Well, it has been another exciting 24 hours with lots to tell. Last night the conditions were moderate blowing at 15-20 knots from the SSW and I was able to make some steady progress towards Tasmania with little effort. After dinner, I completed my normal on-deck checks and started to hear a faint clinking in the port steering pedestal. Any clunking within your steering system is never a good thing, however, I thought that I might know what the issue is as something like this has happened once before.

Well, it has been a busy 24 hours. Yesterday afternoon I had been watching the winds to see when they would shift from the WSW to the WNW so that I could gybe Climate Action Now over to the Port tack. Finally, at sunset, the shift came through. I still had the full mainsail up and the No 3 Jib flying off the inner forestay. As I had been waiting for this shift I didn't waste any time getting on deck and getting prepared for the Gybe. I had been sailing on a broad reach so my sails were right out and I knew that I would need to be careful gybing as the winds were just over 20 knots and I still had the full mainsail up.

Afternoon all. Well, yesterday afternoon in the light winds I ended up getting busy with some jobs around the boat. I need to check if there was any more water in my collision compartment up forward. Thankfully there hasn't been so that was quick. I also sponged the water out of the bilges and I needed to check the main engine that I run of Bio-diesel supplied by Park Fuels in Sydney as this was starting to struggle a little when I start it. I use the main engine as another charging source on the boat and when there is no wind and it is overcast I defiantly need it to keep on top of the power draw that all my instruments have.

Oh, what frustrations I have been having in these light variable winds. Actually, I was quite surprised that the winds held out as long as they did. I was quite expecting the light winds to hit yesterday afternoon however they managed to hang around until after midnight blowing in at 10-15 knots from the WNW before they backed all the way around to the South. I gybed to keep course and was able to hold a heading of 065 degrees in the light southerly winds. It wasn't all a loss as I was still in 7-8 knots of wind which is just enough for Climate Action Now to move along in.

Well, it has defiantly been a night of changing conditions as this trough passes over me and the high-pressure system catches up. Last night the conditions were not very nice with a consistent drizzly rain and easing winds. I was able to change to my No 1 jib at around 8 pm and I had the full mainsail up. With all the rain it was an almost completely black night on deck and I couldn't see anything around me except for more darkness which was a little eerie. It likely didn't help that I binge watched The Walking Dead TV series.

After the easing winds yesterday it was quite the nice surprise when the winds started building at sunset last night. I was sailing in a Northerly wind on a beam reach so when the winds started to build I very quickly needed to change my large jib out for the no 3 jibs. My larger jib is only rated to 15 knots of wind and I was soon getting over 20 knots. I decided to take the pressure off the sail while I furled it away and so I altered course so that I was now travelling with the winds. I was able to change out the jibs without too much hassle and went back to course before going below out of the cold.

Change is in the air as the new Northerly winds have filled in. Yesterday afternoon the winds were blowing mostly from the west however they would shift around a bit from 250-280 Degrees. As I was still trying to hold a course of 120 Degrees I needed to often alter my course by a little port or starboard to catch those wind shifts. It was something to keep me busy. By midnight the new winds had arrived so I dragged myself out of bed and went on deck to put a gybe in. The winds by now had also eased so I was sailing in 15 knots of true wind making for some slow progress however it did make gybing Climate Action Now an easy process.

Well after all the drama of yesterday with water in the tanks and the broken preventer today has been very mild in comparison. Last night the winds maintained their 25-30 knot wind strength but the major difference was that the swell decreased to 3 meters. This meant that I wasn't getting rolled and knocked down as much so it almost seemed like a mellow night of sailing in the deep south. My new preventer line survived the night and by this morning the winds were staying mostly below 25 knots so I decided to go on deck and shake the 1st reef in the mainsail.

Well its been a wet, cold and bouncy 24 hours with the swells still up in the 4-5 metre range and the winds are sitting mostly between 25 knots and 30 knots.  It does make for an interesting ride.  Most of the night Climate Action Now was handling the conditions well however at around 2am I was hit by a rather large squall that blew in with 37 knots of wind and stayed for well over 30 minutes. 

Wow, I cannot believe it is December already, how the time fly’s when you alone on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Last night was a great night sailing and I managed to complete a 200nm run over 24 hours. The winds were blowing mostly at 30 knots true wind and as I was travelling with it I was sailing in 20-25 knots Apparent winds. I kept the 1st reef in the mainsail and the No 3 Jib up for the night. We were flying surfing waves and occasionally getting smashed sideways by the large 4-5-meter swell rolling in.