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Log Updates
Sitrep: 0455hrs 17 Jan 2005. (SYD)
about 30 nm SW of Stewart a black black night except for
phosphorescence - more on this later perhaps - in cold driving rain creeping
past nz and probably wont sight any part of it - did they move it after all? Just had a big wind change that left us pointing
directly at S. I. so had to gybe back to miss everything, cold and wet and on this tack we need the
cone of silence down to protect the nav table and the electrics. a nuisance but
essential. C.o.S is heavy plastic
curtain that rolls down between nav station and companionway to prevent rain,
spray and dumpers from destroying all
these goodies. We must be absolutely
meticulous about this else pearshapedness in buckets ensues. Having just come hooning into this
relatively narrow passage between islands and rocks, i'm even more in awe of
the early navigators in ships that were
clumsy and difficult to tack and doing it all on dead reckoning. must have closed everything down at night and
waited until daylight whenever they were this close or unsure of where they
were. Te depth sounder says 599 feet
which means that e are crossing the 200 mtr contour, as the gps confirms.
Landfall - sighted the
Snares 15m to stbd @ 1730UTC 16/1.
Looks as if your preliminary check of our compass has worked, Don. About 8 hours under a week, from memory. Suffering from the warm creamy glow induced
by a celebratory Consultation. Still 35
miles to the official waypoint which is beyond the line from S. Si. to the
Snares.
Hi Teena, thanks Brian
interesting.
Sitrep: 1032hrs 17 Jan 2005. (SYD) 4757S 16731E.
We've now changed target to
waypoint Alpha, 1104 nm to the east.
Should take about 8 days in our current fairly conservative mode. Latest report puts us already south of the northernmost
sighting of ice, but it's a long way ahead.
Todays wildlife: near the Snares, two tiny penguin-like birds - square
back ends apparently with a foot at each rear corner, little narrow wings
flapping away but only just airborne. also a bigger bird grey/black on top with
two white patches on each wing. Curved
leading edges without the obvious elbow of most of our locals. span about 1
mtr.
Now well past S.I without
seeing it, although south end of long
white cloud clearly visible. Rain has
stopped at last - not conducive to merry frolics and we can start drying out
again. Another reorganisation for a bit
more space and accessibility. Found the
charger for my cd player so can occupy long watches again. Maggie, the cd player was what i bought with
Kyc DJ's goodbye present. Please thank
them all and tell them how much it is appreciated. Eleanor of Aquitaine's story in 1000 yeas in
a day as background as i write.
A watch change: think warm
sleeping bag, deep deep sleep. Voice gradually
comes in over the top -Alex! Aleeex! -
open eyes to see own red beanie next to eyeballs and ghastly leering face
covered in white stubble topped by several concatenated beanies and dayglo
yellow hood. Nightmare? Just pete in drag. Slide - no, decontort out of bag and bivvy
bag. Diversion for a mo - those who
know the boat know about the navigator's quarterberth, but some of you might
not. A PhD in contortional physiology
is the minimum criterion for entry, with the first movement a sort of barrel
roll of the lower body with the upper part hanging from the grabrail above the
nav table. Then various versions of
wriggle also hanging on with at least one hand while pulling up or pushing back
rug, bag or whatever as one gets organised.
The cheeks of the bum become almost prehensile with practice. add
vertical movement of around 3 metres plus severe roll and pitch and you get
something of an idea. I've had 10 years
of practice but it's still difficult.
having decontorted, it's cold and damp and you desperately dont want to
get your feet in contact with the wet floor so its some sort of wedge
arrangement while find socks then boots.
boots usually have wet weather pants still around them so can slip feet
in and pull up pants in one sinuous, lithe lissom action. Not. Then there's the
rest of the party gear (perhaps for a later update). A three hour watch usually consists of 20
minutes getting into the gear, a few minutes at the nav table assessing the
situation and then a cup of something hot and up to a old wet cockpit. This generally makes up for everything else:
the magnificent indifference of the sea is humbling and inspiring. Perhaps in a
future update, if not too dull,i'll waffle on about the cockpit routine as
well. Enough for this tx.
Sitrep: 1705hrs 17 Jan 2005.(SYD) 4747S 16848E. 978nm 5.6knts (Map ref 25)
forgot
latest position. wind taking us north
foe the mo but will change tomoz.
Sitrep: 0629hrs 18 Jan 2005 (SYD Time) 4731S 17036E.
G'gay after a long cold night with vicious line
squalls and rain coming through @ 50+ knots.
Sun's out, movements have severally occurred and liquids imbibed and all
ok, Stainless Kevvo faaaantastic. Nest
u/d [ed: next update] may be on
windvane steering if nowt else to report.
we're about to go back to what we hope will be a more or less permanent
twin pole set up with #5 and storm jib after I've done our skeds with Derek at Penta
and Taupo Maritime @2100utc. All times from here will be in UTC - brain too
mushy to do the sums so youse all can if youse wants. ILYA. [ed:
the Sitrep times will remain
Sitrep: 1335hrs 18 Jan 2005 (SYD Time) 4720S 17131E.
WE saw a seal this morning - just a glimpse, no time for ID in one of
the many squalls. Albatrosses back -
hanging over the stern looking at us - mostly medium sized, about 3m span. Special moment in squall - think greyout,
vis about 100m, big big breaking swells with wind waves on top, spray and spume
flying horizontally in cold driving rain.
Sea surface appears smokey.
Little bird - black wings, white patches on top, just hovering directly
into wind, wings quivering with the blast of moving air and water, eyes
probably squeezed tight shut and its little feet running as fast as they could
go on the surface to help keep it airborne or give it some orientation. The pointy bits on the tails of some birds
are the ends of their feet poking out from the tailfeathers.
We're working things out as we go.
Got some things right in the planning, others not so good. pulled in the impeller we are towing to
drive the aux alternator to check it for chafe (big job in itself cos the line
has gerzillions of twists in it...)to find the line in a big twisted knot at
the end and the beginnings of chafe on both the line and the steel
impeller. It's the fine pitch impeller,
for speeds of 7 kt or less and we are mostly going too fast for it, but when we
slow in the troughs, it winds up on itself.
Added regular check to routine
And one for Kevin Fleming - Kev, the holes for attaching the ends of the
steering lines to the crossbar next to turning blocks are chafing the
lines. have already gone thro one line
and nearly second. Need to be rounded better on insides or better
still,different arrangement (? shackle) Otherwise, the thing is working
brilliantly. Must just go and adjust it
- we're playing with twin poles in 30-50kt and big waves and its set too far
down and rounding up in troughs of the bigger waves so flogging windward sail.
959 to Alpha, 3952 to Horn. Full
on since the snares gusts of 60 in the squalls now have storm jib only, poled
out and kevvo handling it ok. going a
bit north still, waiting to see whether westerlies come back tomorrow.
Are you out there somewhere Clouds? Grib working but hard to get big
picture.
Sitrep: 1726hrs 18 Jan 2005 (SYD Time) 4710S 17153E.
Today has been a day of deteriorating fortune. We spent an hour getting set up this morning
with twin poles and all fine for a bit - wind then too strong for #5 so dropped
it. lost a steering line and repaired
it. wind increasing and storm jib
halyard came off just as we lost another steering line. Poo.
fixed steering line but we gave up on sails and we're bare poling on
about 075 at 5 kts. damp and unpleasant,
so we've had a Consultation - two in fact - and will try and take advantage of
the reduced motion to take turns to catch up on the sleep we missed during the
day. Just snacking for food Colin's cake, a bit of cheese, muesli bars.
Faint signs that the gale is abating - supposed to do so around
midday. Sun low on horizon astern with
brilliant reflections from the backs of the breaking waves ahead - and,if
you're looking - ice blue through them as they come up astern. Seabirds everywhere and albatrosses parking on the water occasionally
close to us - really graceful low speed approach, feet out in front and just
settle. To get airborne, they just
unfold those huge wings and they're off - no doubt they know the exact moment
when all the forces are working for them.
Sitrep: 2022hrs 18 Jan 2005 (SYD Time).
knockdown - huge wave - both ok, no damage to
boat. Fair bit of bruising. hdg
Sitrep: 1700hrs 19 Jan 2005 (SYD Time).
Boat was a bit of a mess inside
but all cleaned up now and we're only going to
Sitrep: 1520hrs 20 Jan 2005. (SYD)
[ed: just spoke with Alex via mobile as he sits in Berri in
Sitrep: 1800hrs 23 Jan 2005. (SYD)
[ed: an update to the knockdown report]
Wednesday, 19 January 2005
5:03 PM
Severe knockdown, huge
hollow wave that caught us both on deck.
Berri must have rolled through about 140 deg and pitched bow down about
60. Mast in the water and only visible
damage is mangled windex. Most other
boats would have kept rolling. but we
flipped immediately upright. i was
sitting by the shrouds tied to the boat and pete shouted and i looked up into
the wave - translucent bright blue and just starting to break - more or less
through the lower spreaders. I grabbed the shrouds with both arms and was
overboard in white water and lines and other bits of string hanging on to the
shrouds still tethered, and came down with a bang on a stanchion as the boat
came upright.
Pete was in the partially
inverted cockpit hanging on under the tiller - we'd just set the storm jib
again after three days of nasties 40 -60 in squalls, steady 40 in between, with
waves building all the time. we must
have caught the last of the really big ones.
Boat a it of a mess inside but all cleaned up now and we're only going
to
Sitrep: 1700hrs 23 Jan 2005.
(SYD)
Greetings from
We've been assessing damage
- rather more than first impressions but still relatively superficial and some
of it quite surprising, and then arranging fixes, delivery of spares and just
churning the inside of the boat to make it more manageable. I think one of our first mistakes was to
assume that we could get a year's worth of stuff into the space available. Yes, it fits, but it's completely
unmanageable, with all the problems that brings.
Damage, starting at the top
- masthead wind transducer,
stout aluminium tube with anemometer and vane on the end bent through about 30
degrees, and not as the boat was rolling down into the water but as it was
coming up, Surprising at first, but not
if you think about it.
Also masthead windicator
bent at 90 deg. Much flimsier, and bent
the same way. Photos to follow and I
will send the bits back for Gerry's sea survival course.
- pulpit bent about 30 cm to
port by the force of the wave on the sail tied to it and along the rail -First
port stanchion bent horizontal the same way
- second stanchion bent in
almost to the shrouds by my ribs - I think - as I came back in - photos to
follow.
- this one's gobsmacking -
liferaft cover distorted so that the top half flexed into the bottom half -
hard to describe, but astonishing
- hole in mainsail caused by
water pressure forcing in between lashings on the boom - lashings not close
enough together to prevent pockets forming = lifering in bag on pushpit almost
washed away - held in place by extra lashing I had put on - better to have
removed it below.
- absolute disaster
below. Icebox lids had lifted off and
ended up in forepeak, this trajectory is how i assessed the extent of the roll
as i sat on the floor nursing my ribs and pete steered for about 10 hours. Home brew plastic bottles from outer box -
maybe 20 - all around base of mast. Not
so much out of inner box. Salami,
margerine etc. Bags of onions burst, egg boxes smashed, food cans
everywhere. On the plus side, we had
actually stowed for potential inversion and most of the stuff didn't move. Yay!
We did, however, forget to
screw down the bunk boards, hence cans, bunkboards etc all over the place from
the stb side. Silly mistake and could
have been much more serious.
- computer hanging from charging
cord, usb cable off...panic...Panasonic Toughbook laptop worth every cent it
cost, still running.
On the other side of this
little list, things that really worked and saved our bacon big time
- full height, sealed
stormboards. cockpit full to coaming,
only a few buckets below. Good one
pete.
- Fuel tank with 80 ltrs
properly chocked, doesn't seem to have moved
- cone of silence - heavy
plastic curtain protecting nav table - saved radios, laptop, charts
- jacklines and tethers -
used and worn and probably saved us both.
Hard to judge - pete reckoned he had a smile on his face cos it seemed
so slow and pleasant.
- everything secured on deck
- silly in retrospect to leave sails lashed on foredeck and won't do it again,
but otherwise, all stayed with us.
- stowage, as above
- a point of vanishing
stability of 145+ degrees is really nice to have. I suspect many other boats would have rolled
completely.
As it was, we did much
better than everyone else we heard from who were out there. Some didn't even have their stormboards in,
with predictable results.
End of first instalment -
the gizmo wants to time me out.
Sitrep: 1700hrs 24 Jan 2005.
Home of the House of Pain...
We are still on track for
high tide departure on Wed 26 (approx 0300UTC) Fixes so far = new ST60 wind and
boat speed speed transducers ( supplied by Quay [?Key?] Marine Boat chandlers,
- new tiller autopilot: old
one was almost karked and seemed sensible
to buy - the things do run off wind angle so potentially v useful in big
waves
- New windicator
- masthead all round light
fitting drained of water (came in thro the drainhole...) and working again
- complete new set of
stanchions thanks to BobWatt, genius S/S welder and fixer (if you need him, ask
at Otago YC)
- refurbished gooseneck
fitting
- some major fixes inside -
new sink taps and pumps which died...BIG cleanup
- complete repack - still
going on
- hold downs for anything
moveable - nav table lid, icebox tops, sextant...
- bunkboards screwed down
(tomorrow's job)
- food packed in weekly
ready use bags rather than by category, so can extract a week bag from its hole
and stow it in ready use bin - this was on the cards in Hobart but fell of the
table cos I was too busy/ silly to
organise
- mainsail hole mended
- spare turbine for ampair
towed generator
- minor re=adjustments to
Stainless Kevvo to help eliminate chafe
Boring lists.
The people of
Contacts:
Kevin Martin. Manager of the
Otago YC - +64 3 477 1255 - has been available, friendly and helpful and made
it all possible
Bert Youngman and Sandra
Francis who run Ramsay Lodge Backpackers where we are staying - both sailors and
Bert drives us to and from the boat every day and does heaps more too. www.ramsaylodge.co.nz
Bob Watt - see above - s/s
welder
www.atoz-nz.com everything else you need to
know except that Speight's Distinction Ale has real merit - if only they sold
it in cans, we'd have to consider making some space for it somewhere.
Enough of this nonsense -
Thanks for your messages - got to go and eat
Sitrep: 1742hrs 25 Jan 2005.
Huge week but we seem to be
more or less ready to leave. Shopping
to do tomorrow and a few finishing tasks - trivial things like shortening
lifelines because the pulpit was distorted and too hard to bend back so port
lines now too long...
If all goes well, we will
leave on the tide tomorrow afternoon at about 1600 local time [ed: 1300hrs SYD time, 0300UTC I think
]. The weather looks a bit better than it did
from
Will call again from the Og [ed: short for oggin = ocean, ie "when
we are back at sea"! with thanks to Hilary] and confirm we actually
left.
Sitrep: 0400hrs 27 Jan 2005.(SYD time) 4559S 17108E. (Map Ref 27)
Off again. We left Otago YC at 0700utc, 8pm their
time. Sad saying goodbye... Hard to
believe that this is the same bit of ocean we were in a week or so ago. We wre poddling along at about a knot in no
particular direction in thick fog, vis about 200m. Not
enough speed to drive the turbine for the generator, so we will have to
conserve power and this will be a very short message -G'day youse all and nice to be back on air. More if we get some speed or the sun comes
out a couple of seals just visited us - quite small, only saw their noses.
Sitrep: 0923hrs 27 Jan 2005.(SYD time) 4615S 17119E. Map Ref 28 1157nm
Not really the sort of soft
start we were hoping for. Still in fog
and no wind and using some precious diesel to trickle south to where the wind
should be. Otherwise, it looks as if we'd be stuck here for about a week. Difficult equation - how much to use and
when to call it off if there isn't any improvement.
Everything we put in in
There's another boat on its
way to the Horn from
For
Chris P - I like the acronym BOG - and Speights must have improved since you
last tried it. We were so impressed we
have some cans of their dark brew to comfort us when the Doctor is awol. And Bert, we hope you get down to the
island...
Sitrep: 0616hrs 28 Jan 2005.(SYD time) 4710S 17148E. Map Ref 29 1215nm
Roight
listen up youse. We still havent enough
wind or sunlight to charge the batteries and it looks as if that will continue
for some time, so we are in conservation mode.
Averaging about 2 knots - not good, not happy - loved NZ but time to
move on. Yesterday mostly complete
whiteout with thick mist merging with the water surface and being reflected by
it as well so a bit like living in milk.
Only the occasional seabird, seen as a silhouette poised somewhere
between water and sky. Both of us now looking a bit wild - the
chiselled features obscured by two weeks of scruffy white whiskers and what
wisps of hair there are left misbehaving badly when not restrained by layered
beanies. Must be getting cold - there's
steam rising from the pee bucket as we engage with it.So - until we get some boat
speed, a short update am & pm is about where it's at. See you this evening.
Sitrep: 0900hrs 28 Jan 2005.(SYD time) 4727S 17154E. Map Ref 30 1225nm
We're moving again, heading
south to find the westerlies. Just
spoke to Sarau - it's (skipper) Malcolm's birthday today, so we felt it
necessary to consult with Dr Cooper on his behalf and there's a chance we can
rendezvous, at about 4740 17155.
Probably dark when we get there and we will be there first, so we will
turn left and run the latitude and let them catch up. They will be about 30 miles behind and going
2 kt faster so about a 15 hour chase.
Makes for an interesting few hours.
So nice to be doing 6kts
again and be dry and more or less level.
Lovely moon last night and the usual gigaz of stars, with dear old
Betelgeuse up there doing whatever red giants do on moonlit nights - and
Arcturus and Rigil
Ross, re your question, no,
we havent - long story but too difficult to manage so we've abandoned the
idea. A pity cos of the preparation and
might have been useful a few hours ago.
Malcom and Malcolm - thanks for good wishes. Ahooobysinnia.
Sitrep: 1436hrs 28 Jan 2005.(SYD time) 4741S 17231E. Map Ref 31 1261nm
It seems we may be able to
wave goodbye to NZ. We are running
along 4740S waiting for Sarau to catch up.
I think it will take them about 22-24 hours if conditions hold. Deep blue water with sparkling whitecaps,
bright sunshine, waves about 1 metre on top of maybe two metre swells, 25 kts
true, so about 18 apparent, poled out cutdown #1 and a reef in the main. Just had the perfect lunch - olives, bread,
cheese and a drop of chateau cardboard to keep the barnacles away from the
gnashing hardware. Not sure of the
current taxonomy for species of chateau cardboard - when I was just a younger
and if possible much stupider idiot who thought he could drink, drive, fly and
generally make hay all at once, cardboard red was plonk and white was
screech. We don't have any screech on
board, unless pete has a secret stash somewhere. He's asleep plugged into Van Morrison, I
think. Waypoint alpha about 914 miles
east so about 7 days if it continues.
Just tested my stone age
satellite phone - thanks, Ian, if you're out there - and we have backup
communications if needed. On the HF
radio, we can hear PentaComstat on the long range skeds, but Derek cant hear us. We are talking to Taupo Maritime every
morning.
And we have started the
Berrimilla vegie garden with a tray of cress - currently in a dogbowl in the
loo - does anyone remember whether it should be kept in the dark or just in the
shade? Using desalinated water to water
it - perhaps bereft of essential minerals?
An addition to the knockdown
damage report: the plastic aerofoil on Stainless Kevvo the windvane self
steering was bent in half. This
normally sits in a rotating bracket about two metres above the water over the
transom. We are not sure wether it was
bent on the downward or upward part of
the journey and difficult to establish because we don't remember where
it was set.
Sitrep: 0832hrs 29 Jan 2005 (SYD time) 4812S 17345E. Map Ref 32 1320nm
Happy Birthday Hilary [ed: alexs better half
no arguments there!]
Rendezvous! Dank and clammy, thick foggy mist, vis about
400 metres, cold, everything dripping wet. We'd been doing some position swapping
and Sarau appeared motoring out of the clag about 400 metres off our port
quarter. Very special moment, recorded
from both ends on video, followed by exchange of bottles - we got a bottle of
merlot and they got a dose of Dr Cooper's medicinal compound. All done by wrapping each bottle in a sweaty
T shirt and towing it over the stern of each boat to be snared with the
boathook. The position recorded was a
nice co-incidence, with all the zeros.
We stayed in company for about an hour and did another swap at the end
and they disappeared again into the mist.
Astonishing how quickly. We
expect them to get to the Horn at least two weeks ahead of us, but will depend
on relative weather patterns. Sked every day @2200.
We're heading as far south as
we can reasonably get in the next 24 hours to avoid a small cell of high
pressure and no wind that we're on the edge of now. Maybe as far as 51,and we may get a look at
the
Shockers, all this anarchic
stuff will have to stop. You're
supposed to be a respectable legal person.
Behave!. LC, tell Tom the fleeces are great. Pete was dunked in his and survived 10 hours
steering wet but warm. Lost both
concatenated beanies but managed on salami and cheese and Dr C. And to the Virgos, I remember it well. Thanks for your note.
Sitrep: 1740hrs 29 Jan 2005
(SYD time) 4824S 17409E. Map Ref 33 1340nm
Penance - I must remember
never to make predictions in these updates.
We have still not waved goodbye to NZ after a prodigiously frustrating
day in more clank and dammy foggy mist and almost no wind. We have averaged less than 2 knots all day
and we're not going fast enough to charge the battery with the turbine. Cant afford to burn diesel and there's not
enough light for the solar panel to do anything. At times like these, it pays to hand steer
the boat, both psychologically because it's better to be doing something and
also because the boat's rolling motion masks and often eliminates the effect of
what tiny amount of apparent wind there may be and the windvane doesnt have
anything to work from. It is critically
important to trim the boat so that it is as powerful (the sails) and as
slippery (the hull and control surfaces) through the water as possible - racing
sailors do this all the time, minute by minute and we have to as well. Towing the turbine creates a lot of drag and
takes about half to three quarters of a knot off the boat speed at these low
levels and add in another control surface in the windvane's paddle and there's
a lot to overcome before we are in front.
We need about 4 knots to get positive charge with everything turned off
except the laptop and the instruments.
This is another way of saying that the turbine gives us about two amps
at 4 knots and improves from there. In
the range of swell and waves we are getting, this is also about when the
windvane is getting enough steady apparent wind to work effectively again - and
from there it is wonderfully effective.
More on windvane steering and balance in a future episode. Hand steering in very light wind and messy
sea needs some dedicated concentration - if i've got the cd going and have to
adjust it, I immediately lose boat speed, so I generally just sit there and get
huge pleasure from keeping Berri moving at her best speed under the
circumstances. This will take lots of
battery to send so - see ya!
An hour later
.. just got
the grib weather on sailmail and the S Pac mean sea level (MSL) pressure
analysis by weather fax and it looks as if we are smack daberooney splot clunk
directly in the centre of the high and no way of escaping it except by
basically going south west - backwards.
Ideally, we should go south but sea and wind mean that the best we can
do forwards is south east - or moving with the high. Bummer - at least another day of foggg....
Sitrep: 0559hrs 30 Jan 2005 SYD time 4902S 17538E Map Ref 34 1410nm
Quick burst on strategy - in
the southern hemisphere, low pressure systems rotate clockwise and suck air
in. The closer to the centre, the
windier and rougher it gets, so you try to stay on the outer fringe. Highs rotate anticlockwise and push air out
and the closer to the centre, the calmer and, as we found out over the last few
days, the foggier and flatter it gets.
Again, the outer edge is the place to be. So, at the top of the lows and
the bottom of the highs - generally speaking - there are westerly winds in the
southern hemisphere. Over the south
pacific at this end anyway, more or less between 40 & 50 south is the band
where the systems meet and we are trying to run the line that keeps us at the
top of the lows and the bottom of the highs.
Not easy in a slow old workhorse like Berrimilla because we can't change
latitude fast enough, unlike the big round the world racing sledges that can
hunt and even outrun weather systems.
We have to try and anticipate changes and get there early.
Further across, probably
somewhere beyond 100W, we will have to make a decision to turn hard south to
get to 57S, the latitude of the Horn.
We hope there will be a nice ridge of high pressure waiting for us over
there to sail down into (as there is right now), but given our luck so far, we
ain't taking bets.
Today's wildlife
report. About 30 birds circling us -
all sorts. Watching what was probably a
small albatross come and look at us, it got a bit close, went into a tight
banked turn and extended its airbrakes - two large webbed feet outwards and
curled forwards - to slow down. And a
few days ago, a small brown seal joined us for half a minute or so. Must have been investigating the nutritional
potential of the turbine and did a few dolphin like leaps alongside it.
No
predictions any more. Our course over
the ground is about 110 Magnetic (137 true adjusted for local variation, or
south east if you look in a standard atlas) at about 6kts. The
Sitrep: 1657hrs 30 Jan 2005 SYD time 4929S 17708E Map Ref 35
Windvane artistry - part one:
While her geriatric crew are busy consulting with assorted Doctors and
Other Medical Persons and Alphonse is having a tantrum, Berrimilla is steered
by an elegant stainless steel device called a Fleming 401 windvane self steering
assembly made by Kevin Fleming in Adelaide (hope I've got that right Kev).
There are photos on the website (not showing the aerofoil, i think) and
a link to kevin's website in the "preparations" document if you need
to know what it looks like. Basically
consists of an aerofoil moving through the air above the boat and a big paddle
moving through the water underneath it, linked to eachother and to the
tiller. The aerofoil is designed to
rock sideways (sort of across the boat) and it can be rotated around its
vertical axis. The paddle can be
rotated around its vertical axis and it also rocks sideways. Sounds complicated but it's really
astonishingly simple. As the aerofoil
rocks. it rotates the paddle in the boat's wake, which moves the paddle
sideways and exerts force on the tiller.
There are three concepts involved - apparent wind, the servo principle
and balance. The aerofoil 'feels' the
apparent wind, or, more specifically, changes to the apparent wind, activates
the servo (the paddle) which moves the tiller to correct the deviation that
caused the change to the apparent wind.
Before setting the device the crew are required to abstain from
consultation for long enough to trim the boat to achieve balance.
Some simplistic definitions - apparent wind is the combination of the
actual (true) wind that is blowing and the wind caused by the boat's speed
through the water. The wind indicator
at the masthead always points into the apparent wind.
The servo principle is the use of a small force to initiate a much
greater force to do work. Any engineers
or physicists out there who want to refine this, please feel free. And balance is when all the forces acting on
a boat are in sync and complement eachother - again, oversimplified, but all that's
needed here. When Berrimilla is
balanced, she steers herself and Stainless Kev really just limits the bigger
wanders caused by the waves. Its a bit
like getting an aircraft on the step - minimal need for use of control surfaces
therefore minimal drag. It feels good
and it goes that tiny bit faster.
Part two tomorrow or whenever I can get it together.
Image for the day - sparkling sunshine, Berri hooning along on a broad
reach at 7+kts, a few whitecaps. Big
white soft downy feather blowing - sort of rolling - along the surface of the
water and keeping up with us for a couple of minutes. Lovely.
And four big albatrosses sitting on the water around a large piece of
seaweed. There have been lots of birds
sitting on thw water today, including another large albatross that had to
waddle out of our way. They seem to be
about as big as a goose in the body, but the wings are something else.
Sitrep: 0700hrs 31 Jan 2005 SYD time 4943S 17927E Map Ref 36
This morning at daybreak we passed 4 miles south of the
Would someone please tell Lleyton that we listened and we think he done
real good. He's our Hero For The Day
(and for tomorrow too, as he gets the extra dateline day)- usually, Our Hero at
consultation time is someone like James Cook, and Mrs Cook for being stoical in
adversity, and Jeanne and Hilary and Steve for being out there too.
Strategically, we are still under the bottom of the high but there is a whiff
of a cold front behind us. If it ges
folded south by the high, we're in good form, but just in case it doesn't, we
are creeping north so that we dont have so far to run if it tries to swipe us.
Simon at digiboat, if you're one of the hitters, where are the past
track data files stored? I'll try and
drop them into the gigastik for you in instalment saves and post you a cd from
the
Next report from
Sitrep: 0013hrs 31 Jan 2005 SYD time 4936S 17913E Map Ref 37
On board cuisine
Since leaving
Lunch can be fruit - we have
peaches, oranges, kiwi fruit and bananas, all of which have lasted well. Sandwiches such as salami cheese &
tomato, marinated mussels on bread. Alex
goes for olives, cheese and bread dipped in olive oil. About sundown, it's time for a glass of red
or a G & T. Dinners since leaving
Dunedin have been - green lipped mussels steamed with sauce of tomato, onion,
garlic & chilli; gravy beef curry with rice; day three, no dinner; last
night was mashed potato with bacon, onion, carrot, celery & peas. All, of course complemented with a suitable
red beverage. All of this will end soon
as the fresh supplies run out and the weather changes. Next to try is the dried meals made in
Cheers to all, Pete
Sitrep: 1213hrs 31 Jan 2005 SYD time 4936S 17849W Map Ref 38 1635nm
Crossed 180 @ 23.25.15
30/01/05. Hallo from yesterday. Dr Cooper assisted. No more today - have exceeded limit dragging
in weather.
Sitrep: 2352hrs 31 Jan 2005 SYD time 4932S 17806W Map Ref 39 1663nm
Windvane wizardry part 2.
To set it up, we trim he
boat so that it would sail itself but for the motion of the waves and changes
in wind strength. (Really easy to do in
a boat as sea kindly as Berri and important to get it right - in the storm
before we got bashed, I accidentally knocked the steering lines off the tiller
and didn't notice for half an hour or so, but the boat carried on in big seas,
probably wandering a lot more and taking longer to return to the course she was
trimmed for. How could I not
notice? Slack, that's all, and a
seaworthy boat.)
Then we align the aerofoil
with the apparent wind, connect the steering lines to the tiller and go below
and talk to the man from
Does that cover it Kevin?
The small adjustments we made in
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