630 to North Cape

A Final farewell to LHI

I departed Lord Howe for the second time, at about 3.30pm, Sunday November 22nd. Once clear of the island, I set the hydrovane to steer almost exactly due east and by sunset we were clear of Balls Pyramid. The troublemaking headsail was still furled and I coul;d see no reason to unfurl it as we were making 5.8 to 6 knots under main alone. There was a good swell running, up to 2 metres, and the northerly wind was strong, around 19 to 20 knots, so were on a beam reach but running obliquely across the swell so there was a fair bit of movement ,especiaally rolling as the miles gradually went by. For tea I had fresh bread from the bakery at LHI - Humpty Micks- and soup.

I constantly debated in my mind the value of unfurling the headsail, but in the end decided I was going to adopt a more conservative approach to sailing this time, and not consider it a race to cross the tasman, but a journey that I wanted to make safely and without further gear failure or avoidable complication. I decided that if I could make at least 4.5 knots that would be over 100 miles a day and that would be excellent. I didn't want any more hassles in the night either, so I left the headsail unfurled and the main unreefed. Wind speed had crept up to 22 knots and we were doing 6 to 6.3 knots mostly which was very respectable. So I started having sleeps.

After midnight I poked my head out to check and found the wind had increased further and to my amazement was now 27 to 28 knots. To think I had been sleeping while Sapphire was sailing in stronger wind than I have ever sailed in before! But clearly it was time the main was reefed and reluctantly, out I went. Then I went back to sleep as speed and motion and bashing into waaves all reduced and Sapphire felt safe again.

As is usual I woke as the sky was lightening, before Sunrise and the wind had dropped back to 19 knots but as we were still making around 5 knots I simply had my standard breakfast and coffee.

The seas are still moderately big but the wind was predicted to reduce today so sooner or later I will have to unfurl the headsail to keep her moving nicely along.Right now we are 70 miles from Lord Howe so I am beyond the place I turned back from on Friday night.

Apart from a few new annoying drips from overhead- water on the decks finding a way into the boat - everything is fine.

Sapphire Out

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com/