Week Two in Fremantle

Yes, we are still in Fremantle, but working hard and playing only a bit. Yesterday was the Perth Zoo and Saturday was two Maritime Museums in Fremantle, plus a tour of a submarine. Today is work — painting, plumbing, sanding, varnishing, sealing, organizing. Tomorrow we work on our sails at the loft (to help speed their return) and “enable” the Furuno technician to reassemble our system and “improve” our Furuno vs. MaxSEA contention.

We hope to head off to Hobart on next Monday, March 5th. Depending on how we go, it is about 2000 miles. We currently believe that we will have to do our “usual trick” of heading south until we get cold, then turn left until we run into land. This time we will have to go a bit further south, eventually to 43 degrees, 40 minutes, the latitude of Whale Head on the southern side of Tasmania. Well into the Roaring Forties.

We have developed a few impressions of Australia, or at least Fremantle:
1) they are just about as car-oriented as Americans;
2) obesity is almost as endemic as in the States, a big change from the poorer countries we have recently seen;
3) lots of dogs;
4) Fremantle is very dry, so lots of great outside restaurants;
5) very friendly and open, at least superficially;
6) huge beer focus, even though this is one of the top wine producing areas;
7) seems egalitarian, while there are a few BMW’s and an occasional Rolls, everybody generally appears to be a very level society, with similar dress and “one class of service”;
no apparent incoming “underclass” who trim the lawn, work as dishwashers, street sweepers;
9) immigration is a hot political issue;
10) Western Australia is the end of their supply chain — many say WA means “Wait Awhile” not Western Australia.

In a previous post, I mentioned that a wave took away the top of our steering compass. A local wood turner made a lovely Jarra Wood replacement, with an old Australian penny embedded in the center, complete with kangaroo. Photo above.

All is well.

At the Fremantle Sailing Club

The Schooner Maggie B is still at the Fremantle Sailing Club, though they have moved us to the VIP berth right in from of the Club House, where we get a constant stream of visitors.

We will be here for at least a week or two. Lots of boat work to do, plus we have to sightsee some. We haven’t even gotten into Perth as yet.

For boat work, we have the sails off at a loft getting touched up; lots of sanding for varnishing; stove gas system overhauled (again!); the main Furuno box in to get its circuits tested; the toilet overhauled (again!); new blocks on order; new Yanmar fuel filter sensors ordered; parrell beads being made from Jarra wood; a new top for our steering compass also being turned from Jarra, with an old Australian penny in the top; bilge cleaned; interior and exterior paint touched up; replace some worn halyards and furling lines; etc., etc.

Fremantle is wonderful.

The weather is bright and hot, but with a nice sea breeze. Being part of the western desert, the air is rather dry, more like Colorado than the humidity of the Seychelles. Freo, as it is called, is strongly Italian in background. Certainly all the restaurants are Italian. The Fisherman’s Memorial in town lists all the names of fishermen lost at sea and the names are almost 100% Italian. The local small “quick” supermarket has 20 different kinds of olive oil and 40 different kinds of salami. The big club in the middle of the park is The Italian Club.

One other thing we have noticed is how many very tough cars there are. These are the big Land Rovers or Toyotas with four wheel drive, extra road clearance, roof racks with three extra tires and two jerry cans of fuel, six extra lights on the front, two shovels strapped on and big “Roo” bar protection for the grill. Obviously ready for the worst that the desert roads can dish out.

Hannah has had a continuing saga with the African drum that Willis left on board for her. It has Springbok leather and Australian Customs has, after much toing and froing, confiscated it and sent it to Willis in the States.

One Customs issue that made us very, very nervous was that part of their checklist was “What anti-fouling do you have?” We were hauled and repainted in the Seychelles in December, but I could not remember the name of the paint and they did not press it. Certainly there has been a change away from the toxic stuff that everyone use to use. I suspect that the stuff we used in the Seychelles may have been something that is now outlawed in Australia. Could they kick you out of force you to be hauled, scraped and painted? I just don’t know and don’t want to find out.

Last night the Cruising Section of the Sailing Club had a barbecue, where the Maggie B was the treat. We perhaps had 50 visitors on board. She is looking her best, even after 16,500 miles.

All is well.

Antigua Classic 2006 | large [4.5mb]

Location: 32° 04 S, 115° 45 E
Saturday 16:30, 02.17.2007

The Schooner Maggie B docked at the Fremantle Sailing Club at 1630 local (UTC +9). We are at 32° 04S, 115° 45E. We cleared Customs, Quarantine and Immigration in about an hour and a half with only the loss of all our fresh provisions. Striped Dolphin escorted us in the last few miles.

4545 NM in 24 days from the Seychelles. Average 189 NM per day, 7.9 knots average speed. Top wind speed, 52 knots (true). Top boat speed 17.4 knots.

More to come. Hot showers, restaurant meals, and cold Australian wine next.

All is well.

Antigua Classic 2006 | small [2.8mb]

Location: 33° 05 S, 111° 12 E
Friday 12:00, 02.16.2007

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position today was 33° 05 S 111° 12 E. We were headed on a course of 078 degrees magnetic, directly for Fremantle at 10 knots (hull speed). The wind is perfect for us, 300 degrees magnetic at 22-30 knots. We have a long swell behind us that occasionally has let us surf up to 16 KNOTS! This is for a 35 ton wooden gaff-rigged schooner! We have 229 miles to go to Fremantle, and have come 4316 from the Seychelles.

IF, and at sea any future is a big if, we arrive tomorrow in Fremantle at about noon, we will have been almost exactly 24 days from the Seychelles (five days Seychelles to Mauritius, 19 days Mauritius to Fremantle). We will have covered about 4545 NM, which would give us an average of 189 NM per day or 7.9 knots, 24/7. Fast cruising, just what I asked Nigel for!

This morning I noticed that the fore peak gaff topping lift halyard had managed to tie itself up in a knot on the pin rail. It was under quite a bit of pressure but couldn’t be loosened because of the way it was tangled. I went to the cockpit and asked Bori and Owen for the Tweaker and the Prussik line, which they handed me from the lockers. As I sorted out the tangle, I though of how specialized language becomes on a ship. A Tweaker is a Canadian (?) term for a light block and tackle with a whip rope on either end that can be used for a variety of temporary purposes. Others would call it a Handy Billy, a Purchase, or a Come-along. A Prussik is a climber’s knot that can grab and hold a line under strain, but easily release and slide when the Prussik is released. With a Prussik line (short loop of strong but lightweight line) and the Tweaker, I was able to take up tension on the halyard enough to release the messy knot it had made on the pin rail.

In the same way, on a gaff sail, there are many round metal pieces sewn into the sail, to take different pieces of line to hold and control the sail. If those round pieces of metal are at the bottom (foot) of the sail, in the corners, they are cringles (tack or clew), if they are in the top, head, corners, they are thimbles (throat or head/peak), if they are along the boom or gaff, they are grommets or eyes (head or luff). Of course, if they where you reef, they are cringles, except in the middle of the sail, where they are points.

National Lampoon has a hysterical short audio on their site called “Rigging a Ship” where a man with a thick accent just recites accurate historical ship’s parts. It would surely get you a drink on the house if recited in any Yacht Club bar in the world.

Now that, as I write this, we have only 190 NM to go to Fremantle, I am conscious that we have the hard part of the trip ahead of us. Finding our way through the reefs behind Rottnest Island, landing at the Quarantine Dock, making Customs happy, finding a spot for the night. Much harder than Blue Water!

All is well.

Three days from Fremantle, 2.15.2007

Supplies are getting low at least for fresh food, being 2 1/2 weeks out of Mauritius. But we continue to be inventive for our communal noon meal. Today, with the help of the “All Around the World Cookbook” by Sheila Lukins, I made Irish Soda Bread, which came out pretty well. We then had Butternut Squash soup and a horizontal Pissaladiere. We have lots of onions for the onion tart, and olives, but sardines instead of anchovies, and the Soda Bread instead of puff pastry. It was delicious!

Location: 33° 49 S, 107° 29 E
Thursday 12:00, 02.15.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 33° 49 S, 107° 29 E at noon today. We are headed due East magnetic, right for Fremantle at 9.6 knots, with the speed varying from 7.5 to 12.5 knots with gusts and surfing swells. We have made good 800 NM in the last four days and have 430 NM to go to Fremantle. The wind has been from the SW at 20-25, but we are expecting frontal passage soon when it will switch to NW 20-25. We are continuing with both main and fore with one reef. Freo for Saturday night! Hooray!

Supplies are getting low at least for fresh food, being 2 1/2 weeks out of Mauritius. But we continue to be inventive for our communal noon meal. Today, with the help of the “All Around the World Cookbook” by Sheila Lukins, I made Irish Soda Bread, which came out pretty well. We then had Butternut Squash soup and a horizontal Pissaladiere. We have lots of onions for the onion tart, and olives, but sardines instead of anchovies, and the Soda Bread instead of puff pastry. It was delicious!

Waves at sea are endlessly interesting. The ocean here is a steel grey when it is cloudy, bright sapphire blue when sunny. But not necessarily a nice blue. Very hard. White caps are totally different than watching a wave break onshore. On shore the froth leads the wave and is the main action and attraction. At sea a breaking wave can be spectacular — you can see why they are called “white horses” — but immediately as it breaks, the wave leaves it behind. It is as if the wave “has places to go, things to do” and isn’t interested at all in something frothy and frivolous. Occasionally a wave will peak up near you and, if you are lucky, you see the light through it and it is a bright, light, shiny blue that reminds you of beaches in the tropics. Then it breaks over you and beach thoughts are forgotten as the “bright shiny blue” water finds every tiny opening in your foul weather gear and fills your sea boots.

Quote of the Day: ‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free.
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be.
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain’d,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,
To turn, turn will be our delight
Till by turning, turning we come round right.
(Shaker tune)

All is well.

Commanders Weather Corporation
Wednesday 12:00, 02.14.2007

From: Commanders’ Weather Corporation
Route: Port Louis, Mauritius to Perth, Australia
Position: 33 32s/103 29e at 1200utc Wed, Feb 14
Prepared: 1330utc Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Summary:

a) this front will move more E than NE, but will cause your winds to become more WSW or even W
b) directly downwind, so split gybes - I would probably go back to port gybe, only to keep you further N and away from the stronger winds associated with the Fri night/Sat cold front. In addition, the strongest winds will be NW winds and an approach from due W of Perth will be favored
c) you may get a brief squall and a little left shift in about 21-24 hrs, but any SW winds will be brief, behind this 2nd cold front

a) pressure will be down to around 950 mbs near 45S/110E at 1200UTC Fri
b) I think part of the energy for this low came from ex-TC Dora

a) winds will shift into the SW to take you into Perth

Routing

a) will have a brief period of starboard/SW winds as the 2nd cold front passes

a) likely will be passed by a cold front before you reach Perth, whichmeans starboard again
4) Sorry about all the gybes!

Wind Forecasts
Wind direction TRUE, speed in kts, time is UTC

Wed, Feb 14
18: 240-210/16-24, maybe a brief squall to 30 kts
WeatherChangeable skies, maybe a brief squall or 2, especially this evening and again late tonight/Thu morning

Thu, Feb 15
00: 230-250/16-24, winds more S-SW and lighter to the N and more WSW/stronger to the S
06: 230-260/16-22
12: 240-210/12-18, sailing into the high pressure ridge, nr 32 50S/107 10E
18: 240-280/ 7-14
WeatherChance of an early squall then partly cloudy. Seas will diminish daytime, but W-SW swell will increase again later at night

Fri, Feb 16
00: 280-310/12-24
06: 290-310/25-35
12: 280-300/28-36, near 32 30S/111 30E
18: 280-300/25-35, maybe a squall over 40 kts
Partly sunny daytime with seas increasing to 12-18 feet. Increasing clouds overnight with an increasing threat of squalls - seas up to 15-20 feet

Sat, Feb 17
00: 300-240/16-24 and squalls over 40 kts
12: 240-210/16-24 - Perth
Squalls ending during the morning then cloudy to partly cloudy. Seas 12-18 feet, but falling throughout the day.

Location: 33° 32 S, 103° 29 E
Wednesday 12:00, 02.14.2007

Happy Valentine’s Day! We are all thinking of friends and family distant in space but close to us in our hearts.

At noon today, the Schooner Maggie B was at 33° 32 S, 103° 29E. We are back on starboard tack, making eight knots straight for Fremantle, which is 625 NM away. Three days at this speed. The wind is from the Southwest at 22 knots. The waves are playing with us a bit, but rarely get to more than 15 feet. We had cold front passage at about 0830 this morning — some rain and wind, but not much of a fuss. We jibed with the wind shift from NW to SW (remember — opposite from the Northern Hemisphere).

In the last three days, we have made good 585 NM towards Fremantle.

I forget to mention earlier one little indication of the conditions we had last week. In all the photos of someone at the wheel, one can see the lovely old-fashioned Danforth steering compass mounted on the binnacle. Nice safe position — right? During the blow, one wave came over the side, took off the top cap of the compass and kept going right over the side. People used to say that Neptune/Poseidon takes presents from sailors, if not properly gifted. We gave him a nice dollop of Madagascar rum at the start of this leg, but perhaps that wasn’t enough. I think that he is wearing our brass compass cap as an earring now.

We have two powerful navigation systems on the boat. Furuno’s NavNet2 and MaxSEA 12.5. Japanese and French. Neither country has any Army, so they seem to need to get their hostilities out through technology. Furuno and MaxSEA get along like…two bulls in a boxcar. Last night I got up to find that our principal Furuno system was completely frozen and would not restart and the MaxSEA on my laptop had crashed Windows (not that tough, I know). It was like two boxers who had been going at it until neither could rise. MaxSEA eventually restarted, but was taken offline from the Ethernet (”Go to your room!”), but the Furuno multifunction display will have to go to the hospital (French 1; Japanese 0). But we have redundant Furuno systems, so Owen and I removed the old primary display and brought in the slave, which had been set up at the helm station. The understudy finally got to come on when the Star broke her leg! But, of course, Owen and I had to hack into the code to persuade #2 that it was #1 now. But all is now working well. Hopefully there is a great Furuno dealer in Fremantle.

The “to do” list for Fremantle is up to 25 items. The merchants will be glad to see us.

Regular readers have followed my diatribes against Lewmar blocks. Five failures! Yesterday I got an email from the Lewmar Block Product Manager! He asked how he could help. I sent him a long letter detailing the failures and what I believed the cause to be (bad engineering!). I wonder how they heard about the Maggie B? Nigel says that he approached them at the Paris Boat Show. Or perhaps somebody called them up after seeing my pictures of their broken blocks. I can’t believe that they have a “bot” that searches the web for comments about their products, but that is a possibility.

Quote of the Day: “You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough.” Joe E. Lewis (1902-1971).

All is well.

Our Valentine’s Day feast

Hannah made a marvelous chocolate layer cake for Valentine’s Day. Chocolate with chocolate frosting on top and jam and yogurt inner frosting. Total pig out! It will probably not live to see sunset. We decorated the Crew Mess with cut-out red and silver hearts. Hannah had Valentine’s pencils for all of us. Owen burned a CD of all our best love songs. It was perfect, except for being absent from friends and family.

Location: 33° 47 S, 99° 37 E
Tuesday 12:00, 02.13.2007

At noon on February 13th, the Schooner Maggie B was at 33° 47 S, 99° 37 E. We are headed 104 degrees magnetic, right for Fremantle, at 10.2 knots, hull speed. We have one reef in both the main and the fore. The wind is relatively steady from the Northwest at 18-25 knots. This is perfect sailing conditions for the Maggie B. We have occasional long swells of perhaps 10 feet that push us forward, with occasional surfing. The boat is perfectly balanced with zero rudder angle and Jorge, the Furuno Autopilot, only needs a few degrees one way or the other to handle our surfing.

We did 219 NM in the last 24 hours. We are 819 NM from Fremantle and have come 3820 NM from the Seychelles. At this speed, we will be in Fremantle in four days.

We need to get to Fremantle pretty soon because critical supplies are getting low. We are OK on garlic, coffee and Tabasco sauce, but chocolate is getting critical. We have only two more bars of dark chocolate! And Hannah has claimed one of them for the Valentine’s Day cake she is making for tomorrow. Our Twix bars and Kit Kats are all gone!! We have a pile of candy bars, but they are “Bounty” bars, which are mostly coconut with just a thin layer of chocolate on top. Yuck!

We are still seeing Dusky Shearwaters, but we seem to have gotten out of range of the Albatross. Yesterday we saw a solitary Stormy Petrel, who seemed a bit out of place 1000 miles at sea.

Those who know the sea and sea shanties, know that the words that sailors actually sang to the tunes were pretty rough and occasionally totally gross. Most modern shanties seem to be sung by choirs who have never tasted salt water, let along rum with a dose of lime juice. Like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or Robert Shaw Chorale. For those who want a taste of the real thing, get a copy of “Rogue’s Gallery,” produced by Hal Willner. It’s great.

One of my other favorite songs is from a CD called “Scotland the Real,” where a marvelous singer named Adam McNaughtan sings a cappella a song called Oor Hamlet, which tells the whole Hamlet story, seemingly in one breath. Well worth ninety-nine cents from iTunes.

We are just coming up on an area of the seabed called the Diamantina Fracture Zone. We have been sailing along a plain of 4-5000 meters depth, but this Zone varies from 1035 meters to 7102 meters in a narrow but long area. In 1986, one ship reported “Discolored Water” near our position, along the Zone. A new island developing? Sea mounts in the Zone have interesting names, including Gulden Draak and Eendracht. I guess the the Dutch got here first, as in so many places.

Our Yanmar main engine is functioning perfectly now with the salinity probe epoxied into the opening at the bottom of the fuel filter. Whew!

All is well.

Location: 34° 17 S, 95° 54 E
Monday 12:00, 02.12.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 34° 17 S, 95° 54 E at noon on February 12th. We are headed straight for Fremantle (090 degrees magnetic) at 8.9 knots with a lovely NW’erly at 18 knots taking us in. We have come 3545 from the Seychelles and have 1040 to go to Fremantle. As I write this at 1630, we are cheering that we have broken the 1000 NM to go barrier! An extra round of chocolate for all hands!

Today has seemed to be an endless series of small, difficult repairs. Our gas shut off solenoid stuck partially open, which was tough to diagnose. It seems to be fixed now, but the T-junction valve also failed, and we had great difficulty putting together the parts to plumb it all back together. Now we are using gas from a little Brazilian bottle, which should, hopefully, get us to Fremantle.

The diesel was hard to start this morning and when I went over it, I found a small diesel leak from the bottom of the fuel filter. A small drain valve in a plastic water-in-the-fuel sensor had come free and was dripping fuel. We took that apart and used epoxy to seal the drain hole. Four hours later, with the epoxy set, we reinstalled the sensor, only to have it break when it was tightened. Sigh. OK, we don’t need the sensor, let’s just plug up the hole. Easier said than done. Large metric hole. We searched the whole boat top to bottom and couldn’t find anything that fit. Then, finally going through a jar of junk, I found the discarded, failed, salinity probe from the watermaker, which we had replaced in the Seychelles. A perfect fit! It is now getting epoxied into position in a fresh fuel filter and we will know tomorrow morning if we have a functioning engine.

Hannah made a delicious little chicken for lunch. Roasted with lots of onions, olives, curry and garlic. Perhaps “puttinesca” if it were Italian, but we christened it Roast Chicken, Indian Ocean. Marvelous! We were able to have a civilized meal, eating on deck as we rush along almost at hull speed.

We should have a favorable breeze, 20 knots from either our port or starboard quarter for the next two days. The next gale is headed our way as early as Wednesday, as we close the Australian Coast. We will be very careful to keep our options open.

All is well.

Location: 34° 37 S, 91° 50 E
Sunday 12:00, 02.11.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 34° 37 S, 91° 50 E at noon on February 11th. The wind has calmed down a lot. We are headed 130 degrees magnetic at 6.7 knots with a wind of 275 at 15 knots. There is still a big SW’erly swell, which is throwing us around a bit, but of no danger. We expect to run off to the southward a bit and then jibe about midnight as the wind veers more NW, with the beginning of development of a high just north of us. The barometer is well up to 1017. We have come 3356 from the Seychelles and have 1210 to go to Fremantle.

Today was exciting — to dry everything out. We looked like a gypsy (can one still use that expression or will the Romany of Australia come for me with sharp knives?) boat with foul weather gear, boots, socks, long johns, everything crowding for space in the sun. All hatches open below and all is now aired and dried out. Bliss!

The latest system to test us is the stove gas solenoid. We have a system that can electrically shut off the gas at the propane tanks, which are safely set back in a vented stern locker. The solenoid that shuts off the gas seems to be a problem. We had to replace the first on in Cape Town after it failed while crossing the South Atlantic. The replacement failed today and now has been removed from the system. We will try to oil, clean and reinstall it tomorrow.

I spent most of the day working on the Australian Customs “Small Boat Report.” It is four pages long, and has fun questions like “List the make, model and serial number of all electronics gear.” The report has to be submitted 96 hours BEFORE arrival. One recent yacht that didn’t submit the report before arrival apparently was fined A$10,000!! I’m sure that they are nice people, but it does seem a bit ridiculous.

Regular readers know that I have been having issues with Lewmar blocks. Like five have failed so far. Well, now it appears that perhaps I just have issues with blocks. Yesterday a small Harkin failed, and we replaced it with a brand new Barton (South African brand?). The Barton was making some noise today and I went to oil and inspect it and found a little pile of brass shavings just under it as it apparently is in the process of self-destruction. Completely new!

Sigh.

I am going to start a “Quote of the Day” in my reports. Today’s quote is from Don Bamford: “Only two sailors, in my experience, never ran aground. One never left port and the other was an atrocious liar.”

All is well.

Location: 34° 30 S, 88° 20 E
Saturday 12:00, 02.10.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 34° 30 S, 88° 20 E at noon on February 10. The wind is 230 degrees magnetic at 30 gusting to 40. The seas are 20 to 30 feet from the Southwest, very large, but rarely breaking on us. The sun is out and the conditions are improving.

Last night we watched the barometer fall rapidly and realized that after all the quite time, we were in for a “summer” Southern Indian Ocean Gale. We doused the fore, double reefed the main and jibed over to head north as fast as we could go. During the night the wind blew 35 knots steadily with gusts to 52. Dawn was welcome, though it did show the large seas which just had been a physical rather than visual experience during the night.

At about noon we jibed back to starboard and are now headed for Fremantle, which is now 1380 NM away. We are doing ten knots. We have come 3175 NM from the Seychelles.

This low is moving ahead of us quickly and our wind should be down to 15 knots by 2000. We’ll see.
There is another, bigger low and cold front following this first one in a few days. We will take more timely avoidance maneuvers for the next one. We are six days out of Fremantle at this speed.

We are mostly dry and warm below decks. The off duty watches can sleep.

All is well.

Location: 36° 13 S, 85° 28 E
Friday 12:00, 02.09.2007

At noon on February 9th, the Schooner Maggie B was at 36° 13 S, 85° 28 E. We are headed right for Fremantle at 8 to 12 knots. The variability on speed (10.2 knots is hull speed) depends where we are on the swells, which are now up to 10-12 feet — sometimes surfing, sometimes recovering. But nice long swells with no nasty habits. We are headed 120 degrees magnetic and the wind is pretty stabile at 20-25 from 270. The day now is mostly clear with just occasional rain showers (concentrated, as usual, on Hannah’s watch).

It looks as if we now “have our ride” to Fremantle (Freo). The weather forecast suggests that the wind will build to about 30 knots by midnight, and then back a bit more and settle in 15-20 from the south for at least several days (until the next front). At this speed, we are six or seven days to Freo. We have come 2938 NM from the Seychelles and have “just” 1522 NM to go.

The Maggie B is looking a little like a “hobo” boat. Some halyards are several lines spliced together, our sheets don’t match any more, and many have sheetbends holding them together. Many “working” parts of masts, gaffs and boom have “protection” glued on at one place or another. There are even some places with, gasp, duct tape, holding something on or together. We are not ready for a Concours d’Elegance. But we are ready for a nice week’s 1500 NM run to Freo! So many boats are like the Harley Davidson motorcycles that are polished and cherished and only drive two miles every other Sunday (and not if it is raining!) to the nearest Starbucks Cafe. Then you see the bike, maybe a BMW 1975 Boxer or Norton 750 with banged-up saddlebags and a variety of paint under the dust and dirt, down the street outside a bar with cold beer and good pizza. That’s the bike you want to take somewhere.

All is well.

Location: 36° 14 S, 81° 59 E
Thursday 12:00, 02.08.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 36° 14 S, 81° 59 E at noon on February 8th. We are motoring directly towards Perth/Fremantle at 7 knots, on a heading of 116 degrees magnetic. There is no wind, but a long, big swell is making up from the SSW. The sky is generally clear. We have come 2766 NM from the Seychelles and have 1691 to go to Perth/Fremantle.

Today is the calm before the storm. The first in a series of cold fronts should arrive about noon tomorrow. Winds maybe to 30 knots, but should be on our quarter, allowing for great speed towards Perth/Fremantle and a relatively comfortable ride. We are seeing the swell already, but no significant clouds as yet. The barometer topped out at 1022, and now is down slightly to 1020.

Readers who considered the latest Commander’s Weather advice may have puzzled over our choices with these new systems coming in, as we have. Basically one big option was to head south to get in a better spot for the next storm. I puzzled over it, making complex “what if’s” and Velocity Made Good analyses. Finally, I decided that with all the variables, we could do a lot worse that heading right for Perth/Fremantle, so that is our plan. We may have to wait a bit longer for the wind pressure, but we won’t have wandered all over the Southern Ocean.

We have been motoring a bit since Mauritius, but we are still on our first, 120 gallon, tank of diesel, with the second tank holding about 200 gallons. We use about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 gallon per hour at 7.5 knots, so have at least 850 NM of motoring left available. From the look of the weather charts, we won’t be using a lot of diesel the rest of the way in.

Some have asked how we keep clean at sea. Very nicely, thank you, we reply with a surreptitious check of our underarm smell. In fact we are in good shape for fresh water. We started out from Mauritius with about 350 gallons of fresh water, and I have been making water with our desalination unit pretty much every day, when the engine or generator is running. We can make six gallons an hour and we pretty much still have full tanks. So a fresh water shower a day per person is usual and easily “covered,” though I occasionally growl at shipmates who I suspect of taking “Country Club” showers, just to stay in practice.

Washing clothes is a little more challenging. We have lots (and lots) of salt water and “Cold Water Tide” suds’s up nicely in cold salt water. The system is two buckets, and a bucket full of dirty clothes (three t-shirts, three underwear, and a pair of shorts, perhaps). Suds and wash in the first bucket of salt water, rinse in successive buckets of salt water until all the soap is out and then finish rinse in fresh water, hang on the rail and you are ready for a few more days! The only serious drawback is seeing just how dirty your clothes are, judging by the color of the rinse water. Hard to imagine with no real dirt within 1000 miles….

Lunch today was Hannah’s tuna noodle casserole. Some may not find that very special, but when Hannah makes it with brand-fresh sashimi-grade tuna and whole wheat rotilli, it comes out marvelously. Dessert was fresh-baked cinnamon cake. Best of all, there’s lots of leftovers for Night Watch!

All is well.

Location: 36° 27 S, 79° 12 E
Wednesday 12:00, 02.07.2007

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on February 7th was 36° 27S 79° 12E. We are headed due east magnetic at 7.2 knots, closehauled under all plain sail, with the wind from 160 magnetic at 12 knots. The wind has been backing steadily, and lightning up. By midnight tonight, we expect to be motoring SE against a 5-10 knot Easterly. We have come 2608 NM from the Seychelles and have 1824 NM to go to Perth.

Essentially we have to wait a day for the first in a series of Cold Fronts to catch up with us. The further to the South and West, the earlier we “catch our ride” to Perth. Ideally, we should be about 150 NM to the south, but we will do fine here. The fronts should bring in great wind for us. Maybe 25-30 knots, on the beam or quarter. We should have a fine ride into town.

In the Northern Hemisphere, one says “backing” if the wind is shifting counter-clockwise and “veering” if it is shifting clockwise. We are wondering if we should say it the other way around in the Southern Hemisphere, because everything rotates the other way around.

Last night was wonderful clear, at least after midnight. The celestial high point was seeing Scorpio all laid out like a cat on a sofa arm, with Jupiter coming up from underneath, as if working on a rendezvous with red Antares (yes, like Paul Antares in “Dune”) in the scorpion’s belly.

One correspondent has written to us to say that there is a special, endangered albatross living on Isle Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Albatross. It is apparently identifiable by dusky brown upper wings, rather than dusky grey. We immediately decided that our following albatross squadron REALLY had dusky brown wings. We did see a tag or two, which perhaps were just missing wing feathers.

On researching our delicious tuna, one reference book said that tuna schools sometimes follow along with boats, taking advantage of what the boat does to frighten flying fish and squid, making them easier to catch. It is funny to think that we have accompanying tuna, just as we have accompanying albatross.

Hannah today made what used to be her “Nova Scotia tea biscuits.” This time, she added some of our fresh vanilla beans from Madagascar, in a vanilla butter swabbed in on top, to make “Madagascar Sea Biscuits.” We had them at lunch in a lovely tomato-based fish stew. Yum. Chocalate chip cookies for tea time. Double yum!

One can’t ignore it getting colder any longer. All have chosen favorite blankets from the storage closet. Some are considering a second one. Night watch means “Tooks on.” (Took = toque = warm knit hat).

At about sunset last night I contacted Isle Amsterdam (AKA Roche Godon and Martin de Vivis) on the VHF. A nice French woman with a lovely accent answered. We no longer had the opportunity to land as we were 55 NM north and the wind had shifted to the South, but I thought that it would be fun to check in. She reported that there were 30 French on the island, that there was no protected anchorage, and that we were very welcome to come by. It made me think somehow of the Sirens, that we would land and the crew would be turned into pigs, or that it would turn out to be a SuperSecret French listening post, and that we would drop anchor and the French Frigate, that had been tailing us, would appear from behind the island and we would never be heard from again. Paranoia? Maybe.

Perth/Fremantle in perhaps ten days!

All is well.

Commander’s Weather Corporation
Tuesday, 02.06.2007

From: Commanders’ Weather Corporation
Route: Port Louis, Mauritius to Perth, Australia
Position: 36 30s/74 45e at 0000utc Tue, Feb 6
Prepared: 1230UTC Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Summary

a) trailing high pressure is in a bad spot, near 43-45S/62-65E, which is S of you and this means you will soon have S-SE and SE winds, so upwind

a) motor straight E - the wind speeds/seas will not be that great, so will be able to do this, if you have sufficient fuel
b) sail upwind as tight as possible. Once again, winds and seas are not that bad, so should be able to hold a decent angle and not be forced too far N
c) can motor S and try to get thru the high and into the westerlies

a) I sailed/motor sailed the S-SE and SE winds E and ENE until the high pressure area moves closer, to you
b) this means another 24 hrs or so going E and then winds are more SE and ESE and quite light, so now we use the engine and get S and into the westerlies, but
c) only want to touch the westerlies and start going E or probably ESE. Basically, we keep working S until the wind speeds are strong enough for a quick sail to the E or ENE

a) 1st arrives Friday
b) remember, these will be southern ocean cold fronts - very squally, even after the wind shift into the S-SW and in general, the worst conditions are 12-24 hrs after the initial wind shift
c) there will be a BIG surge of wind and sea on Sat, but Sun calms down
d) however this will be followed by another big cold front early next week

Routing

a) by letting the high pressure catch up to us, we don’t have to go asfar S to catch the trailing westerlies
2) Motor S when winds become E tomorrow
3) Once into the westerlies, fastest gybe to the E
a) maybe starboard gybe at 1st, but
b) once wind speeds are higher, then port gybe will be strongly favored, even if N of rhumb line
4) Once the cold front passes on Friday, only 1 option, as comfy as possible on starboard

Wind Forecasts
Wind direction TRUE, speed in kts, time is UTC

Tue, Feb 6
18: 170-140/10-15
Partly to mostly cloudy today and tomorrow, but more sunshine with time.

Wed, Feb 7
00: 170-150/10-15
06: 150-130/10-15
12: 140-110/ 8-14, near 37S/79E
18: 100-070/ 7-12

Thu, Feb 8
00: light/variable, going thru the middle of the high
06: light/variable
12: 240-270/ 7-13, probably on starboard, near 39 40S/79 30E
18: 240-270/11-16, over to port!!!
Partly cloudy.

Fri, Feb 9
00: 240-270/20-30
06: 230-200/18-24, maybe a squall or 2 to 35 kts
12: 220-190/20-30, near 39 40S/82 30E
18: 210-240/17-23
Increasing clouds with rain and squalls likely with the initial wind shift, but still a scattering of small, brief squalls 6-12 hrs after the initialwind shift. Seas becoming SW and increasing to 6-10 feet

Sat, Feb 10
00: 220-250/25-40, squalls to 50
12: 190-210/30-40, squalls to 50, near 39 10S/86 50E, being further N canlimit wind speeds by 5-10 kts
Fast changing sky conditions with numerous, fast moving, brief squalls to50 kts. Rough with seas up to 12-18 feet.

Sun, Feb 11
00: 190-210/26-34, squalls 40-45
12: 210-240/16-24, just a brief lull near 38 30S/91E
Squalls ending then partly cloudy, but more squalls likely on Monday. Seas up to 12-18 feet, but falling before increasing again on Monday.

37 South, 76 East

It is time to write again. It is colder now, I am wearing two sweaters as we are more to the South than the Cape of Good Hope, truly so far from everything. Being this far allows us to experience things that would never be possible without having left. Check this out: I just had an hour run in the bow hanging on to the halyards, watching the sunset, with about 20 albatrosses flying all around the boat. How cool is that?

On the top of the waves the setting sun was reflected so one side of the waves was a golden color and the other side silvery blue. The air is so pure here, I feel strong and free as if I were standing on the top of a mountain.

This trip is purifying and clarifying in every way. I have amazing dreams and visions. I feel as if I were on a pilgrimage in search of light and I think that in fact, I am. In addition, I think that in moments, I am finding it. I do not yet have words for it.

Location: 36° 57 S, 76° 12 E
Tuesday 12:00, 02.06.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 36° 57 S 76° 12 E at noon, February 6th. We are under all plain sail, making 6.2 knots close hauled, heading 160 degrees magnetic. The Southwesterly has come in for us, at 10-12 knots, the wind having backed all the way around from NE last night.

We have come 2421 NM from the Seychelles, and have 1988 to go to Perth. We are about 80 miles from the French Weather Station at Isle Amsterdam.

With this wind we can’t reach Isle Amsterdam unless we either tack up to it, or drop sails and motor. Right now we don’t know 1) if there is any safe anchorage there, 2) if they are friendly and welcome visitors and 3) how long this “the wind blows fair for Australia” will last. We will try to reach them by radio at sunset to get answers to #1 and #2. If we stop, we’ll get there about midnight.

We have had an occasional albatross follow us. Yesterday, when we were cleaning the tuna and tossing bits over, we saw two land in the water to gobble up some delicious tidbits. The word must have gotten around because today we have two squadrons of albatross, apparently waiting for the next fish-guts feed.

Which albatross? Not sure. Wing span about 4-5 feet, wings black across the top, white on the underside. Body and head white except for the very tail, which is black. Big head. Beak large and faintly hourglassed, orangish with black below. Anybody have a handy reference book?

One of our safety devices is a “See-Me” active radar transponder. It gives out a strong pulse as it senses ship radars, making us look very big. It also can “peep” when it hears a radar. We haven’t seen a ship since the French frigate near Mauritius, but we have been hearing a steady radar sound on the See-Me, which has remained rather consistent in pulse and strength. Think of the black sonarman in “Hunt for the Red October.” I have become convinced that it is the French frigate, tracking us, but staying just out of our visual and radar range. “Sacre Bleu! Cette goelette etrange vont direct a notre station meteo a Isle Amsterdam!! Ils doit etre mechante! Preparez les missiles!!!” Or: “Sainted blue heavens! This strange schooner is going directly towards our weather station on Amsterdam Island!! They must be evil!! Prepare the missiles!!!”

Paranoia? Maybe.

Last night the watches had tuna cerviche (lemon juice, tomato, onions and spices). For lunch we had fresh tuna flash seared in a hot pan with butter and garlic. Yum.

All is well.

Location: 35° 27 S, 72° 57 E
Monday 12:00, 02.05.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 35° 27S, 72° 57E at noon on February 5th. We were undersail at 7.5 knots with the G2 “Bird” up, headed for Isle Amsterdam. We have some high cirrus coming in from the north and a long northerly swell, mixing with a SE’erly set. We have come 2258 NM from the Seychelles and have about 2120 to go to Perth. A short visit to the Beakers (scientists) at Isle Amsterdam is still a possibility.

Today was The Hat Day. Four major cleaning jobs (vacuum, wash decks, wash walls, and….The Head and the Shower) were put on little slips of paper and put in a hat for all to choose. The Captain got The Head, but all’s fair.

Just as we were congratulating ourselves on a great cleaning job, there was a funny “static” sound which I thought was something on the VHF. Bori correctly identified it as the fishing reel buzzing out! We all went to our stations — grab the reel, control and slow the boat, get the wash down pump, ready the gaff, ready the killing instruments and sharpen the knives, clear the afterdeck, ready the cutting and cleaning board, etc. In a little bit, with minimum of commotion, we had a lovely fat 35 pound Blue Fin Tuna aboard, killed and bled out. This is perhaps the 20th fish caught on a beat up “hurt squid in blue and pink hula dress” lure from Bermuda. Priceless! In another half hour it was all cleaned and cut up and packed in the fridge, except for the part that is marinating in lemon juice and other good things for tuna cerviche for this evening.

The scraps that went overboard made us very, very popular with the Albatross that were following us. T/C Dora is going its way and we are going ours and it appears as if our paths will not cross. The barometer is staying up at 1017 and the significant clouds are behind us. The challenge is where we should go to pick up our westerlies. Mostly how far south. Right now it looks as if we will have to go into the forties, but we will not need to make that decision for a few days.

All is well.

En route to Perth

Hannah is reading “To the Ends of the Earth — Journeys of the Great Explorers” by Balchin; Bori is reading “Tibetben a Lelek” (the Soul in Tibet) by Ferenc; Owen is reading Jared Diamond’s “Collapse;” and Frank is reading “Heavy Weather Guide;” “Weather for the Mariner” and the famous section 3909 from Bowditch that starts: “The passage of a tropical cyclone at sea is an experience not soon to be forgotten…”

Location: 33° 50 S, 70° 01 E
Sunday 12:00, 02.04.2007

At noon on February 4th, the Schooner Maggie B was at 33°50S,70°01E. We are motor sailing, heading 160 degrees at 7 Kt. The wind is 035 M at 10 knots. There is 5-8 foot swell from both north and SE. The sky is partly cloudy with a textbook variety of forms, at all levels. The barometer, while still highish at 1015, has started to fall.

We have come 2083 NM from the Seychelles, have 2292 to go to Perth and have come 179 NM in the last 24 hours.

We got a rather alarming weather update (posted on www.SchoonerMaggieB.net) from Commander’s Weather at midnight last night. It starts out with “Summary — Very Impressive Tropical Cyclone Dora….” These are words you don’t want to read at midnight, or at any other time, except maybe in a historical novel. Apparently Dora has intensified, now with winds at 120 knots, with gusts to 150. Fortunately 1) it is very compact, 2) it is 850 NM away 3) it is moving slowly to the SW and 4) we are moving quickly to the SE.

I was surprised because I had been getting GRIB updates twice a day (usual is only once/day) and they were only showing 40 knots maximum. Commanders, when questioned, said “GRIB files do not handle tropical systems well, especially small, compact ones.” We will be well clear to the South and East, but we worry for our friends and acquaintances in Mauritius, who may get a real walloping. It is forecast to pass south of Mauritius, but there is a fairly energetic cold front approaching from the West, and the interaction of the cold front and the tropical cyclone is tough to model.

We spent the morning shaking out the reefs in the main and the fore as the wind is getting light, and we made some minor repairs to the sails and running rigging. We are continuing south and east to get on the far side of the ridge that should form with the passage of the cold front, which should give us nice westerlies.

On a more fun note, our watches have been immensely improved by the liberal sharing of a series of Garrison Keillor CD’s of his Prairie Home Companion show. Giggles on watch can be heard at any time of day or night.

We have noted with some concern that we have come all this way but have not yet settled on a Maggie B work song. Certainly we need one to help us raise the sails. It must have a “haulaway” refrain like “Way, hey! Up she rises.” It could have a question and response style like “What shall we do with the sea sick sailor?” Or (and?) it could give various geographical tributes (first verse Canadian, second Caribbean, third Brazilian, fourth South African, fifth south Asian, sixth Australian?). Of course, there is also Gilbert and Sullivan: “He polished up the binnacle so carefully that now he is The Captain of the Maggie B!” Suggestions are gleefully encouraged.

All is well.

Commander’s Weather Corporation
Saturday, 02.03.2007

From: Commanders’ Weather Corporation
Route: Port Louis, Mauritius to Perth, Australia
Position: 32 39s/66 53e at 1200utc Sat, Feb 3
Prepared: 1300UTC Saturday, February 3, 2007

Summary

a) Max sustained winds are estimated near 120 kts with gusts to 150
b) Dora has been moving slowly SW
c) Approaching cold front will tend to pull Dora in a more southerly direction
d) Long range weather models still trap Dora far to the NW of you
e) Still, we need to keep a close eye on this system as the weather models don’t always handle tropical systems very well

a) Attending cold front is located NW from this gale to southern Madagascar
b) This cold front will be slow to move ENE
c) Keep in mind we need to watch and see if Dora and the cold front interact - unlikely, but need to watch closely

a) Winds will be mostly light and getting lighter with more easting in your heading, so just sail deeper, as the winds back
b) Unfortunately. winds will slowly back, so you will be sailing more E than S by later Sun and Mon
c) in most cases, more wind speed to the S than E over the next 3-4 days
d) Just keep up the boat speed

a) You will be on port, but with a west wind, you may want to go to starboard/more S and get into the stronger S winds behind the cold front as quickly as practical

a) This will/should prevent Dora from tracking SE during the next 4-5 days
b) Your S winds will likely back into the S-SE for a while late Wed/early Thu
c) At that time, we could consider port tack and head S for the next cold front, but we can work on that later

Routing

Wind Forecasts
Wind direction TRUE, speed in kts, time is UTC
Sat, Feb 3
18: 050-020/15-20
Mix of clouds and sunshine today and tomorrow, but probably no shower activity

Sun, Feb 4
00: 030-360/13-18
06: 030-360/10-15, lighter winds to the E and stronger to the S
12: 020-350/ 9-13, near 34 10S/69 30E
18: 350-020/10-15
Mon, Feb 5
00: 340-010/ 8-14
06: 350-020/ 7-13
12: 350-020/ 8-14, near 35 30S/72 10E
18: 340-010/ 7-13
Increasing clouds late day and at night, chc of a few showers late at night.

Tue, Feb 6
00: 330-30010-15
06: 300-320/12-17
12: 300-270/13-18, near 35 20S/75 30E
18: 190-220/12-17
Scattered showers, maybe a squall, diminishing with the wind shift into the S-SW

Wed, Feb 7
00: 180-200/13-18
12: 170-190/13-18, near 37S/79E
Partly cloudy

Thu, Feb 8
00: 170-190/12-17, still on starboard tack
12: 200-240/ 7-13, near 36 30S/82 20E and probably still on starboard, heading SE
Partly to mostly cloudy with a threat of squally showers at night.

Location: 32° 39 S, 66° 53 E
Saturday 12:00, 02.03.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 32° 39S, 66° 53E at noon on February 3rd. We are headed 155 deg. M at 8 knots still with one reef in the fore and main despite the wind lightening to 12-14 knots from the NE. We did 188 NM in the last 24 hours and are 2461 NM from Fremantle and have come 1904 since the Seychelles.

The barometer is rising steadily, now up to 1016 and the wind is backing and easing. But we are watching multiple layers of clouds, with the high ones coming in from the West and the low ones blowing across from the East. Clearly something going on. But the GRIB files predict a nice 10-15 knot beam reach as we slide down to our “Westerly Highway to Fremantle” at about 38 degrees South. So far so good.

I just don’t want to miss the chance to, once again, laud the marvel of Nigel Iren’s design and the success of North Sails sails, and the work of all else involved. Here we are in February in the Southern Indian Ocean with an easy close reach in 12-14 knots of wind, with a reef in the main and fore, doing eight knots! It is comfortable enough even in 5-8 foot chop and swells to have Bori’s excellent Tortillas de Patatas for a sit-down lunch, chased with Hannah’s chocolate and banana bread for dessert.

We are scrubbing and sanding the decks, and going through all the bilges to pump them dry and clean them out.

Logs of dreams are maybe not a great idea, but my waking dream was so cool I want to share it. I was Captain of a square rigged sloop in about 1780 and had been caught by the British for smuggling (rum? arms?) and taken into Boston, tried, convicted and sentenced to be shot. It was a very rich dream, in color with full details. Somehow I persuaded the British that it would be much more impressive to take me and the crew back to our ship, anchor it close in the harbor and execute us there. Sort of like the heads on Traitor’s Gate in London. But we seized the ship from the poorly trained execution squad, threw them overboard and made off for Blue Water. I was woken by Owen sanding the deck above me, rather like All Hands at 0600 in the Old Days.

This morning we were also happy to hear from sailing friends: our shipmate Willis arriving safely in Georgetown, SC after a very difficult winter run from Long Island (Willis — comeback! It’s nicer here!), and South African friends we met in Knysna, having made it to Trinidad from Cape Town on a catamaran delivery to French Polynesia. The Shellback skipper put his pollywog crew over the side on ropes and dragged them across the Equator as part of their initiation. Trolling for Neptune?

All is well.

Location: 30° 57 S, 64° 43 E
Friday 12:00, 02.02.2007

At noon on February 2nd the Schooner Maggie B was at 30° 57S 64° 43E. We were making 8.3 knots on a heading of 170 degrees magnetic. We did 193 NM in the last 24 hours, and have come 1725 NM from the Seychelles, with 2613 to go to Perth.

The wind has been fairly steady in direction at 080-090 magnetic, with the speed slowing from 15-18 yesterday to 12-15 today. The barometer is slowly rising as we work our way down south of the Southern Indian Ocean High (and away from T/C Dora!).

Last night was beautiful with the full moon rising as the sun set, and then keeping us company all night behind a veil of complex high cirrus clouds.

T/C Dora is now about 850 NM NNE of us, scheduled to pass a little south of Mauritius early next week. It is no factor for us, other than to pull the SE trades more to the NE, which is a great help.

A building ridge of high pressure is modeled to set up along 36-37 South early next week, and we will have to be south of that if we want to get our Westerlies for Perth. We may need to head as far south as 40. Already being at 31 south should make it an easy target.

We may come near to, or possibly land at a French island at 37° 52S, 77° 24E, which is about 750 NM ahead of us on our current course. The island was first known as Isle Amsterdam, then La Roche Godon, now Martin-de-Vivis. Correspondents tell us that it is volcanic, with the last eruption in 1792. It has an area of 21 NM and the highest mountain is 2844 feet. There is a French Meteo station and a UN atmospheric research station on the island, plus many,
many fur seals. In 2002 there were 145 scientists and support personnel on the island. Anchoring and landing challenges are unknown. I wonder if they have a French Warship protecting them from itinerant American schooners?

It is definitely getting cooler. Watch last night needed a warm top as well as full foulies, and ….. shoes! Hard on feet used to being barefoot. The crew started digging for the blankets. Sea water temperature is down ten degrees Fahrenheit from the Seychelles.

Yesterday we experienced our _fifth_ Lewmar block failure. Another poor design. Hopefully there is a cut-rate Antal distributor in Perth/Fremantle and we can get this Lewmar junk off the boat before someone gets hurt.

The Captain got injured today in perhaps the more ridiculous fashion possible. We usually play some music loud when we are getting ready for lunch, our big communal meal. I put on the soundtrack from the musical Spamalot. When it came to “We Are The Knights of the Round Table and Dance Whenever We’re Able,” I was doing a sailor’s jig with Owen, and misjudged the overhead in the Pilot House and almost knocked myself out on a beam.

Ah, the Sailor’s Life.

All is well.

Extreme Sports on the Indian Ocean

The Sea is having a great old time with us, turning the normal everyday simple things, such as brushing one’s teeth, into an enormous feat of bravery! Everything is an Extreme Sport….if you can get dressed in 15 minutes or less you win a prize held more dear to the four of us sailors than gold — a piece of chocolate !

Putting on your underwear is in a category completely of it’s own… however, Bori has come up with a strategy to get past this dilemma — You put your pants and knickers on the floor together and pull them up at the same time right quick !

Two pieces of chocolate for Bori!

In the Galley, it suddenly becomes apparent that having some circus training would be handy… juggling garlic, pots and pans, salt and pepper shakers, apples and glasses — all in the attempt to make a Peanut Butter sandwich …and then you open the cupboard and the 2 pound tub lands on your big toe!

It’s just another day at sea…

Location: 28° 10 S, 62° 11 E
Thursday 12:00, 02.01.2007

February has been good to us so far! We are wondering what Groundhog Day means in the Southern Hemisphere. At noon we were at 28° 10S, 62° 11E. We are headed 180 Magnetic at 8.3 knots. We did 208 NM in the last 24 hours, 402 in the last two days! We have gone 1532 NM since the Seychelles and have 2769 to go to Perth.

We are still on a close reach, sailing easy with a 15-18 knot breeze at 60 degrees relative. The seas have laid down and there is only an occasional “Wake Up!” splash in the cockpit. Some hatches are now open, making belowdecks much nicer.

Today is an “after the storm” sort of day, though we just had a good blow, not a storm. We are doing what sailors always do when the sun comes out — laundry, clean the mess in the fo’c’stle, check and empty all bilges, check and run engines, fix damage. We had one sheet part and one ventilator get taken away. We see a few minor problems with the sails, which will ave to be tended in Perth, if not before. We are in very good shape.

T/C Dora is giving us a great advantage to go south as she will pull the normally SE’erly trades back to NE and then N. We may have to continue south to 38 or 40 to stay in Westerlies, but we won’t know for a couple of days.

There is a French island at 37deg49S/77deg21E called Isle Amsterdam on one chart and La Roche Godon on another. Supposedly there is a French Meteorological station there (protected by more French Warships????). We don’t have any info on it, but if anybody finds anything on the Internet about it, please email me. We should go by and say “hi!” or “boo!”

All is well.