm, after them I then need to skirt around Chilcott Islet, Herald Cays and Moore Reefs before I am back in open water for another day or so. I guess it was a good thing I managed that sleep when I did as I will need to be awake for much of tonight.
Anyway for now the winds are a light 10-15 knots from the East and I am sailing on a broad reach until I can harden up past this reef.
Thanks to the following Sponsors for all their continued support: d’Albora Marinas, Pivotel B&G, Australian Geographic, Zhik , Park Fuels, Karver, 3M, White Bay 6 Marine Park, and Great Circle Life Raft
