A Pause Between Lows
January 27, 2019
Day 115
Noon Position: 42 56S 123 04E
We’d done 101 miles as of noon.
Ran slowly ExN on drogue all night, and morning found us up above 43S. So far north! So far back down to The Traps and The Snares at 48S.
I pulled the drogue in before noon. The line had wound itself into a knot overnight, and I wanted to unkink everything before tonight. The drogue has a swivel at its line attach point and I’ve added another at the bridle. We’ll see if this helps.
Hauling it in when wind is 25 knots was a challenge. It’s considerably easier than the Jordon Series drogue (most anything else would have to be), but it still took one and a half hours to reel in 300 feet of one inch line with a big red balloon pulling at the other end.
The line has been unkinked; a swivel attached, and it’s ready for a re-deploy later in the day.
The forecast keeps saying the same thing; high winds coming. The low is maybe marginally less intense, but not where it counts, and I’m expecting 35 – 45 knots cresting at around midnight over a sea that is already heavy.
It’s early afternoon. I’m going to grab a quick lunch (probably out of the can) and hit the sack for a couple hours. Expecting a long night.
I spoke to Jeanne Socrates. She uses a retrieval line for her Jordan Drogue that make it easy to retrieve. I have heard the Shark spins alot.
Randall, I wonder if a large diameter stainless steel heavy duty swivel, with some McLube or McLube One drop, would spin easier than the galvanized swivel in the photo?
That is a nasty looking twist. I wonder if the drogue is not spinning but the 300 ft. of line is? I bet the new swivel location will help. Stay rested, don’t worry too much, you seem prepared and you have confidence in Mo. Thanks for the post
You probably heard but in case you did not, Jean Luc Van Den Heede won the Golden Globe race today.