Tuesday 23rd October (Day 2)
Winds are mostly from the SE but have been highly variable with very cloudy, squally conditions giving frequent strong winds and light intervals in between. I 'm sailing very 'conservatively' now... Having seen a beautiful clear starry sky at 4.30am and thinking I could safely take to my bunk for some much-needed sleep, I was woken a short time later, caught out with far too much canvas up -close-hauled with full genoa and staysail - which I found really difficut to deal with in the strong wind .... but deal with them we had to, so eventually things were back under control, with our track wandering all over the place in the meantime..!! Back to my lovely warm bunk around dawn ... and a late breakfast near to lunch-time!
I've changed into my thermal underwear with fleece layers over- It's COLD! The menu over the next few days is definitely going to include lots of hot, thick stews.... I've ratatouille to finish tonight - including some potato has made it thick - and I'll make a fresh thick soup with beans and lentils tomorrow - they're soaking overnight ready...
It's been an excellent day for birds! I've now seen my first Black-footed albatross - couldn't believe my eyes on finding an albatross by the boat on my first day out!! (The other albatross up here in the N. Pacific is the Laysan - looking quite different...) Also a Sooty shearwater came by & there were other birds I couldn't see too clearly....
DMG yesterday was 42n.ml. from the start (at ~1830GMT) to 0100GMT - averaging just under7 kt with the ebb tide helping...
Today, over 22hr from 0100-2300GMT, DMG was 88 n.ml.(72ml to J. de Fuca entrance)
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Tracking 'Nereida'
Apart from my own daily position/weather report to Winlink/Shiptrak/Yotreps, accessed via my website's 'Travels' page link ("Where is 'Nereida'? etc), there are two sources of automatic tracking:
Using my AIS signal: http://www.exactearth.com/media-centre/recent-ship-tracks/tracking-nereida/
Using a GPS transmitter: http://oceantracker.net?event=nereida
