Camaraderie Among Solo Sailors

Last night the next front came through, about 3-4 hours earlier than forecast. I was taking a nap, and suddenly the boat started pounding – crash crash – crash – as if going upwind, or at least into the waves, which we were. The wind had shifted with the front by 100 degrees, and so we were sailing due North. I got my foul weather gear on to go on deck, and then went through the protocol that I had thought through earlier. Gybing will be more dangerous than tacking, so I rolled up the staysail (we had the staysail and mainsail with 3 reefs) and headed upwind with the mainsail alone, then tacked, and headed due south. Because the front was so early, I was suspicious and so paid close attention to the True Wind Direction data, but it stayed steady, this was the front.

As the windspeed had dropped to about 10-15 knots, I reluctantly (because I was very tired) decided to go up to 2 reefs in the mainsail, and then go back for another nap. I did that, 180 hard grinds on the pedestal, then took another nap for an hour, then it was getting light out and so was up for the day.

Last evening I had 2 wonderful email exchanges with my friends out here, Alan Roura and Eric Bellion. Alan had had a terrible night a few nights back with the boat crash-gybing and laying over with the mast almost in the water, and water coming in his cabin door. It took him an hour to get it sorted. And Eric had sailed north into calmer conditions to exchange one of his damaged rudders for his backup. He said that took him 11 hours straight and he was very tired.

5 nights before the start, Eric had invited me and Alan to dinner at his rental house, and it was a wonderful evening. We are like the three multi-generational amigos, me at 66, Eric at 40, and Alan at 23. But we all have the same dream, and all are pursuing it, and it just so happens that at this point in the race, we are all within about a hundred miles of each other. There is a wonderful camaraderie among solo sailors.

Position
42° 30’S x 39° 06’E
Course
106° True
Speed
11.3 knots
True Wind Speed
21.2 knots
True Wind Direction
255°
Sails
Main sail(1 reef) plus Fractional Gennaker
Air temperature
63° F / 17.2° C
Sea Temperature
60° F / 15.5° C