26/09/2008, 29deg 48'S 154deg 35'E
With just under 80nm to go, excitement is building to fever pitch on board Diomedea. Well, not quite, as Andrea is asleep and I am just goofing around. There is 3 kts of NW breeze and thus the motor is running. The sky is cloudless. For us this is rather unusual. In the tropics one is always at the perimeter of the highs and there is plenty of moisture in the air. Therefore lots of clouds. Down here in the deep south we are directly under the centre of the high so all the moisture has been squeezed out. No clouds. Another interesting thing is the enormous difference in twilight duration between the tropics and the horse latitudes - much much longer down here. But then ST Coleridge told us all that in Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. Another observation. For the last hour or two we have up to 1.5kt of current against us. I presume this is a big eddy off the EAC. Can someone have a look at Sea Surface Temp/Current chart and verify this. Will do the 100nm consultation when Andrea is awake.
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Comments [1]
26/09/2008, 29deg 34'S 155deg 17'E
Its the Tasman Sea. Its 2am right now. Are you awake? You should be. Step out of the cabin into the cockpit with me. I'm certainly glad of my long johns and windstopper top. Its cold. Absolutely clear and completely calm. A low swell rolls in from the south. Stand up and look ahead. There is no horizon. The blue veil above merges imperceptibly with the inky indigo below. On the bow is Antares in the setting Scorpio. The star has laid down a beam of light on the water, just like a bright moon on a good night. I can't recall having seen this before but Diomedea is rolling straight down the star beam into the sky. If you turn around you will see behind us snaking away to celestial oblivion is our own comet trail of green marine glow. Orion gazes down in wonder at the scene. Totally incredible. Duck your head back through the companionway, grab the rail with your left hand, swing round onto the settee while I make a cuppa. Motoring this evening as Diomedea has run into the high on the NSW coast. We have had a fantastic sail during the day. Beam and close reaching in 15-18kts all day with a crystal clear sky and a moderate seaway. We have only about 115nm to go to Coffs. We have heard from some of our rally friends that it is pouring rain at Ile de Pins back in NC, and the forecast is for more of it and some big winds as well. The Tasman is much nicer.
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25/09/2008, 29deg 02'S 157deg 21'E
Brrr! Cabin temp 17deg at night, water 21. Diomedea must be back in the Tasman Sea. Lots of dolphins now. We also sighted our first albatross since the Tasman crossing in April. A good 2.8m wingspan. Also the famous "pick me" muttonbirds keep a regular patrol in our wake just in case we turn into a trawler. Seaway was very lumpy over last 24 hours. A big southerly swell was pushing through, 4.0m high, with a relatively confused sea over the top of it from the east. The wind has been variable but is now coming from due south. Bummer. However, it will only blow today then go soft(motor o'clock), so we are reaching away a bit for the moment. Andrea and I found that the doctor had been running late with his consultation for the halfway point but we did eventually have the consultation with a glass of Rose D'Anjou and a glass of Beaujolais (both from France via Noumea). Sailing sure is tough. We now have less than a Coffs race to go and will soon cross the 200nm line. I wonder where the doctor is.
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24/09/2008, 27deg 33'S 160deg 21'E
During the night Diomedea snuck past the halfway post out here in the Coral Sea. The distance to Coffs Harbour is now less than the trip meter. Just on 400nm to go. Yeeha. However, another marker was found nearby, kindly placed by Neptune. At sunset, along came a horizon-to-horizon squall. The sea foamed ahead of the cloud mass as the cold air came hurtling down. Double reefs in the main,lose the jib and hand steering off as 32kts smote Diomedea. Of course, in reality, she brushed it aside and soon was back on track. Respect de la mer. The evening saw us in a slowly fading breeze which causes a sequence something like this: unfurl the jib, shake out the reefs, wait, watch the windspeed go into single digits, watch the boatspeed fall away, furl the jib, turn the donk on, wait to see how much the main is flogging in the leftover sloppy seaway, its ok, David goes off watch, one hour later is boom-crash opera of the main slamming about, drop the main as Diomedea rolls in the windless mess of the ocean, more revs. We have been motoring since 1 am and sunup is just glowing through the companionway, blitzing this computer screen with unwanted light. A pleasant interlude during the evening was a visit by our favourite sea creature. The green/white contrails came to our midships at amazing velocity. You can almost see the dolphin enclosed in a shimmering gown of ephemeral light. The breath, as it comes, seems right next to your ear. The pair of animals entwine under the bow wave. We have not seen dolphins since our departure from Fiji. They are much more prevalent around the NSW coast. Whether this is a natural distribution or whether it is a result of drift net fishing I know not. Were these dolphins far from land? Not entirely as Diomedea is only 150nm north of the Middleton reef. Not far if you can swim at 20 knots. The forecast is for good SE breeze today and tomorrow but on Saturday we will lob into the centre of a high that will suck away the wind. At this stage our ETA in Coffs is Saturday evening. A cold front is coming up the mid north coast early Monday morning. As Bob McDavitt (the Kiwi version of Ken Batt)would say, "Avoid" and we will.
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I am VERY concerned there is no mention of a past-halfway consultation! Please rectify immediately and more importantly, OFTEN!
A Concerned Wrist Gimbler
23/09/2008, 26deg 02'S 162deg 52'E
We are three hundred miles down the track with about 550 to go. Yesterday we had one of those close encounters of the large ship kind. A Japanese container vessel came rocketing up from the south and passed 1-2nm across our stern. I chatted, on VHF 16, with the watch officer who was very professional and knew of our existence in his horizon. It was quite reassurring. Also, yet another strong point in favour of metal yachts - excellent radar signature! Last night was a cracker sunset with gorgeous orange and pink rays slicing the cloud layer. For many hours thereafter it was crystal clear. The southern cross was setting low on the horizon and all the stars were smiling benignly upon Diomedea. We sailed well until about 0100hr this morning when the wind went quite suddenly into the NE. We kept reaching but naturally went further south rather than west. With sunrise we have poled out to run dead downwind on 230M which is the new rhumb line to Coffs. We mostly have the South Sub-Tropical current with us, anything up to 1.0kt. Occasionally I see some adverse current of 0.4kt - an eddy? We will be well clear of the Capel Bank seamount. It has some disturbingly shallow soundings. We are in good spirits. A big thank you to the well wishers who posted comments on this blog site at the time of us leaving Noumea. It really makes an enormous difference to know that folks at home are thinking of us out here.
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22/09/2008, 24deg 07'S 164deg 41.5'E
It was a difficult night. Initially 20-25 then sustained periods of 30 then back to low teens. A consistently good sailplan eluded us. At least it was all from behind! We motored for a few hours this am in very light winds and have just now set sails again. The waning moon made a temporay appearance at about 0100hr but the heavy cloud cover did its best to obscure the big lightbulb in the sky. Of course there was patchy rain. A flying fish came aboard, landing on the top of the coachhouse then rolling down the side onto the windward deck. For a brief and ridiculous moment I thought a possum had jumped on the corrugated roof over our kitchen. I sent him on his way.
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