Saturday 1pm LT (Sat 2300 GMT) Bright sunny day with seas and winds still well up. I'm hoping we don't get the 30kt winds forecast earlier today and they stay instead to the E of here, over the Tuamotus, not reaching here. There's a Low forming there with heavy rain and winds from all different directions, depending on where exactly the centre is in relation to the person looking.
About to have some pancakes - another 'Tropics' celebration! Then maybe short 'catch up' sleep.
4pm The pancakes were just great! Not too much Nutella this time and a fair amount of raspberry sauce worked really well - not too rich, not too sweet, but very tasty. It got a bit difficult cooking them heeled over so very often - wave interval is down to every 6 seconds and the faces are very steep so we're really rolling about a lot. So eventually, I furled in a small amount more of the genoa to make the cooking easier. It was nice to be doing 6kt or more, in 25-27kt wind, but we're still making over 5 kt - in less wind, in fact - a lull?
Just as I was finishing cooking the last pancake, I realised the gas had gone out... The propane supply to the galley had run out and the tank needs changing - another job added to the list for when it calms down a bit. In the meantime, I've plenty of canned food that doesn't need cooking - good for warm climates, in fact!
8pm Finished a short while ago with several evening radio Nets - the airwaves get busy with darkness falling and radio propagation changing!
Will have a meal, get some sleep and then come up on 7163 just after midnight tonight - and then get back to sleep...
Sunday 2.45am Missed te 7163 sched - just too tired to make it. Wind has gusted up to 25-30kt - raining... seas big and rough. Wind must have backed more towards ENE so we're having trouble making our course - too close to wind now so came off wind 5 degrees - better, although still a bit close. Making just over 5kt, slightly E of N. Hopefully, we'll get back on course after rain squall passes.. Oops! A big wave crashes over noisily and we lurch and heel over to port as water washes over everywhere on deck...
Nothing more to be done - back to my bunk...
4:15am Dark still. Wind has dropped to under 20kt, and our speed with it, after gusting in showers to near 30kt. We're struggling to keep a course just E of N at around 4kt in what looks to be a backed wind in the showers. Not getting a lot of sleep tonight... Needing to keep checking and making adjustments to avoid luffing up (getting too close to the wind).
8:15am Bright daylight. Wind must have veered just enough so at a better angle now, from ESE again, and we're making our course without a problem - in fact, changed course slightly to 011T to head closer to Moorea in case a possibility of making use of its lee for a mainsail repair - depends on timing, since can't work in darkness too easily! A lot of cloud around now but sun getting out well. Seas still big - hoping they'll die down over today, as wind eases.
Looking forward to more sleep soon...
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While sailing around the world, I'm trying to raise funds to help support the superb life-saving work done by the RNLI (Lifeboats) in Britain each and every day of the year, regardless how bad the weather. In fact, the worse it is, the more likely they are out there, helping someone in distress - whether a swimmer, surfer, small boat or big ship, night or day, summer or winter. They are all volunteers with normal day-jobs who respond immediately to a call and it is a charity - no government funding - so they rely on our help to fund their intensive training and maintain their equipment.
It would be great if you would take a moment to click on the Lifeboats link here (https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Jeanne-Socrates2), if you'd like to show your support for my efforts at sailing solo, nonstop, unassisted around the globe, trying to set a World Record as the oldest person to do so, by donating something towards the great work the RNLI do every day. If a lot of people put in even a small amount, it all adds up... Thanks a lot! If you can help, it will be very much appreciated. Let's see if we can reach my target!
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1900GMT (= 9 a.m. LT = Tahiti time) - end of Day 277. We made 112 n.ml. DMG, measured in a straight line between the two 1900GMT positions.
Total distance covered from Victoria, B.C., to end of Day 277 (by daily DMGs): 22,648 n.ml.
Distances (at 1900GMT): East Cape, N.Z.: 1965 n.ml. to SW; Papeete, Tahiti: 104 n.ml. to NNE; Honolulu: 2455 n.ml. to NNW
Position, as posted to www.Winlink.org and www.Shiptrak.org (using my US callsign KC2IOV):
TIME: 2019/07/07 19:00GMT LATITUDE: 19-04.24S LONGITUDE: 150-29.52W
COURSE: 009T SPEED: 5.0kt
WIND_SPEED:19kt WIND_DIR: ESE SWELL_DIR: E SWELL_HT: 4.0m CLOUDS: 80%
BARO: 1016.1hPa TREND: 1 AIR_TEMP: 26.4C SEA_TEMP: 32.1C
COMMENT: Seas still big but wind eased a bit. Course change now to 011T