The wind was very up and down again last night. At midnight it was S’ly and at 0100 it freshened quickly and backed right round to the north about a F4. As it did so the sky completely covered over and then cleared again just as quick. I sat for a while wondering what it was going to do next. Behind me I saw low cloud moving fast towards us and I hurried for’ard to drop the genoa. It turned out top be no more than a F5 but down here you’re never sure what you’re going to get.
When that had blown past the wind fell away to nothing. I sat for a while thinking it might rise again but there was just no wind. As I dropped the sails we had a visit from three, I think they were, Peale’s dolphins. The wind came up less than an hour later and we got going again.
At 0630 there were three Argentinean fishing boats to the east of us. The wind was a light NE’ly about F2 and we ran goose winged under full sail. The tanker Maria Victoria V passed close by mid morning heading for the river Plate.
Between 1000 and 1400 there were a lot of wind changes and sail changes and we went from running easily before a N’ly F2 to battering to windward in a S’ly F6. An area of high pressure is moving through just now and we might have N’ly’s again after this blast from the south has gone through.
I put on the new headsail sheets today and noticed just how worn the old ones are by comparison. The lashing holding the tack block on the bowsprit was showing signs of wear so I renewed it during one of the sail changes.
By Linda Phillips Sun Jan 19th 2014 at 8:48 am
Hi,, Linda and Andrew from Lakes Entrance, Victoria, Australia. We met you on you first voyage at Rob Bisset’s barbecue. We also went to your first wedding in Bentleigh. We also caught up with your family in 1995 on our trip to Shetland and stayed with John and Marion. We wish you good luck and safe travels on your mammoth journey. Hope you can sail by our pretty fishing village and meet up again, good luck, Linda and Andrew Phillips