The wind is light today and the row ashore would not be difficult but I have decided to take the day off from visiting the land. My body thanks me.
I believe that I can complete provisioning in two or three days, which is fast enough assuming the wind permits me to get ashore.
I have done some work on GANNET today. Oiled interior wood. Added screws to hold the solar panels down. End for ended the main halyard. And I may still lift and scrub some of GANNET’s anchor rode. This is the longest GANNET’s anchor has been continuously down and stuff is growing on the rode.
I also searched through and inventoried the provisions I have already bought and trash bagged. I can usually tell what is in the bags by feel, but not always and temporarily lost 24 small boxes of orange juice. They are now found.
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For the first week to ten days in Darwin I was tired. Some of that could be attributed to sailing for four weeks, and some to the marathon rowing, but I realized several days ago that despite beers and ice cream, I was losing weight. I don’t need to lose weight. Eating lunches ashore, I often did not eat much for dinner and I am saving my protein powder for the next passage. I resumed freeze dry dinners on GANNET four nights ago, no matter what I had eaten ashore for lunch and noticed an immediate difference. Problem solved: I was running on empty. I just needed more fuel.
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“He holds the world in his mind.”
From one of my favorite poems which I trot out at any excuse.
I know the way from here to South Africa, and from South Africa to Australia for that matter.
In RESURGAM I sailed Bali, Christmas Island, Mauritius, Durban.
In THE HAWKE OF TUONELA I sailed Bali, Cocos/Keeling, Durban.
And if you are wondering, in CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE, I sailed Bali, Singapore, Aden, Port Sudan, Rabigh Gaol.
But I do not recall the exact latitudes and longitudes of all those places and did not realize until I put a waypoint off the Durban breakwaters, that the coming passage will be 100° of longitude. 131°E to 31°E. Latitude will be only 18°, from 12°S to 30°S.
100°F was also the temperature in GANNET’s Great Cabin when I returned from shore yesterday afternoon. 37.77°C
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The photo was taken yesterday from the hill just north of the Sailing Club as I was walking to the grocery store.
Most of the boats are local. And most are multihulls or small shallow draft monohulls.
GANNET does not appear in the photo. She is out of frame to the right.
While GANNET is usually the boat anchored farthest from shore, eight boats are anchored beyond her here. Of course, to their crews this only means that the outboard runs a couple of minutes longer.
While GANNET is usually the boat anchored farthest from shore, eight boats are anchored beyond her here. Of course, to their crews this only means that the outboard runs a couple of minutes longer.