Ma and Pa Kettle here,
We made our turn, and are now sailing on the beam. Ride much better. Last night was like trying to grope ones way along a knife edge ridge when holding only a candle against the complete darkness, while at he same time the ridge is the travel path of very large elephants who may, or may not, deign to step on you. Oh, did I mention the high winds threatening to topple you into the chasm? Suffice to say we were very very tense.
Four hours to the entrance of the Prince of Wales Channel and the remaining twenty miles of the Torres Strait. In this upcoming stretch we were warned yesterday of 9 knot currents. Such currents could easily sweep one into a rock or island, so we must have steerage from either sails or engine; or both.
So in about 3 hours I will check he engine fluid levels, and we'll get ready for the next part of the big show.
Kids up eating wheatbix - Carrie and I too.
Owen
10 20.449 S
142 45.942 E
5.3 knots, 245 degrees true
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
This is the blog for SV Madrona and her crew Griffyn, Tamsyn and their parents Carrie and Owen, as we navigate new waters for our family.
Friday, July 5, 2013
Passed Trancred Pass - Holding our course in 30 knots wind and strong current
Hi again,
So we've managed to get back on our line and have held it for many hours, and were able to pass Tancred Pass (our escape hatch from this route) and are proceeding SW, and expect to make our turn into favorable sailing winds in about 20 miles (or 8:30 am local time).
As I write it's 3:57 am local time (17:57 utc)and about half an hour ago we passes the U.S. naval support ship Wally Schirra. They even saw us on radar :-)
So that's the story here. My package of Oreo cookies is finished (aargh) and Carrie is off watch snoozing, and the kids are sleeping fitfully, as you might expect with engine noise and radio chatter.
Owen
10 01.896 S
143 03.103 E
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
So we've managed to get back on our line and have held it for many hours, and were able to pass Tancred Pass (our escape hatch from this route) and are proceeding SW, and expect to make our turn into favorable sailing winds in about 20 miles (or 8:30 am local time).
As I write it's 3:57 am local time (17:57 utc)and about half an hour ago we passes the U.S. naval support ship Wally Schirra. They even saw us on radar :-)
So that's the story here. My package of Oreo cookies is finished (aargh) and Carrie is off watch snoozing, and the kids are sleeping fitfully, as you might expect with engine noise and radio chatter.
Owen
10 01.896 S
143 03.103 E
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Great Northeast Channel - very tough going - currents, wind & swell
Hi,
So Madrona is getting a bit of a tough go coming down the Great Northeast Channel. This passage is seriously not for the faint of heart. We sailed fine until we had to turn SW. Then it was fine until the wind came up to 25 knots out of the SE. The westerly moving current, combined with swell and wind made it so we couldn't make out course, and have had to motor for many hours now.
The currents are fierce and the seas are rough. For a while it looked like we were being swept inexorably towards Warrior Reefs.
As it stands right now we still might not make our course (angle of 206 degrees true, so we have developed a back-door alternate plan where we would escape this narrowing channel through Tancred Pass (10 01.183 S, 142 57.595 E), where we would then pass into the waters west of Sassie Island and then proceed SW until we meet up with the main shipping route down by Beresford Shoal. If we do take the alternate route it wouldn't be for something like 7 hours from now as we are moving very slow against tide and current and wind.
Of course we much prefer to make our course. We will let you know what happens.
We also had to replace the starboard sheet (line to the headsail) today because of a very strange fluky thing. The line got caught in the workings of a "block" (a nautical pulley. Anyway the line was shredded. we just happened to look over and saw it caught in the block's workings. So we had to replace that line with some mountaineering maneuvers.
Owen & Carrie & kids
at 13:05 UTC July 6th
9 45.095 S
143 11.921 E
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
So Madrona is getting a bit of a tough go coming down the Great Northeast Channel. This passage is seriously not for the faint of heart. We sailed fine until we had to turn SW. Then it was fine until the wind came up to 25 knots out of the SE. The westerly moving current, combined with swell and wind made it so we couldn't make out course, and have had to motor for many hours now.
The currents are fierce and the seas are rough. For a while it looked like we were being swept inexorably towards Warrior Reefs.
As it stands right now we still might not make our course (angle of 206 degrees true, so we have developed a back-door alternate plan where we would escape this narrowing channel through Tancred Pass (10 01.183 S, 142 57.595 E), where we would then pass into the waters west of Sassie Island and then proceed SW until we meet up with the main shipping route down by Beresford Shoal. If we do take the alternate route it wouldn't be for something like 7 hours from now as we are moving very slow against tide and current and wind.
Of course we much prefer to make our course. We will let you know what happens.
We also had to replace the starboard sheet (line to the headsail) today because of a very strange fluky thing. The line got caught in the workings of a "block" (a nautical pulley. Anyway the line was shredded. we just happened to look over and saw it caught in the block's workings. So we had to replace that line with some mountaineering maneuvers.
Owen & Carrie & kids
at 13:05 UTC July 6th
9 45.095 S
143 11.921 E
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)