d'Albora's Action Project: AUS 360 Blog Update
Presented by Pivotel
Afternoon all,
Well it has been a little bit of a slow day for me today after staying awake until past 2 am last night until I had cleared the last of the Torris Straight. The winds were holding at 20 knots last night and there was a sharp swell following along behind. I was quite relieved to have finished by the passage and be heading back out to open waters and I was so looking forward to some sleep.
I must have been really tired after almost 2 days of no sleep as I crashed hard. I was still keeping my 20 min watches and waking up to check on the instruments but the times that I was sleep I really slept deeply and when I woke up at around 8 am I felt a lot more rested. The boat was still moving along well and I am now heading out over the Gulf of Carpentaria on an almost direct course west. I decided that I could still use some more rest so I continued napping until the winds eased enough to drag me from bed before lunch.
I still had the third reef in the mainsail so I wasn’t looking forward to having to re-hoist the sail. My mainsail is very heavy built to withstand the Southern Ocean so it always takes me a while to shake a reef. Add to this the friction on all the lines in play and well it is my least favourite job on-board. Normally when I am shaking a single reef or tuck of the sail it takes me around 20 minutes of winching to get that sucker up. Today I needed to shake 3 reefs in one hit so I was well aware that it was going to take a while. Also, I was manning and looking after over 12 different ropes for the job. I did manage to get the sail up but I ended up spending almost 45 minutes winching to do so and by the end, I was feeling quite fatigued.
I then was setting about to change from my No 3 Jib - the smaller one- to the No 1 Jib which is my larger one on the bow. I furled the smaller jib away and then noticed something not quite right with the furler on the bow so I went forward to take a look and I am so grateful I did. When I got there I had noticed that the furling line had become loose and was no longer secure on the furling drum and also that the shackle that holds the tack of the Jib down was undone and about to fall overboard. I was able to make some quick repairs and get that larger jib out however now the winds have dropped back to below 8 knots making for a very slow sail.
It is also really hot here and I need to make sure I am drinking enough water as the sweat just pours off me. Also, I am suffering badly from the Prickly Heat Rash all across my back and shoulders which makes the lifejacket so uncomfortable. Aside from that though everything is still going well on-board Climate Action Now.
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
