Cleared Channel Islands Hrb 15:15 23 Aug 2012 (local time)
SW winds. Seas slight.
Day 2
09:30 Becalmed much of the night. Cleared Begg Rock approx 5 miles to port at 08:30.
15:15 Dist 85 NM. making 5 Kts in 15Kt NW. Seas small but choppy.
19:30 Pos report sent. Auto pilot motor keeps stalling. Will investigate tomorrow.
Day 3
05:00 Big sleep! Woke to find nothing wrong. Auto pilot still playing up.
06:30 Light sighted to SW
07:15 N32º.05.1' W120º 42.4' SOG 5.7Kts Wind 12Kts from NW Swell 1.5m. Dist 144NM
08:45 Engine run for 50min.
Dates/Times in future entries are GMT/UTC.
Day 4
25 Aug 03:30 GMT
N31º15.0' W121º40.3' Heading 231º
Making 6Kts in moderate conditions. Swell 1.5m. Wind 15Kts from NE
2nd reef and deep furl. Dist from CIH = 210 NM
Westering somewhat to protect auto-pilot. It has also occurred to me that rhumb-line to Brisbane will save me 1000NM, and still take me close to Hawaii, Kirabati, Tonga, et al. Putting some thought into this.
Worked on auto-pilot to day. Tried re-centering the drive and it works! Sounds much happier. Clutch still making some noises. Will adjust tomorrow.
Weather has been overcast and cool for whole time since departure.
15:51 GMT N30º 40.1' W122º 39.4'
Making 5Kts in moderate conditions.Swell 1m. Wind 10Kts from NNE
2nd reef Small furl. Overcast. Distance over ground (D.O.G) 270NM Dist to dest 5951NM.
Noticed slight leak from rudder post stuffing box. Not dangerous, but disappointing after I had it re-packed by a 'pro' to avoid just this. I will attempt slight adjustment later today.
Have decided to continue 'westering' for the time being. Need to consult the chart on extent of Nth Equatorial current. Perhaps drop south from Hawaii?
Overnight I found that autopilot seems 'happiest' when lever is not locked down. No significant slippage and minimal grind/lock up. Perhaps I should hold off adjusting clutch till close to Hawaii?
16:50 Tightened rudder post stuffing post. Leak reduced but still present. Wary of over-tightening.
23:45 (local time 26 Aug. 18:45) N 30º 18.15' W123º 30.26
making 5.5 Kts in 15Kts NW. Swell 1m. 2nd reef. 5 turns of furl. Dist from CIH 317NM. DTG 5818NM.
Auto-pilot remains major concern. It cannot handle normal sail in a reach. Strategy has become for me to bear off downwind when I'm at helm, so auto-pilot can bear up to windward. Not a major issue, but the zig-zagging is inefficient course-making.
I'm beginning to suspect that a call to Hawaii may be necessary to upgrade to direct drive unit.
Day 5
GMT 26 Aug 17:03 (local 10:AM)
N30º 00.0' W124º 39.6' Distance travelled 372 NM making 4+ Kts in 5-10 Northerly. Swell 1.5 - 2 m.
Overcast. Full main and genoa deployed. Dist to Hawaii = 1836 NM.
Auto-pilot dead. Heading to Hawaii to repair. Will remove and inspect today but do not expect to to be able to repair.
Power leakage to safety rail has re-appeared. This time at 8 volts?! Will disconnect stern light to check if fault is there.
00:00 27 Aug GMT. (local time 17:00)
N29º 54.55' W125º 14.14'. Course 284º Speed approx 4Kts in 10Kt northerly. Swell 1m.
Full main and furled genoa (for balance). Dist to HWA = 1806NM
Inspection of auto-pilot confirms dead. Belt has torn to near-separated. Tear catches in drive section. May attempt a glue/patch.
Electrical leak to safety rail found to be from 'heat shrink' connector on stern nav light. Tested from outside of connector to rail and got 8 volts. Wrapped connector in tape and meter dropped to 0.5volts. Still not perfect but much better. Will test forward light tomorrow.
Noticed fray beginning on mainsheet at boom 'gang' of blocks. Inserted O ring and angle looks better. Will monitor.
Hooked up Tri-data to wind instrument, and they are talking to each other! Now have True or Apparent choice in wind instrument. VMG seems to be providing a -ve value, so I'll have to read up on that.
All in all a good day for productivity. Wind slight all day so not much distance covered. (30NM in 7 hrs.) but still 4NM/hr average. Yet another overcast day.
Day 6
23:15 UTC (local time 10:15) N29º 46.98' W126º 18.27' Dest: 1750 NM
Making 3kts in 8kt NNE breeze. Seas slight. 2nd reef, no furl. Travelled 86NM in last 24 hrs.
Becalmed last several hours.
Attempt to repair auto-pilot worked for about 45 minutes in very light conditions. I'll pull it apart again to see what the mechanism did to my repair.
Used this morning's calm to have a clean up of both me and the boat. Slept well last night and feeling generally OK. How I'll cope in any rough weather in the next 17 days remains to be seen.
01:40 27/8 UTC (18:30 local). N29º 42.15' W126º 58.14' Dest: 1714NM
Making 3.5 kts in 9kts from NNE. Swell slight. Full sail on both. 90NM in last 24 hrs.
Still overcast all day.
About to close up for the night and first visit by dolphins came by. Very brief. Slooow day with winds at 5-10kts all day.
Pulled auto-pilot apart again. My repair was still there (!) but belt had finally parted under the repair. Will try to do something with it again.
Frustrating day as can't find sail balance to leave helm for any amount of time, but conditions so tame it's hard to sustain concentration. Still, better than bad weather!
Day 7
27/8 15:00 UTC (local time 08:00) N29º 28.62' W127 43.50 Dest: 1674NM
making 4 kts in 8Kts from NNE. Seas slight. Deep reef in main from o/night set. 4 furls in genoa.
Big sleep! 8 hrs+. Hellcat self-sailed 25+NM overnight, approx on course. Weather still good but overcast. Ridge blowing in from WNW may change my dream run so far. Wait and see. Some danger of complacency.
16:00 Shook out reefs and furl. Wind up to 12kts. Making 5.5 kts.
01:45 (18:45 local) N29º 20.41' W128º 42.25 Dest: 1622NM
making 4.5kts in 12kts NNE. 1m swell + wind chop. Full sail both. 92 NM in 24 hrs.
Steady day's sailing. Wind constant dir and vel.
Sighted floating steel structure at 20:50 UTC. Appeared to be 2 large storage tanks in a frame. All up about about 4 tonnes, 3 x 6 metres. Broadcast a 'hazard' warning on UHF at 25 watts. If I had bumped into that in the night ... ??
A couple of hours of sunshine today, after 6 days of overcast. Now it's back to overcast.
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