Day: 21 July 2018

Day 32, Sat 21st July. 51-52N, 143-38W. Daily Run: 92 NM. Weather: 5-10 Knots ESE, Sunny and cold, 592 NM to go
A lovely 24 hours of milder weather, calms seas and a gentle breeze pushing us along at 3-4 knots. It’s not exciting, but makes for a very pleasant passage. I have spent a few hours in the cockpit now looking for whales, sharks etc, but nothing. It’s mostly clear now, with the odd bit of fog rolling in.
There’s very little to report, we are passing over the top of the high pressure system, and despite the weather forecast of no wind here, we haven’t been becalmed yet. Furthermore, the near gale force winds around Prince Charlotte Strait seem to be abating so that will ease our passage into Canada.
Our gas bottle ran out last night, so we moved onto the spare one, which is only 1/3rd full, but that’s more than enough to get us to Canada and probably onto America.
At 5AM this morning the AIS alerted us to a large Chinese registered container ship due to pass within 0.5NM of us, in 180 minutes, I kept an eye on it, and about 20 minutes before it’s approach, it altered course so that instead of passing within 0.5 NM it would pass us about 1.5 NM away. This was a nice gesture I thought, as it made me feel a bit easier and also showed me that he was aware of our presence. A few minutes later he called me on VHF Ch 16, I wondered what on earth he might want? Also this was the first sound to come out of the VHF in 4 weeks, thereby proving that the VHF was still working and also that our AIS transmissions where going out as he had our ships name. Anyway, he just called us to say hello and wish us a safe journey, which was very nice. He is heading for Vancouver, but he was going directly there, whereas we are going quite a roundabout way now due to the wind keeping us pointing ENE as we go over the top of the Pacific High.
So yesterday was one of those rare days where nothing broke, and nothing needed repair except for the clock which Kathy returned to the master watchmaker, unhappy that the hands weren’t lining up properly, apparently it’s important that at half 5, the little hand is halfway between the Five and the Six, a small detail in my mind, but something that had to be corrected it seemed. All is well know and the clock is back on the wall. Poor Kathy has had a hard time (again no pun intended) with the the clocks, she has to constantly know the time in Uk and Milan for her family, and the fact that I only use Local and UTC confuses her no end.
For the last 24 hours I have been unable to pick up my main radio fax stations and last night the BBC World Service couldn’t be heard on any of its frequencies. Today isn’t looking much better. It’s interesting to see how the conditions on the short waves change so much.
Today I’m going to be re-reading my books on sail trim in the hope of squeezing a little bit more energy out of the breeze we are getting. Unfortunately there’s lots of talk of tightening my Cunningham or loosening the kicker, both of which this boat doesn’t have! However it’s worth a play, you couldn’t wish for better conditions for playing with sail trim; a close reach in a calm sea with a steady light breeze
Paul Collister