DAY- 142 24 hr.Run=70 nm. Pos. Lat.44*56’S. Long.165*40’W. Weather=Bar=1020mb. Wind=SW-W 6-8 kts Seas=2-4ft. Cabin Temp=60*-62*.
DAY-143 24hr.Run=111nm. Pos. Lat.44*23’S. Long.163*47’W. Weather=Bar=1021mb. Wind=NW 8-12kts. Seas=NW 4-6ft. Cabin Temp=60-64*.
DAY-144 24hr.Run=150nm. Pos. Lat.43*51’S. Long.162* 24’W. Weather= Bar=1023mb. Wind=S-E 8-15kt6s. Seas=6-8ft.
Total Miles sailed so far=18,577nm.
Miles sailed last three days=333nm.
Distance left to go till the turn north=3,224nm.
Top speed so far=14.1kts.
The Rest of the Story.
DAY-142
Today sailing in very light winds as the high pressure begins to move over us.
Of course I sewed on “Patches” for 7-hours and believe the end of this project is just a couple of days away.
I don’t know if Sailors Run will set any records, but I’m pretty sure we will have the record for the most patches ever put on a genoa underway by hand.
DAY-143.
Today sailing a little faster in still light air and of course “Patches” gets her 7-hrs.
I will mention at this time that there were two other boats that I know of, that were attempting solo circumnavigations via the 5-“Great Capes”, and neither attempt has been successful.
The first I heard about was a very brave lady Donna Lang sailing on a 28 ft. Southern Cross sailboat, and she had made it around four of the capes, but on her approach to Cape Horn she was knocked down twice in one hour and sustained damage to some of her equipment on board, and in view of the horrific weather taking place at “Cape Horn” she made a prudent judgment call and sailed north up the coast of South America to finish her circumnavigation via the Panama Canal, and back to the east coast where she started from.
The second vessel I heard about is a Fast-40 sailed by Joe Harris, who was attempting to break the 137-day world record, but had to put in twice for repairs, and the last time he had three to four feet of the bow of his boat that was delaminating and he has thrown in the towel.
So now just know that that the Jefe’ and his “war horse” Sailors Run”, are praying we make it to the finish line.
Debbie and I are very familiar with the Fast-40 as it was the boat that beat us in the 2010 Fernando De Noronha Regatta, the largest sailboat race in Brazil.
It was after he never got properly measured to compete in his own division that they dropped him into our division, a cruising boat division, and we had to race him straight up,”no handicap”.
We had to good friends from Argentina as crew, Hector and Patricia, and after 300nm the Fast-40 only beat us to the finish line by 40-minutes and we ended up coming second.
Day-144nm.
Today is a most welcome day for me as “Patches” is once again back in one Piece, and ready to fly after 23-days, and over 140 hours of hand sewing; my “war horse” Sailors Run” has her most powerful working sail ready to go back on the furler, when the wind conditions will allow it
Once I had “Patches” folded up and ready to go on deck, I pulled the bathroom scale out and jumped on it to see what was left of the “Jefe'”.
Well I weighed 155 lbs when I started this adventure and I’m now weighing in at a lean mean 138 lbs. This is the least I have weighed since the 5th-grade even when training for marathons my least weight was 139 lbs..
I might be on to something here and am thinking of starting Jefe’s off shore weight loss clinics, where you sail off shore for 30-days and only take enough provisions for 15-days.
Results will be guaranteed, but I know I don’t want to be the one guarding the ship’s stores.
These cruises could also be good for alcoholics, as when I ran out of “Rum” I never even missed it, and I think it has a lot to do with the fact that there just is no availability, that would cause one to even think about being tempted to have something to drink “Wow” we are learning so much cool stuff on this voyage.
Tonight I made up gravy with Kirkland canned chicken in it and poured that over a pile of instant mashed potatoes with a can of vegetables and ‘Walla’!! a great dinner was had.
I actually had left over for two more nights, so I put them in the refrigerator “that doesn’t work”.
“Scared Skinny” the Jefe’.