Day 305: La Reunion to South Africa – 07/11/10

Another bad night’s sleep, not dropping off for nearly two hours then waking up an hour before I am due to go on watch.  I have three large commercial vessels to contend with as well.  Two look as though they are going to collide with each other until I blow up the schematic on the PC and can see they are actually about a mile away from each other.  The third one, according to AIS, the Bow Panther, a very large tanker is coming almost directly for us and will cross our path between 1.5 and 0.2 miles away.  Once I have their name I call them and am immediately answered by a very polite officer who says they will change course to give us a wider berth.  Why can’t they all be this nice?

When he gets up and wanders outside, Mike notices a couple of dragon flies resting on the boat.  They must have got blown here – what a long way from land.

Photo:  An exhausted dragonfly takes a rest

In the night I heard a clank but thought it was something inside the boat that had fallen over.  However, Mike discovers a cotter pin from one of the fittings which hold the batons on the mail sail to the mast.  The split pin holding it together has broken and he goes out to put a new one in while the sea is relatively calm.  I help by watching so that I know if he falls overboard.

Photo:  There’s always something to fix

I go back to bed to try and catch up on my sleep but once again I give up and suddenly Mike has a tearful and frustrated wife crying onto his tee shirt.  He persuades me to take something to knock myself out which I do and the next thing I know it’s gone 2 pm and I feel more rested than I have done for days.  That’s the good news.

The bad news is that there is a weather front moving in across the area between us and Richards Bay, bringing northerly gale force winds.  When these blow across the notorious Agulhas Current, they will whip up some really high seas and Mike feels it is too risky to contemplate crossing on the course he has already plotted.

He feeds me some delicious bread he has made and while he ponders an alternative (the unattractive alternative at this point is stringing out our huge hurricane lines from the back of the boat as a kind of sea anchor and hanging out at sea for an extra day) I drift off back to sleep until around 4 pm then let him sleep for a couple of hours.

There is chat on the SSB about how to handle the weather situation.  David from Voyageur is of the opinion that going directly west to get to the coast of South Africa as quickly as possible then going south in shallower water is a safer alternative and Mike agrees with him.  Dick on Tucanon also agrees.  They all decide to wait until the weather forecast tomorrow morning to make a decision.

Just before dark we notice a swallow flying around the boat.  This tiny bird is obviously exhausted and wants to land.  Amazingly he flies into the salon by mistake and is just behind me when Mike yells to tell me he is there.  He flies straight out again which I am thankful for as I don’t want to chase a terrified bird around as he tries to negotiate his way through a glass window like they normally do.  He spends the evening perched on the helmsman’s seat.  At least if he poops everywhere, it won’t be like the bloody great piles of albatross-like poop that we’ve had so far from other birds.

To ensure that I sleep again, I pop another pill.  If this weather front comes through tomorrow, I will need to be as alert as I can be and that means sleep now.

 

Our position is:  28 deg 05 min S, 35 deg 48 min E

Distance so far:  17688 nautical miles

Day 304: La Reunion to South Africa – 06/11/10

Having slept very little, I am grumpy and tired when I have to get up.  For the first time in ages, my lids are so heavy that I lie on the sofa with my eyes shut and the alarm clock on, set for 15 minutes.  I’m more awake after that and spend the next 4 hours going from blog and film on one computer, to Mahjong, e-mails and watching the radar and MaxSea on the other.

Just before 6 am I notice a large blip appear on the radar and wait for AIS to update me.  The ship is 14 miles away and moving towards us at twice our speed,  I wait until the name appears on the screen then call them over the VHF.  Twice I call and they do not respond.  I am now getting twitchy as their closest point of approach varies from 3 miles to 0.1 mile depending on exactly where we are pointing – we wobble around all over the place when steering to wind.

In the end, when they are 11 miles away I wake Mike up.  He calls them on the radio and there is no response.  I am now double twitchy and think about getting some clothes on and putting on my life jacket.  Mike changes course and assures me that we will be fine but it still looks close to me.  Then suddenly they change course by 10 degrees which makes a whole lot of difference and respond to Mike’s radio calls.  A few minutes later I see them appear out of the hazy horizon.

My morning sleep is nothing more than an morning doze and after going back a second time, I give in and accept that no more sleep with be forthcoming for a while.  My shoulders and neck are now in their customary ‘no sleep knots’, something which makes the prospect of sleep very unlikely now.  And I was doing so well.

The wind, as forecast, starts to die down after lunch, and instead of the 20 to 25 knots we have 8 to 14 knots.  Our speed also drops and at just gone 4 pm I give in and put the engine on.  Trying to keep us on course is another matter.  With Mike asleep, steering to a wind that is all over the place as it gradually moves is a nightmare for me.  Mike has told me that we need a particular course but I don’t know if this is the true course or the magnetic course and don’t really understand the difference.  Every time I add a few degrees I don’t get the result I think I want and I am nearly crying with frustration when he eventually wakes up.  I feel so useless.  He gets us back on the right course (we are only a few degrees off) and tries to explain.  Now I know I’m not thick but I find this really difficult to understand, and Mike, bless him, is not a born teacher.  Anyway, I am still very hazy but a few glimmers of understanding have been born.

The wind changes and comes over our starboard side directly from the north.  It is predicted to do a complete circle by tomorrow and by lunchtime should be coming from the south again but by tea time there is virtually no wind from anywhere and Mike decides for once to put both engines on and plough through while it is calm.  We will motor through the night as the wind is predicted to move back round to the south tomorrow morning and pick up enough for us to start sailing again. 

Photo:  Nothing to photograph but sunsets

The cooler north wind creates a layer of condensation all over the outside of the boat and is makes the sofa and bed feel cool and unpleasantly damp.  That should help me sleep – not!

 

Our position is:  28 deg 08 min S, 39 deg 18 min E

Distance so far:  17526 nautical miles

Day 303: La Reunion to South Africa – 05/11/10

You know the expression, “there’s nothing like a good night’s sleep”?  Well that was nothing like a good night’s sleep!  It takes me well over two hours to actually drop off then I sleep fitfully during the morning.  As long as this isn’t the beginning of a pattern it’ll be OK.

Just as it starts to get light we start to drift too far north of the rhumb line.  Mike had told me that our sails would allow us to go 20 degrees either side of the set course so I take us 10 degrees to port and half an hour later, when that has made no difference, I add another 10 degrees to port.  Still no difference.  I go down to get him as I realise the sails must need altering and gently but firmly try to wake him up.  No response.  He is so dead to the world that even rubbing his calf really hard and squeezing his foot has no effect.  Maybe squeezing other bodily parts hard would have better results (and be more fun) but calf and foot are all I can reach from the bottom of the bed and with the height difference (the bed is about five feet up) so I leave him to sleep figuring he obviously needs it.  Anyway, he will be up in an hour or so and there’s only so far we can drift off course.

Immediately he gets up he alters the sails, moving both the genoas to one side and straight away we pick up speed.  I wish I understood those flappy things but whenever he tries to explain it to me, it just goes “whoosh” straight over my head.  Maybe if every wind and sail combination was drawn for me I would get it but Mike and drawing – I don’t think so!

Photo:  A tanker passes close enough to read its name

Late in the afternoon Mike decides to get the main sail out again.  We furl up the genoas and start the hauling process.  Turning into the wind is not pleasant in these conditions as the sea is still heaving us around and salt spray is everywhere.  I figure that getting salt spray on me is easier to wash off than from my clothes so I don’t bother getting dressed and soon I am covered with salt and goose bumps in the somewhat brisk wind.  The main goes up, straight through the lazy jacks for once then gets stuck.  It takes a few minutes to work out what has happened but it turns out that the main halyard has got caught around one of the blocks on the mast and mo amount of raising and lowering the bloody main will shift it.  We will have to rely on the wind and sea to release it for us.  In the meantime, it’s down with the main and back out with the genoas.

Fifteen minutes later, the halyard releases.  Out I go again.  Another load of salt and more goose bumps.  In with the genoas, up with the main sail and back out with the genoas again.  Fun this sailing lark, and racing boats do this all the time and think it’s fun!  By the time I come back in, the wind and spray have given my hair the appearance of me having stuck my finger into a high voltage socket.  Very fetching.

It’s Friday so our main meal is a curry eaten in the evening.  This gives Mike his weekly challenge of turning from Master and Commander into a galley slave, but one who ignores the washing up.  Ah well.  I can’t have everything.

Into a nice pattern now, sleep once again eludes me.  Annoyance and frustration makes it worse.  Stupid body and mind!

 

Our position is:  28 deg 09 min S, 42 deg 21 min E

Distance so far:  17359 nautical miles

Day 302: La Reunion to South Africa – 04/11/10

What is going on?  I go to bed and all is calm but am woken up a few hours later by the crashing around of the boat, just minutes before Mike comes to get me for my watch.  It’s like a marine version of invasion of the body snatchers – who swapped the sea?  It is heaving.  Huge walls of water, almost as big as the ones on the way to Mauritius, slam into the boat.  Every single movement on your feet leaves you liable to be catapulted across the to the other side of the boat.  But hey, the sun is shining, not that you can sit in the cockpit!  I try once again to film how rough the sea is but it just doesn’t do it justice.

Photo:  The rising sun peaks over the large waves

When Mike gets up I marinate the chicken for lunch then unbelievably I get to sleep and don’t wake up until gone noon.  The sea has eased considerably but the wind is still strong – 25 to 30 knots most of the time and Jeannius flies through the water.

We continue to see commercial traffic coming close to us at times but do not have to alter course as they are far enough away not to worry.  I am so glad we have AIS.

Photo:  A tanker passes us about two miles away

Suddenly a rogue wave hits us and for the first time ever, water pours into the cockpit coming up the back steps and over the starboard side in a double whammy.  I am lying on the sofa at the time and the noise of the water rushing through the cockpit has me leaping to my feet.  The double doors to the salon are wide open but I manage to get one of them closed before the water gets near.  What really saves us though is the grill of death where we kill the fish.  The cockpit drops away into a trough and there are a row of large drainage holes under the grill.  Although a few splashes come through, we are saved from the deluge.

A few hours later, another one hits us just as Mike is finishing connecting to the internet to get our mail and the weather reports.  The wave hits the bucket on the table containing the satellite phone and knocks everything flying.  For a while Mike is concerned that the phone is broken but we are lucky, it’s OK.

Photo:  Our high tech set up – satellite phone in a bucket - moments before it goes flying

Showering is done sitting on the toilet seat with one foot braced up against the sink.  How glamorous!  No photos of that one!

 

Our position is:  28 deg 19 min S, 44 deg 51 min E

Distance so far:  17213 nautical miles

Day 301: La Reunion to South Africa – 03/11/10

My watch goes without incident and is peaceful and calm.  That also means that by the time I come on watch I am well rested as I have been able to sleep and I sleep well all morning waking up just before noon.

Photo:  Mike at the nav table with his cuppa

It’s a lovely day again and sailing is a pleasure when it’s like this.  I make no pretence of being anything but a fair weather sailor.  As I’ve said before, I enjoy it when the conditions are perfect, can tolerate it when they are slightly less than perfect and endure it the rest of the time when it is just a slow and painful process of getting from A to B.  Today is perfect though and we enjoy our lunch outside in the sunshine.

We’ve been lucky so far on this trip.  Listening to the comments aboard the other boats on the SSB this morning, most people have still got heavy currents going against them as they are far closer to Madagascar than we are.  Going much further south when we set off, whilst not actually a plan but rather where the wind took us the way our sails were set, has worked out very well.  We have found no current and been able to sail for all but a couple of hours a day.  All the other rally boats are motoring hard; one motored for the full 24 hours yesterday and most motored over 12 hours.

In the afternoon the wind is behind us and so are the waves so we goose wing the genoas out at the front and sail along smoothly. 

Our fishing line has been out for two days now with the bitten off lure and I have given up hope of any fish being stupid enough to go for it but suddenly, just before dusk, the line screams out and Mike pulls in a decent sized mahi mahi.  He gets it right up into the cockpit where it continues to put up a fight but I’m ready for it and the grill of death is open ready to receive it.  The little bugger then gives a massive jerk and pulls himself off the hook and before Mike can put the rod down he flops off down the steps and swims off.

Photo:  Another mahi mahi who gets away

In the evening on the net, there is talk of gale force winds but they are forecast for further north than we are.  Let’s hope they stay north.  I go to bed slightly worried which is probably why I find it harder to get to sleep than I have recently.

 

Our position is:  27 deg 00 min S, 47 deg 31 min E

Distance so far:  17055 nautical miles

Day 300: La Reunion to South Africa – 02/11/10

By the time I go on watch, the weather is calm, too calm in fact, and after a couple of hours I have to put the engine on as we are going too slowly.

Three or four hours later the wind has picked up just sufficiently to sail properly and we turn it back off.  It’s so much nicer than with the horrid droning noise.

It’s a beautiful day; a bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds.  It’s nice enough to lie in the sun in the late afternoon when the chance of burning has passed although when the sun goes behind a cloud, I scuttle back inside as without the warmth it feels cold in the breeze as we head further and further south.

I’m amazed at how much commercial traffic there is – 16 huge container/cargo ships have passed us so far in the shipping lane, and they are getting more frequent the closer we get to South Africa.

We hear on the SSB radio that most of the other boats are faring worse than us and certainly motoring harder as they have current going against them as they have taken the decision to sail closer to Madagascar.  Staying further from the island has definitely had it’s benefits and has made for a more comfortable sail most of the time and saved us a good amount of diesel.

 

Our position is:  25 deg 54 min S, 49 deg 38 min E

Distance so far:  16922 nautical miles

Day 299: La Reunion to South Africa – 01/11/10

I have only been on watch for an hour when the wind moves to a completely different direction and I am not sure that the sails will deal with it.  On top of that, there is something big and squally appearing on the radar.  Feeling guilty I wake Mike up.

We reposition the sails and put two reefs in the main just to be sure then suddenly the squall is all around us, chucking down rain and bringing stronger wind.  It dies down after half an hour or so but it’s at least an hour before Mike’s head hits the pillow again.

During my morning nap I am woken up by the sound of waves hitting the boat and uncomfortable motion.  I stagger up the stairs, being thrown around and Mike says we are going to have a few hours of ‘going to St Martin’.  This means wind and waves on the nose.  Lovely.  In the meantime, it’s tablet, sofa and bucket for me!

Mike goes off to bed after lunch telling me to wake him if we start heading on a course of less than 150 degrees, but that it shouldn’t happen for a few hours.

An hour later I have to wake him.  We are suddenly heading south east, rather than south west so he tacks the boat over 90 degrees until we are heading west, better, although still off course but that’s where the wind is and we don’t want to motor.  Unfortunately, we have now lost Chessie and as their radio cuts off most of their transmissions and we give up trying to contact them.

Mike gives up on sleep and stays up with me for the afternoon.  At one point he spots a tug pulling an oil platform but they don’t appear on AIS which is strange.  Gradually the uncomfortable motion calms down and by early evening I am able to cook without danger of causing myself, or anyone near me, serious injury as I stagger around the galley with boiling water and sharp knives.

Hopefully tomorrow we will be on a better course.

 

 

Our position is:  23 deg 54 min S, 51 deg 27 min E

Distance so far:  16811 nautical miles