Location 48° 38S, 63° 18W
Monday 12.10.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 48° 38S, 63° 18W at noon on December 10th. We are headed about due North true, reaching up along 63 degrees West Longitude. Right now we are making 10.5 knots, including a knot of favorable current (the Falklands current). In the last 24 hours we did 204 NM. The wind is a nice 25 knot SW’er and the seas are only 2-3 meters. The Maggie B loves this kind of weather - we are often going hull speed (10.2 knots) and below decks it is comfortable for me typing at the keyboard, Curtis watching a movie on the other computer and Alden and Hannah napping. We have the main up with one reef, full fore and full jib. The centerboard gives off a happy hum when we are going more than nine knots, and we are hearing it almost constantly.

We have come 612 NM from Puerto Williams and we have 872 to go to Buenos Aires. A betting pool has formed on our arrival time in Buenos Aires. Current guessing is between noon on the 14th and end-of-day on the 15th. The unpredictable part is there is a small northerly promised around the 13th, which may slow us. We are holding a bit more towards the Coast of Argentina than direct to give the seas less room to develop and to “bank” some westing that we could give up if faced with the NW’erly.

Our port diesel fuel tank has been giving us fits, acting like it is out of fuel when plenty is left. We had blown out the fuel vent, but discovered yesterday that the one-way valve that was just supposed to stop water coming in, also was stopping air from coming in. After an hour or so of running, a sufficient vacuum developed to reduce the fuel flow. Always new riddles!

All is well.