d'Albora's Action Project: AUS 360 Blog Update
Presented by Pivotel
Afternoon all,
Well, I am sad to report that I have managed to travel 50nm in the last 24 hours... This is not really that fast but likely faster than what the next 24 hours has in store... Last night the winds were holding at 10 knots from the ENE and I was able to coast along at 4-5 knots. It was still very hot even in the evening and I really struggled to get any sleep. I tossed and turned so much in my bunk that I started to think sleep wasn't going to happen tonight. At some point, I must have managed as I woke up to the boat actually moving like I had wind and when I looked at the instruments I was shocked to see 20 knots of wind blowing... Whaoo. I then remembered that I still had the Code Zero sail up. This is a light air sail so I was hesitant to take it into any heavy winds however the winds were behind me so even though the True winds were at 20 knots the apparent winds were only at 13-15 knots. I decided to get on deck for a while and just watch things in case I had some larger gusts coming through so at 5 am after not much sleep I found myself sitting in the cockpit reading my book while I waited for the winds to steady. The best thing about all of this was that the boat was sailing along at 7-9 knots and didn't appear to be overpowered in any way.
After watching for almost an hour and as the first light of dawn on the horizon. I decided I best try to get some more sleep before it became too hot to even think of it. I managed to nap until 8 am and then still rest as I lay in my bunk reading until 10.30am before the heat chased me from the bunk. I have a thermometer from a fish tank set up outside under the cabin top. I set this when I was doing the Antarctica trip so that I could see how cold it was getting. Well, it was reading a completely different number today with the temperature showing 45.5 degrees Celsius at 10.30 in the morning in the shade... It was going to be another really hot day.
By now the wind had died completely and I was drifting at a rapid rate of 2 knots in 4-6 knots of wind. At the moment, I have 3.5 knots of wind and I am sailing at the whopping rate of 1.7 knots of which .5 knots is current, thankfully pushing me in the right direction and my sea temperature is now up at 31.2 degrees Celsius. Almost the human body temp so there is little to cool anything down. I have found that unless I need to do something it is too hot to be on deck so I have spent most of the day in the shade of the cabin top dripping sweat and every bottle of water I drink now has hydralyte in it just to feel like I am even making a difference to my hydration.
On the plus side I did sneak in a bucket bath on deck at sunset last night and now feel slightly better even with the heat. My hair was washed however it now just remains damp from the sweat and so I guess it is likely a good thing that I am sailing along as I am sure that there are all sorts of funky smells around me that I have become accustomed to. Also after reading Bob's forecast, the next few days may even get worse so I likely will end up sleeping on deck tonight as I am not sure I will manage below decks. Where's those Antarctica breeze's when you want one...
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
