Blog Day 40
Latitude 51 36.83S
Longitude 87 45.40W
Barometer 1008
Air Temp 6c
Local Time 0600 UTC-7
LIVE TRACKER
MetBob has supplied an animation of the weather leading up to my approach to cape horn.
Hi All,
Today is such an exciting day on record as I have now reached 40 days of solo sailing. The last ships I saw were two container ships passing below Australia 10 nm south of Albany on day one. It has now been 40 days since I have seen another vessel, land, or signs of human life out here. I have to say, some days I feel every one of those 40 days, but other days it feels like I have only been at sea for a week or two and I am ready to just keep sailing. It’s amazing how the days seem to all roll into one and I regularly lose track of what day of the week it is and what time of day and I still can’t manage a decent sleep routine...
Last night I was just wrapping up the blog at around 6am so it was already really late but I was feeling a little too wired and too awake to go to sleep. As I finished sending you all the latest video using the Canva scheduler, and shut down my Microsoft Surface Book 3 laptop, the winds had started to back from the SW and build. Most of the day and night the winds have been ranging between 20-30 knots, so I have left the 2nd reef in the mainsail but when we started to get prolonged gusts, up at the 40 knot range, and the average was creeping above 30 knots, I knew I needed to get on deck and put the third reef in the mainsail. As the winds had also backed from the SW to the WNW I also needed to put a gybe in. I positioned Climate Action Now on a port tack, allowing us to make ground to the east.
Once I was done I started to feel quite hungry. I think I was just so wired from being up all night that I needed to wind down a little before trying to sleep, so I made a hot bowl of porridge and heated up my hot water bottle. I knew that I would likely be sleeping all day given that it was nearing 9am local time so I took a quick look around the decks again before finally climbing into bed. I was so tired that I fell asleep almost instantly.
Almost an hour later I was woken to the sound of one of the Wind generators vibrating out of control, it was so bad I couldn't do anything but climb on deck and sort it out. I was so tired though that I could barely keep my eyes open. I donned my life jacket, clipped on to the boat and climbed on deck and was greeted with sunshine and scattered dark squally clouds. The sunshine blasted me in the face, and it was so hard to see through with squinting eyes full of sleep. After a quick rub I could finally see what the problem was. I have no idea how it happened because I was sleeping and also because this wind generator is on the high side of the boat, but I somehow managed to break yet another blade, meaning that we must have taken quite a lot of water over the decks to have it hit hard enough to break the blade without fully submerging the wind generator. Again this just goes to show how powerful the conditions are out here and also how desensitized I am, for me to be able to completely sleep through a breaking wave, so strong, that it threw water across the decks, breaking that wind generator when it was on the high side of the boat. (or so tired, Mum)
I am knocked down so often these days that I don't even bat an eye. I just brace, wait for the boat to roll and then right itself before continuing, like nothing had happened. The reality is, that I have become so accustomed to living in storm conditions that it has become my normal. It also goes to show that when I talk about those severe knockdowns from the other day being bad, well they were really bad...
There is one broken blade on this wind generator and two broken on the other so I am hoping to combine them together to make a full set, it’s not ideal, as they won’t be balanced, so they will vibrate, but as long as they produce power than I am all for it.
Once the wind gen was tied down and secured, I went back to bed and finally got up (after a few checks through the day) at 5pm. Because the winds had gone back around to the SW, I needed to put in another gybe. I decided that rather than get up, and stay up, that I would try for one more sleep. I was still feeling very tired. I didn't have a real reason to be up after so little sleep so bed it was. I eventually got up for the night when I was due to change over the Micro-plastic samples at 9pm. Because I had managed to sleep all day, I was ready for dinner. I made a freeze-dried meal called Peanuts, currents and curry, which was surprisingly good, before changing the micro plastic samples over a second time.
The winds are still up and down. We have so many squalls around that I am keeping the sail arrangement of three reefs in the mainsail and the storm jib for a little longer. The swell is still large and is only due to increase. Every now and again we get a little love tap from the ocean and I can hear the decks getting coated in spray from a wave striking us, but we are sitting well and enjoying some surfing conditions. I clocked us surfing a wave today at 23.4 knots and plenty of other waves at 18 knots, so it has been a fun and fast day. Fedor, is just over 400 nm behind me, but a little more to the south, so I still need to sail fast to get around Cape Horn before him. I am giving it my all out here. I believe that as long as you try your hardest you never really fail at anything.
Part 1 of the podcast that I spoke about a couple of days ago that I did with Jackie from SisterShip Training. is now available.
Before I sign off for the night I am super excited to have some degree sponsors to thank.
So Thank you to,
090 West - Jenny Rickerby - dedicated to all the mum's out there who support their children on their life journey. Thanks so much for the support, Jenny and I hear that you have added a photo of my mother to your tile, so thank you also for honouring her. She so richly deserves it for putting up with all my crazy ideas and projects... (Note from Mum -Thank you so much Jenny. tI was a total surprise and much appreciated. Lisa, I do sometimes have this dream that you will turn into a normal person……..who am it kidding Hahaha)
087 West - Alex Jamieson in memory of Ronica Jamieson "look at what I want to do mum, miss you but your with me always X" - thanks Alex for your amazing support - If I can help you in your adventuring path please do reach out.
VOLUNTEERS
I would also like to take a moment to do a shout out to all the volunteers who have helped me bring this project to life, and those that continue to support me. There was a seemingly endless amount of people who rolled up their sleeves and pitched in to help me with the refit of Climate Action Now in Brisbane, and the final preparations in Albany. There is also a team of people all working behind the scenes to support this project and bring it to your social media pages. I am terrified of missing someone if I list you all, as I don’t have my notes with me at sea, but I just wanted to let you know how grateful I really am for all your support and the time you have all donated to make this trip a reality. I might be the only one on the boat but there is a village behind us. I could have done it without you all, so, as we approach a major project milestone, Cape Horn, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
good night all.
SPONSORS
TECHNICAL PARTNERS
