Day-25
24hr.Run=49NM.
Position-36*48’S. Longitude-120*04’W.
Weather-Wind ESE. Seas a swell coming in from the SW at 8ft.
Bar=1024mb
Cabin Temp=71*-77*. Creeping slowly to the South trying to elude the high that is upon us.
Day-26
24hr. Run=123 NM.
Pos. Latitude-38*41;W. Longitude-129*04’W.
Weather-Wind West 8-20kts.
Bar=1016mb
Seas-SW 8ft. Today was cloudy in the am with sun throughout the afternoon.
Day -27
24hr. Run=117 NM.
Pos. Latitude-40*16’S. Longitude- 118*38’W.
Weather- Wind=8-25 kts.
Bar=1006mb
Seas-8-10ft.
Total miles sailed so far=3640 NM.
Total distance sailed last 3-days=289 NM.
Distance left to go to the Horn=2210NM.
Top speed so far=9.9kts.
The rest of the story:
Day-25
Barometer is on the way down and that is a good thing as the high is moving out and the wind will be coming in.
I was watching over the stern, gazing down into the clear Blue Ocean and I seen several fish following the boat one appeared about two feet long and had black and gray stripes running around his body. The other fish was brown and looked like a 10″ trout. I also noticed some Blue Bottle Jelly fish, they are unusual as they stay on the surface and have a sail they hoist when wanting to move around. They are about 5-inches long and the sail sticks up about 3-4″.
I pulled one out with a net once and was surprised to see a single very long tentacle hanging down that I was told hurts like “Hell” if you are stung by it.
Day-26
I have been creeping along the 120* longitude for 3-days now and it is refreshing to see the winds start to fill back in. I’m sure if I had any hair, I would have surely pulled it all out by now.
I have a solar panel issue that I’m mulling over. The panels are doing great keeping the batteries up but two of them are hanging out on my one inch stainless steel rails, and are 2ft.X4feet presenting not only a large area to the sun but the seas as well. I had planned to pull them off when the seas got up, but now that the wind generator seems out, I’m thinking maybe leave one on and just put the one below. The panels are fused so if they were destroyed the fuse should blow.
My last trip down this way there were many sunny days even when a gale was blowing. This year is an El Nino year so not sure what to expect. The only difference so far is that the South Pacific High has gotten further south sooner this year so it seems to me.
Day-27
I want to wish all of you a belated “Happy Thanksgiving” if you know what I mean “Pilgrims”. My dinner was chicken fried in a sesame batter with boiled potatoes and a can of green beans, and that will be the first can I have opened so far on this voyage, if you don’t count the Budweiser that was desert.
Today we are nicely corkscrewing our way along, with the wind coming from astern and freshening. I have reefed the staysail and hoisted it back up giving me options in heavy weather, where I can roll the Genoa almost all the way in and be powered up nicely.
Had a big squall come through about 3am blowing about 35 kts, and had to put two reefs in the main and the Mizzen is down and covered on the boom. It makes it tough to sail fast all the time when the wind velocity changes so drastically,and often like it is now.
Doing the “Turkey Trot” along the way to the “Horn” the Jefe’