Day 47
Noon Position: 49 57S 101 54W

Course/Speed: ESE 6+

Wind: SW 30 – 35

Sail: “storm jib” and triple reefed main; wind on beam

Bar: 1001

Sea: W and SW to 10

Sky: Broken, some sun, some squalls

Cabin Temp: 58

Water Temp: 45 
Miles last 24-hours: 141

Miles since departure: 6303

Sleep

Last night: 9 hours, up four times; quality: very poor (Mo quite rolly)

Today: 2 hours (slept through the alarm set for one hour); quality: high
Meals

Dinner: Left over cabbage, pork and mashed potato stew (added one can of carrots and peas and more mashed potatoes to bulk it up)

Breakfast: Oatmeal (1C dry) with peanut butter and dates

Lunch: 2-egg omelet with cheese and ketchup; crackers, nuts 

Snacks: Kind bar, Clif bar; several handfuls of nuts, 1/2 chocolate bar

Wind has come on this afternoon–steady 30 with frequent visits to 35–and has swung into the SW, its only unfortunate attribute as I’m still hungry for southing. My plan has been to see if we can, in a higher wind, maintain an easy reach, apparent wind on the beam. Emphasis on easy. 

We could do this with the working jib tightly rolled, but Mo would be on her ear, and she hates wet ears. So, just after lunch, I doused the #2 and raised the “storm jib.” This sail is called a storm jib because it’s orange, but it’s actually a small “cutter” sail that’s hanked onto a removable inner forestay just back of the two furling headsails. 

With that and three reefs in the main we went sloshing off (not tearing off) at just under 7 knots. Excellent. I could put that much square footage of sail in my pocket, and yet we made respectable speed and in comfort. 

This and the subsequent playing around with set of sail ate up most of the afternoon, during which time I received a full-body drenching on the foredeck and was quite cold when I came below. So, I stripped down and hit the sack. I dreamed of being entirely contented.

I’ve just come into the pilot house and, sadly, wind has backed off to 18 to 24, this just as the sun is setting. I dislike making sail changes at the change of day (dawn, dusk) and prefer to see what the night/day holds first. As am cold again (I think it’s time to add one more layer of clothing), will make dinner and then see what the wind has set its mind to do. 
Today’s new bird is the prion. A pair have been doing the pitterpattery St. Peter imitation in the waters to windward of Mo. Delightful in many respects, but most of all because they come in close and stay close. I can see the blacks of their eyes. They have no idea how happy that makes me. Damned pelagics are too standoffish as a class.

One albatross also swung very close today, but I can’t write every day about the albatross…