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We've just sighted Ilha Brava at 7.5 miles. Uncanny - we are
directly downwind of it and so in the plume of haze and mist and would have
sailed past without seeing it at all if we weren't looking for it. It's a big
chunky hill - small mountain - too murky
to describe any further. Later, as we pass through the plume and some reflected
sunlight gets through, at about 5 miles, I can see that it is quite high -
perhaps 2500-3000 feet, very steep, with a small settlement on a ridge about a
third of the way up the western slope. The island is roughly circular, about 5
miles across. The Eastern side might be even steeper from the shape of one of
the crags. There's a small harbour marked on the NW corner but I could only see
the steep headland that probably hides and protects it. No signs of
cultivation, no boats. Had a good look because it could be the last land we
will see until Tasmania in three months or so. There is a surprising number of
islands in the southern Indian Ocean but we should be to the north of them. And
I discovered that there is an island south of Tristan da Cunha called Gough
Island. We may pass close to Ascension and St. Helena, but not in the plan.
Lots of phone calls all day - and the Swannies won - and Warnie
got 6 wickets. WOOOHOO.
Picked up a swag of messages - Thanks everyone, from the Old
Geezer and we'll respond over the next day or so. Ilha Brava behind us and the
equator and the South Atlantic out front. So nice to see the numbers in the GPS
ticking down again from the west.
The Cape Verdes were the first of the two big corners - now 50
miles astern, no Dancers evident, Brian,
and now it's the lonely sea and the sky for 90 days or so. It's been
quite slow and the run rate required is increasing - apologies to those not
familiar with one-day cricket and the complex mathematics that every team
captain has to master. I said earlier that we are sailing quite conservatively
- we are, but we're acutely conscious of the run rate and the fact that every
mile scored here comes off the rate required and lowers the mountaintop - if
that isn't mixing metaphors too radically. So we've had the kite up for
probably 50% of the time - and now we're heading south and burning a bit more
diesel on a flat calm mirror in thick haze. We have to get through the
convergence zone into the Trades as fast as possible and then we will be pushed
westwards again, I think, across the equator and towards the back of the high.
Meanwhile, the numbers go on clicking over. We use the solar panel whenever
possible, especially when it is so windless, because the turbine drag is worth
0.2 knot or 4.8 miles a day. Doesn't matter so much when we're doing 6 or 7.
I've been roundly and severeally chastised for even implying
that Boags comes from Hobart when everyone knows it is brewed in Launceston. Sorry,
Scott - serious lapse, senior moment even - just wanted to make sure you were
still awake.
I saw the biggest meteorite - or whatever it was - I've ever
seen last night. Huge glowing ball with a wide trail that lasted, it seemed,
for several seconds. It was going more or less from south to north and it
disappeared behind a cloud before it burnt up, so I couldn't follow it all the
way.
We are constantly amazed at the number and variety of people
reading this stuff - youse-all are all over the world - Luis, thanks for your
note - do you sail on the Lake? How did you find us? Martin - nice to have news
from Barbados - keep it coming. Glad you liked the Original Hugh version - so
did we. Seems The Editor has worked his magic on Jo's YW MO as well, but I hope
you will get both versions. Still haven't heard Trudi - will try harder. At
1411 GMT we are exactly 2100 miles east of you.
DB: 97.10905 (GPS 100) Excruciatingly slow day - still on and
off the tractor. We're down to 150 ltrs - hardly worth onselling, Is, even at a
quid a litre. At 5 degrees North, about 500 miles ahead, we will be half way
down the Atlantic and about a quarter of the way home. Say day 26, or 104 days
all up. Idle speculation still, but the numbers are starting to firm.
From Pete:
Hello to everyone out there,
First, a big thankyou to
everyone who emailed, phoned, and sent cards, what a wonderful response from all
out there.
When I got up to take over for the morning watch, Berri's
cockpit lifelines etc. were covered in balloons Alex had spent his watch
creating a carnival atmosphere for the following day. It being such an
important day several consultations would be required. To maintain the required
limit a noggin at the change of each watch was decided on, beginning with a
taste of Dr. Boag's best (thanks Laura). Little to no wind was the order of the
day but our efforts to keep the boat moving were rewarded when late in the
afternoon Santo Antao was sighted barely visible through the haze. This island
was the last one we passed of the Cape Verde group and perhaps the last land
sighting till Tasmania.
This may be the problem
or perhaps its the light fickle winds and resultant slow progress, we need
things to liven up.
Right now I think both of us would appreciate a decent blow from
any direction. With the last passage from Falklands to Falmouth by the time we
were in the soft spots around the equator we were half way there. With this
final jaunt I think we will be about a quarter of the way, it now becomes a
mind thing to stay focused and enthused. The heat and humidity don't help, good
books, music and crosswords provide a diversion but there is nothing better
than a good breeze and the boat flying in the right direction to lift the
spirits.
I've just been outside
to check things,the wind has improved we're now getting 4 knots slightly west
of south...not bad.
The sun has gone down the breeze is warm and soft on the face
the sky in the west is a beautiful wash of greys pink and mauve.
Can you just forget what I said about needing a big blow or some
other drama to liven things up,I think I'll make a nice cup of tea then go and
contemplate that sky for awhile.
Cheers ...Pete.
ps. Isabella thanks for
the cake with attitude it went down a treat with a short snort of Alex's port.
There's a layer of haze all around the horizon and a very bright
star or planet in the SE, just below Orion's left foot and just above the haze
- it is so bright that it has its own sparkling reflection on the water
fleshing towards us and sometines disappearing behind what's left of a NW
swell. The star itself changes colour through all the primaries (Richard Of
York Gained Battles In Vain and all that) presumably because the tiny water
droplets in the atmosphere act as little prisme with ever changing faces.
Noice. Very.
On Imperfections #1: We all have a blind spot in each eye where
the optic nerve meets the retina - there's an easy way to find it if anyone
wants to try - but I have an especially big one in my left eye as a result of
an injury 40 years ago. Once a year or so, I sit in front of Michael G's Field
of Vision testing box and have tiny pinpoints of light flashed at me by a
computer to check that the blind spot is stable. Michael, out here, I can do an
instant FoV - just close the right eye and a lot of stars go out in that rather
familiar comma shape that indicates the damage to the left retina. Good fun -
and much nicer surroundings! The point being that I am especially conscious of
both blind spots, but particularly the big one, as I sit here at the computer.
There's a row of blinking LED's on the dreaded USB gizmo at eye level to my
left and if I look down at the keyboard and back up, one or more LED's
sometimes disappear into the blind spot and I have the momentary surge of doubt
- did it really go out? Is the damn thing shutting down again. Keeps one one
one's toes - or something. Bum bone?
Imperfections #2: The right side of my face is shored up with
chicken wire and a handful of titanium screws - the result of the foredeck
incident that Hugh talks about (and fixed up by another Michael G, by
coincidence as I've just realised) - looks good in some dental xrays - and,
because the injury distorted the original arrangement, I have an improvised
tear duct drilled through a bit of face bone from the inboard end of the eye
into the nasal passage. Makes for an interesting sensation when I blow my nose.
In the local heat and humidity, I can actually feel all this stuff in my face -
not as a painful sensation but I'm conscious that it's there. There's a spot of
face under the eye where the nerves have gone and I have no feeling yet that
bit particularly seems to be talking to me. Fascinating.
Hope you're all enjoying your coffee!
Back in tractor mode - the equation is getting some form now, as
we reduce our fuel and can see what might be left of the job it has to do. We
are part way through the Doldrums - with a bit of luck, this week should see
them off, and then we should be in the trades to the back of the high in the S
Atlantic (Steve or Mal, could you please give me a rough fix on its centre?)
and then we might get caught by the Horse Latitudes if we are not careful, so
more tractoring. We should just have enough if we conserve whenever possible,
and as long as the Ampair and the Solar panel keep working and we don't need
the engine to charge the batteries. It will be something to keep monitoring all
the way in.
DB : 75, 10830 (GPS 80) fuel remaining approx 140ltr. Assy just
back up, hdg 174M, 6 kts - be nice if it lasts for a day or two - grib says a
day anyway.
I have just realised - although I've been subconsciously aware
all along, I think, that when the motherboard in the HF radio was replaced in
Lymington, it came with a completely different program of user programmable
frequencies - not Marc's Australian oriented version with all the PentaComstat
and NZ channels. So - I have to find the Penta handbook and reprogram 160 user
frequencies. Really easy for most of them but Marc's chart doesn't give the
actual frequency for the 'channels' 408, 608 etc. And then find the ham
frequencies which it is useful to have programmed even though we are not
allowed to use them except in emergency. So will have to do some unpacking to
find the right filing box and the manual.
1159 02434 11/1430
As we move more or less south down the longitudes, progress
seems very slow - every degree of latitude is 60 nm so at best we can knock off
a couple per day and the longitude doesn't change much. As we cross the equator
and start counting up the latitudes again, we may also be able to work our way
east, but still rather slowly, and the degrees of longitude near the equator
are nearly 60 miles as well. But further down, as we really turn for home below
Africa, the longitudes are much closer together and we will start reeling them
off relatively fast. Roll on the day, but there's still about 3800 miles to go
- a bit over a month if all goes well.
Started programming the HF - too hot to do much - the sweat
rolls off down here out of the breeze but progress - I've done 40 channels
including the Penta Comstat duplexes.
As we move more or less south down the longitudes, progress
seems very slow - every degree of latitude is 60 nm so at best we can knock off
a couple per day and the longitude doesn't change much. As we cross the equator
and start counting up the latitudes again, we may also be able to work our way
east, but still rather slowly, and the degrees of longitude near the equator
are nearly 60 miles as well. But further down, as we really turn for home below
Africa, the longitudes are much closer together and we will start reeling them
off relatively fast. Roll on the day, but there's still about 3800 miles to go
- a bit over a month if all goes well.
Started programming the HF - too hot to do much - the sweat
rolls off down here out of the breeze but progress - I've done 40 channels
including the Penta Comstat duplexes.
We've been hand steering all day - since 0900 - with the assy
pulling us along at about 7 knots in an erratic and gusty north easterly and a
biggish swell - neither autopilot copes with it particularly well but we're
making up some time. Ship out to port, only the second since the Canaries. I
have worked out a procedure for bringing the laptop back after a USB event and
it's not nearly so much of a threat - I can now get it back up in about 5
minutes instead of 30 - 40 - so I'm going to experiment with the AIS version of
SoB (now closed down and completely disconnected) to see whether it was part of
the problem or just incidental. Would be really nice to be able to see the ship
out there on the laptop along with its MMSI and other details. Watch this
space.
Really wild and empty out here - I was hit by a moment this
morning during which I was acutely conscious of the emptiness and the elemental
void so to speak. There is a very long NW swell - about 300 meres long, 3-4
metres high - with a cross swell over it from the north and on top of any two
of these, you look down and across to the next few in line and feel very small
indeed. Not quite as wild and scary as the southern ocean warehouses with
roaring rolling tumbling crests but awesome all the same. I suppose I could do
the sums and estimate how many more we will cross between here and Oz - but
only if I get desperate for something to do.
Aiming to cross the equator at about 24W and head for the back
of the high - think I may have told you this already - and we seem to be almost
out of the ITCZ and the Doldrums.
Just back at the coal face and the wind has dropped again and
the moon has gone. Tea bag has probably stewed enough so will go and squeeze
it.
DB: 131, 10699 (GPS 133) so even hitting 7 knots for a lot of
the day doesn't make a huge difference - I know the log over reads by about 2%
as well - but a good day and we're still in the same breeze altho it's a bit
weaker.
Now only 607 miles to the equator, perhaps 300 to the trades.
That would take us to 5N, half way down the Atlantic from Fmth to 40S. Too hot by
half - and the laptop is hot to the touch. We are making about 5 litres of
water per day to stay ahead, using the solar panel alone. Too hot to sleep
during the day, not hungry, just grinding out the miles between Consultations.
The very best moment is the first sip of G&T at about 5pm each day - even
though it's warm and we've used the last of the lemons and are into bottled
lemon juice. The first one with ice in it in three months or so will be a bit
special, like the one Isabella made for us in Falmouth on June 3. We have a
makeshift Coolgardie fridge keeping the ready use potions a couple of degrees
cooler, but they are still at about 30 degrees - the sea is 31 degrees. Roll on the southern
ocean - whoever wants to sail the tropics is welcome. I think I'm whingeing too
much - where's that goat? Does anyone know the name of the second goat,
Corelli's restitution? Does anyone care?? The little things that occupy the
mind in a tiny, hot world.
We've just dropped the assy and reverted to tractor after nearly
2 days of great reaching - I hope the grib is correct and we'll get a south
easterly later today, which, if it holds, might become the top of the SE
trades. Woohoo. Meanwhile, the old bus shelter gets sniffed and watered by all
the local mongrels and we carry on fantasising about ocean voyages in our tiny
concrete world.
A bit of a catch up - thanks for the jokes, John H and Sarah;
Jen, how does that stuff fit into first year psych? I've taken part in lots of
those experiments, mostly years ago and mostly for medical students. I hope you
two are planning to come across for the Coming Home party.
John C, Hilary told us it must have been you - Pete just missed
your name in the static. And, talking of static, thanks Diana, solar flares
really mess up radio propagation but I don't think they harm the radio itself.
Every time I log into sailmail, the saildocs computer in Washington updates my
propagation calculator with sunspot activity and solar flux info - clever and
the calculator is astonishingly accurate. Will write separately about a PB idea
that's been simmering.
Hi Kate - we heard about The Ashes - probably a Good Thing for
cricket, tho it hurts. Hope the log was sufficiently interesting to overcome
the loss.
Michael Z from Vancouver and Vienna - thanks for your good
wishes and glad you found us - welcome to the bus shelter - a shark in a Vienna
lake must frighten the locals a bit perhaps - happy sailing. It must be almost
the end of your season - does the lake freeze? Michael G - a Junketeer? Hope
you enjoyed it - Vancouver is spectacular. Send us a note when you get back and
I'll write to you.
Mal, you'll have to sandbag a bit - remember Dennis Conner? - so
they don't mess with your handicap. Sounds good - next stop LHI lagoon? We'll
miss you on the S2H. Thanks re SA high - we also have our own Oracle who has
clocked in again, so with the 2 of you on side, we should crack it. If there
happens to be a good ISS pass any time, it's pretty cloudless here at the mo -
but don't bother with regular updates - i don't think they will talk to us
again, but it's nice to know they are up there. I think we may be closer to
Africa than them at the mo.
And Malcom did the numbers - seems we've crossed over a million
primary wave crests since Sydney and we've only got 785455 to go 785454
785453...zzzz We could put numbers on the 2 Most Significant Waves, I suppose.
Roger and Simon, many thanks - I'll write separately.
Squeeze the bag time - must keep up the fluids. Is S.W. Bag
still out there Steve?
G'day to the kids at Belmore South Primary
[from
Alex] To 5/6 P and 5/6 S Hi from Pete and
Alex in Berrimilla. This is Alex writing - Pete will have a go later, when he
wakes up (we have to take it in turns to sleep) Its really good to know you're
out there. We are about 400 nautical miles off the coast of Guinea-Bissau in
West Africa and it's the middle of the night as I write. It's hot and even this
far out, I can smell the land - don't know what the smell is but it's there.
Car fumes, dog poo, rotting leaves, the scent of flowers just like Sydney, I
expect. The sea water is about as warm as an indoor pool in Sydney and it's
really sweaty even now at night. The Atlantic here is about 6 kilometres deep
and it's a funny feeling to be on top of that much water. There were dolphins
all around us earlier - we could here them surfacing and snorting as they
breathe and they make lovely phosphorescent trails in the water. Our actual
position at this moment is 09 degrees 18 minutes North, 023 degrees 17 minutes
West, which puts us 557 nautical miles north of the equator.
We're in the Inter Tropical
Convergence Zone or ITCZ which is just a fancy name for what old sailors used
to call The Doldrums and where they hated going because there is never much
wind and it's always hot and unpleasant and they could be stuck here for weeks.
We're lucky because we have an engine so we can still move even when there's no
wind. The ITCZ is where the very hot air that moves around the earth on either
side of the equator mixes with the cooler air coming down from the north.
Because the air masses are moving in slightly different directions there are
big swirls where the two masses mix - just like when cigarette smoke rises in
the air - and these swirls, called tropical waves, sometimes go on to become
tropical hurricanes like Katrina.
Steve or Mal, any chance you could
put up a link to relevant bit of the wind chart on one of the weather sites?
[like
this? Click Weather Map]
That's probably enough guff from me
- we'd really like to hear from you if you would like to write to us with your
news or questions. There's not much happening out here and and it would give us
something interesting to do.
Best wishes to you all from
Alex
[from
Pete]
Hi kids Pete here, it was good to
learn that you are interested in what we are doing on the other side of the
world.
I've been on watch for about one and
a half hours now, I didn't get much sleep in my 3 hours off, probably because I
went to bed all hot and sweaty. Just before Alex took over we had to pull down
the big spinnaker sail which had been slowly hauling us across the water in
very little wind. Putting everything away after we drop this sail takes some
time and running around the rolling deck in the dark to do this work makes you
very hot. I should have stayed on deck and cooled off before going below as
it's very hot in the cabin with the engine running, too late to worry about
that now I'll try to catch up on my sleep later.
About half an hour ago the sun came up at about 7.30 am. UTC. This means
that the sun was going down in Sydney at about this time, perhaps you could
work out for me what time sunrise and sunset are in Sydney using UTC time (UTC
used to be known as Greenwich Mean Time). I couldn't see the sun till it was
about 5 degrees above the horizon due to the heavy haze over the water. Time
gets a little complicated when you're at sea. We have to keep our watches on
UTC because all our information (weather etc.) is transmitted at certain times
during the day in UTC time. At the moment local time and UTC are about one and
a half to two hours apart which is ok but once we get past the bottom of Africa
and start sailing due east the two time frames start to separate quickly and
you end up having your breakfast with your watch saying it's midnight.
Sorry if I've been waffling on about this time problem but I think it's
important. With international communications so easy these days via the
internet business is going on 24 hours a day and that's the way of the future.
I just went out to see if there were
any ships about and there was this pure white ( except for its black tail
feathers ) bird,circling around the boat. Sometimes they hitch a ride on the
boat for a few hours and have a rest. We have not seen that many birds
recently, it will be good to get further south where once again we will meet up
with the big beautiful albatross. Did you know that they sleep while flying,
how efficient is that bird.
Cheers for now,
hope to hear from you soon.......Pete.
ps. I've just been up on deck again and that
bird did stop for a rest, it was up on the bow of the boat. Had a good look at
it this time, it has long thin legs like a shallow water feeder. It also has a
long orange coloured beak and the top of its head is an orange colour.
DB: 96, 10603 (gps 99) Slow, but we're creeping south out of the
ITCZ so it's progress.
Apologies - it should have been Martin, not Michael Z. from
Vienna in my last note - good sailing Martin.
Back with the tractor - just transferred fuel from Jerries into
tank - very messy business and hot and sweaty too. We're both pretty cheesy -
same clothes for days, but you don't seem to get really smelly - just that
sensual Havarti/ Gorgonzola/ Roquefort/ Parmesan whiff around the pits and
crutch every now and again. Clothes permanently damp - no point whatever in
changing them because in 10 minutes, the next lot will be just as bad. I rinse
mine in fresh water every ten days or so and I've got two sets going - one
ready for use and one cheesy. The water goes an interesting colour - maybe one for
Kim or Jude to analyse?
We have a lovely visitor - an Egret or Heron - about 30 cm high,
sturdy legs with huge four toed feet with big claws, wider that its body, a
beigey gold crest and with a touch of the same colour on its breast feathers,
golden beak, about 4-5 cm long, bright golden irises with brown rings around
the edges and brown pupils and the brightest snowy white feathers. It stands on
the foredeck and flies off if we approach but doesn't go far and returns. We've
put water up there, but it seems to be a very long way from home and sadly, I
don't like it's chances of finding its way back. It can only stay with us until
we start sailing to windward again, so it will get a rest anyway. Looks like
one of those birds that walk on water-lily leaves and catch tiny fish.
0848 2303 13/1530 - A Snowy Egret perhaps? - it is very firmly
still with us and seems to be getting used to having us around - it just flies
from one end of the boat to the other as we do sail changes (we've had the assy
up and down twice and the #1 once since this morning - hot and dripping work
and ones eyes start to get filled with sweat and sting). It drinks water from a
dogbowl, but doesn't seem to go for biscuits. It would probably prefer
something slimy - a worm or a snail or small fish and insects. All of which we
ain't got - anyone have any suggestions? Perhaps dissolve biscuits in the water
bowl? Boot ferals are all in hiding and anyway, would probably poison it.
Perhaps a Consultation?
A Snowy Egret perhaps? - it is very firmly still with us and
seems to be getting used to having us around - it just flies from one end of
the boat to the other as we do sail changes (we've had the assy up and down
twice and the #1 once since this morning - hot and dripping work and ones eyes
start to get filled with sweat and sting). It drinks water from a dogbowl, but
doesn't seem to go for biscuits. It would probably prefer something slimy - a
worm or a snail or small fish and insects. All of which we ain't got - anyone
have any suggestions? Perhaps dissolve biscuits in the water bowl? Boot ferals
are all in hiding and anyway, would probably poison it. Perhaps a Consultation?
I'm a real scaredy-puss when it comes to lightning and I've just
spent the last couple of hours going round the back of a big thunder cloud with
lots of lightning and the classic roll along the front. Motoring on a glassy
sea to start with, then the wind came in and we were able to sail
Still trying to sail again after another 3 hours of tractor -
wind almost dead on the nose but at least it's there for the mo. Amazing Egret
has stood on the foredeck under tacking #1 - has real sea legs and just sways
with the boat's motion on those huge feet. Don't know what to do about it - it
will surely die if it stays with us, but it doesn't know how to leave and won't
go.
Still have thunderstorms around us. Propagation abysmal so may
not be able to send this for perhaps 24 hours
DB 98, 10505 (gps 89 - more crashes) Not a happy day, but stll
progress. Visiting bird won't go away - tried everything last night but it kept
finding us again. It's now sitting looking at me over the stormboard. Young and
curious. And now it's poking into the cockpit drain looking for food. There
doesn't seem to be anything we can give it - we'll try canned fish and meat
later.
Still surrounded by thunderstorms. Only able to make 135M at 3
kt using the tractor and sails to punch thro the sea and swell. It's like that awful
time in a marathon - usually hits me at about 12k - where I think I feel
dreadful, want to stop, go home, anything but run another 30k. So I have to
tell myself that I started so I've got to finish and anyway what's wrong with a
bit of pain and perseverance - it will end eventually. And it does. But this
bit is not much fun, especially as we seem to be stuck here for the time being.
We are nearly a quarter of the way along the track, which helps.
moving again, surrounded by squally rainclouds - #3 and a reef,
best we can do is 4kt on 250 - heading for the hump of S. America for as long
as it lasts. Woohoo. Not long as it turned out - back on 120, big sewll, short lumpy sea all
over the place on top of it - can't make any real progress in any direction but
heading for the back (I hope!) of a huge storm cloud - thick, black, scuddy low
cloud in front, extends from dead ahead back to our starboard quarter. Looks
quite nasty.
The bird flew away with a bit of persuasion - sad to see it go,
but really its best chance of survival. Seemed quite comfortable sitting on the
water, so it may get home.
[from Hilary Yerbury, Alexs far better other half]
Subject: That bird
Is a cattle egret. I won't make comments
about what it is doing with you two. So, you are right that it needs a diet
of insects and worms. What is it doing
where there are no cattle of the four-legged kind? Either running away to
Brazil or on its way back home after a holiday somewhere. Cattle egrets do
cross the Atlantic from Africa to South America on rare occasions, although
normally they are happier among the lowing herds.
Have just spoken to Steve after one of the worst nights ever in
my sailing career. As if the Vogon Constructor Fleet parked itself at Fox
studios with nowt to do so thought it would indulge in a bit of idle
chuck-the-bus-shelter. Plus emptying their water tankers by superjet. So they
picked us up in their grapplers and flung us about through the jets - farting
and growling and grumbling amongst themselves. Not for fun or anything - they
don't do fun - just because they were there.
Seems we can't escape this nasty strip of evil weather system -
storm clouds everywhere, wind from everywhere, short lumpy sea on big swell
from nowhere in particular. And no visible sign of improvement over 48 hours so
far. 10 kts to 40 kts from anywhere, but trend from the south. Sail changes,
tacks to nothing, headsail up and down, tedious. But could be much worse.
DB: 60, 11543 (gps 99) Yuk! 39 wasted miles...
0629 02216 15/1300 - we seem to be in a steady southerly at last
- what we were expecting when we trekked east from the Cape Verdes to give us
the angle when it arrived. Here's hoping it sticks and carries us into the
trades proper and then lifts us east of Ferdinand de Noronha and down to
Trinidade. Cross your fingers for us.
0629 02216 15/1300 - we seem to be in a steady southerly at last
- what we were expecting when we trekked east from the Cape Verdes to give us
the angle when it arrived. Here's hoping it sticks and carries us into the
trades proper and then lifts us east of Ferdinand de Noronha and down to
Trinidade. Cross your fingers for us.
Hi - this is Alex in Berrimilla in
some awful weather just off the Gulf of Guinea. We are surrounded by big storm
clouds and heavy rain and it's hot and sweaty even at night. We have just
started to get a steady wind from the south, so we are hoping that we can sail
over towards Brazil and then down the coast of South America. We are heading to
pass close to a tiny island called Trinidade, part of the Ihlas San Martin Vaz
group of islands belonging to Brazil at 20 degrees 27 minutes south, 28 degrees
44 minutes west. See if you can find them on a map - they are pretty small.
It's really nice to be able to talk
to you all, even in this rather clumsy way and we'd like to hear from you too
if you are interested. We are going to be sailing towards Australia for another
90 days or so. We send these emails over a high frequency radio - a bit stone
age these days with satellite phones and other high tech goodies, but it works.
Unfortunately, we can't send photos. Probably just as well - we're not the
prettiest - I've worn the same clothes for 10 days now and they are damp and
cheesy, but it saves water if we don't wash them. As for water - we need about
6 litres per day to survive, cook, shave and all those things. We brought about
200 litres with us from England and we have a watermaker called a Reverse
Osmosis de-salinator which gets the salt out of sea water by passing it through
a membrane. It's clever and necessary - we could save some rain water, but not
much and it's always salty
I hope you enjoy your class
Best wishes from Alex.
Grahame Mac thanks for your note of some days ago - you have
clearly worked out that you have to make these things happen. Best of luck with
the channel crossing and please feel free if there's anything we can do to help
as you and Lyn move on to bigger things. Thanks to for offer of music - we
can't get the internet and don't intend to stop anyway so won't be able to take
you up.
We've had a wearying few days but we seem to be south of the
nasties and pointing more or less at the hump of Brazil instead of the Amazon.
We hope that we will be lifted around to head for Trinidade as we move south.
Our difficulties were capped by some unintended man overboard practice
yesterday. We'd just finished one of the many headsail changes and put in a
reef. Pete went up to weather of the boom to put in the knitting along the foot
- something we've done a hundred times - I went down to get my jacket because
it had started to rain quite hard and as I got inside, the boat gybed
violently. I jumped back up, looked forward, no Pete, looked aft and saw him in
the water swimming for the turbine line. I let go both sheets and brought the
boat into wind and we were almost stopped by the time Pete had grabbed the line
and turned on his back. The boat parked beam on with the sails feathered -
essentially hove to - and I pulled him in on the line. At which point it became
clear just how hard it is to get someone heavy, wet and slippery back into a
tossing heaving boat. We managed - Pete has a big graze on his shin but
otherwise undamaged and we're both much wiser and less complacent. I will write
this up more fully with all the do's, dont's and the mistakes that caused it - an edifying
experience and one that should not be wasted.
Some info for Brian and Jen and anyone else who might follow us
- If you have it, SatCom C is fantastic as a free text weather forecast source
and a great complement to grib files but you must get hold of charts of all the
worlds forecast areas (I have asked Simon to include a database on future
versions of SoB but that may be some time off). Reeds Almanac gives the
european and north african ones but SatCom (using our GPS position as a
guide)has now switched us to the Brazilian Navy forecasts for the South
Atlantic and I don't have the areas (Alpha, bravo etc) so can't use it.
Aggravating. I didn't know to look before we left but now all y'all do - so do!
SatC is also a good backup for sailmail, as we discovered on the way north -
but expensive.
And Jen, I was just checking to make sure you know what you're
talking about :-) and I find all that stuff fascinating too. Having most of one
eye u/s is all about depth and compensation.
Hi CaroI
DB 91, 10452 (GPS 95) Not bad considering. We are now 2825 miles
from Falmouth and at best we have about 9760 miles to sail - not quite a quarter
of the way and this is day 27. Dec 11th is still on the cards and we should go
a bit faster from here. Mostly on the wind down to Trinidade so will depend on
the sea state. Actually very difficult sailing - a boat this size just stops in
this sort of sea unless there is enough wind to drive it through - at the
moment there isn't and the best we can do is about 245M @ 3.5 kt. Could be a
long ride south.
Pete's Swim: (I will add to this as we think of more) What
happened: We are not sure how the boat came to gybe. I think that we had used
the electric autopilot to tack after we put the reef in and - as often happens
- the actuator arm had disconnected from the tiller so the boat was not under the
control of either autopilot. It was so sudden that we assume a wave tossed the
stern a long way sideways and caused the gybe.
Pete was leaning against the weather side of the boom about a
metre back from the gooseneck and just got flung.
Mistakes: 1. Complacency - the preventer was not on - should be
the first thing that happens - we had taken it off for one of the operations
and had not re-run it. Had it been properly in place, the gybe would not have
been dangerous.
2. I took my eye off the ball and went below, assuming that all
was ok - as it always has been. Had I not done so, I might have seen it coming
and been able to do something.
3. Pete was not tethered - as it happened, probably saved him from
serious injury because he was thrown 10 - 15 feet off the boat into the water
without any restriction. We both think, after analysing his trajectory, that he
would have crashed into the hull if he'd been tethered. Difficult one.
4. The recovery sling with lifting tackle is (still) buried
under a ton of stuff in the after locker. We will need to extract it and find
more accessible stowage.
What worked: We have talked a lot about what we would do in
exactly that situation - first, the person in the boat must stop the boat as
quickly as possible, then think about recovery - keep the person in the water
in sight. The person in the water should swim for the turbine line faster than
he's ever swum before. Luckily, the turbine was streamed and the boat was not
going fast. Once Pete had grabbed the
line, the rest was easy - except for getting him back on board.
Iffy stuff: 1. There's no way Pete had time to shout - it was so
fast that he was in the water before he had time to realise he was on the way.
Also, with all the ambient noise, it's unlikely I would have been able to hear
him shouting from 20 metres back in the water.
2. Having seen that Pete had the line, I didn't even consider
the rescue goodies in the cockpit - we have a throwing line that really works =
we've tried it, and a Seattle rescue sling. I think (hope!) that if I'd
actually had to consider more complex recovery action, I would have got brain
into gear and used them as appropriate.
Lessons: 1. Man overboard drills in the harbour don't give you
any idea of the fear that grabs you and the time and difficulty involved in
doing it for real. We should use a Seattle sling occasionally and really pick
someone up under controlled conditions. (Would the sling line actually pay out
and not tangle? How easy is it to deploy and what could it snag on? Could it
get into the prop?) A real rescue would almost certainly involve releasing the
lifelines, for instance, and making a crane with the boom or a halyard. Does
the recovery tackle actually work - if it's hard to use in the harbour, in
yesterdays conditions it would have been very much harder.
2. These things do happen and out here they are potentially much
more dangerous than in sight of and radio contact with help. We were lucky - it
could have been much worse.
Hi again from Alex. Just waffling to
give myself something to do. A number for you - we started out with more that
2000 teabags - and I thought some of you might be interested in some of the
technology in the boat - for instance, the watermaker works because water
molecules (H20)are much smaller than salt molecules (NaCl) so if you force sea
water through a special filter called a membrane that has holes in it just a
bit bigger than water molecules, only the water goes through and the salt gets
stuck on the outside. A bit like pouring sandy water through a sock - you get
cloudy water through the sock but the sand gets caught inside. The watermaker
uses two cycles - 2 pumps of water - and the second one is used to wash the
salt back out into the sea. Might not work with my socks out here though - very
cheesy - did you know that there's a bacterium (I think) that is found in all
those cheesy smelling things that makes them smell that way. I'm sure someone
else reading the website knows all about this and can post it for us.
And, using the same idea as the
watermaker, our waterproof breathable clothing works just like the membrane. It
is made in 3 layers and, as water molecules this time are much bigger than the
atoms and molecules that make up the air we breathe, (do you know what they
are?) so air can get through both ways (with attendant cheese bacterium?) but
water gets stuck on the outside and we stay dry and not too hot and sweaty
inside. Before breathable fabric, it was horribly sweaty inside wet weather
gear.
I hope all that is interesting - if
not, tell us what you REALLY want to know and were afraid to ask and we'll have
a go.
DB 91, 10452 (GPS 95) Not bad considering. We are now 2825 miles
from Falmouth and at best we have about 9760 miles to sail - not quite a
quarter of the way and this is day 27. Dec 11th is still on the cards and we
should go a bit faster from here. Mostly on the wind down to Trinidade so will
depend on the sea state. Actually very difficult sailing - a boat this size
just stops in this sort of sea unless there is enough wind to drive it through
- at the moment there isn't and the best we can do is about 245M @ 3.5 kt.
Could be a long ride south.
DG 76, 10376 (GPS 76) Seem that's going to be about par for the
next couple of weeks - we're going to be hard on the wind down to Trinidade,
but I hope we'll get lifted so we don't have to tack around S. America.
H - we're in contact with Jo, so no need to do anything. Ta.
Came up on deck this morning to an amazing sky - there seemed to
be 4 separate layers - sorry, but I don't remember my clouds and don't want to
unpack the boat to find the book - the ice crystals way up on top, with creases
and bands going SW/NE, then a layer of almost lenticular bands of thicker
fluffier but tightly rolled cumulus-like clouds, with the bands approximately
E/W, (some indication of a jetstream up there?) then a layer of perhaps AltoCu
- fluffy, tight little puffs very close together, then the low level diurnal
type cu moving towards us at the gradient wind speed. All patchy and confused.
And the sea is dark gunbarrel grey.
I hung myself over the transom to do what blokes do and saw a
small fish positively gambolling around Kevvo's paddle - wasn't a flying fish -
short and stubby. I also saw something very strange - a globe shaped object,
perhaps 15 cm diameter - apparently full of holes, a bit like those things that
get put into vases for flower arrangements - and every hole seemed to be
blowing bubbles. Odd; all I can think of is that it might have been a chance
symmetrical arrangement of barnacles around something. Kevvo's paddle has two
barnacles already on the trailing edge. I covered the entire paddle with
lanolin spray in Falmouth when Berri was slipped and that seems to be keeping
the slime and other stuff off the rest of it.
Kevin, Kevvo is going really well - new arrangement is working with
slight mods from me. There's a tricky bit that I think you can fix with a tiny
design change too - f you can get to the coming home party, I'll show you else
I'll draw you a picture. Definitely not a showstopper and might just be
peculiar to the Berri arrangement.
[Petes view of events]
G'day out there,
So, did he jump or was he
pushed? ......I know Fenwick would like to have the story spiced up a little at
this stage, what with there being no severe storms forecast for the next few
weeks, the punters out there need a bit of drama to liven things up with their
morning coffee, a bit of biff a decent stoush a bloody good argument about
anything. Unfortunately no such luck.
I didn't jump and a push from where I was would have been
difficult to organise.
I was on top of the
coachroof, just about to lace up the reef that we had put in the mainsail. I
had the rope in my left hand and was leaning against the boom and mainsail,
next thing I remember I was catapulted through the air and I saw the lifelines pass
beneath me. I remember dropping the line I had just before I dived into the
water. The whole incident from launch to hitting the water would have taken
only a second. I had thought some time ago of what I would do if I went over
the side and decided that the best recovery from this situation would be to get
hold of the rope which trails astern with a propeller for generating
electricity. I probably then swam the fastest 20 metres possible to get to the
generator rope which was on the surface of the water before it trailed off
under water with the propeller spinning on its end. I got there in time grabbed
the rope then turned on my back and enjoyed the ride. By this time Alex had
thrown the sheets and the boat was slowing down, he then hauled me in and attempted
to get me on board. In calm water, it is fairly easy to get back on board via
the stern, unfortunately we were in heavy seas and the stern was pitching up
and down at a great rate.
Alex's grip on my arm slipped on the first attempt and I went
back down hitting my left shin on the stainless self-steering paddle ( later
this was found to be badly bruised with a couple of lumps of meat missing ).
The second attempt was successful and I was back on board.
So what did we learn
from this. Throughout the last few days we had been doing a lot of sail changes
and had probably become complacent through this repetitive exercise. The boat
should have been on autopilot but apparently it had disengaged itself from the
tiller and this was not noticed ( we were sailing to windward at the time and
the boat will hold its course for a longtime to windward if the sails are
balanced ). The preventer which stops the boom from crashing from one side to
the other during an unexpected tack or gybe had been let go and earlier and not
been replaced. These two things allowed the unexpected tack but it must have
been a very steep wave lifting the boat's port side violently which caused the
tack. Generally you can feel the boat straighten upright just before one of
these uncontrolled tack or gybe but there was no warning to this one, it was
all in one movement...tip..tack...whack. We were both lucky the way things
panned out.
Obviously more
vigilance is required and this was a good wake up call. The problem of getting
the MOB back on board proved to be a lot more difficult than first thought,
Alex is now leaving a harness and tackle on deck so it can be quickly rigged if
an injured MOB had to be hauled out and the place to do this is midships not
over the stern. ( Berri has boarding steps on the transom and this was thought
to be the best place for an uninjured person to get back on. ). What has
emerged as the real problem is that if the MOB is injured or worse unconscious
then we must have a routine worked out so that one person can recover the other
without assistance.
To finish on a lighter
note here's my daughter Sarah's latest attempt to humour us.
Two old farts
were sailing a small boat on a large ocean,
"Its
windy"
"Its
Thursday"
"I certainly am I'll get the
beers".
Cheers everyone...........Pete.
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