430 to North Cape

Have you ever seen those funny little animals that pop out of their burrows and stand bolt upright and look all round and then suddenly disappear again down the hole? I just cant remember what they are right now but I think I know what its like to be one! I usually pop my head out the companionway every hour or so at night, in between naps. When I was much closer to the coast I set the alarm to wake me every 30 minutes and it was ghastly - you find yourself debating the relative merits of being run down by a ship versus staying in the bunk and its line ball! (reminds me of when I was doing 24 hour shifts in a huge Hospital, I would think if someone offered me the choice of finishing the last 4 hours of my shift for a million bucks or just going home to bed right then, I'd tell him to keep the million thanks I'll take the sleep!) But out of the shipping lanes - how likely is it - well I haven't seen another thing out here other than wildlife - till last night that is! As usual, round 11pm I think it was, I popped my head out and scanned the horizon and was amazed to see a light. And it was easy to see as well. Once before I thought I had seen a light but it turned out to be a star very low on the horizon, but this was a light for sure and it disappeared and reappeared as Sapphire and this vessel rose and fell on the swell. I turned the motor off and listened for the sound of an engine but heard nothing. The light was a single white one and I checked with the binoculars to see if there were any other lights but couldn't see any. What I didn't want to see was a green and a red light on either side of the white one because that would mean it was pointing straight at me! I checked on the AIS and there were no Targets Received, so I concluded it was a yacht sailing away from me, and the white light was the stern light or more probably the white rear facing sector of its masthead Trilight. ( Like the one Dion replaced on Sapphire when we still at Clontarf )In fact I think it might have been Cool Change, the Catamaran from LHI. They had been planning to leave on Sunday when I did, once a third crew member had arrived on the plane that afternoon - however as I was clearing the island I heard Maritime Lord Howe having a conversation on the VHF about Cool Change and the failure of their man to have arrived on the afternoon flight. I am guessing he might have come the next day and now they're underway, making better time than Sapphire of course and they overtook me last night. I tried calling on the VHF but no response. I hope to catch up with them in Opua next week.

So I popped my head out a few extra times after spotting them and they disappeared off to my starboard bow after about 20 minutes.

But i was desperate to get sailing again and later I noticed a breeze developing and disengaged the engine to see how strong it was and if it was from a favorable direction....and it was, so off with the motor, out with the headsail and suddenly it was all Bliss again. We were sailing at about 4 knots which was slower than motoring but I reasoned that motoring and using up precious fuel to gain an extra knot was bad economics: better to use the diesel to gain 4 or 5 knots - but in any case it was much more pleasant doing 4 under sail than 5 on the engine.

Unfortunately however the breeze didn't build and it flicked around a bit so I was again popping my head out again and again to check our course and to adjust the Hydrovane. I woke after a sleep of about an hour, round sunrise, and found we were heading north - actually towards Norfolk Island which is about as far away right now as is Lord Howe - and that was because the wind had turned to the east, which is exactly where we dont want it to come from because that's where we're supposed to be heading - so I furled the sails and started motoring again. The breeze has fizzled out completely now and the sea is returning to its glassy smooth rolling contoured field of blue.

I've worked out this morning I can motor for about another 18 hours but then I will have to wait for the breeze if I am to keep a reasonable reserve for any motoring that might be essential. Sailors of old used to go mad and jump into the sea when they were becalmed in the doldrums so I hope that doesnt happen to me. Actually I have been hearing voices - its really quite interesting and they are not telling me to jump into the sea but that I can just get off Sapphire and walk home if I want to. No that's not true - just kidding - what I hear, and I think maybe the mind wants to hear human voice - is small shouts and exclamations like "Hey" or "Dave" or "What" or just sounds like speech that I cant quite understand. These turn out to be squeaks of rope rubbing something, or a bird cry or even a splash against the side of the boat that my brain wants to try and understand as speech. Oh and sometimes its someone swimming past, heading for Australia. "Good luck mate" I shout back...

So all in all, things are OK though I do wish the wind would blow because then I am happiest. And yes we have 430 to go to North Cape, so if we maintain 100 miles a day - well you work it out. I do it every 5 minutes all day long!

Sapphire Out

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