noon 4624.15 17503.44 Wed 28/05/2008 05:00

dtdDistance to Dutch (Harbour) 852 dmgDistance Made Good; More here 96 – still going sideways relative to Dutch. 136 to Alaskan waters.

From this rather uncomfortable, cold and damp little grot behind the ConePlastic roll-down curtain to protect nav table /instruments from water, things ain’t so good. IFF we can climb high enough to make it through AmchitkaAmchitka Pass:a strait in the Aleutian Islands, between the Rat Islands group to the west and the Delarof Islands to the east. Amchitka Island was the site of the Cannikin nuclear test – the biggest underground explosion ever conducted by the USA (as far as we know). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amchitka without having to park and wait, we’re about 9 days from Dutch. If we get lucky, that is!

Real headbang stuff. Engine running, heady now rolled in, boat set up to just slide the swell rather that pound into it and stop with every third wave. So we’re still 10 deg. below the direct track required of 028. Small chance from the gribWeather files. Graphics in Binary file: GRIB files associate a specific weather datum (eg wind velocity or atmospheric pressure) with a geographic position. Because the resulting file is a collection of these points they are extremely small and so ideal over slow links such as sailmail. that we will get a lift tonight and then again a couple of days out off the big low but it will be a close run thing. We have about 120 litres of diesel so in deep conservation mode. That is about 70 litres for distance and the rest for contingency – 70 litres is about 150 miles if we get the right conditions and we’re 400 from the other side of the pass, so AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. is looking like a definite if they will allow us to enter. And if we can pay by credit card – all our $US is waiting for us in Dutch. Been trying to contact our local friend but no luck – would be a real help if someone could please let us know if AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. has credit card facilities, so that we know whether we can burn diesel to get there.

Pearshapedness looms large! All applicable appendages crossed for the next week or so please.

I’ve taken the punt and rolled out the headsail, cranked it right on with the autopilot following the windvaneStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others to chase every lift and 33 deg off the wind with the engine running. We’re getting 015 – 025 with 5+ knots so while it doesn’t get us uphill far enough, it’s a lot more efficient than before and I hope we’ll get the lift tonight and be able to climb far enough under sail to make the pass. Iff all goes well, we’ll be in Alaska sometime late tomorrow with 220 odd to go to AmchitkaAmchitka Pass:a strait in the Aleutian Islands, between the Rat Islands group to the west and the Delarof Islands to the east. Amchitka Island was the site of the Cannikin nuclear test – the biggest underground explosion ever conducted by the USA (as far as we know). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amchitka .