On Fast Currents and Fresh Water Usage

January 14, 2019

Day 103

Noon Position: 46 35S  79 23E

Course(t)/Speed(kts): ExS 8, 9 and 10 knots

Wind(t/tws): WxN 17 – 19 (overnight 25 – 30)

Sea(t/ft): NW 10

Sky: Overcast

10ths Cloud Cover: 10

Bar(mb): 1008+, steady

Cabin Temp(f): 60

Water Temp(f): 47

Relative Humidity(%): 84

Sail: Working jib poled port, 3 reefs; main to starboard, 3 reefs; broad reach

Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 176 (!)

Miles since departure: 14,161

Avg. Miles/Day: 139

Days since Cape Horn: 45

Miles since Cape Horn: 6,517

Avg. Miles/Day: 145

Longitude Degrees Made Good (degrees minutes): 4 15

Total Longitude Made Good Since Cape Horn (degrees minutes): 146 40

Avg. Long/Day: 3.26*

We worked through a small depression overnight with NW winds to 25 and 30. Rain. When I came on deck in the morning, Mo was creaming through nearly flat, ice blue water at 9 and 10 knots. Clearly, we had a whopping current with us, but for how long I can’t say. By noon, we’d racked up 176 miles (7.3 knots, hour after hour) since the previous noon, a number we’ve approached but a handful of times this voyage.

By 2pm it was all over. Our speed hovered around 6 knots; winds were down; seas were tall and lumpy. Though Mo’s head pointed E, her course over the ground was NNE. Our current had gone from E to S and was now pushing us N!

It feels like we have been crossing a vast, counterclockwise-spinning whirlpool, and if so, we’ve yet to find its outer edge as I type.

I caught rain for a couple hours this morning and netted only a gallon. Three reefs in the main and a bumpy ride make catchment a challenge. That said, the gooseneck location of the main cover drain is working better, if only because I can get to it without leaning over the rail.

To date, I’ve caught about 20 gallons, the equivalent to 20 days of water on normal ration.

How does my gallon of water per day get used?

64 oz = 2 x liters clear water for drinking

24oz = 2 x cups coffee in the morning

12oz = 1 cup tea in the afternoon

10oz = water for breakfast muesli

8oz = 1 cup water for cooking pasta/quinoa/mashed potatoes/polenta (prorated: one meal lasts two days)

7oz = water for washing head and beard (prorated: assumes ~1.5 liters every 7 days)

2oz = misc; i.e. spray bottle of soapy water for washing dishes; spray bottle of clear water rinse for glasses, sextant, etc.

127oz = total usage. A gallon is 128oz.

One gallon a day is living the high life. There’s plenty of room for conservation in the above numbers.

Mo carries just under 200 gallons of fresh water in two keel tanks. Assuming the voyage from home to first stop in the American or Canadian NE will take 220 days … I need to keep catching rain.

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Now a heavy fog has settled in. The twins are out and we slosh and roll due E. In the afternoon, I attempted to make way through my Practical Navigation book (Parallel Sailing is the lesson) but fell asleep soon after opening the cover.

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*I’ve removed “Longitude Miles Made Good” and swapped in “Average Longitude Degrees per Day” since Cape Horn. I don’t sail one longitude, so the mileage number was always a bit of a estimate. Average Longitude per Day is more interesting as it figures directly into the number of days it will take to achieve Cape Horn again.** The current average of 3.26 is low and is still carrying the weight of all our fiddle-farting around between the Horn and Hope. Recent days’ average is well above 3.5.

**Answer: about 62.