0415hrs 03 Dec 2005 UTC 45’38”S 119’34”E Ref 612
Storm due over us around midnight tonight. Wind will probably veer – hard to tell with info to hand, rise to over 50 kts and be with us for at least 12 hours. Unable to claw our way any further north and suspect that that might be the wrong strategy anyway from general direction of the low and it’s speed. I thought the Examiner hadn’t finished with us! We may still need every hour of that margin to get around the corner and if we do, things will be dire – v. low on diesel, not enough sunlight for solar, no supplies in the Medicine chest. Glad I didn’t say we’d be in dire straits.
I wish I could get these things through. I have second last salute in my head all ready to write, but can’t actually face writing it and headbutting xantic bounces and sailmail propagation to get it to you. Far too stressful. It’s a biggie and will take some work. It will also be a rather sad one, perhaps the first act of the epilogue. Will start on a draft.
We’re just pottering along – #3 and 2 reefs – lumpy sea, about 4 kts if we’re lucky, waiting for the stuff to come off the shovel. Small bursts of sunlight, an occasional black petrel, long grey overcast, thick, soupy and threatening astern. Not game to put any more sail up – this should come on gradually from the isobaric wx fax but don’t know. Doubt wether we’ll make the numbers for this days 24 hr dmg. I guess all y’all know all about waiting. It’s an inexact science at the best of times.
The logs ramblings can be cryptic, so we have added: