Proceed at Five Knots

February 9, 2019

Day 128

Noon Position: 47 33S  162 46E

Course(t)/Speed(kts): ExN 5

Wind(t/tws): NNE 18 – 21

Sea(t/ft): NE 6 – 8

Sky: Overcast, Fog, Rain

10ths Cloud Cover: 10

Bar(mb): 999+

Cabin Temp(f): 63

Water Temp(f): 54

Relative Humidity(%): 83

Sail: Working jib heavily reefed; main , two reefs; beam reach

Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 118

Miles since departure: 17,762

Avg. Miles/Day: 139

Days since Cape Horn: 71

Miles since Cape Horn: 10,122

Avg. Miles/Day: 143

Longitude Degrees Made Good (degrees minutes): 2 53

Total Longitude Made Good Since Cape Horn (degrees minutes): 230 15

Avg. Long./Day: 3.24

No photos today. Am trying to conserve energy. More on that at bottom…

Disappointing days. I’m keeping Mo on the slow bell so as to avoid the very strong winds coming down from the W coast of New Zealand. I’ve run and rerun our mileage on the weather maps and figure that if we maintain 5 knots, we’ll just miss the 40 – 45 knot winds forecast to fill in W of the Snares Islands tonight around midnight and last through morning.

We can’t go too slowly, however, because these N winds are due to go from 40 to zero in the course of a long afternoon and to hover around zero for days. It’s unlikely we’ll make it past Stewart Island before we run out of wind.

Then what, I don’t know.

A part of me says I’m being shy. That I should just soldier on and take whatever lumps await us. But I invite that self to have a gander at the sea running now, a sea not associated with our winds here but coming from the high winds above us–steep and confused seas that already throw us around something fierce. I then invite that self to reflect upon the joys to be had at entertaining 45 knots of wind in shoal water while on a beam reach, for that’s what we’ll find between The Snares and Stewart Island.

So, we go slowly under gray and rainy skies as Mo gyrates and heaves.

Trying to get a sailing vessel to go a specific speed is an interesting exercise. Most of the day Mo has refused 5 knots, preferring 4 or 6 knots. Often I’ll reef a bit more so as to slow down only to find that by the time I get done and return below, the wind has increased and our speed is still too fast. Or the reverse.

Right now winds are 15 knots from the NNE. The number two is rolled up by half; the main has two reefs. Our speed, 5.5 knots.

Over the afternoon, I’ve worked us up to 47 and a half S and am now trending due E. The northing has been to add some cushion between us and the Snares, which sit smack on the 48S line.

—

No photos today. Am trying to conserve energy, and so the phone (which is also the camera) and other devices are off. Frankly, there’s nothing to see today anyway.

Several issues.

One, at slow speeds, Wattsy (the Watt and Sea hydrogenerator) produces very little power, and we’ve been slow for days now. Two, the solar panels are lashed below, not that it would matter, given the usual weather down here. Three, I need to be careful with engine usage. I’ve run the engine to charge batteries in the south more than I budgeted (I budgeted none) since removing the solar panels from the rails and since Wattsy has mysteriously decreased his output. Mo still has about two thirds of her fuel aboard, so we are nowhere near running out, but I want to maintain a healthy reserve for emergencies, a lesson learned from the first Figure 8 attempt.

What’s up with Wattsy I don’t yet know. The unit still functions, but amperages are noticeably lower than normal and they race up and down from, for example, +6 to -6 amps, as opposed to putting in a steady charge. Wattsy has also started chewing through his downhaul lanyard every several days, so during the next spell of calm, I need to figure out a way to pull the unit off the transom and examine the underside, which I can’t see or feel from on deck and where the chafe is occurring.