46 01.510n 17 08.712w
|
Course:
090 Distance
to Black Rock, Falmouth Harbour at 5pm BST: 549 miles
Sailing
Ran
out of wind and have been motoring since 8.30 pm last night Wind is coming up gently from the south
but the centre of the high I’m moving with is only about 50 miles to the NE and
on the three times so far that I have tried to go back to sails then it has
dropped off again within 20 or 30 minutes.
Weather forecast from yesterday was spot on and it says I get a decent breeze by
midnight. Fettler has a much quieter engine than my previous boats
but sailing is much, much better. Nature
General. It
was good to go onto engine last night as the domestic battery was getting low in
the overcast conditions. That was
fine because I was planning to switch everything but the fridge to the engine
start battery but with the engine running for 12 hours plus, I now have a glut
of power and am charging everything I can think of.
Visibility
was great but as I had power then I ran the radar with a guard zone last
night. I haven’t seen any ships and
didn’t expect any but at 4am I was woken by a series of alarms as first the vhf
ais then the main set and finally the radar all got hits. Turning off the alarm on the vhf is a
painful experience unless you actually change course and take the contact out of
the parameters set for closest point of approach (which I rarely do as it is set
for 2 miles and I’m happy to get much closer than this in good conditions
once alerted to a ship being out there). You have to pick your moment to get into
the AIS menu on the vhf and then turn off the alarms but the vhf interrupts that
process if the cpa changes in the interim. Frustrating enough that I
downloaded the manual in Ponta Delgarda to find the fix - but as far
as I see, there is none. Anyway –
all the alarms work and I woke up. The cause of all this was 2 big yachts (1 American and 1 Belgian) who were heading north under engine toward Belfast / Scotland.
2 more ships have passed this afternoon, one was only a mile away after altering course to avoid me. The AIS saw him coming and the radar (which is new and I'm still playing with) can see the big ships at 16 - 18 miles in smooth water. That's quite impressive as it is only on a 3m high pole. I bought it for close in work in fog as it's primary job but it works pretty well for ship avoidance too. I didnt bring the manual for that one and cant work out how to allocate a target (if anyone has an axiom and knows then let me know. I think it is pretty intuitive to work but cant figure this one out). I can track them manually by selling an bearing line but it would be nice if they were captured automatically.
Finally - the sun came out for a while his afternoon and I've washed all the important parts of me using the washing up bucket annd some fairy liquid so I'm now presentable for visitors should any arrive. I probably did smell quite bad but frankly, there is no one to complain. (Em - Your dad would be proud of my retention of "natural oils") Can’t get world service or LW Radio 4 (I’ve been trying) and Chinese state radio (I can get their English language service) are not broadcasting the results on shortwave. But I know it was England playing last night. (And Tim has just texted that we lost on penalties).
Have a good Sunday night folks and for those who have
to work tomorrow, I shall be thinking of you (and hopefully
sailing). Texts
Mum,
Jon – Hope you are recovering well from the excesses of last night
Tim – Pizza. OK - I have part baked bread, sausage, heaps of cheese and tomato puree so I think I can do that. Better still I get a fish but that hasn’t happened yet. Hope Alex’s car is back in service. Cheers on results service too, I will leave phone on for later update. Em (I think as no name on text) - Last night sounds like a real blast ! Em - Since I am off the booze then it seems fair that you should have a drink for me too. Hope you are fully recovered and that with Harv and Joe away then you got / get a peaceful weekend.
1 x Incompatible message format - dont know who from.
Jez
|