Position: 35.20 S, 175.44 W
It is a real bonus to be moving well again. We have done over a hundred miles since 5:30 last night and it’s now 9:00 in the morning. Psychologically, this is huge. It changes my whole attitude and having a good attitude makes life a lot easier. The struggle in not making good time is the fact that you have no control over the weather, so you just have to go with it, accept it. The frustration and struggle can quickly over come you and sometimes it does and that manifests itself into crippling thoughts and feelings. So that is where the success or failure of the voyage lies, in attitude! I sometimes spend an hour getting the boat on course and engaging the self steering gear. I try over and over again and WW II will wonder off course so I start the process all over again of taking the helm, steading the course, adjusting the wind vane and then waiting to see if it will hold the course. I did that this morning for example.
We have a 2 meter swell from the southwest and a 1 meter swell from the northwest. We have a 5 -10 knot breeze from the northwest. WW II has full sail up and her best point of sail is a broad reach which a good point of sail and allows her to power through the waves. That said, some of those waves can bring her up and just about stop all of her 11 tons in one sharp motion. The shudder that follows is jaw breaking and you can imagine the kind of effect this has on the rig. So, to make sure this doesn’t keep happening, I bring her up into the wind about 20 degrees off course and leave her there till the conditions change – sometimes in an hour, sometimes in five minutes. If that’s the case, I’m back on deck going through the steering readjustment for as long as it takes to get her back on course or until I need a break in which case I make her comfortable and come back when I feel I can cope better with the conditions. This is just one scenario and sometimes it goes very well for days at a time. Such is life on board.
I have about a thousand miles to go till the bottom of NZ, then round the corner and off we go.
News flash: I lost my fishing lure last night to a very big fish that broke the 120 lb test leader!
Course 205 T Speed 6.5 kts Wind 15 NW Waves NW 1.5 M SW 2 M Cloud 5% Temp 21.8 C Baro 1019 falling Miles in last 24 hrs: 235 nm
Hi Glenn,
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go.”
“Oh, the Places You’ll Go” by Dr. Seuss
hope you are smiling as you go. we are.
Pat and Fred
Hang in there Glenn. Wether sailing or floating, enjoy each inch of the journey! If you get too bored, I can blog about how I sat in bumper to bumper traffic in Los Angeles for 2 hours. :)
Kyle Tanner thanks for your email putting my days becalmed in comparison with waiting in traffic for two hours every day in LA! Ya, I’ll take being becalmed over that any day.
when you’re going through hell, you have to keep going. Winston Churchill.
Keep going Glenn! Good luck.
J Friesen thanks for the Winston Churchill quote “when you are going through hell you have to keep going” So true!
Over 200 miles last 24 hrs is huge!! Whenever your posts turn up on my inbox I drop what I am doing. Not far to the turn to go under Australia if you keep up these runs. Sounds like the boat is behaving well. Will be close enough to see Stewart Island when you turn west?
John, thanks for your words of encouragement. You asked if I will see Stewart Island when I pass it? Well first that depends if it is light or not and because of the reefs on the eastern approach I will most likely give it a very wide berth, so to answer your question probably not.