Horn Bay to Tual - day 2 & 3

Yesterday there were some items of interest throughout our little fleet.

One boat chose to head directly toward Tual, rather than stay in Australian waters to avoid all the fishing nets in international waters. During the first night, they caught the end of a net, but managed to get free in daylight. They are now sailing with gib alone as there in-mast main sail furler jammed before they arrived in Horn Bay with the sail on the outside. They had wrapped the sail round and round the mast and lashed it tight. Then they left Horn Island with no main sail.

A yacht following us had a reefing line break.  Reefing lines run out through the end of the boom and with the ring and hook a the mast end, together they allow us to make a horizontal tuck in the sail to reduce its size. This isn’t something you can fix underway, but normally a sail has 2 or 3 reefing points, so they would will have to settle for a bigger or smaller sail area.

On another boat, the first mate, who suffers terribly from seasickness was resting uncomfortably. :(

We had the relay that turns the power on and off to the autopilot and radar stop working. This happened once before so Tim was pretty sure what the problem was. He knew exactly where to go to unplug and plug it back in.  The relay lives in the aft cabin under our food and stuff storage. While I moved the food and stuff, Tim hand steered and while Tim unplugged and plugged in, I hand steered. We were very glad not have to hand steer the rest of the way to Tual. Now that Tim knows this wasn’t just a one off thing, he’ll look into it not happening again.

……

The Tradewinds don’t seem to be as strong or consistent recently. This afternoon we have 10 to 14 knots from the stern and we’re wallowing quite a bit in the continuing swell, compliments of the Bay of Carpentaria.

We have been so used to belting along at a great rate of speed that our current of 3.5 to 5 knots is a little underwhelming. This time yesterday was beautiful gentle sailing. The wind was more from the side, which fills the sails better and gives you a constant bit of heel. The effects of a wave or gust of wind are less as you are already over leaning consistently to one side. 

You can put something on the counter, turn your back for a second and you will probably get away with it. We make ‘getting away with it’ more likely we use a Silpat baking tray liner on the counter. It has a tackiness that keeps things from sliding. 

Today, with the wind coming from further behind, we are more vertical. As the wind is light as well, when a wave comes we roll to starboard, then to port, then to starboard…etc.  If another wave happens to come along while all this backing and forthing is going on, the rolling gets deeper and faster causing the sails to whip back and forth. This can make horrible crashing noises. It isn’t dangerous but it’s not kind on the rig, sails or your nerves.

If it has been calm and you get caught by a rogue wave mid lunch, everything on our 3 foot galley counter can shoot from one end to the other - jars, plates, bowls, cutlery and food all rolling around together. Apples and oranges can be particularly good fun. The Silpat will minimise the damage and you can pick it and wash it in the sink.

All this is currently on my mind as we are down to our last whole wheat, banana, oatmeal, raisin, walnut muffins and I will be baking more shortly. These are our go to snack. I find if you have a huge variety of goodies you/I eat them whether you/I are/am really hungry or not. 

Muffin update. Thanks to a change of current from southerly to northerly, our progress is much smoother, which means the baking was too.  They look good though with not as many walnuts as normal. I have two vacuum sealed bags of them that I normally keep in the fridge. As the fridge is so full at the beginning  passage, I put them somewhere dark and at least coolish until there is space.  I have had many thoughts as to where they might be but no luck finding them. Will try again tomorrow.

We have a guest onboard this evening. A black bird with a white cap started circling us as dusk approached. It eventually settled on the railing on the aft deck. 

Two days ago, I noticed the thin smile of a new moon in the west when I started my watch. Tonight it’s not quite half but bright enough that the stars seem dim. Less than an hour later, it was gone.

Bird Update - it was up at dawn despite being perched on the stern push pit. It must have sticky feet as the stainless steel tube it was standing was too big to get a good grasp. When the boat rolled, it would shift weight from port to starboard. It also spend a long time gloomy and fluffing its feathers. I didn’t see the launch but it was swooping behind the boat.