Little Experiment and Two Lows

Day 48
Noon Position: 50 59S 98 03W

Course/Speed: ESE 7

Wind: WSW 25

Sail: Working jib, two reefs; main three reefs; wind abeam

Bar: 1011

Sea: W 10

Sky: Broken; some high squall

Cabin Temp: 55

Water Temp: 44 

Sleep

Last night: 8 hours, up four times; quality: high

Today: 1 hours; quality: high
Meals

Dinner: Pasta with chicken and parmesan cheese.

Breakfast: Oatmeal (1C dry) with peanut butter and dates and polenta for a different texture

Lunch: Leftover oatmeal. Can of giant beans, tomato, eggplant; added WASA crackers to bulk up; then cheese and crackers.

Snacks: 1/2 chocolate bar dipped in peanut butter
Miles last 24-hours: 142 

Miles since departure: 6445
Reached all night with the “storm jib” and a tripple reefed main in winds 25 to 35 as squalls passed and found that by morning we were still making almost 6 knots. I changed for the larger working headsail after breakfast. Successful experiment in that we were able to maintain a more-or-less upwind course in supreme comfort and reasonable speed in winds to 35 knots.  

Puffy cumulus and small squall clouds rule the day. Definitely summer here, and all delightful … except for a line high and white on the horizon this evening, which is the coming story. 

Two large lows are on the way, the first to arrive overnight the larger of the two. I expect steady winds in excess of 30 by morning and we may well see winds of 40 before we’re through.
I intend to run before their NW and W winds with the working jib and then the smaller hanked on jib as necessary. May run the poles in the morning (winds are still west with a touch of south now) if the NW winds look to hold for more than a few hours. 

The challenge will be to maintain a somewhat beneficial course for the Horn without getting too close the center of the lows, specifically the second; or, conversely, to avoid being blown too close to the coast. Granted, the coast is still a thousand miles east, but these two lows will take five days to pass, during which time we could close to within 600 miles.

It looks like the last of the two will finish off with strong SW winds, so our “little experiment” of the last day may come in quite useful soon.