SailBlog

It is amazing to live a life so intimately connected to the weather patterns. Each day begins, ends, and is driven through the night at the beckon call of the gusts and lulls that pull me out of my bed, so overpowered by forces, I can barely move against them. Or its the clamouring of the sails as the winds no longer hold them open as the swells lift and roll the hull, stealing the wind from the sail. All of existence is beholden to the winds and swells.

And yet, there is the knowing at the moment the mind actually reckons the calling of the sails, of what needs to be done to bring the Inspired Sanity back into balance so that once more the helm is adeptly held by Anam Cara while I climb below once more, straighten my blankets again, so that i can find a warm embrace to hold me for a while longer until the beckoning begins again.

The winds were fairly steady and we made great progress overnight, the call was in the gusts and the answer was most often to just wait for the gust to pass. The trick is to have just enough leeway in the power of the sails to tolerate the gusts so as to make a good day of sailing a great day of headway. The winds stayed up for a while.

I have done very well, making a 1/2 a degree a day south consistently and 2 degrees east or more...I am up 2 1/2 degrees this morning..we sailed hard yesterday. But i am going to have a bit of 10kt sailing days that should give me the conditions to finish the 'boom box' and get it all put together. It will get good to get it off the deck as right now, it is on the windward deck, riding in the low rail... But once it is together, it will have to hang...there is nowhere else for it to be.

As I was eating my breakfast, quite early, it seemed I was not going to be able to work on the 'boom box', especially on a close reach...but then it seemed that the winds were diminishing a bit ...so it turned out to be a good working day. I had to switch gears inwardly. This project carries a certain level of intimidation for me so it takes a bit of momentum for me to get the tools out and get going.

First, as I looked at the newly cut end of the boom, I got thinking about the pieces I would need to help to align the boom to start the repair. There is a track for the foot hanks on the top of the boom and another flatter track at the bottom that carries a fitting for the preventers or boom vang...they both need to have a piece made so that I can connect the boom with these pieces in the tracks to line it all up. I managed to find a good piece of teak that will fit diagonally in the square foot track...but I had to cut and fabricate the one for the flatter bottom track. I hated to cut up a good piece of the door woodwork, but it was the piece that was the right shape and size. It took a bit of sanding to get it right. Wood dust is still everywhere from the cutting project in the cockpit 2 days before...and now I am adding teak dust...with its own oily way of sticking to everything.

Then I began to focus on drilling all the holes to assemble the boom box. By the time I got to this part, the winds had picked up and seas started to build. It was getting hard to hold anything and try to drill...but I kept at it until I had the first two boards connected to the oak board with the spacer in there ... the idea is to sandwich two long pieces of wood between the two flat faces to prevent the larger bolts from collapsing the boom as I tighten them which would actually make the boom weaker. As the oak board was not exactly the right height to allow for that...it was too short, so I had to make a spacer. It will be the weak area of the box construction. I am hoping that the thickened epoxy will cure some of the evils having cut the pieces with a hack saw and having no jointer on board.

By now, I am surprised as I am starting to feel pretty dizzy; trying to work sitting on the floor as the boat is heeling hard and then we finally fall off the wind until a gust brings us back on. Our point of sail is just behind the beam...a tough point for the steering with gusty conditions. So... despite not feeling well, I forced myself to finish this portion of the job. I got the boom on the floor then to ensure that the whole box was going to fit as planned...it turned out that the boom is mishappen from the break and bent just a fraction of an inch...but I decided to wait at this point and not set all the screws. I did the third side but left the fourth edge free to drill later. I want to see how it is going to work with the other piece of the boom. Though it looked fairly well aligned when I first cut the boom ragged edges and put the two boom pieces together, now I want to be sure that it will fit within fractions of an inch of precision needed.

So... The next stage is to going to require a truly calmer day so that I can work on the boom on the deck, get the reef lines sorted out... I may need to use some brute persuasion to get the boom ends straighter. Then the actual assembly will begin. It is going to all happen in one sitting so that the epoxy doesn't have a chance to harden in places where I don't want it. I don't have enough tools to sand and shape things.

The weather is going to blow tonight, but the next few days, the winds are going to be quite variable, and more in the 10kt range, right up until nearly the 24th... a few days. So amidst those days, I should get the this finished. By the 24th, I need to be at 45*S so that we can pick up a real tradewind belt of west winds to make headway onward to Cape Horn.

I spent a bit more time logging today. I realized that my Starpilot program that I use for Celestial Navigation also has all the tools needed for piloting. I was able to put in my position and destination position and get some acurate distance to Cape Horn and then onward to home. I am 3250nm to Cape Horn..that is actually less than I thought... It could take us close to 32 days if we can keep to my old faithful average of 100nm a day, which is a bit ahead of my recent estimates. From Cape Horn to the point of turning around Brazil it is appox. 3500 nm, and from there to Newport Harbor is another 3700nm... 7200nm from CH... Which is right on target for the same idea of 100nm a day to make my landfall in Newport in the first week or so of May.

I also was able to get a more accurate idea of how long the longitudes are at each degree as I go south... as well as the magnetic variation... all great information to have. Though, in the end of the day, we just sail on and watch a couple of degrees go past each day and we managed to get there. It is remarkable how predictable time is in this sense. Regardless of my doubts or delays, I know that come March 1st...I will be past Cape Horn and on my way north ... Time is just like that. It is going to pass and all that we intend and work towards will come to fruition in time. It is all about doing the one next thing that is in this very moment with all our hearts that keeps that pace moving forward.

I have a new flock of Prion-like birds..they are a bit larger, darker in color, slightly longer and narrower wings, but still swooping and diving, wings flapping with a fast pace... a broad bill though maybe not as much as the 'broad billed grey'' Prions on the west ocean before Australia. A few Albatrosses are finding me, one at a time...

Bob McDavitt informed me that we are approaching the place in the world farthest from land... Point Nemo at 49*S 123*W...it is 2658 nm from everywhere else that is land. That will be an important landmark, or should I say 'oceanmark' to pass. I wish I had a glass of the bubbly to toss to Nemo to offer homage...but a bit of 'tea' may have to do.

I enjoyed my pot of chicken soup tonight...still my favorite. I have actually been good about only having one can per week so far on the trip, which will offer me the option of splurging a bit in the next three final months...though I will need a bit for the last stretch to RI from just north of the Caribbean, where I will be by the end of my ninth month...I may be even nearer to Bermuda... we will see. I think I have let go of any thought of making it all the way to RI by May 1st..it was a bit too early anyway.

I am also looking forward to catching fish in the months ahead. I have had no luck at all in the Southern Ocean and now I am hoarding my lures for a territory when I have more confidence I will be successful. I will be so so ready for a real MEAL... I can almost taste those fish steaks frying. And I will also be back in 'flying fish' territory for some breakfast yummy soon and who knows.. maybe a 'flying fish antic' cartoon or two. I know I am being optimistic...but why not!! I deserve it. A good boost for morale.

Only 80* to go to Cape Horn, 80 degrees to go...sail one more, heading for home 79 degrees to go to Cape Horn!...

Well, as the night begins to overtake us, the air takes on the very cool temperature, not cold...but all the layers are added, one by one; then the scarf around my neck and soon, I will find myself embraced again in the comfort of polar fleece, and dreams of the ocean blue in the sunshine, balmy days ahead once back in the Atlantics, of a summer of fun that is coming enjoying Bob and Calypso, my grandchildren and children... family... friends... there will be nothing taken for granted ever again, I hope...as they are all so so very precious to me ... more than ever.

Keepin On Sailin On Caring... What a glorious day... a reprieve from the gales and storms, though they beckon at my back door, as swells grow to 12 - 15 feet from a storm not too far away...though they remain gently rolling small hills now. Inspired Sanity and I are sailing on... engulfed by the energy of the sea, moment by moment... It is an incredible place to be.

A little variety... I was reading Eckhart Tolle...The Eternal Now. How important we are! "Hence, the ultimate purpose of the world lies not within the world but in transcendence of the world. Just as you would not be conscious of space if there were no objects in space, the world is needed for the unmanifestd to be realized... It is through the world and ultimately through you that the Unmanifested knows itself. You are here to enable the divine prupose of the Universe to unfold. That is how important you ARE!"

Fairest of Winds and the Love of the Ocean Only Gratitude Donna

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