Welcome to the Maunie of Ardwall blog

This is the blog of Maunie of Ardwall. After a six-year adventure sailing from Dartmouth to Australia, we are now back in Britain.

Tuesday 21 May 2013

Day 11 - a bright light to starboard

Our position as at 19.00 GMT, Tuesday 21st May:
06 degrees 05 minutes south, 115 degrees 51 minutes west
Distance run in last 24 hours: 168nm
 
After days of Force 4-5 winds, the breeze has dropped a little and with it our boat speed. The waves have reduced in size a bit but we're still tolling a fair bit as the wind is now pretty much dead behind us which is never the most comfy direction. We are toying with the idea of putting the Yeo Valley Big Pot Parasailor up in the hope of a bit more speed and stability but will wait till after lunch to a) give the wind time to decide what it's doing and b) let Dianne catch up on some sleep after her two night watches.
 
After 10 days of seeing no other shipping, we were startled to see a very bright white light to our starboard at about 3.00am this morning. The boat (we assume a fishing vessel) passed us about 2 miles away, heading in the opposite direction.  Peter and Graham compared notes over the vhf (Peter could see a second boat on his radar away to port which Graham couldn't) and were both relieved that the vessels didn't require us to take avoiding action (the 'steam gives way to sail' rule that most people know doesn't apply to vessels engaged in fishing, we have to give way to them).
 
Talking of fish, our line is deployed again so we're hoping for a fish supper.

1 comment:

  1. Hi to you both. Whow you really are getting on well covering those miles to the next landfall. We have just arrived in USA and are loving it. (Think Food shops with recognisable food on the selves) Will keep checking on your progress. Wendy & Graham

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