Captain's Log

February 22, 2003

Hello all,

In the light of the Southern Ocean carnage that is going on with 2 broken booms and a lost forestay, mentioning that I just put in my first reef for the second time since leaving Tauranga, seems a little tame. No a lot tame. Amazingly BTC Velocity has been gybing down wind with a full main and full jib, occassionally a spinnaker depending on sea state, for 10 days now.

My friend Derek Hatfield on SOC, may be claiming the High Pressure system by calling it the Canadian High, but equally the Bermuda High is appropriate. Winds have not peaked past 28 kts and only for a brief period the rest of time the wind has been below 22 kts. Derek and I email each other regularly wondering when we will wake up from this dream. The answer may be soon. On late Monday it appears that BTC Velocity will begin to experience 30 - 35 then upwards to 40 kts as a new system finally breaks through this massive high.

After all of these days of easy sailing it is quite possible to be caught off guard by items that have been ignored. I have however been checking my boat from bow to stern on a regular basis, about every 12 hours. Yesterday I found that an attachment to the autopilot drive was working itself loose, not good, so this meant I swapped to the back up pilot, gave it a test, repaired the wobbly bit and then switched back. All was well. The radar mount on BTC Velocity is self leveling and has had to be repaired in both Torbay and Tauranga due to wear from constant motion. The fix from Tauranga is great, but it sounds like a haunted house down below as the swivel needs lubrication, the high density plastic ( Delrin ) grinds in an Aluminum fitting and vibrates down a Carbon fiber mast !! So quick climb to the first spreader with a tin of Teflon lubricant and now peace returns.

I remember mentioning close to Tasmania that the only breakage experienced had been my coffee cup handle. Two days later a stay parted that seriously threatened my mast. So, ever learning by experience, I will not make a similar comments, except to say that BTC Velocity is ready and willing for the final push to the Horn, approximately 13 days away and here's hoping we and the remainder of the fleet, have relatively trouble free sailing.

Winding up for the Horn, a sailors Everest.

Alan
BTC Velocity