Cabin Fever

February 24, 2019

Day 143

Noon Position: 46 05S  150 50W

Course(t)/Speed(kts): ExS 7

Wind(t/tws): NW 24 – 28 (steady 30 within two hours)

Sea(t/ft): NW 6

Sky: Alto and cirro cumulus. A mackerel sky.

10ths Cloud Cover: 6

Bar(mb): 1011, falling slowly

Cabin Temp(f): 68

Water Temp(f): 57

Relative Humidity(%): 77

Sail: Triple reef in both main and working jib. Reaching.

Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 165

Miles since departure: 19,687

Avg. Miles/Day: 138

Days since Cape Horn: 86

Miles since Cape Horn: 12,046

Avg. Miles/Day: 140

Longitude Degrees Made Good (degrees minutes): 3 57

Total Longitude Made Good Since Cape Horn (degrees minutes): 277 42

Avg. Long./Day: 3.23

We’re riding the edge. Typically by the time winds hit 30 knots, I’ve dropped even a triple reefed main. But I don’t think 30 will last long, and I want to push us. The faster we go, the longer we stay in this wind and the further ahead of the NEXT low we get.

But it’s bloody uncomfortable. The sea is running bouldery, steep and smack on the beam. Mo is healed way over, and she heaves in a way that makes one defer anything but the most basic and necessary of tasks. Even reading is difficult; after ten minutes my head is a bowl of scrambled eggs. And with the decks awash, I’m essentially trapped inside unless making sail changes.

On the plus side, we’re making good time. Two days now of over 150 miles; this should be the third. We need it. The next low and the next are right on our track and they look some serious business.

Hard to believe it’s nearly March, at the end of which I will have been at sea a full six months.