Feb 03, 2005 - 0704hrs UTC

0704hrs 03 Feb 2005 UTC 49’07”S 169’14”W Map Ref 44 2015nm

Cold damp dawn with misty rain – but good breeze. Some birds around yesterday but none today. Breadmaking yesterday spectacularly successful – using breadmaking kit from woollies with 4×250 gm packs and yeast sachets for each. One pack just fills two 6″ shallow cake tins – a lot of work for two small loaves but worth it. Used the Kunming pressure cooker, KatherineAlex’s daughter, with seal removed and big teflon coated cookpot as dry ovens and egg rings under the aluminium cake tins. took a lot longer than expected to cookBritish explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. He made 3 voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. More on wikipedia. – about 2 hours – but i probably didn’t preheat enough and could also cookBritish explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. He made 3 voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. More on wikipedia. at higher heat. Forgot to dip the metho tank first so dont know how much we used.

We are back up to reasonable speed again, with Berri and KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others in harmony and basically nothing to do except look after things like chafe and the vegie garden, now thriving in its dogbowl on the shelf in the head (loo for the nautically challenged). Will start some mungBeans sprouted on board if it’s warm enough beansBeans sprouted on board if it’s warm enough today. The sand grains of daily life. You will know how busy we are or how bad the weather is from the length and triviality of these updates. Strategically, we’re still under the bottom of the high and we’re doing our best to hang with it for as long as possible. Nasty looking low forming on the Australian east coast – still 2000 miles away but worth watching. Hope it gets forced down to the south east and under us by our high. SarauYacht with which Berri had a rendezvous at sea is now about i50 miles ahead and a bit south – they’ve been motoring to stay in the wind.

Must go and do the rounds on deck – 15 minutes getting into full party gearFull wet weather gear including harness, tether, epirbEmergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, strobe, knife, balaclava, even in this more or less calm water – and an hour or so up in the damp. Wind dropping a bit and backing – may have to gybeGybe - A sailing term for turning the boat so that the stern passes through the wind. Potentially dangerous if not controlled because the wind can fill an uncontrolled mainsail from the wrong side and crash it across the boat, possibly causing damage to the rig and anyone getting in the way. later to stay south in the breeze. Later – quite pleasant up there once you get over the first reluctance to venture out of nice warm cabin. Made some small adjustments to sheets, halyardsLines to hoist the sails and steering lines to limit chafe. Then out of party gearFull wet weather gear, now quite damp, into sandals to avoid cabin floor – always salt-sticky and clammy – and back onto this gizmoSome kind of gadget or other, normally infuriating.

Reminded as I unrigged myself of something that doesn’t work – velcro neck closures for anything you wear next to or one layer up from the skin -aaargh. Must have some sort of collar underneath or impossible. And something else – I asked Brian ShillandShilland, Brian: much-lauded sailmaker for Berri to shorten the braces on my wet weather pants with his big sailmaker’s sewing machine. And now I have to get half the party gearFull wet weather gear off in order to pee. How could I not have thought of that one? But Brian just folded them over, sensible bloke that he is so I can unpick and revert to draggy pants and easier relief.

Hi Sue and all the Windmills, Hi Brian and Jen – Raewi must be looking good. And G’day to the KAZ mob – yes, it’s cold but not unpleasantly so and the bivvy bags and insulation have kept us warm and dry – so far. And the DoctorGuinness looks after us too. Shokko, it was the email address (steve strips off all that stuff and pastes emails into one download for us) altho I like the other option – was going to waffle offline but dont have spare connect time at the mo. Just remember, you have an unlimited supply of the stuff, we will run out sometime in march if we behave. Ello smead – likewise re caffeine.