2330hrs 07 Nov 2005 UTC 40’14”S 045’53”E Ref 531
Hooning – sailing out beyond the comfort zone – romping with attitude, grey knuckles and clenched freckle – Sailing in close company with the good ship Titan Uranus – any advance?
[ed: in response to some questions about vague and/or cryptic references elsewhere in the logs…]
Mobile Maritime Station Identification #, Closest Point of Approach Archer’s Tool – Strongbow cider – JW Smoothies come in a green can with a widget so have lovely creamy head. First tasted in theFalklands, Dr Cooper – Cooper’s Sparkling Ale – brewed in the bottle, so a bit of sludge comes with it – best beer on the planet – beats a Pan Galactic Gargleblaster hands down. Also Pete’s home brew, brewed from a Coopers kit. 5Capesok, dodger – small hood extending aft from coachroof over front of cockpit – v. small in Berri, just big enough to duck under and dodge the flying spray from greenie – wave breaking over boat, with some solid water. Check Peter J. citation with Thorry Gunnarson who knows him well and could even run it past him. Grib – ok, and available via sailmail, so extremely useful – gives detailed wind and baro. pressure over selected area by email. Arrives as active diagrammatic representation with wind arrows and isobars – v. clever, to us non nerds.
Went out to put in the second reef as we hooned towards the penguins at sunset – sky like looking into a furnace with deep, bottomless golden red glow and grey black clouds silhouetted in front – and an albatross too, at full 90 degree bank, razor wings
vertical with tips just curving upward with the g force. Magnificent. We can’t hold the great circle course at the mo – carving a line along the rhumb. Not worth worrying about – we’re doing 6+. Berri thundering along, 2 reefs and 2, 30 – 35 kts from SW,
huge stern wave rolling up behind – some sparkles of phosphorescence and long smoky snaky trail in the water. Crashing a bit in the gusts with heavy water over the top and into the cockpit. Solid overcast, no moonglow, no stars. Barometer rising minimally so still on the front of a high, it seems.
From John McC
You are in the thick of it down there and regularly comment on Berri as a strong seaworthy boat. In your opinion, is the S&S 34 as well found a boat.
John – I can’t compare Berri with an S&S 34 – never sailed in one – can tell you that the 34 is faster in light winds but we dork them in the heavy stuff. Brolgas have more interior space because engine aft under cockpit, not in saloon.
Malcom – tks for ship data. And squid. I expect the next ploy will be taking them for scientific research…
From Graham S
Cheer up my lads, its to glory you steer
To add something to your wonderful year
You were not pressed, so as to enslave
We that are so free, us sons of the waves.By my Merlin 11 and checked by my Endeavour Nav system, between 0700 hrs on 5th and 0900 hrs on the 6th you had 138.2 nm, by GPS positions, which is 5.3 Kts for 26hrs.
Sydney via S.E.Cape is 5407 nm, just 57nm more than via Bass Straight which has just the same weather as Agulas Plateau and its near vicinity which you have just experienced, and that plateau south of NZ.
5407 nm at 5.3 kts puts you in Sydney on the 19th Dec.
Now I think you could do better than 5.3kts, especially via S.E.Cape. Bass Straight could end being a lot longer.
Graham – thanks for numbers and advice – problem with measuring between coordinates of day’s run is that the result is almost never the same as DMG. I think thatBass Straitis risky, as you suggest, but the better half of the compromise if we are cutting it
very fine. If we can catch up a bit, we’ll do theCape, no worries, mate. We’ll need a good southerly up the Taswegian coast to bring us home – and a boatful of diesel for the east coast current.