Dec 01, 2005 – 2100hrs UTC

2100hrs 01 Dec 2005 UTC 45’33”S 115’57”E Ref 607

Leeuwin in the bag at 1510 utc – one to go. not looking good at the mo  more overcast, wind dropping out, but a nice gale warning with several fronts and the usual 30 – 40 back behind 90 w so a few hours away yet. wt is 7.5 but we seem to be in about a knot-- Speed: definition of speed at sea. One knot is one nautical mile per hour. The nautical mile is about 1.15 % longer than the "statute" mile used on land. A knot is about half a metre per second. -- A knot is also the result of winding a rope around itself or another rope to make a join or a loop . of nice current. pointing directly sat the corner from here, as long as the wind and sea permit, and 1324 to go – just over 10 days if we can keep up the average. i can sense the examinerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. pacing her floor and looking for something nasty…

health report – apart from aforementioned armpit and crutchitude, we seem to be in good nick, altho i can feel overall muscle atrophy – surprising really given the work we do and the amount of bracing – and a bit of geriatric arse sag – guess that would have happened anyway with the grim reaper out there in the wings somewhere. one thing i have noticed is that i can now put my fingers into a mug of really hot tea and take out the two teabags and squeeze them one by one without feeling a thing. no way could i do that even by falmouth.

have the engine running and the watermaker, which is down to 2 ltr/hr in 7.5 deg water. not enough sunlight for good solar and we’re getting low on water and diesel but should survive as long as we don’t park anywhere for too long. motoring up the derwentThe Derwent is a river in Tasmania, Australia. Its large estuary forms the port of Hobart. might be tricky though. the watermaker instructions say discard the first 5 minutes of discharge after start up because sale leaches thro the membrane when not runnning. we have found that the first mug or so of water is a bit salty, and we put it in a brown bottle and use it for cooking and soup – can’t afford to waste any and anyway, it’s drinkably salty.

gale warning now has 35-45 knots. wind no problem, but when the seas rise, it very much limits our choice of direction. we should be ok with this one. fingers crossed, freck at the ready.