We are currently in position 05 56S 033 55W, saillng at 5 knots on a course of 340M. The wind is ESE at 10-14 knots with a slight sea and short 1.5m SE swell. We are sailing under full main and single-furled yankee. Scattered small cumulus. Our day's run was 113nm, our DMG was 111nm and we have 2154nm to go. The DMG is misleading since I have moved our waypoint off Cabo Calcanhar south to suit our approach from the SSE.
Again the last 24 hours have been quite pleasant albeit hot and humid during the day. Winds were 8-10 knots all day yesterday and only picked up to 10-14 this morning. It has been quite slow going. Yesterday afternoon we raised the main to the first reef and headed a little higher to get better apparent wind. This got us to within 80nm of the Brazillian coast where we gybed on to stbd tack just before sunset.
We had hoped to find north-going current but haven't found it yet. It is probably inshore of us but it isn't worth the extra miles since we're heading for our waypoint at a decent speed. We have about 100nm to run before we'll turn NW to follow the Brazillian coast. We should certainly find current there - 1.5 to 2.0 knots.
When we do round Capo Calcanhar tomorrow morning and it will be a big milestone for Zen Again. She will have circumnavigated the globe. Her first owners, Yoshio and Akemi Amanuma, sailed Shirahae from Japan to the US west coast then circumnavigated South America. In June 1991 they visited the Brazillian port of Natal which is currently 70nm away. From Natal they sailed around Capo Calcanhar to the Caribbean, the Panama Canal and home to Japan. Her second owner, Takashi Nishikubo, sailed Zen to Canada, the US and through the South Pacific in the 1990s to Australia. We, her seventh owners, sailed her from the east coast of Australia to now being very close to "completing the circle".
I wonder how many cruises ultimately producing circumnavigations have featured:
- several owners, one of which was the Crown (the boat was confiscated after use in drug trafficking);
- so many ocean crossings (3 North Pacific, 1 South Pacific, 1 Indian, 1 South Atlantic);
- so many miles (well in excess of 60,000nm)
- cruising Patagonia and rounding Cape Horn!
Suffice to say we're very proud of our little boat.
Trust all's well where you are.
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