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all y'all will no doubt find this silly but the tears are
streaming down my cheeks as i write. set out to backtrack the fix and
discovered that my merlin calculator was part of yesterdays detritus must have
come out of its plastic bag mid flight across the boat and into the awful heap
of sludge that it always created by bad knockdowns.
my lovely old friend, a present from h + k + e for christmas all
those years ago and cherished through numerous hobarts and it's dead. corpsed.
a thoroughly ex-calculator. i am devastated. no numbers for today, in
remembrance.
did find my glasses in the same heap of grot and bilge water and
burst teabags so some tiny compensation.
oh poooo. there is no real compensation. sniffle. lizzie - or
joe - or harvey - please may i borrow your bear?.
as a result, have spent the last hour taking apart and
reassembling starboard qberth where ready use stores are kept. disaster area -
mainly because of burst bags of teabags mixed
with bilge water and other nasties. amazing what else you find.as well -
mostly unrecognisable. still no let up - 60 kt gust, crashing wave next to my
face, water slashing across the decks. daren't try to film it - far too much
flying water - really sad because it is absolutely magnificent as a spectacle -
just bloody frightening when it really gets aggro. waves brilliant jade
green-blue sparkling translucent - stunningly beautiful as they rear up to
crash down on us - or just dirty grey if the sun has gone. at night, massive
solid dark shapes tinged with white, sometimes flecks of phosphorescence -
rearing up blotting the stars and moon. then the awful crash and shudder of
solid cascading water.
070m @ 3.5kt
hi k ta hi is hi jeanne
pete asleep.
this getting worse. steady 60 blasting seas. series of driving
rainsqualls. 'maybe short lull in hi in
next day or so, then the next one looks wrse than this one.
perbloodyserverence. is all we got. and
some gin. love yez
The great unclench! Polished freckles relaxing all over the
place. The wind started to ease late yesterday - from a rumbustuous 50 - 60
down to a lullaby 40 or so and we both hit the sack and slept. Woken around
midnight by Pete with cup of soup and thoughts of adding some sail to the
equation. I went thro the party gear ritual and out into the cold starry dark -
the glow had colour rather like ice seen by distant candle light - Orion majestic,
Mars just below, the pointers and the Cross blazing away to the south and a
band of solid black cloud to the east and formless gloom in the west. Ran the
sheets and decided to wait a bit before setting any sail - swell still huge and
some gusts with bite. Went forward to tidy the halyards, spread fanwise around
the foredeck to stop them banging on the mast in the storm, repacked the two
storm jibs and rearranged the sails up front, closed the hatch and leaned back
against the coachroof - the moon had risen from behind the wall of cloud and
was golden behind some fluffy wisps - sorry to keep harping on about Turner but
you've got to be here to appreciate just how good he was. Still very big swell
and the moon's reflection coming back to me on several planes and sometimes
disappearing altogether behind a black mass of water.
Back in the cockpit, tightening Kevvo's counter weight - looked
up to see mountain of water with seething top way up above my right shoulder.
Instant cringe and brace behind pushpit, as low as possible and hanging on with
eyebrows and toes - and dear old Berri just serenely lifted her backside,
tucked the thing under her and left just a minor frothfest to wet my boots.
Amazing what a boat can tolerate - and sometimes make a complete mess of as
well.
We are waiting until daylight and we will set some sail -
probably 4 & 5 on poles and head NE. I know that's not according to the
Admiralty and Hoyle, but they ain't here in this stuff. North gets us above the
worst of the next one and we'll sort it from there.
Martin - deeply grateful for kind offer of old Merlin - would
love to give it a good home if you have really finished with it. Does it still
have its program in memory? We never managed to contact Juri - the propagation
here is r/s and we can't even talk to Cape Town radio. Glad hes doing better.
Steve- won't waste
satphone time this morning utc - as long as I can get this away - all ok and we
seem to be ready to move on.
Now that the Great Unclench '05 has occurred and normal
functions can resume, Mal and Barry, thanks for NASA bodily waste removal
information. It seems $23M well spent! I have written to the man with first
hand - or at least, first freckle - experience and I hope he will be kind
enough to ask around his colleagues and send us the bumf.
Rob M - and every one else who has written recently - Potter,
Hugh, Mark, Malcom and many others - thanks for your notes - sorry not to
acknowledge - been a bit hectic.
Am just realising just how weary I am - A long year combined
with a week or so of tension and a bloke really needs the Doctor. Wendy, we are
approaching your first milestone - 20E and Cape Agulhas and the Indian Ocean
are about a day and a half away if we can keep sailing. Interesting evidence
out there of just how much water has dumped over the decks - some of it quite
subtle, like the bit of very grippy sticky tape I had covering a small hole in
a mushroom vent - gone completely - would have taken significant scraping to
remove it manually.
Now have to start drying out - ran the engine for an hour this
morning and my woolly sox are now cooking quietly on top of it as it cools.
Will be nice to have them dry again.
Where to from here? Dunno - I think that both a 5 Cape
Circumnavigation as well as making the start line is now beyond us, sadly. Too
much time wasted around here and we're not yet out of the unpleasantness.
Priority will probably be the start line but we'll see - may not even make
that, so there's always the New Year's Eve party.
Pete has just handed me a pot of lovely foaming Medicinal
Compound. Berri still rolling like crazy - the waves come in patterns and
really chuck us around sometimes.
DB: dmg 79,(V fishy!)5891 SEC gps 72 66/44.
Steve - sailmail spotty but getting some connects - perhaps you
could send all by sailmail tfn, then check it daily and anything I haven't
managed to collect after say 24 hours, send satcom or just drop if necessary -
saves a bit of money. Also, could you please post Chris Nailer's quotation from
the Analects - I love it. Might inspire someone else to do a bit of reading.
Ed: as requested
.
Here's what Lieh-Tzu says about it all: "Confucius was looking at
Lu-liang waterfall. The water dropped two hundred feet, streaming foam for
thirty miles; it was a place where fish and turtles and crocodiles could not
swim, but he saw a man swimming there. Taking him for someone in difficulties,
he sent a disciple along the bank to pull him up. But after swimming a few
hundred yards the man came out, and strolled along singing under the bank with
his hair hanging down his back. Confucius proceeded to question him: 'I
thought you were a ghost, but now I can look you over I see you are human. May
I ask whether you have a Way to tread in water?' 'No, I have no Way. I began in
what is native to me, grew up in what is natural to me, matured by trusting
destiny. I enter the vortex with the inflow and leave with the outflow, follow
the Way of the water instead of imposing a course of my own; this is how I
tread it.' 'What do you mean "beginning in what is native to you, growing
up in what is natural to you, maturing by trusting destiny?"' 'Having been
born on land I am safe on land - this is native to me. Having grown up in the
water I am safe in the water - this is natural to me. I do it without knowing
how I do it - this is trusting destiny.'
Sailing again, directly below the centre of the high. Sunshine
and sparkles. We're taking a punt and going east - seems to me that's more
sensible than playing to something behind us that may not happen. More evidence
of water mass over the deck: the liferaft is double lashed to 3 strongpoints -
You do learn from experience occasionally! - it has moved and is loose to the
extent that an errant sail tie from the main has got between the canister and
the base - and come out the other side! Now fixed.
My little free fall across the boat - I found my sandal in a
spot it could only have got to if the boat rolled past about 120 degrees. This
fits with the other evidence - I think (and felt) that I was tossed upwards
over the leecloth pole into two vertical lines supporting the pole from the
grab rail. This tore the leecloth from the screws and washers holding it down
and I continued across the boat, still going up, and hit the coachroof at the
angle at the top of the window and then fell vertically into Pete's bunk as the
boat righted itself. Fun. Bunk now consists of a wrap around cocoon of spectra
- will be ok as long as the shelf side that anchors it can hold my weight in
another knockdown. I think t can, but we aren't going to have any more.
A small quote from Bernie - I don't think he will mind:
"They've shown you don't need a new mega yacht or a big
boat to do this stuff. It's more about your own abilities and tenacity than big
toys and a big budget.
Go guys!"
Right on, mate - that's precisely the message and all the best
with the RBI and AZAB - might see you there! And thanks for your donation. Rob,
happy new boat and the Scillys is a great place to aim for. Then the world!
Johno and Diana and all the PB's - yeah and G'day!
Ed: from Pete (yep, he is out there too!)
Hi to everyone out there, I have been quiet lately as
transmission of my blathering is a problem but I think the time has come for me
to relieve some frustration via the email.
I'm now just a wee
bit pissed off with this weather. I just checked my log and today is the ninth
day in a row of us having to sail with some form of storm gear up. We just seem
to be getting a parade of fast and tough lows coming through from the west
occasionally they are separated by a fart sized high which gives us clear skies
and 25 kts for perhaps half a day, during which time we can get outside and get
some fresh air to the body. Yesterday we ran under storm jib most of the day
but later the wind eased and changed direction so we poled out the no.5 to port
and poled the storm jib to starboard and headed a bit east of north trying to
get away from the stronger winds to the south. This worked well but we still
had very big seas which occasionally crashed onto the side of the
boat.....Those five dots represent a period of 41 hours.
I had just written "boat" when the first knockdown
happened, it was like an instant flip one second vertical the next horizontal.
When it hit I was flung to starboard but got a leg out in time to stop me
crashing into the galley. I also managed to keep hold of the computer which
took a flying leap. I saw all of Alex's gear which was stored on the port side
beside the nav table flying past my head. A large drawer which is about two
foot long and full of heavy things like spare batteries numerous rolls of duct
tape etc launched itself from under the nav table and crashed into the front of
the galley.
If someone was there it would have broken a leg. Alex ended up
in my bunk, he must have broken through the bottom of the lee cloth and dropped
vertically to my bunk when the boat went horizontal. We cleared the debris and
rescued what we could then another knockdown, two more followed. We had to get
the storm jib down so on with the party gear and after waiting for a lull I ran
forward to the bow and Alex worked the cockpit. Clipped the harness on forward,
pulled the sail down unclipped the halyard, removed, the hanks, undid the
sheets, quickly rolled up the sail and stuffed it down the forward hatch.
It all took perhaps 2 to 3 minutes at no time did I look back at
the waves, if you do you seem to get mesmerised by them and you lose the rhythm
of your task. Now back in the cockpit Alex had tightened the halyard and
retrieved the sheets, we then had a quick tidy up of the cockpit then back
down. No more knockdowns after that but some waves went close, I just can't
imagine how many tons of water Berri rolled off her back that night.
After that incident I
was more than pissed off I was quite shitty with the examiner. I was due to
talk about "cabin fever" a malaise that gets you after you have been
cooped up inside in these sort of conditions. There is no cure for the fever
the Good Doctor doesn't work as the required dosage could cause problems, one
just has to wait it out and relief comes when the wind drops and normal sailing
resumes. When cooped inside in bad weather most enjoyable things are
impossible, a good book is useless as you can't concentrate long enough. You
just have to sit or lie wedged in to stop all movement.
There are physical responses to this of course, yesterday
morning I woke with an aching jaw, my teeth have been ground down to mere
stumps of their former selves. My stomach muscles have improved out of sight,
if these lengths of sprung steel could wrap themselves around a barbell I'm
sure they could now bench press at least 200 pounds. Further down the muscles
controlling the sphincter have now achieved a grip capable of throttling a
Texas size boa constrictor but I don't think I should go on any more with that
analogy. So now things have improved but not for long as the grib forecast says
more of the same in a couple
of days. So till the next time I intend to enjoy myself while I
can. Cheers.....Pete.
That's one spectacularly inventive Examiner we've been
allocated. She certainly stimulates the reflexes - we are now hove to, not in a
gale but in a pretend zephyr that is just enough to keep the headsail backed in
a very sloppy and confused bit of ocean. Quite impossible to sail - Berri rolls
and gyrates so much in the slop that it's futile even to try. So the barn door
is still firmly closed 66 miles ahead of us and we ain't a goin' anywheres. Not
yet anyway. From the blast furnace into the acid bath! The apology for a breeze
is coming from the south and we are drifting south west at about 1.5 kts, so it
seems we are in a 2 knot or so current from the north, perhaps the bottom end
of the Agulhas current. The water temp is 16 degrees and earlier, the wave
pattern was very much wind against tide with steep sided waves, all confused.
A warning. I set about fixing the liferaft lashings late
yesterday. They consist of a set of webbing straps held down and locked with a
big pelican clip and a second lashing of doubled up 6mm spectra over the top. I
found that the pelican clip was undone and the raft was only attached to the
boat by the spectra - very firmly attached so no problem but the pelican clip
was something to think about. When we lost the first raft off Montevideo, we
found the pelican clip undone as well and were puzzled by this. The clip is
designed so that when locked and under pressure, friction holds the sliding
locking ring in place. I can only assume that the force of water hitting the
clip from the side is sufficient to shift the deliberately easy to slide
locking ring up the shaft of the clip far enough to release it. In ordinary
circumstances, I have always taped up the slider so that it was not
inadvertently slipped by someone's heel when reefing or whatever, but I thought
this not sensible or necessary for this voyage. Be warned, anyone who relies
just on the clip - if I am correct, then you really do need to tape up the
slider if you expect serious greenies over the top and your raft is as exposed
as Berrimilla's is on the coachroof. Having taped it up, you need to have some
way of releasing it quickly - perhaps a knife attached to it somehow.
I feel a bit like Bligh must have felt when he was cast off from
the Bounty in the longboat. They were in sight of one of the Pacific islands,
or at least very close, but it was directly upwind and Bligh knew he had no
choice but to sail west in the general direction of Australia. We are about 200
miles south of Cape Town but it would be impossible to sail there in this
breeze and probably very difficult in the strong NW'erly that, I think, is to
follow. Bligh sailed, eventually, about 3500 miles to Kupang, and I've stood on
the wharf where he probably landed. We will sail about 6000 miles to Oz,
eventually, if the Examiner can't find a way to prevent us. At which point,
comparisons stop.
My request to borrow a consolatory bear yesterday when the
Merlin died has produced two - one from L, H & J, potentially renamed
Bearymilla and the other from the Izzos - a Virtual Bear called Percy Vere.
Thanks - I am as consoled as it is possible to be. I wonder if the originator
of the Merlin is still out at Strathfield in Sydney - I have his contact
details with the instructions for mine and it would be nice to be able to get
Martin's semi comatose friend reprogrammed on-line instead of feeding in the
program line by line from the keyboard.
I was stung by some extra snide and pointed remarks from Himself
along the lines of 'all we've got around here is dry biscuits' so I made some
bread yesterday. Timed it too - 2 hours for 8 slices of bread, but nice to
have. I tried frying it and it works, so cutting down the baking time by at
least an hour. The trick is to press a small ball of dough into the thinnest
pancake possible and then drop it onto oil so hot that it has just started to
smoke. As soon as the top starts to form bubbles - about 2 minutes - turn it
over for a minute or so and remove. Uses a lot of oil and tastes a bit like
naan without the spices but offers lots of opportunity for adding stuff.
Ed: later
Ship approaching. First since C.Verdes maybe cos I was able to
contact CTown radio yest.
Mostly becalmed
Lily the Pink, the Pink, the Pink, saviour of the human race with
her medicinal compound - has anyone ever seen a pink Albatross? Well I have and
completely without any help from Lily - just after sunrise this morning, all
pink and orange and flame in a softly misty east, and we have a couple of small
dark topped albatrosses wheeling around, together with the fifty or so big
black petrels. The Albatrosses were doing low passes and banking up and away
just on our beam and - for an instant as they lifted, the sunrise was reflected
off their white undersides so they were truly pink - magic. Worked for the
petrels as well, but not so obvious against their black feathers. One of them
had a drop of water on its beak and, again for an instant, there was a
prismatic flash - rather like the hollywood gimmick that makes the good guy's
teeth flash for a moment. Wish I hadn't thought of that!
We've spent all night going up and down to nowhere. Same again,
I think for the rest of today, with a bit of promise for tomorrow. Still 66
miles to the barn door. We saw our first ship since the CV's too - came up on
the AIS in SoB @ about 16 miles. Big cargo ship, 185 mtrs, bound for Xiamen in China, called Thor
Energy. I spoke to them - the Deck Officer sounded completely uninterested. But
that's about 5000 miles without seeing a ship - big empty ocean. Wouldn't it be
fun if the old Titan Uranus appeared over the horizon.
Today we finished the supply of bacon for breakfast - suitably
washed down, wrapped in yesterday's bread. Not bad - 66 days out from Falmouth.
DB: DMG 42, gps 73 67/43
Making slow progress again - heading SE with 50 miles to the
barn door at about 3730 S. The chart shows some amazing seamounts under here -
they rise almost vertically from the seabed at about 5000m up to 1500m - and
all in a circle about 6 miles across. Old volcanic plugs perhaps? There are
quite a lot of them, like huge stalagmites.
We are gradually getting the boat back in order. The generator
seems to be close to the end - we examined it and there is a lot of movement in
the bearings, especially the rear. We cant take it apart to fix it - the two
halves are bonded together in an oven, we were told. And the storm damaged the
solar panel array - not sure how it happened, but the back of the panel has been
scratched at the edge of one of the discs and there is a green stain. This
seems to be serious - but the panel is still working and is running the
watermaker as I write. Pete has slaved away up in the forepeak and rearranged
sails, stowed empty plastic bottles, retrieved food from the bins under the
sails and rearranged the bins and packed them in with sails. He's now resting
the rest of the just.
Fenwick - please pass on our best wishes to the LHI fleet -keep
your mobile on and we might try to give you a quick call if the weather
permits.
Colin, Hobart looks doubtful on the way across - we are looking
iffy even for the start from here. Hi Maggie and Ian, Martin, Steve W. - sorry
cant be there just for the mo!
Just crossed 19E. Woohoo!
Wild life, apart from two rather smelly humans includes a sea
surface covered in millions of baby Potrugese Men o'War from a couple of
millimetres to about 5 cm. The turbine line gets their tendrils wrapped around
it in thick clumps of blue stretchy stringy spiral jelly. We slowed down from
our majestic 2 knots to put up the 2 and I looked down into the water and there
is a layer, or so it seems, about half a metre down, of tiny iridescent blue
sparkles just like chopped aluminium foil in millimetre slivers. They are, presumably, alive -
perhaps a version of the old phosphorescence wizard, the dinoflagellate, but
they don't seem to have any form or shape.
We know that we will run out of tonic long before we finish the
gin, so we are improvising. It seemed worth adding a drop or two of the old
juniper to our alternate day's mug of cider and, ladies and gents, permit me to
introduce you to our latest Medical Consultant, the good Doctor Grumpy, of
indeterminate gender but tasting very like slightly fizzy scrumpy. Certainly
sufficiently medicinal to help us through the five o'clock Consultation. We can
go for about 8 days on the stuff, so preserving the precious cramp cure for a
future rendezvous. We are one hour and twenty minutes ahead of Greenwich here
today and we calculate our timing very carefully so that we get our fix a
little bit earlier every day. About 20 minutes to go until today's libation.
Hoooley Doooley. Wish we had Baez singing her juniper song - there but for
fortune go you or go I...I wish!
Bright sunshine, early evening, warm breeze, hatches open, Berri
drying out. Is, the red ribbon, sadly, left us in the storm but we still have
the green one and the purple one from Arrival Day. The Examiner has taught us
never to anticipate anything on this voyage but I can say for certain that we
are 38 miles from the barn door and - right now - hitting a portly Bishop's 4
knots at the double, cassock flying and crozier at the high port. The flea is
rampant, folks. We are way further north than the plan, but the planning at
least has taken care of that. I think we will ease south again once through the
BD and finally in the Indian Ocean, pace the Examiner. At which point, we will
consult Dr Wendy.
Then, I think, we will need the Infinite Improbability Drive if
we are to get across in time. The schedule gives us 43 days to cover about 5800
miles to SE Cape by Dec 11 which works out at 135 miles a day. Tricky! It's
looking like Bass Strait and even then it will be a fine chance. At 120
miles/day we could just make Gabo in 49 days or about Dec 17 if we don't have
to call in at Albany. The pear is growing hips. We had no margin whatever when
we set off and I think we just blew it. But we follow out Destiny. Marvin, where
are you when we need you? I sense a Vortex out there somewhere.
Dr Grumpy has arrived. Noice.
I've been thinking about the conundrum in which in every successive
interval, a moving body covers half the distance to its objective, so never
apparently reaching it. We are now 2 miles from the barn door, having gradually
slowed and been headed all night and collecting about 2 knots of Agulhas
current from the NE as well. So we are still at least an hour away. From
rampant flea to geriatric tortoloid.
Jennifer - 2 from you in less than week! A rare privilege.
Thanks for the feedback - we went through the '98 storm mostly at night and I
have vivid memories of the 1961 Fastnet storm which hit us at dusk and lasted
until morning. Gut knotting stuff and no Doctor at hand to Console. Both nights
without end, like some of those we've had during the last year.
Jerry H - tried emailing you twice - bounced each time - your
ISP probably gets the yips when it sees our sailmail address.
Gunter - G'tag! Thanks for the Impertinence and I'm pleased you
are reunited with Trudi - we have not been able to hear her at all.
Les and Karen - hope we make it in time.
Reception ok - you could probably double up, but just watch to
see what I collect. Power is likely to be the main problem from here. Have
turned off satcom tfn. I'm getting reasonable connects as we get closer and then
-will it ever happen - past Africa. Half a mile to go...
Malcom - analysis spot on re Agulhas current. Ta.
Chris at Belmore - Thanks for the huge honour - very sorry, but
Dec 14 is out of the question without the Infinite Improbability Drive. Wot we
ain't got. Next term perhaps? Re the choir, being kids, I bet they find the
fart in the song - it's quite clear when Ferrier sings it and she had such a
sense of humour that I bet she found it too.
300 metres to go...bloody current - we're doing 6 through the
water and 3.7 over the ground.
We're over - finally! At 27/042130. Berrimilla is now in the
Indian Ocean at 374312 S. WOOOOOHOOOO! Dr Wendy, one pace forward - March!
I'm now waiting until the sun gets up a bit further and I can
set up the solar panel to drag it in and process it. The albatrossery once
again fleetingly pink - bet you haven't got any pink ones in the Bird Book,
Peter!
Kevin & Denise - there's quite a bit of footage of Kevvo,
altho it might be a bit difficult to extract - very hard to film in the really
wild stuff but I'll take a lot more from here. If your Merlin still has its
program, (which it has almost certainly lost) I'd love it please - I have been
kindly offered another one that has definitely expired. Can't believe you never
used it!
DB dmg 130 very fishy! And it seems the solar panel has died -
we're investigating. This could be the real showstopper - we've got just enough
diesel to keep up the charge if we get very lucky. We'll be down to 1 Tx/day,
while the engine running, water making etc. Will advise later.
Ed: satphone call from Alex at 0930UTC
Yep, the solar panel has decided to die. Pete working on it. The junction box has leaked and a major diode
has fried. End result is that we are
down to a single update a day and only when the engine is running
. At least we
are in the Indian Ocean now!
Panic seems to be over but fingers toes eyebrows and eyes firmly
crossed. Pete took the lid off the junction box on the solar panel and found
the inside completely filled with green corrosion products - couldn't see the
wiring - some of the connectors to the diodes and the cables had collapsed and
it was very much an ex panel. Big cleanup and he tested the output and found 12
and 18 volts, so we now have 18 volts direct to the regulator - no diodes - and
it is putting in 4+ amps. Phew! The lad is now Consulting with Dr Wendy as a
little reward for being a clever boy.
Memo for Marty and anyone else connecting one of these - the
seal around the junction box seemed to be just bare plastic - a flange fitting
into a groove. It needs to be coated with the very best marine sealant
available and preferably after all he wiring has been heat shrunk or sealed
with self annealing tape. Also, watch out for dissimilar metal screws attaching
the box to the panel frame - gunk them up way past what seems reasonable. Ours
rotted out a couple of months ago but, as there seemed to be no internal
connection, we ignored them. Probably correctly, but you never know.
Pete 1, Examiner 0.
Someone who shall be nameless but he's just started to play with
a nice new red boat has confessed to ignoring my harangue about rolling hitches
a week or two ago. And regretting it - massive riding turn around the primary
winch and couldn't tie the hitch to release it. Avoided the knife by running a
new sheet, which is fine if conditions allow and you have a spare sheet (some
hot racers don't want the extra weight!). But thanks for the confession - it
gives me an opportunity to reinforce the message. He now ties his pyjama cord
with a rolling hitch, just for practice. [ed: see Mal, we didnt mention you
at all!]
Doug has sent us some encouraging news - he plotted the voyage
of Henry Knight's ship the JAVA from Cape Town to Sydney and it took 49 days,
mostly along 40 S with a dip to 43 at Kerguelen. That dip would have saved a
day at least. They were becalmed off S. Australia and in Bass Strait. Seems we
still have a fingernail on the wall - we will certainly go for it and we can
decide about SE Cape when we see how things are going. Unlikely, I think, from
here. We are running twin poled at 7 - 8 kts through the water and have been
for most of the day - but only 5-6 over the ground. Encouraging sign perhaps is
that the water has cooled from nearly 20 degrees to 18 - the good current in
the south Indian Ocean is cold. The barometer is falling again and we are due
for some more stink, but it doesn't look as bad as the last one. We do need to
get lucky and stay lucky from here.
I'd be interested to know whether I miscalculated our chances
down here for this time of the year or whether we have just been unlucky. I
expected we would average about 20 - 25 windspeed most of the way across along
38 - 40 S - and reasonable seas to allow us to sail at maximum speed. Anyone
care to enlighten me? Is what we got over the last couple of weeks the normal
pattern? I would have loved to have had a set of isochrones to play with.
I spoke to Fenwick just before the Lord Howe Island race
briefing this morning - Was feeling left out - we haven't missed one for about
7 years. Next year, perhaps.
On solar panels - and ours in particular - we have removed the
diodes from the panel itself and we don't know whether there are diodes in the
regulator to stop the battery discharging through the panel - I do have the
regulator handbook in the boat, but it's fiendishly difficult to get at, so we
are disconnecting the panel every time before we stow it for the night - just
something else to remember. The panel was charging in sunlight at about 4 amps
all day - brilliant - so as long as we get reasonable sunlight, I think that we
will get across the lily pond talking to all y'all all the way. A half hour top
up with the engine should keep us in wiggly amps for the duration. But I'm not
making any predictions until we get there!
And if you happen to be a little goldfish and you like coloured
lights, have we got a home with a view for you! It seems that we did dip the
masthead during the first knockdown - I've completely forgotten when it was, if
I ever knew - I was looking up at the windex today (the little swinging arrow
at the masthead that points into wind) and it is clearly bent - looks as if
from the downward thrust - so, if Dunedin is any guide, there will be a little
puddle just big enough for a tiny goldfish in in the base of the masthead
light. Million dollar views, no cats, no sharks - I can see the queue growing
already. Anyone got a rich goldfish?
Here we go again! As expected, the nice 20 -30 westerly evolved
into the usual 40 -50 stinker and, as usual, it hit us just at dusk. #2 and
main off earlier as it deteriorated, to poled out 4 & 5 then as the first
squall rolled in around 2100 (now yesterday) we climbed out into a screamer and
dropped both of them and put everything away - after the last one, prudence,
persistence, perseverance is the go. We're bare poled, now in a gusty 30 - 50
westerly with steepish but not threatening waves - so far anyway. We are
'sailing' ESE at 4.5 knots and seem to be out of the current. But it doesn't
stop - just had a 65 knot gust. Like the man in the waterfall, we're following
Destiny but I do wish, occasionally, that Destiny was a kinder path.
Mark L - I should have qualified my note to you - a litre is
excessive only as long as you are sure the stern gland is working as it is supposed
to and have ruled it out as the source. If it is one of the older stuffed ones,
it could drip a litre easily, but if it does, it probably needs tightening or
restuffing.
Now blowing a steady 50 and I just saw a flash at 70. That's the
problem with sitting here - I have the numbers directly in front of my face. It
is due to abate over 24 hours or so but certainly has lots of attitude now. I
think I'll go to bed and let it howl!
That was at about 2200 yesterday. At 0330 today, it's still
blowing but may be abating a bit - still some nasty squalls but the lulls seem
to be easier. One or two dumping waves but not too bad. Perhaps a couple of
storm jibs in an hour or so when the sun is up.
Now 0500 - we went out and put up the storm jib, had a bit of a feel
and took it down again and, once again we're bare poling at about 3+ knots to
the SE. The boat handles the storm jib and the seas really easily for 98% of
the time - but it's the other 2% that contain the knockdown waves and the
occasional one out of left field that Kevvo can't hope to handle. And they
generally seem to come with the gusts. As we pulled it down, we copped a
rainsquall with a nice rainbow to the south and 55 - 60 knots just for us.
Anyway, prudence reigns for the mo. Also means there's too much nastiness to
rig the solar panel, so we will need half an hour of engine later.
A word on bare poling - there's more on this elsewhere on the
website - but for the newcomers and non sailors, there are three 'last resort'
ways of handling potentially overwhelming conditions. The first, which everyone
has heard of, is to heave to. The boat is set up deliberately so that it lies
beam-on to the wind and waves and it drifts sideways or very slightly forwards.
To do this may require a small sail forward, set so that the wind hits the
'wrong' side of it - so that it is 'backed' and to have the helm lashed to
leeward. It works fine until the waves get to be so big that they start to roll
and break over the boat, by which time, you are somewhat committed. Been there
and I really don't like it! The second
method is to combine a heave to with a drogue, (a sort of water
parachute on a long line) or that a drogue be streamed instead of heaving to to
keep either the bow or stern into wind and waves. Both these are essentially
passive methods. I have never tried a drogue, so can't comment, but we tried
streaming warps in the 1961 Fastnet storm and they helped to slow the boat and
keep it stern to the waves. I don't remember the detail of that night too well
- it was a long time ago!
The third method is what we are doing now. It does require
either an automatic steering system or someone to steer the boat. If the
latter, then it is likely to be unpleasant and dangerous for whoever draws the
short straw. Essentially, all sail is removed, everything that can be is stowed
and the boat is steered so that the wind crosses it from behind the beam, and
the pressure of the wind on the rig and the hull moves it forwards. This is an
extreme form of sailing and I think it works far better that the heave to. It
sets the boat up so that the waves hit it from the quarter and it runs
diagonally down the face of each normal wave and usually wallows a bit on the
backs. It gets to be very stimulating in Cape Horn sized waves and big winds,
but if you are out there, what works best is what is likely to save your skin.
As with every potentially dangerous situation, it is often the so-called freak
wave that does the damage, coming from a different angle and amplifying or
radically changing the wave pattern as it passes.
And there will always be situations where none of these work and
you have to hope that your experience can cope. Each one of them will be
different for different boats as well, but you cant really go out and practise
in the real thing - just play around when things aren't too critical and learn
how your boat handles.
Enough!
Ed: Fenwick, a follow of the saga, sent this with a request to
Alex to push Steve to put it on the website.
Well, here it is:
Alex Pete,
We had an opening bid of $500
last night at the briefing, I have sent a photo to Mali . Shirt in the
Frame
and something to put on the web for
any bids from the web page and arranged with Dal Wilson to pass on any bids we
may get via sat phone donated by telstra for the race.
on another note when you called
me erudite I now remember when I was doing my phd. my lecturer said
something to me" erudite" and I thought the same as Pete,
"Poffter bastard"
I now recall he explained after I
decked him and I was released by the uni security guards that I was
contreversal,
Occasionally saying what i'm certain
is true and hinting at that for which I have no evidence, it adds
credibillity, I will let you take that on board and use it as you will.
Regards Allan
DB: dmg 103 - seems about right, given the adverse current and
the overnight park. 69 days out, so in 2 days we will equal the Falklands -
Falmouth leg in days, followed the next day by a Berrimilla record voyage. We
have already sailed about 1000 miles further.
We have again done a stocktake of the Medicine Chest in the face
of an elongated voyage. We will run out of everything useful in about 40 days so we are on an abstemious
kick - no more Dr Grumpy, morning Consultation with The Doctor on alternate
days only and smaller G&T's. Glooom.
Steve says our Fastnet medals for 2nd in the 2 handed div and
3rd in the seahorse div (that's a special division basically for RORC
newcomers) have arrived from RORC - there might perhaps be a photo for the
site. We'll be the last to see them!
Kevin and Denise - If it helps, I will do a 5 minute sequence
for you in the next calm patch, showing how to set up Kevvo so he steers the boat
right along the chalk line. Let me know. I've done a bit of the wild and
woollies too over the last couple of days plus some bare poling. Not brilliant
and I can't get out there in the really spectacular stuff, unfortunately.
Last night, as we struggled with the wind and spray and brought
in the headsails, I saw, right out on the edge of my peripheral vision in the
glow of the spreader lights, a shape on the water - a sort of white patch, but
not evanescent like most white stuff out here. It was an albatross, sitting on
the surface watching us go by - noice! The spreader lights turn the exercise
into a page from the Inferno - orange fiery jib, blasting, flashing spray
moving horizontally, glistening red and yellow dayglo figures with bright
reflective patches toiling at full stretch at heaving masses of canvas and
lines and the whole lot tossing and crashing and rolling. What must an
albatross think of us humans?
I've just made bread. Anyone who has romantic notions of the
soothing feel of the dough and the tactile sensations and illicit pleasure of
kneading and rising and the ultimate satisfaction of the small of baking -
forget it - anyone who tries to make bread in a tossing gyrating small boat
with no work surface, no stowage for the necessary implements and bowls,
nowhere to 'cover with a damp cloth, place in a warm spot and allow to rise
until dough has doubled...'(if you try, you' better be prepared to sit on it) -
that person should be certified instantly and removed for their own safety.
It's a refined form of masochism and at the end, you have a monster cleanup of
spilled flour, crumbs, hardened dough, bowls, frying pan etc. All for about 8
slices. Very nice to have and to hold, perchance to eat, but worth the candle?
- I think not! Only about another ten packs to go.
Rioting in the aisles - fireworks on the rooftops - alby poo all
over Kevvo (L, J, & H - he forgot to tweak!) - we've just picked up our
first Australian voice on the radio! Wooooohooooo! Gerry Fitz asked us to check
whether we could pull in the Australian Bureau of Meteorology broadcast from
Wiluna in W.A. (how far is that from Kojonup??) and here they are large as life
on 6 megs. Hear them? Don't they sound good? We're on the home stretch, no
matter how difficult it gets.
Peter D, thanks for offer of pics - Steve will contact you. Wish
we had time to sail into the volcano of St Paul. Sounds fascinating.
Gerry, will write separately. For anyone else with a dead Merlin,
it seems that Boatbooks in Sydney can restore their programs. Sadly, mine was full of salt water and burst
teabags and I'm sure it's really dead. But at the risk of seeming greedy,
Martin and Kevin, yes please. I'd love to have a backup one. The sense of loss
was deep and meaningful - it is such an exquisite and useful gadget.
And huge G'day to class 2/3 at Kojonup, W.A. - nice to know that
you are interested and following us. If you want to write to us and tell us
about Kojonup, we will try to answer. You are the third school that we know is
following us - there's one in England and one in Sydney as well as you. I
wonder if there are any more. Jo, thanks for checking in! We can put you in
touch with the others if you like.
Jennifer, you guys snuck out of that little contretemps rather
neatly! I thought we were done for a moment there.
DB: dmg 92 - gps 123 about right, as we've been headed a bit by
the top of the high. 70/40, so tomorrow equals our record and, incidentally,
equals the time it took Ellen MacArthur to go all the way around. She was going
about three times as fast as us!
The equation: the great circle distance to SE Cape from here is
about 5250 nm, rhumb line about 5500. We can go down to about 40 S on the Gt
Circle but after (below) that it gets too iffy and we will try to run due east
along 40 S. At this moment, we are heading straight down the great chalk circle
to the good Dr. Cooper - approx 120T. We have just about enough diesel to keep the batteries charged without help from
solar and with solar we can survive without diesel. We will not run out of food
or water, although adequate (as opposed to survival) water does depend on power
supply. Plenty of other essentials like bog paper and engine oil, torch
batteries and the rest. Patience will be a problem - the black sheep in the
prudence, patience, persistence and perseverance progression. We will certainly
denude the Medicine Chest sometime around 30 days from now - we are looking at
extreme conservation measures as we go. Today is Pete's appointment with the
Consultant Physician, for instance, and I get mine tomoz. Drastic measure -
perhaps not yet extreme. We have reserved half our remaining supply of G&T
not to be opened until past half way across the lily pond. The little bit of
surplus G will be stretched experimentally with other fluids.
So, Mark A in Perth, if you can find a second hand generator, we
may have to ask you to kindly forward it to Sydney. We are resting the one we
have here in the hope that we won't damage it beyond reasonable repair. Albany
is still on the cards and we won't really have a proper feel for the final
route until we are at least half way across.
Jo and the kids at at Kojonup - how on earth did you find us? -
most unlikely website for you guys, I would have thought. Did you get the extra
info on Pulau Tiga? Tiga is Indonesian for three, so Three Islands. Paul told
us that there are three mud volcanoes on the island and as you approach it you
see them first and it looks like three islands. I'm not sure exactly where it
is and I can't find it on the Cmap on the laptop, but somewhere north east or
north of Brunei and not very far away. Probably too small for most atlases -
Sorry, Belmore, if you've been searching in vain. Perhaps Paul can come back to
us?
Helen K at Belmore, thanks for the bit of history about your
Henry Knight. I think we should all meet for lunch with Doug and Estelle and
compare artefacts - in a consultative environment!.
Linda and the kids at King's - G'day. When I did geography at
school in England - thankfully, a very long time ago - it was all about facts -
tons of wheat grown in the USA, number of people who live in Timbuctoo, places
where the rainfall is less than 3" per year. All sort of out of context.
Sounds as if you guys have a much more interesting syllabus. Have you studied
the flows of the great ocean currents around the globe - we are meeting some of
the surface ones, but it is as much the very deep ones that may affect your
future if the flow pattern changes, as it seems to be doing. I think I would
have enjoyed being an oceanographer, but too late now!
Sometimes I sit and look at this keyboard in sort of disbelief -
what is there to talk about? - as happened this morning. But it seems to
evolve. If we stay on schedule, there will be about 100 more of these and then
the mighty Stephen can go and do something else for more that 12 hours at a
time. What will the rest of us do? I guess Pete and I must try and get a book
together, but that's trivial and doesn't involve all y'all.
No takers, so far, for out bijou penthouse for a goldfish.
Perhaps there's a friendly babel fish out there in need of a home who can delve
into the Beep for us. This morning's sailchange involved a convocation of about
50 black petrels sitting on the water a few yards away as we passed, all
chittering and cheeping - such an odd sound for such big birds.
Today's little tragedy - we went to a lot of trouble to preserve
our cans of ale by covering them in wd40 and insulating them from the s/s ice
boxes - and almost succeeded. I was doing a final count today in the main
icebox and, sadly, found that about 6 or 7 cans had deteriorated to the point
where they have to be drunk in the next 24 hours or so if they survive that
long and two had died altogether. Another two were just expiring. That makes a
huge hole in our tiny remaining stock. I think that a periodic maintenance
schedule would be needed next time - take them all out at least every couple of
weeks and re grease and stow them and carefully dry out any salt water in the
box. Big job, but I guess it reduces with time. I hope the few we have in their
original packs in plastic bags in the forepeak are still ok. We have so little
available storage space that the iceboxes seemed - and still seem - to be the
best place for as many as they will hold. Looks like a dry passage from much
earlier that we had hoped. Oh bother. A glooomy prospect. PPPP! We Shall
Overcome! If they do last till tomorrow, we can celebrate our record passage in
style, DV & WP! There might even be a spare to drink the health of the Dame
who done it faster.
We have thought a bit about where to from here - the primary
focus is the start line and so Bass Strait is looking like the go, with a short
stop to clear Customs, refuel and restock the fridge in Eden. Albany with or
without Eden is still a possibility but it is looking very much as if we will
bypass SE Cape. A pity in a way - it would have crowned the endeavour.
We'll know more by half way across. Start line is still on the
cards but we need a bit of luck.
Had a fast day so far, cracking 7's and 8's generally along the
Gt Circle but now back down to #4 and 5.5 in 35 - 40 NEasterly on the back of
the high. More roll and gyration.
Jo C at YW, you're on for
the S2H if you want to take a punt and I'm sure we could get you a ride with
someone else if we don't make it. Let me know where your head is so we can
plan.
Mark L - By Jove, I think you've got it! About once a minute or
longer would be reasonable. Can be tightened with big special spanner from
chandler or friendly engineer as long as stuffing not stuffed - else needs
restuffing. Also, does it have a grease cap? If so, fill it up with waterproof
grease (several times if it has been neglected) and screw down and that might
fix without all the rest. I think a restuff can be done quite easily without
slipping if you have access but get advice. You can stuff the outer end of the
gland with grease if you don't mind going over the side and that should
minimise water intake. Baker boats don't osmose. Where do you keep it?
Marcus - glad breakfasts are a success. The coffee is definitely
an acquired taste. A bit like The Doctor!
G'day Coombsey - Thanks for your note - I really do miss all
that but once past the use by date, mate, it's definitely time to go. Love to
hear from you guys and anyone at SITACS and the Dept. at UoW, but please use
berri@berrimilla.com, not direct to the boat. Ta.
by popular request, and without any
coercion, if anyone wants to put a few cents into the Berri Tin, then please
click here to assist Berri
out of the red
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