Look at the helm – going fast in the right direction
Hooch concentrating with the boat fully powered up, we don’t want to trip up
It’s a pleasure driving – just passing through 480th mile in the last 24hrs
Email from the boat to shore:
From: OmanTri
To: update
Subject: we gybe at dawn
Date: 22/01/2009 03:35:26
we gybed this morning at dawn – it was midnight GMT and the sun was up –
up – but hidden as we have fog and drissle this morning, after a fairly nice
sunset the clouds came over and the foggy / murk settled upon us.
We are passing 60nm to the north of Ile Amsterdam so no chance to see it –
may be next time. This means we’ll miss seeing the Amsterdam Albertros,
unless they come to find us, I hope they do, as that will be a real welcome
to the South. we are travelling east at last there is a small chance that
we’ll have to take a small hitch south today, but for now we are going well
still full mainsail and gennaker ( wind is up to 25kts at times so this is
limit for the gennaker) and boatspeeds up to around 22 kts I can see a
change to genoa coming on in the not too distant future – if we do we’ll be
sailing a higher angle and the chances of a gybe south will increase.
our plans are to sail around 37S for the next few days fairly straight
eastwards until a front passes us by on sunday and the winds will move the
the SW – which is when we’ll gybe again and head SE towards 40S perhaps to
42S
then sometime late on monday we should be close to the longitude of Cape
Leeuwin, Australia’s western most point. This marks the 1/4 distance point
for our trip and like all competetive people we’ll be looking at the time
that it has taken – it’s for the future though.
Yesterday was taken up with more preparation work for the next 30 days in
the south – Loik was hoisted up the mast to take a look at the fittings up
there – and could see nothing to cause concern. Then late in the afternoon
with everyone on deck we dropped the mainsail and changed the bearing slide
rods in the mainsail headboard car – purely as a precaution and to see how
much wear there was. Although some wear as you’d expect nothing more than
that. We had a good look at the reef points, and then rehoisted. So far so
good.
Temperatures continue to go down too – on deck it’s 18degress, and down
below 23degrees – probably tomorrow we are going to need to break out the
sleeping bags for the first time.Certainly the cooling fans will remain off
for quite some time now.
Hoochie and I were discussing the amount of wildlife we have seen on the
trip ( or lack there of) we have been really disapointed not to see more
life out here at sea – a few dolphins and a very few sea birds were the sum
total of what we saw – perhaps we were expecting too much? i can imagine
more life as we pass Tasmania and head across the Tasman Sea, certainly when
we made the trip before ( further north- between Sydney and Auckland) we did
see a fair amount of life – whales, sunfish etc. so perhaps that’s our
moment to stand by with our cameras.
To: update
Subject: we gybe at dawn
Date: 22/01/2009 03:35:26
we gybed this morning at dawn – it was midnight GMT and the sun was up –
up – but hidden as we have fog and drissle this morning, after a fairly nice
sunset the clouds came over and the foggy / murk settled upon us.
We are passing 60nm to the north of Ile Amsterdam so no chance to see it –
may be next time. This means we’ll miss seeing the Amsterdam Albertros,
unless they come to find us, I hope they do, as that will be a real welcome
to the South. we are travelling east at last there is a small chance that
we’ll have to take a small hitch south today, but for now we are going well
still full mainsail and gennaker ( wind is up to 25kts at times so this is
limit for the gennaker) and boatspeeds up to around 22 kts I can see a
change to genoa coming on in the not too distant future – if we do we’ll be
sailing a higher angle and the chances of a gybe south will increase.
our plans are to sail around 37S for the next few days fairly straight
eastwards until a front passes us by on sunday and the winds will move the
the SW – which is when we’ll gybe again and head SE towards 40S perhaps to
42S
then sometime late on monday we should be close to the longitude of Cape
Leeuwin, Australia’s western most point. This marks the 1/4 distance point
for our trip and like all competetive people we’ll be looking at the time
that it has taken – it’s for the future though.
Yesterday was taken up with more preparation work for the next 30 days in
the south – Loik was hoisted up the mast to take a look at the fittings up
there – and could see nothing to cause concern. Then late in the afternoon
with everyone on deck we dropped the mainsail and changed the bearing slide
rods in the mainsail headboard car – purely as a precaution and to see how
much wear there was. Although some wear as you’d expect nothing more than
that. We had a good look at the reef points, and then rehoisted. So far so
good.
Temperatures continue to go down too – on deck it’s 18degress, and down
below 23degrees – probably tomorrow we are going to need to break out the
sleeping bags for the first time.Certainly the cooling fans will remain off
for quite some time now.
Hoochie and I were discussing the amount of wildlife we have seen on the
trip ( or lack there of) we have been really disapointed not to see more
life out here at sea – a few dolphins and a very few sea birds were the sum
total of what we saw – perhaps we were expecting too much? i can imagine
more life as we pass Tasmania and head across the Tasman Sea, certainly when
we made the trip before ( further north- between Sydney and Auckland) we did
see a fair amount of life – whales, sunfish etc. so perhaps that’s our
moment to stand by with our cameras.
Second email from the boat:
From: OmanTri
To: update
Subject: exciting update
Date: 22/01/2009 04:03:05
just nipped up on deck to find two small albetross circling the boat –
although not huge fellas they are pretty good looking, just gliding
around….. nice…
To: update
Subject: exciting update
Date: 22/01/2009 04:03:05
just nipped up on deck to find two small albetross circling the boat –
although not huge fellas they are pretty good looking, just gliding
around….. nice…
Weather Router’s advice:
From: Commanders’ Weather
To: Charles Darbyshire , updateoman ,Musandam
Subject: Weather 1/22/09
Date: 22/01/2009 13:59:06
To: Charles Darbyshire and crew of “Musandam”
From: Commanders Weather Corp
Event: sail around the world
Last Position: 37 33s/80 23e at 1215utc Thu, Jan 22
Prepared: 1315utc Thursday, January 22, 2009
SummaryÖ
1) Remember, the E side of the cold front is the best location, so we want
to work that side of
the front as much as possible
a) E side of the cold front will see a more stable, consistent wind
b) temps will be less cold and the sea state will be less harsh, so
c) I very interested in staying on port gybe, sailing deep, and fast
d) primary concern will be the location the high pressure to the N ñ
don’t want to get into the light wind field near the high and
e) don’t want to get hung up with a stalled/stalling cold front and the
lighter, unstable, winds near the frontal zone
2) At 1200UTC today, the high pressure area is located near 31-32S/86-90E
a) this high pressure cell will start to elongate ESE after 00UTC Sat ñ
being on port gybe and with our winds backing, we will need to keep a close
eye on this high pressure cell Sun. If we get too close, a 6 hr period on
starboard gybe will work just fine
3) Must watch out for the frontal zone
a) cold front is near 39-40S/70-72E at 1200UTC today
b) this cold front will stall in a WNW to ESE direction near
38-40S/95-105E on Sat, so must stay N of this location, as winds will be
fickle in this frontal zone
4) Good NW winds for another 12 hrs, so port gybe, deep and fast
a) NW winds will ease and back after 00UTC Fri, but want to stay on port
gybe, since I do not want to run into or cross the stalling frontal zone
this weekend
b) much lighter W and WNW winds later Sat/Sun ñ don’t want to go N of 35S
and do not want to see wind speeds below 15 kts, so will have to go onto
starboard at some point in time ñ I do this for 6 hrs at 1200UTC Sun, but
could occur earlier than that
5) Stronger cold front will arrive early next week
a) stronger NW winds will arrive ahead of this cold front on Mon, so back
to port gybe, deep and fast to the E or ESE
b) cold front will pass Mon night/early Tue and then onto starboard ñ we
will use this period to get SE, so we can clear Tasmania
Routing
1) As fast as possible on port gybe
2) Once winds back and diminish, hold port gybe, but do not go N of 35S and
try to stay N of 38S
3) Will be back to port ahead of the cold front late Mon/Tue
a) will get SE, after the cold front passes late Mon/Tue
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, and time is UTC
Thu, Jan 22
18: 300-320/22-32
WeatherÖPartly cloudy
SeasÖ8-12 ft WSW swell
Fri, Jan 23
00: 290-310/22-32
06: 280-300/22-32
12: 270-290/20-30, on port near 37 20s/89e
18: 270-290/17-23
WeatherÖPartly cloudy. Lots of clouds and scattered showers in the frontal
zone to the SW. Swell be W and WSW at 8-12 feet
Sat, Jan 24
00: 275-295/18-24
06: 280-300/18-24
12: 270-290/17-23, on port near 36 10S/97 20E ñ be careful, want to stay
between 35-37S. Winds lighter N of 35S and frontal zone, unstable winds near
38S
18: 280-300/15-20
WeatherÖPartly to mostly cloudy, but showers will be S of 37S. Swell W and
WSW at 6-10 feet
Sun, Jan 25
00: 285-305/15-21
06: 290-310/17-23
12: 280-300/15-20, going to starboard for 6 hrs near 35 20S/105 10E
18: 300-320/20-26
WeatherÖPartly to mostly cloudy with W and WSW swell of 6-9 feet
Mon, Jan 26
00: 300-320/20-30, back on port
06: 300-270/22-32
12: 260-230/17-24, gust 30 and on starboard near 37 50s/111 40e
18: 220-250/15-20
WeatherÖPartly to mostly cloudy with scattered showers/squalls as the cold
front moves thru, but trending to partly cloudy as winds become SW. Seas up
to 8-12 feet for a while from the W and SW
Tue, Jan 27
00: 230-250/17-23
12: 230-200/12-18, near 39 50S/118 30E
WeatherÖPartly cloudy with SW seas of 6-9 feet and improving
Best regards, Ken Campbell
—
PLEASE NOTE: AS OF JANUARY 1, 2008, OUR NEW EMAIL ADDRESS IS :
info@commandersweather.com
Commanders Weather Corp.
Tel: 603-882-6789
To: Charles Darbyshire , updateoman ,Musandam
Subject: Weather 1/22/09
Date: 22/01/2009 13:59:06
To: Charles Darbyshire and crew of “Musandam”
From: Commanders Weather Corp
Event: sail around the world
Last Position: 37 33s/80 23e at 1215utc Thu, Jan 22
Prepared: 1315utc Thursday, January 22, 2009
SummaryÖ
1) Remember, the E side of the cold front is the best location, so we want
to work that side of
the front as much as possible
a) E side of the cold front will see a more stable, consistent wind
b) temps will be less cold and the sea state will be less harsh, so
c) I very interested in staying on port gybe, sailing deep, and fast
d) primary concern will be the location the high pressure to the N ñ
don’t want to get into the light wind field near the high and
e) don’t want to get hung up with a stalled/stalling cold front and the
lighter, unstable, winds near the frontal zone
2) At 1200UTC today, the high pressure area is located near 31-32S/86-90E
a) this high pressure cell will start to elongate ESE after 00UTC Sat ñ
being on port gybe and with our winds backing, we will need to keep a close
eye on this high pressure cell Sun. If we get too close, a 6 hr period on
starboard gybe will work just fine
3) Must watch out for the frontal zone
a) cold front is near 39-40S/70-72E at 1200UTC today
b) this cold front will stall in a WNW to ESE direction near
38-40S/95-105E on Sat, so must stay N of this location, as winds will be
fickle in this frontal zone
4) Good NW winds for another 12 hrs, so port gybe, deep and fast
a) NW winds will ease and back after 00UTC Fri, but want to stay on port
gybe, since I do not want to run into or cross the stalling frontal zone
this weekend
b) much lighter W and WNW winds later Sat/Sun ñ don’t want to go N of 35S
and do not want to see wind speeds below 15 kts, so will have to go onto
starboard at some point in time ñ I do this for 6 hrs at 1200UTC Sun, but
could occur earlier than that
5) Stronger cold front will arrive early next week
a) stronger NW winds will arrive ahead of this cold front on Mon, so back
to port gybe, deep and fast to the E or ESE
b) cold front will pass Mon night/early Tue and then onto starboard ñ we
will use this period to get SE, so we can clear Tasmania
Routing
1) As fast as possible on port gybe
2) Once winds back and diminish, hold port gybe, but do not go N of 35S and
try to stay N of 38S
3) Will be back to port ahead of the cold front late Mon/Tue
a) will get SE, after the cold front passes late Mon/Tue
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, and time is UTC
Thu, Jan 22
18: 300-320/22-32
WeatherÖPartly cloudy
SeasÖ8-12 ft WSW swell
Fri, Jan 23
00: 290-310/22-32
06: 280-300/22-32
12: 270-290/20-30, on port near 37 20s/89e
18: 270-290/17-23
WeatherÖPartly cloudy. Lots of clouds and scattered showers in the frontal
zone to the SW. Swell be W and WSW at 8-12 feet
Sat, Jan 24
00: 275-295/18-24
06: 280-300/18-24
12: 270-290/17-23, on port near 36 10S/97 20E ñ be careful, want to stay
between 35-37S. Winds lighter N of 35S and frontal zone, unstable winds near
38S
18: 280-300/15-20
WeatherÖPartly to mostly cloudy, but showers will be S of 37S. Swell W and
WSW at 6-10 feet
Sun, Jan 25
00: 285-305/15-21
06: 290-310/17-23
12: 280-300/15-20, going to starboard for 6 hrs near 35 20S/105 10E
18: 300-320/20-26
WeatherÖPartly to mostly cloudy with W and WSW swell of 6-9 feet
Mon, Jan 26
00: 300-320/20-30, back on port
06: 300-270/22-32
12: 260-230/17-24, gust 30 and on starboard near 37 50s/111 40e
18: 220-250/15-20
WeatherÖPartly to mostly cloudy with scattered showers/squalls as the cold
front moves thru, but trending to partly cloudy as winds become SW. Seas up
to 8-12 feet for a while from the W and SW
Tue, Jan 27
00: 230-250/17-23
12: 230-200/12-18, near 39 50S/118 30E
WeatherÖPartly cloudy with SW seas of 6-9 feet and improving
Best regards, Ken Campbell
—
PLEASE NOTE: AS OF JANUARY 1, 2008, OUR NEW EMAIL ADDRESS IS :
info@commandersweather.com
Commanders Weather Corp.
Tel: 603-882-6789
A selection of pictures from today: