Friday16th November 2012
Midday:
Close-hauled, as usual, but not so much we lose all speed. That was the plan, which worked fine overnight and untl now, making just under 6 kt, almost on course. Just a few clouds around by mid-morning and the wind slowly died down, to 10 kt by midday, from the 14kt of earlier. The wind direction is not too helpful just now - it's just north of due East but, hopefully, might back to NE later, in which case we could make a better course. We're trying to head roughly 150T to keep clear of strong convection in the ITCZ to the W, when we arrive there (8-10N) early next week (Mon/Tues?), but that course not possible just now
Later:
A few small deck jobs were very pleasant to do in the breeze - checking bungy ties on toe-rail blocks, along with shackle pins...! Wasn't happy with a couple of leads on the leeward rail so changed things a touch there... Took quite a time and got a bit wet - swell is up just a little now... All very relaxed.... Sat on side-deck in shade of sails and enjoyed just being out at sea in these pleasantconditions! Went to make coffee - ended up cleaning the stove top thoroughly first! Generally, a fairly relaxed day, sailing nicely.
Weather forecast excerpt:
".... MONSOON TROUGH FROM 08N82W TO 06N94W...WHERE IT TRANSITIONS TO ITCZ..CONTINUING TO 08N121W TO 07N126W TO 09N131W TO BEYOND 08N140W. SCATTERED MODERATE (convection) (and) ISOLATED STRONG (convection) FROM 06N TO 10N BETWEEN 119W AND 122W.
.... so I'm presently aiming for 11N, 117W - we'll see how well that works out!!
Wind has backed nicely now (4.30pm) to ENE-NE so we're making a good course -would be nice to avoid that 'convection' activity if at all possible - but there's time for a change in its position - will just keep an eye on it...Downloading satellite photos daily showing where the active clouds are....
9.30pm A lovely starry night sky with BRIGHT Jupiter by the horns of Taurus ... and Orion lying on his side - ready to stand on his head when we're in the Southern hemisphere !! A hazy crescent moon disappeared soon after sunset. Lovely sparkles of light in our bow wave as we sail along.
Must catch up with emails - several well overdue.... !
24hr DMG: 127 n.ml.;Golden Gate Bridge 1320n.ml & Strait of Juan de Fuca 1967n.ml away at 3pm & our position was then 750 n ml SW of Cabo San Lucas and 1210 ml W of Acapulco, Mexico. The Equator is 960ml due S.... about 8 days away.
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Position reports...
1) My own weather and position report, daily to Winlink/Shiptrak - link is on my website's 'Travels' page - click on "Where is Nereida?"
2) http://www.exactearth.com/media-centre/recent-ship-tracks/tracking-nereida/ - courtesy 'exactEarth' using their polar-orbiting satellites - good everywhere, especially nearer the poles, i.e. when in the Southern Ocean.
3) http://oceantracker.net?event=nereida - courtesy "Oceantracker' using geo-stationary satellites with good coverage just now - probably fine until Valparaiso, Chile, and then from 1000ml W of Australia, depending how far N we sail..