24Jan2011

One Day To Sri Lanka

All is well aboard Convergence! The crew has settled into the daily routine.

We all have share in operating and sailing Convergence 24 hours a day. Our watches are three hours on and 6 hours off so we area able to have a good sleep between watches. The autopilot, one of the most critical parts of the boat, steers the boat. We have a primary and backup autopilot connected making it easy to change to the other if one fails. When on watch we have to make sure the boat is on the proper course, the sails are trimmed for the wind direction and speed, that there are no hazards like islands, reefs etc. on our route (the navigator plotted a clear route but the watch keeper needs to verify), and that there are no vessels in our path that we need to navigate around.

Fortunately there are no fishing boats around this part of our route to watch out for. But we are running parallel and about 12 miles North of the major shipping lane between Singapore's Malacca Straight and the Red Sea/middle East. With our AIS and radar we can always see 5 to 10 ships 12 to 18 miles off our port side.. Occasionally one strays near us as happened last night when we were in the middle of a squall and a 1,000 foot American President Line Cargo ship passed 3.5 miles to starboard. We called them with our VHF radio and spoke with an efficient female duty officer. We could see them with our Automatic Information System AIS but hey couldn't see us with their radar as we were inside the squall.

In addition to watch keeping, Joseph is enjoying doing the cooking. We are too as he is a great chef, almost as good as Sally-Christine! SC and Joseph's dad taught them well! I mentioned the fresh tuna dinner in the last blog. Last night he made glass noodles saute with tofu and fresh vegetables wrapped in Thai soy and garlic chili sauce. He made a delicious carrot cake for desert tonight.

Kelly has been keeping the galley clean after chef Joseph cooks. Kelly is very knowledgeable, helpful with projects pleasant to be with and an excellent crew member. His experience gained circumnavigating his Dufour 35 with his wife shows in his seamanship.

I have been the chief engineer fixing a myriad of minor things that either have not worked like our head (due to calcium clogging the hose), fixing things that broke (like the stern light that the mizzen sheet got under and half destroyed) or tweaking things that were recently installed like the new sail covers. Seems like there is always something that needs attention. No surprises there! That being said, overall the boat is in very good shape.

Between boat duties all three of are finding time to catch up on some reading.

Just put in the second reef before dinner and sunset. The wind has come forward, apparent wind is about 15 knots on the beam and we are moving along at 9 plus knots over the ground. The crew is almost as good at reefing as KH you and I!

We have less than a day to go to Sri Lanka which we will pass within 5 miles on our way to the Maldives which are about three days and 600 miles ahead.

Randy >