Charles Darbyshire

Day: 16
Lat: 36 50.75′ S
Long: 95 27.86′ E
Inst Speed: 16.8
Wind Dir: 335
Wind Speed: 21.2
Distance last 24hr: 446.71
Distance to finish: 17219.33
Must have been busy thinking about speed today, as we didn’t use the camera !

Email from the boat to shore: 

From: OmanTri <omantri@
To: update <updateoman@
Subject: speed
Date: 24/01/2009 01:52:54


our noon to noon distance yesterday gave something around 480nm – this is a
good distance – even for us – it’s very easy to get used to the fact that
speeds in the 20s of nm/hr ( knots ) produce big milages over 24hours, but
actually travelling at those average speeds whilst normal life continues is
still a bit incredible. In the early part of this trip we had some fast
times – against what we had thought – but now we are settling into some
25-30 days of this kind of speed. For Theirry and Loik who have lots of 60′
Trimaran experiences the speeds are not so incredible ( apart from how less
twitchy the boat is at these speeds) but for Mohsin who has never been so
fast for so long it’s quite a thrill. As he said yesterday “before the trip
you know you’ll be doing these kind of speeds day after day, but that
doesn’t prepare you for living at that speed, eating, sleeping at that speed
for 24hours, and the noise that goes with it” and certainly Mohsin is the
only Omani ever to do this kind of distance in 24hours in a sail boat ever.

The speed comes in unexceptional conditions, we don’t need 40kts of wind,
just 20-25kts from the right direction with a reasonable sea state is plenty
for us to make high average speeds. More wind than this and we are starting
to back off, unless the sea is not a rough as it should be, but it’s hard
for conditions like that to exist for 24hours.

The weather regime looks fairly good for us for the next few days taking us
East until Monday when we’ll gybe and head south – we need to be south for
later in the week there is a high pressure in the Great Australian Bight,
and Tazman Sea which we must get to the south of, and in any case we have
to pass Tazmania which is at 43S The current routing has us down to 44S or
perhpas a bit more – a real slice of the southern ocean for us, where the
air and sea temp will be significantly less than they are in our current
position. ( see below for current data)

Date: 24/01/09
Time: 01:50:00
Posn: 3650.4747S 09529.5252E
Ave Boatspeed last 5 mins:16.03 ,
Ave TWD last 5 mins: 311
Ave TWA last 5 mins: -142
Ave TWS last 5 mins: 19.9
Ave SOG last 5 mins:16.61
Ave COG last 5 mins: 079
Ave Pressure last 5 mins: 1014.7
Sea Temp: 18.1
Air Temp Fwd cabin: 22.1

Weather Router’s advice: 

From: Commanders’ Weather
To: Musandam
Subject: Weather 1/24/09
Date: 24/01/2009 14:13:04



To: Charles Darbyshire and crew of “Musandam”

From: Commanders Weather Corp

Event: sail around the world

Last Position: 3629s/99 05e at 1245utc Sat, Jan 24

Prepared: 1330utc Saturday, January 24, 2009



SummaryÖ

1) High pressure near 30-32S/92-95E will elongate to the ESE after the next
cold front passes

a) we may get caught by a piece of this high pressure on Tue

2) Cold front located from 40S/93E to 32S/80E

3) Always more wind speed to the S

a) don’t think you got the leftie around 1200UTC to get some southing

4) Winds will veer a bit next 12 hours and will be unfavorable for starboard
gybe

a) continue fast E, but do not get N of 35S and would prefer along or S
of 36S

5) Cold front arrives Mon afternoon or night

a) go to starboard when winds are W and as fast as practical to the SE

b) breeze will be gusty and unstable behind the cold front, so more
variable wind directions/wind speeds, but we will really need to get SE
after this cold front passes

6) Big high pressure will set up in the Tasman Sea, W or SW of South Island,
NZ

a) this means the high pressure cell will take a more southern route from
the GAB to S of Tasmania, into the main high pressure cell in the southern
Tasman Sea

7) Winds will become much lighter Tue into Wed

a) would prefer you 1-2 degrees further S than where I have you/where I
think you will be

b) always more wind speed to the S and even if we are S and SW of my
estimated position, you will have more wind speed on Tue and Wed

8) With big high pressure over the southern Tasman Sea, the approaching cold
front, during the middle

of next week will be slow



RoutingÖ

1) Fast as possible to the E, but stay S of 35S and preferably along or S of
36S

2) When the cold front passes, fast to the SE

a) prefer you 1-2 degrees further S than I have your estimated positions



Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, and time is UTC



Sat, Jan 24

18: 290-310/15-21 and on port gybe. Always more wind speed to the S

WeatherÖPartly to mostly cloudy, but showers will be S of 37S. Swell W and
WSW at 6-9 feet



Sun, Jan 25

00: 300-320/16-22

06: 295-320/16-22

12: 290-310/15-21, as fast as possible E on port gybe near 36 05S107 50E

18: 295-320/16-22

WeatherÖPartly cloudy with W and WSW swell of 6-9 feet



Mon, Jan 26

00: 290-310/16-22

06: 310-270/16-22, maybe go to starboard on this leftie

12: 270-240/16-22, gust/squall 30 and on starboard near 36 40s/116e

18: 260-230/16-22, gust/squall 30

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: 230-200/18-12, lighter winds to the N

06: 210-240/10-15

12: 230-190/ 8-4, near 40S/123E and prefer at least 1 degree further S

18: 270-310/ 6-12, may have to go back to port

WeatherÖPartly cloudy with SW seas of 5-7 feet and improving



Wed, Jan 28

00: 330-360/ 8-14

06: 340-360/ 8-14

12: 340-360/ 8-14, going to port near 42 45S/130 20E

18: 340-360/ 8-14

WeatherÖPartly cloudy with W seas of 4-7 feet



Thu, Jan 29

00: 330-300/ 8-14

12: 330-300/12-18, near 45S/138 30E

WeatherÖPartly cloudy with W and WSW swell of 5-8 feet and increasing



Best regards, Ken Campbell


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A selection of pictures from today:

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