d'Albora's Action Project: AUS 360 Blog Update
Presented by Pivotel
Afternoon all,
Hot Hot Hot it is still so hot up here at the moment. Right now it is 43 degrees outside with a sea temp of 30.5 degrees and nothing that I do seems to take the edge off but I haven't suffered heat stroke yet so that's something.
I have still been sailing in winds that go from the SW to the NW so I have been kept busy tacking on the wind shifts trying to make the best course to the SW but it is still slow going. Not nearly as slow as last week with no wind but still too slow for my liking. At this rate, Ian Thomson's record of 42 days will still stand unless I can find some following winds. Ian, unfortunately, had to complete his trip with one stop so I am still able to set the non-stop record for this but still it would have been great to not get trapped in the doldrums for so long. Who knows I might end up with a great run through the Australian Bight and around Tasmania.
Onboard life has developed into a bit of a routine. At the moment I seem to not be getting to bed until around 1 or 2 am so I tend to nap until 9 or 10 in the morning. After that is becomes too hot to get any more sleep so I get up, send my position report to my amazing shore crew who keep tabs on me for my well-being. I check the instruments and then get on the deck and take a look at how the boat is going and what the conditions look like. At the moment it is sunny days and flat seas. Then time for a bowl of museli for brekkie and then I download the weather forecast from Bob McDavvit (met bob). Depending on what this says I either get some jobs done around the boat or relax. Around mid-afternoon, I type up my blog and then go on deck for a few hours and enjoy the afternoon and watch the sunset. It does tend to cool a little around now so I get some chore's done inside before fixing a dinner. Dinner could be a simple as a protein shake and some crackers and cheese or as complex as a freeze-dried meal with toasted wraps.
Then its once again time to sit on deck and watch the weather before finally making it to bed. The stars have been absolutely amazing in the evenings and I also normally manage to catch a moon rise or set. Its a fairly simple life of eat sleep sail and one that I still love. I do however sometimes find I get a bit bored and even the book I am reading or the TV show playing on my computer doesn't seem to entertain me. When I get in these moods I put on some music, go on deck and sing my heart out completely out of tune while dancing around like an idiot. By the time I am a few songs in I am no longer board or despondent but I have to say it is a good thing I sail solo as all the crew would jump overboard if they had to see that. Ahh, the good life.
I sailed past Browse Island today but it was too far away to see. There are also some oil rigs to the north of me and I can see tones of ships on the AIS all milling around but again they are too far away for me to see. I also had the Australian Border Force Aircraft fly over me again today only this time I was on deck. They fly in so low that you can see the pilot in the cockpit so I gave them away as they went past. It seems like they have a file on me now and given how bright my boat is they don't even bother to radio me anymore.
I am now just over 240nm from Broom which for me is the halfway point of the trip so hopefully, I will sail past the day after tomorrow which will be exciting. I am also going to try to get close enough to get some cell phone signal and hopefully get some videos back to you all.
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
