04/04/2022 Day 11
Latitude 50 14.79S
Longitude 138 57'.40E
Baro 1007
Hi Everyone
Well today I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Or should I say I went to bed the wrong way and work up just a grumpy? In any case I am starting to get a little tired after a few nights of not much sleep, so I was really looking forward to getting to bed at a half decent hour, but by the time I had finished with the 2nd reef in the main sail, completed the blog and social updates it was close to midnight and freezing. The outside air temperature was 8 degrees and inside around 12 and I was still only wearing my base layers and vest from Musto.
So, in order to have a great sleep I thought that it would be really nice to have a hot water bottle going. Onboard I have a little two burner metho stove and I have two kettles. One for fresh water and one for salt water purely for the hot water bottles. So, I was heating this up and brushing my teeth, just about to dive into bed when there was this really annoying high pitch beeping... It took me a minute to realise that it was the carbon monoxide alarm going off. Unfortunately, it was in a really inaccessible location, screwed to the wall just above my top bunk. I couldn’t get to it without unpacking all stores and spares that were located on that bunk. Gahhh, It was nearly 1 am and I just wanted to sleep so I tore apart the bunk and just as I reached It, it stopped beeping.
This alarm was installed in case I have the engine running while sleeping or similar and when I am in the really rough conditions the whole boat is sealed up pretty tight so I do worry about build up but last night I still had the hatch open and the metho dissipated pretty quickly. I was just relieved it had stopped and I could now get to sleep. I repacked the top bunk and literally the second I was finished it started going off again. I was started to get pretty frustrated by now so I ripped everything out of the bunk again only this time I took the alarm too so that I could install it somewhere more accessible and again the second I reached it, it stopped. I dumped it on the navigation station to be dealt with tomorrow and then repacked the bunk before finally climbing into my bunk and trying to get some sleep.
I was expecting the winds to increase through the night but they never exceeded what the boat was configured for, so I was able to get some sleep. This was broken by the jib flapping from side to side with Climate Action Now rolling around on the waves. So by the time 6 am rolled around I think I had managed maybe 3 hours sleep and I was still feeling the frustrations from the night before. Add to that the fact that the winds had now dropped right back to 15 knots and I needed to get on deck and increase the sails. I also didn’t need my storm jib up any longer so got ready to go to the bow and drop it. We were rolling in some large swell with quite light winds and not enough sail up. Poor Climate Action Now was floundering a little in the swell and the J2 head sail that was also still up was flopping from side to side every time we rolled.
Not too much of an issue normally but it managed to smack me in the head almost every single time while I was crawling around the deck trying to get some sail ties on the now dropped Storm Jib. After several solid whacks to the head, I snapped and started cussing up a storm on the bow. A full-blown hissy fit. I just wanted some stable winds or a little less rolling, just while I got this sail away. But noooo, I was just getting smacked in the head repeatedly by the other sail. I finally wrestled the storm jib into submission and lashed it with some sail ties to one of the spinnaker polls on the bow as I will be needing this again by Sunday and made my way back to the cockpit for some deep calming breaths.
VIDEO Much needed hissy fit and dolphins on the bow.
A positive pep talk about how I worked really hard to be here later and I set about shaking out the two reefs (increasing the main sail area) in the main sail and finally got below two hours after I started, feeling just as tired and now a little weary. I was now sailing with the full mainsail and the J1 jib out in 12 knots of wind and not going anywhere fast, but as I watched, the last of the drizzly misty overcast skies cleared off and I was once again surprised with some blue skies and sunshine. I was cold after my time on deck, so I went below and got warmed up. The rest of the day was pretty mild, and I just took it easy.
After going over the weather and talking it over with Bob McDavitt at MetBob I made the call to go through this next storm system that is due on Monday. Its likely to bring gusts up to 50 knots of wind and significant wave height of 5 meters (this is the average but waves twice this can be enounced). It seems like a really big storm and no storm in the Southern Ocean should be underestimated but I felt that this is a great opportunity to test Climate Action Now out in storm conditions before I get too far from Australia. So I am going to be staying low around the 50 - 51 Degree South line and my plan is to Hove too through the worst of it. I did such a big refit on the boat ahead of this record that I really just want to test everything under pressure, and while I got some 50 knot winds while delivering the boat to Albany for the start it didn't have the same swell size that this storm will bring with it.
So for the rest of the afternoon I reviewed grib files and tidied the cabin in preparation for this bad weather. I should start to see an increase in winds tomorrow and the swell building soon after.
Another thing that adds to my stress out here is the fact that as a project I still haven’t raise all the funds required to cover the costs for it. I have to say I am struggling. I just to put it out there in the world that I need to raise another $50 000 just to meet project costs that are outstanding. I have to say it is a little hard to fund raise from the Southern Ocean so I am going to ask you all for some help. Many of you have already contributed either as a degree sponsor or by making a donation via my website, but I wanted to see if you can reach out to your networks for me.
On my website there is the information around the 360 Degree Sponsorship Packages. This package is $1200 and is tax-deductable through my partnership with the Clean Ocean Foundation based in Melbourne. You have seen the mentions in the blogs, tile on the tracker and socials but as a degree sponsor you also get access to the media pack so you can promote your involvement of this record and the sustainability work, I am undertaking. You will also receive a signed copy of my book Facing Fear and a certificate of Appreciation for display.
I understand $1200 is a lot for one individual but a few groups of people have banded together to get a degree as a collective and some yacht club members have passed around the hat to raise the funds for a degree so this may be something that you and your network could do or perhaps you have a business you wish to promote or you can take the opportunity to your boss.
I would really appreciate any efforts to support this project and help me get to the finish line. I need your help to find 50 more 360 Degree Partners. Thank you everyone who has helped so much already and feel free to email us at info@lisablairsailstheworld.com if you would like more information or have another idea.
Perhaps you would like to pre-book me for a speaking engagement for when I return, the ideas and options are endless. If you are able to help please reach out because I can’t do this alone, not from here.
Now after all of that I would like to say thank you to tonight's rockstar 360 Degree Sponsor
137 East - Rotary Club Wynnum and Manly - thank you for your support.
SPONSORS
TECHNICAL PARTNERS
