Things have been going well on-board as the winds have steadied from the East. Last night I was just entering a section of reef nick named the outer reef and needed to navigate through this over night. It was a fairly simple task as the sections of reefs were more than 30nm apart making for lots of clear water to sail through. I am now just about to sail clear of the final reef called Holmes Reefs before being back in open waters for anther 2 days.
Finally I am sailing in some steady trade winds and managed for the first time since I have been at sea to get over 4 hours sleep. I feel amazing...this is what rested feels like... With the steady winds and the open water I increased my naps to 30 minutes and only needed to go on deck once to alter course 10 degrees to give some reef a little more room. I also amazingly managed to get to bed relatively early so I think I actually likely managed 6-7 hours of sleep.
Well I am still pleased to report all is going well on-board Climate Action Now, even if I am sailing a little slower than I would like in these light winds. Last night was another crystal clear evening and I found myself on deck just after sunrise re-trimming the sails when I noticed that the moon still wasn’t out and so the stars were on full display.
I was tossing up my options with navigation as I have the edge of the Great Barrier Reef which I need to sail around and then just next to it is another small outcropping of reef. This other outcropping is about 35nm from the Great Barrier Reef. My initial plan had been to sail directly between the two as this would give me the shortest distance to sail however the wind gods had other ideas making it difficult to make the NW heading that I needed. At around 11pm last night I was just coming up on that outcropping of reef and needed to make a decision of if I was going to tack and spent the rest of the night tacking between this reef and the Great Barrier Reef or if I just eased sails and changed my heading 10 degrees I would be able to sail right around the outside with no tacking required...
I have wind.... Yes its so exciting after drifting for most of yesterday the winds have finally arrived and I have been sailing now in 20 knots NE and NW winds. I am just skirting the edge of a little low pressure system. It does mean that I am close hauled so my life is now on a 45 degree angle which generally makes most things more difficult but all in all I am just happy to be moving and even making almost course with the current winds.
What a sweltering hot avo it is as I drift around in 2 knots of wind that seems to be blowing from all directions. I was really hoping for some more wind out of that forecast Southerly winds last night but unfortunately the winds remained light although I was able to sail the rest of the way past the Gold Coast and Stradbroke Island but I really wanted to be able to put in some good miles.
Well last night was a night of frustrations with lots of light winds. I have managed to have about 2 knots of current against me from the East Australian Current that runs down the east coast of Australia so even though my boat speed was up around 6-7 knots in 8 knots of wind I was only making 4 knots in the right direction.
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