Day 110 [Jan. 20, 0700 JST]
WP5 is reached, halfway across the Indian Ocean. Iridium is back on good behavior. Saito-san divulges how a solo sailor stays alive. We reset the DMG a bit.
Position:
28 17 S, 69 43 E
Distance completed to Yokohama finish: 36.0%
Heading: 320
Boat speed: 3.0 kt (7-day average: 4.36 kt)
Distance in last 24 hours: 90 nm
Distance made good: 9,000 nm (16,668 km)
Distance remaining to Yokohama: 15,960 nm
Yokohama ETA: 152 days (based on 7-day ave. boat speed)
Days until Yokohama 150th Anniversary Port Celebration: 131
To WP6, Cape of Good Hope: 25 days
Weather: Clear skies on calm seas
Barometer: 1020 hPa
Waves: 1.5 m
Wind (from): 6 - 9 kt ENE
Current (from): 0.2 kt SSW
Engine: 0.0 hr / 1800 rpm, 0.0 hr / 2000 rpm (0.0 L)
Generator: 12.0 hr (12.0 L)
Sails
Main: 2 pt
Staysail: 0%
Genoa: 100%
Today's Report
A slower day under reduced winds. Skies are clear, seas flat.
We discussed the appearance of a new cyclone 900 nm to the west but it was quickly heading south and appears already below his latitude. This one is named Cyclone Eric. We'll keep a close watch.
It appears the antenna may have been contributing to the Iridium troubles over the last several days. The sat phone was back to normal this morning after Saito-san gave the antenna an inspection, and found it had worked itself loose. Now comms are considerably better, if not exactly 5 x 5.
Added Comment
Rei filed this report after talking with Saito-san late last week. Due to the time difference with Japan, he called in at 3 am his time, and that was a good reason to talk about an crucial life-saving trait of solo sailors.
It is around 3 am. Single-handed sailing means a constant lack of sleep. I typically schedule to work for 2 hours and sleep for the following 2 hours. What makes it harder is the weather tends to change during the evening, and this makes me busier
and more tired. Every time the weather changes, I need almost 1 hour of work on changing/trimming sails as well as other adjustments. Imagine spending 1 hour on such works and, soon after that, the weather changes again and going back to the same sort of work!
Yet you should not take a rest TOO much as sleeping too long can directly lead to
your death. Most fatal accidents that have happened during single-handed circumnavigation races were due to the skippers sleeping, i.e., a lack of caution.
People often categorize single-handed races as just a "sport," but sailing is very different from baseball, football, cricket... most sports in which players are not risking their lives. They enjoy playing for only 2 hours, get enough sleep every day, and earn a great deal of money. On the other hand, sailors spend hundreds of days on board and are constantly on the edge of death. It is of course one thing that makes it such a great challenge.
Anyway, I need to take a little rest now, before calling Hunter in 30 minutes for the daily report.
Oyasumi nasai! (Good night!)
***
When waypoints were set prior to the voyage start it was with the understanding that they might occasionally be reset as dictated by the changes in the actual voyage. WP5, 070E, the Indian Ocean mid-point between Australia and the Cape of Good Hope, was set as 8,900 nm from Yokohama, as measured on Google Earth. Last week we edged WP5 up to the north a bit as it became clear that a higher latitude would be followed.
And now a different sort of correction needs to be made.
As some may have noticed, we declared yesterday that Saito had gone 9,181 nm but had not quite reached WP5 at 8,900 nm.
There are two reasons: He 1) followed a higher or more northward track, and 2) he's had to tack a lot. When he has to tack heavily away from the desired route due to wind direction, as he has the last 10 days, the true DMG (distance made good) will be less than the DOG (distance over ground).
There are several solutions, but we are taking the easiest one: Today we will turn back the trip odometer to 9,000 nm as the measured geographical distance to where he crossed 070 E (and along his "higher" track), and restart the calculations from there. Thus, he's now 36.0% along, and not 37.1%.
We'll likely have to reset again as he pulls abreast of Cape Town, South Africa, in 2,600 nm. But this way sure makes our job easier! |
