Ships Log transcript Part 2

Day 8

28 Aug 15:00 UTC (08:00 local time)
N29°29.84' W129°58.17'   Destination 1558 NM
Making 5 Kts in 20Kts wind from NE Seas: 2m swell.
Deep reef main, full genoa.  Made 116 NM in last 24 hrs.

29Aug 00:22  UTC (17:15 local)
N29°22.49' W130°52.90' Destination 1510 NM
Making 6 Kts in 18Kt wind from NE  2m swell with chop.
Deep reef and furl.  112 NM since last night.

Frustrating day. Several minor issues with elect., rigging and plumbing. Choppy + swell on starboard stern quarter making hand steering difficult. All 3 Raymarine instruments 'died', apparently simultaneously. Will investigate when conditions improve.

07:52 UTC.  (0:52 local)
N29°32.77' W131°39.14'  Destination 1473 MN
Making 4+ Kts in (est) 12Kt wind from NE. 1m swell. Deep reef and moderate furl.
Wind eased. Chop almost gone. Swell abating.

Day 9

29 Aug 15:00 UTC (08:00 local)
N29°29.11' W132°21.44'  Destination 1436 NM
Making 5.5 Kts in 15+Kt wind from NE 1.5m swell.
Deep reef main. 3 turns of furl.  122NM in last 24 hrs.
Conditions abated a little overnight, so slept well. Woke at 4 am (local) as wind resumed. Boat handling well. Dry inside!

30 Aug 02:00 UTC
N29°20.88' W133°27.43'  Destination 1379 NM
Making 5.3 Kts in 16Kts from NNE. 1.5m swell
Deep reef main. Full genoa. 131 NM in 24 hrs.

Instruments operating again after finding 2 blown fuses. No indication of cause.
A good day. Wind steadied in low 'teens'. Chop abated. Swell still significant. Last of fresh food done. Tired after early start but otherwise feeling good.

Day 10

30Aug 21:20 UTC
N29°37.02' W135°06.60'
Woke to flat batteries. Haven't run motor for a few days and had left the selector switch on "all". Trusted solar to pick it up and set off. 10 mins later steering failed. Chain parted from cable inside pedestal. While investigating and before fitting emergency tiller a freighter appeared on the horizon, on a 'near miss' course. Hurriedly fitted tiller and sailed about 400M at right angles, before ship passed about 600M astern. With no electrics (radio, lights or motor start) or steering that could have been nasty.  Repaired steering over several attempts in the day.

(pencilled entry:) Surfing by moon-shadow.

Day 11

31 Aug  08:00 local time.
N29°31.43' W137°18.23'  Destination  1189 NM
Finally realised electrical issues stem from no solar charge to batteries. Solar volt-regulator is fried.

1 Sep 0800 local time.
N29°33.60' W138°55.0'  Destination 1011 NM

3 Sep 13:10 UTC
N29°23.01' W139°39.56'  Destination  1071 NM (??)

Day 12

4 Sep 02:30 UTC
N28°52.11' W140°54.69'  Destination  998 NM
At last seem to have everything operational again. I managed 2 engine starts today, although I was disappointed that the second one was still a struggle. Tomorrow will be interesting. Getting through this has been stressful and I am highly relieved.

Passed the half-way mark!

Day 13

02:19 UTC 
N28°27.25' W142°33.0'  Destination  909 NM
Making 5 kts in 15 kt NNE. 1.5+m swell  Deep reef and moderate furl.  89NM in last 24 hrs.

Day 14

02:30 UTC
N27°42.62' W144°14.67'  Destination  805 NM
Set  for night watch. v small head-sail and no main.  104 NM in last 24 hrs.

Day 15

02:00 UTC
N27°22.59' W145°26.9'  Destination 740 NM
Making 5 kts in 10-15 kt NE wind. 1m swell. 2nd reef and moderate furl.
65 NM in 24 hrs.

Yet anothger day of following wind and seas. have decided to bear off 10-15 degrees to change the angle of the seas. No major issues last few days. Noticed though that engine does not seem to be providing any significant charge to the electrical system.

Sighted Aircraft-carrier on horizon to the south.   

Day 16

8 Sept.
16:30 UTC
N26°34.21' W146°00.0'   Destination 695 NM
Making 4.5 kts in 12 kt breeze from NNE. Seas slight.
2nd reef and almost complete furl.  30+ NM overnight

2/3 mark passed!
Further testing this morning confirms alternator definitely not charging.

02:00 UTC
N26°14.22' W146°41.25'  Destination 653 NM
Making 3.7 kts in (approx) 10Kt wind from NNE. Seas slight.
2nd reef and 4 turns of furl.  87 NM in last 24 hrs.

Day 17

9 Sept.
02:30 UTC
N25°32.19' W148°01.41'  Destination 570 NM
Makng 3 kts in 10kt breeze from NE Seas slight.
2nd reef heavy furl      83 NM in 24 hrs

After testing the sea anchor yesterday, with satisfactory results, I set it last night after dousing all sails. This morning it was gone, having broken away from the bridle sometime in the night.