0400hrs 27 Jan 2005.(SYD time) 45’59”S 171’08”E. (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.
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1-3. New Zealand to Date Line
Track
Logs ( 12 )0923hrs 27 Jan 2005.(SYD time) 46’15”S 171’19”E. 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 Dunedin seems to be working and the boat is much easier to live in. I don’t think we could have achieved the turn-around in Dunedin any faster that we did and it would have been really easy to have hung around, particularly at the Alehouse. And it would have taken much longer without the very generous help from Kevin Martin, Bert Youngman and Bob Watt and the many other people who gave us a hand from time to time. Thanks everyone. There’s another boat on its way to the Horn from Hobart. It’s called Sarau, a Dickson 55 and it is also crewed two handed, by the owner and his son. We met them before the Lord Howe race and set up a radio sked and we are talking to them every day. Bigger and much faster than us and although they left 13 days behind us, our week’s stop and relative plod means that they are about to overtake us. I have just spoken to them, they are at 4710 16541 and there’s a smidgin of a chance that we may meet up about 60 miles south of our present position if the wind dies for them and we can keep moving. We will talk to them again this evening. 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… 0616hrs 28 Jan 2005.(SYD time) 47’10”S 171’48”E. 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. 0900hrs 28 Jan 2005.(SYD time) 47’27”S 171’54”E. 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 Kent and Sirius. Don’t remember the others but will need to start charting them again so we can play with the sextant. Wildlife report – a few of the black backed white patched gulls and an albatross or two. Lots of seaweed and I saw a sort of flattish jelly roll with red dots in it about 25cm long – an egg case for Leviathan? 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. 1436hrs 28 Jan 2005.(SYD time) 47’41”S 172’31”E. 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.
0832hrs 29 Jan 2005 (SYD time) 48’12”S 173’45”E. Map Ref 32 1320nm Happy Birthday Hilary [ed: alex’s 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 Antipodes Islands on the way. Bet most of youse never heard of them. Very slow progress but will improve further south and tomorrow. This is a big ocean. So far, we’ve had only one three hour watch during which we haven’t had to change something – a sail, reef, pole… 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.
Rendez-vous with Sarau
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0559hrs 30 Jan 2005 SYD time 49’02”S 175’38”E 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 Antipodes Islands are about 100 miles dead ahead, at about 4950S, so we will be looking to turn east or ENE round about there if the current wind holds. Here endeth today’s first homily. 1657hrs 30 Jan 2005 SYD time 49’29”S 177’08”E 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. 0013hrs 31 Jan 2005 SYD time 49’36”S 179’13”E Map Ref 37 On board cuisine Since leaving Dunedin, the weather has been very kind to us. Though not enough wind at times, it has allowed us to eat well. The day often starts with a shared bottle of Dr Coopers remedial throat elixir. During this time, plans are made for the day, possible sail changes etc. and discussion of overnight progress. Breakfast follows – this could be a bacon sandwich, bacon and egg omelet or perhaps just bread, butter & jam with a cup of tea. 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 Hobart, then into Majestic dried food and Nathan Wilson’s Chefsway dried curries from Hobart. Cheers to all, Pete 0700hrs 31 Jan 2005 SYD time 49’43”S 179’27”E Map Ref 36 This morning at daybreak we passed 4 miles south of the Antipodes islands – craggy and bleak with vertical cliffs and their own cloud system. I had a feel for how it must have been for earlier navigators on dead reckoning as I peered into the rather murky dawn looking for them and rather wanting to miss them. A couple of hours earlier and a square rigger even reasonably sure of its position would have had to slow down and wait for daylight. They don’t appear on the small gps world map, but Cmap has them, and – relief – in the correct place. The main island is about 4 miles long, looks from the south as if it would be pretty hard to land on from the sea. Looks the sort of place NZ would turn into a wildlife park or a special breeding ground for endangered thingies. Anyone out there know? Do they have a history? And we are 19 miles and about three hours from the international dateline @ 180 degrees and Australia’s yesterday. Milestone # 2 and a must for a visit to the doctor. Bacon sando under way as I write – solo effort as pete is 30ft under and snoring. 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 Falklands. Next report from Australia’s past. Probably part two of windvane artistry – the clever bit. 1213hrs 31 Jan 2005 SYD time 49’36”S 178’49”W 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. 2352hrs 31 Jan 2005 SYD time 49’32”S 178’06”W 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 Dublin. Nothing to it really. So, what happens? As the boat moves through the water, its direction is influenced by the waves and by wind changes. Changes in direction also change the apparent wind and the aerofoil is no longer perfectly aligned but feels the new wind on one side or the other and rocks away from it as it feels the new force. The aerofoil itself is not powerful enough to move the tiller but as it rocks, it causes the paddle to rotate about its vertical axis, so it in turn is no longer perfectly aligned in the boat’s wake and is moved sideways by the water flow. Water flow on about half a square metre of paddle exerts considerable force and this moves a big lever that is connected to the tiller by lines and pulleys and the tiller moves the rudder to bring the boat back on course. Happens much faster than I can write it and it is amazingly accurate when properly set up. Sensitivity to all wind strengths is achieved by using different sized aerofoils and by adjusting the counterweight that holds the aerofoil upright either up or down. Fully down makes it very stiff so requiring more wind to move it, fully up is very sensitive to tiny changes in wind strength. And one final bit of cleverness – the steering lines are connected to the tiller by hooking one link of a short length of chain over a stud on top of the tiller and the whole thing can be very finely trimmed by selecting the exact link needed to keep the boat on course. An elegant and ingenious piece of gear. The downside is that it follows changes in wind direction very accurately, always keeping the boat aligned to the apparent wind but not to the required compass course, so, for example, if we had set it up to miss the Antipodes Islands this morning and gone to sleep and the wind had changed…Very important to monitor what is happening all the time. Does that cover it Kevin? The small adjustments we made in Dunedin seem to be working. |
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CONTACT: berrimilla2@gmail.com Copyright © 2004-2024 Alex Whitworth - All Rights Reserved |
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