Category: Latest News

One of the steering lines was broken! The windvane could not turn the steering wheel any more.

This morning I woke up because the boat speed had dropped and the waves were coming from a different angle. The wind speed had dropped from 19 to 15 kn. This could not explain why the angle to the wind was off! I jumped in the cockpit to check what was wrong.

This is what my bunk in the aft cabin looks like. No, I did not tidy up for the photo, you see the naked truth. Sleeping is essential on a singlehanded ocean passage. When I explain the sleeping pattern, the mothers will remember and know what I am talking about. I sleep in segments of varying duration. Here, in the middle of the Pacific, I haven’t seen a ship for over 10 days. My AIS can detect a ship at a distance of more than 20 nm. I have two AIS alarms continuously activated. So here, I set two alarm clocks to 99 min. In dense ship traffic or in areas with fishers without AIS, I can occasionally only sleep for 15 min. I difficult situations, I can’t sleep at all for several hours. Sleep is different from at home. Automatically, part of my brain remains alert. I wake up when there is a change of wave pattern, wind noise, flapping sail, unusual noise or alarm. So I sleep in 6-10 segments every night. Crucial is, to be able to go to sleep immediately, even if you have been out in the dark, adjusting the sails. Even after a “space walk” with a safety tether, to the mast or the foredeck. Going to sleep immediately seems to be a mechanism you can train. I have regularly trained this in everyday situations after my first solo ocean passage in 2000. Also back in the years when I was doing night shifts at the hospital I had to learn to go to sleep whenever possible. Just switch off the brain and go to sleep. Adrenaline has a biological half life of around 2 minutes, so if you stop fiering adrenaline continuously, you have a chance to go to sleep immediately. Yes, I know, it is more complex than this. This does not work for everyone, I might just be lucky to have this ability.

This is the picture on my tablet I use for navigation all the time. Most importantly there is no other ship (AIS-signal) on the chart. I have set two courses (diagonally from the right upper corner to the left lower corner) which form a corridor I try to stay within. Note a slight change of course I have just made. You can see a slight bend in the track behind the ship symbol. In the segment below the chart you see the time-plot of TWD=true wind direction and TWS=true wind speed during the last 60 min. In the right panel are SOG=speed over ground, WASSER=speed through the water, AWA=aparent wind angle, TWA=true wind angle, COG=course over ground, WPT BRG= waypoint bearing, DTD=distance to destination, VMG CSE= velocity made good to destination, TTD= time to destination. How many of these abbreviations did you know?

Two days ago, conditions were moderate and life was easy.

It was a sunny afternoon yesterday. I had sufficient electrical energy to make fresh bread with my bread-baking-machine.

Today perhaps the last day in low winds. Running downwind in 7 kn of wind and swell is a slow no-fun business. Luckily I had around 0,5 kn of current with me for some hours. Luckily the ship is in perfect balance so the Monitor windvane can cope with these conditions. Enjoy your weekend!

While I was typing the last post I felt something crawling up my leg: a tiny gecko. I named him Gerd the Gecko. Hopefully he finds sufficient food and water to survive the long trip. Haven’t seen any insects lately that could serve as snacks for him. He must have been on board since Shelter Bay Marina in Colon, Panama. Wish him luck!

Some mild squalls in the evening. I put in the second reef and exchanged the genoa (54 sqm) for the jib (27sqm). Let’s see what surprise this night will bring up. Last night I had to deal with several hours of calm.

No wind at night, but the days are sooo nice. It can not get any better!