Blog Day 61
Latitude 49 58.75S
Longitude 11 42.25W
Barometer 1005
Air Temp 4c
LIVE TRACKER
Hi all,
Well I am pleased to report today was a simple day at sea with no exciting drama. Ahh what a refreshing change.
After yesterday’s blog, I was able to get another 2 hours sleep before I simply couldn't sleep any more. It wasn't bright out but there was enough daylight to make it hard to switch off, so eventually I just got up. For some reason I didn’t feel like making porridge for breakfast…..gasp! The porridge queen not wanting porridge what has the world come to. I know right... But I didn't, so I ended up using up the left-over bean mix to make my version of grilled cheese and beans in a wrap on the stove. It was a delicious and fortifying meal.
The winds had remained basically the same, blowing at mostly 25 knots, sometime 28 knots and other times at 20 knots. The sail plan of two reefs in the mainsail and the storm jib was working well for that, so there was very little to do. I had some emails to attend to but other than that I was able to just relax. It was too windy to really do anything like repair my helm (Wow, Still not Fixed, Mum) or newly broken wind generator, so I ended up watching some tv shows on my computer for a while.
(Another note from Mum, I am guessing that you all realise that she has not live TV. She had downloaded a significant selection of shows to her computer. I know, because I saw all the Amazon charges coming through to her bank account. On her 2017 Antarctica Record attempt, she downloaded a host of movies etc on to a hard drive, and then, with all the last minute chaos she left it in someone’s pocket on the dock as she sailed towards the start line. She was a very lean on entertainment content as a result. She was obviously not taking any chances this time. Hahah!)
At sunset I needed to put in a gybe to the NE so I went up on deck, Bob (metbob) has got me climbing all the way up to 48 degrees South over the next couple of days to avoid a large area of swell coming our way from an incoming storm. Amazingly, the air temperature has risen from 1c to 4c, and it really changes things. There haven't been any more blizzards or hailstorms, and I was able to be on deck without my gloves. It was a bit of a windy gybe. This means that the boom is more liable to fly across the boat hard, so I really needed to be careful. The sky is grey all around me and there is still a 5–6-metre swell shoving us every now and again, so it ended up being one of the harder gybes to complete. As I am just one person who is gybing a 50 foot yacht solo, I really need to complete the gybe in sequence or I risk braking something.
So to start, I ease out a little preventer line (the line attached from the back of the boom and runs through a block on the bow and back to the cockpit to pin the boom over and prevent a gybe) then I centre the traveller (this is a short track in the centre of the boat that the mainsheet runs of. I then lower the traveller when I am sailing downwind to make the distance from the end of the boom to the track shorter, allowing for better trim). I release the running backstay line (this is a line that run 3/4 the way to the top of the mast and is a supporting line for the mast) as I have swept back spreaders my running backstay can be released temporarily. I then centre the boom as much as I can by winching in on the mainsheet before going and unclipping the preventer line and reclipping it to the other side. Once all that is done, I am ready to change the direction of the boat through the wind at a slow and careful pace.
I huddle under the cuddy with the mainsheet in my hand and use the auto pilot controls there to complete the manoeuvre. As soon as the wind is on the other side of the mainsail and the boom has flung over, I begin easing the mainsail. I then lower the traveller, pull in on the preventer line and once the boom is secure and not at risk of hurting me or crash gybing, I then set about gybing the jib over to the new side and resetting the running backstay on the new side. Job done; we have completed a gybe. The whole manoeuvre takes around 20 minutes, mainly because I am doing it the slow and careful way, but in 25-30 knots of wind and a 6-metre swell, that is the only way to do it.
I was feeling the chill of the cold when I got back inside so I set about heating the hot water bottles. I still don’t feel like I have had enough sleep, and with the broken night’s sleep of yesterday, I decided to go back to bed for a few hours. I went through the process of heating not one but two hot water bottles. I shove one down the bottom of my sleeping bag on those really cold nights, and then lay my feet on it while the other one I put down my vest to keep it close to my core. I managed a full 2 hours sleep before it was time to get up and write you all this short blog. So, for now this is it, and I am lapping up the quiet days at sea, because they really have been few and far between. In around 2 days’ time I will be sailing though my position of my previous dismasting, so there have been a few emotions and worries coming through. One can only hope that I am able to sail past this last section of the record with no major incidents.
Before I go tonight, I would like to take the opportunity to thank tonight’s wonderful degree sponsors.
Thank you to:
008 East - Giorgia Fornari - Thank you Giorgia for your support of my project, I really appreciate it. I could not have done it without the amazing support of people like you.
009 East - Ear Studio - thank you to Daniel Fechner for your wonderful support. Ear Studio was my 9th sponsor to purchase a degree and so chose 009 East in celebration. Thank you so much for jumping aboard early and supporting this project.
011 East - Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, Ladies of the Sea - thank you to all the ladies from the RSYS who participated as a private initiative, in collectively supporting this project with your contributions. I really thank you all for the support and I look forward to meeting you when I return.
And so for now I am going to go back to bed while it is still dark outside and see if I can get in a few more hours sleep. Good night, all.
Good night, all.
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