Richard Hewson

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> Yesterday afternoon we were experiencing squalls bringing rain and variable wind. The wind changed in direction 90* and strength from 0 – 30kts depending our location in relation to the squall. Squalls differed in their intensity, however most sucked the wind away whenever they were in the vicinity. We approached the evening with caution putting a reef into the mainsail and having all sails ready to furl away quickly if required. The conditions are very common closer to the conditions of the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) or doldrums. >
> Our speed dropped below three knots and it was hard to maintain course and our battery voltage was low so we started the engine and motored into the early evening, stopping the engine when the wind returned. >
> Our watches were busy changing sail configurations and settings from poled out, to a close reach as required. Sailing the boat and trimming Peter the Aeries to ensure we were going the right direction took constant attention. >
> The squalls and variable wind remained until 0400 this morning when the squalls finally disappeared opening the sky up to a beautiful clear night with shining stars and constant wind. I trimmed the sails for a broad reach, with wind from a true wind angle (TWA) of 120* and our course of 245*T then fell asleep exhausted in the cockpit at 0530 towards the end of my watch waking up with a start (not realising id fallen asleep) with the dawn light at 0645. Emilie and the kids were still resting below and Peter was keeping SI on course. >
> Our course of 245* will hopefully take us south of the worst of the low pressure trough, allowing us to sail more and use the motor less. If our weather routing is correct we will only need to motor for two days for the remaining 900nm (7- 8 days to Bequae). We have 70% or 350L of Diesel remaining, this gives us 750nm of motoring left, or 7 days of slow motoring (4.5kts) left if required. >
> The increased intensity of watches means less time for Emilie and I to relax and sleep. In addition to our six hour on six hour off watches we must keep the kids safe and entertained, cook, clean, school, navigate, check weather, maintain the boat and fix any odd items that come up through the day. At the most we will get 5 hours sleep in a row if not disturbed by the children or a sail change. On average we both get about 7 hours of broken sleep per day. It is quite exhausting on the mind and body and Emilie and I work hard at noticing simptoms of tiredness in the other and encourage each other to sleep. It is tempting some times to do extra hours in a watch to let the other sleep, however, from experiance this develops a dangerouse pattern where watches get out of sync, and hence our sleep patterns get out of sync, so we are strict to maintain our watch times, and concentrate on letting our partner sleep when they are off watch. >
> This morning the sun is out, drying this mornings washing hanging in the rigging, and topping up our batteries. Water maker is on to make the most of the solar, I see Albacore Tuna jumping next to the boat chasing flying fish. During the kids “recess” the fishing rod comes out. The kids have selected a rather large blue squid lure for the day. Too big for Albacore tuna, and hopefully a perfect size for Mahi. >
> The wind swung towards the east over the course of the morning and we poled out the Genoa. We enjoyed a lunch of prawns, couscous and falafal in the cockpit.. >
> Check out our position at http://cms.winlink.org:444/maps/positionreports.aspx?callsign=vk7hew >