Sunday July 3
N 7 16.729 W 130 59.947
1925 NM from Ensenada and 1100 NM to Nuku-Hiva
Hello Friends and Family,
Forgive the absence, it is not for lack of desire to be in touch but the demands of the boat. I have had the most difficult portion of the voyage so far, the convergence zone has a reputation and has lived up to it.
My visions of the ITCZ were dead calm, glassy water blazing sun and of course hot. Occasional thunderstorms punctuate the day with happy showers in the rain. Not so for this voyage, up until this minute I have had winds and even the strongest of the trip, 37 Kn yesterday. I have had copious thunderstorms however occurring one on top of another and even being surrounded by a half dozen thunderstorms at once. The seas have on occasion been big with 3 M swell, waves from multiple directions and current of up to 2.7Kn on the nose! The biggest issue is the direction of the wind, and how it can change dramatically in very short order. I have found that the accuracy of the forecasts is not too high so routing is really a guess.
I have had an opportunity to write a few paragraphs since my last update so I will include those. Thanks for all of the wishes and notes, I am fine, having a blast but concentrating on the business at hand!
Below I wrote on Friday, July 1, 2022
I am currently well and truly into the convergence zone. This is an unpredictable and mercurial environment, weather forecast called for light and variable. What I have is complete overcast, and bumper to bumper squall formations. Some of the squalls have heavy rain and high winds, I had 37 KN in one today with pelting
rain. So one must take the position that there is no bad weather just the wrong sails! Repeatedly reefing and adding sail to keep moving, however I have had almost no light winds today a surprise. Currently winds E at 15, Swell NNE 2-3 meters, waves from numerous directions so a pretty confused sea state.
A couple of days ago I went on deck before dawn as I have become accustomed to, the sail trim and point of sail were perfect just as I had set them before getting some sleep some hours before. However my course had changed 60 Deg over night! Welcome to the Yin and Yang of self steering, I will try to explore this area as briefly and as simply as possible. This course change was actually the most desirable outcome, if the boat had stayed on a compass course and the wind changed 60 deg there could have been damaged or worse to the boat.
Self steering gear are designed to maintain the boat in the same relationship to the wind as set and as possible, they do not use electronics or even electricity to do this. Self steering gear are entirely mechanical and rely on the wind and the power of the boat moving through the water. There are several different types of systems and a number of brands of each but we will only look at Servo Pendulum types of units, these are the most popular and the largest number available in the market. It is also what I have on my boat.
Mine works by having a light plastic air vane sticking up vertically behind the boat. It is oriented with one edge facing directly into the wind once you are on your desired course. As the boat moves in relation to the wind more pressure is placed on one side or the other of the vane. When the vane tips over from pressure on one side it causes an airfoil shaped paddle placed vertically in the water to turn SLIGHTLY. The turn makes the paddle go to one side or the other on a pivot, like a pendulum. This is like when you were a kid sticking your hand out of the car window, your hand would go up or down depending on what angle it was to the wind.
Now imagine having 2 ropes tied to your wrist, one going up the other down. When your hand moved because of its angle to the wind one of the ropes would be pulled. This is how the instructions are transferred to the boat to steer it. On a boat the rope is attached to a tiller that controls the boats rudder. So a very small input into the wind vane is amplified many times until it can move the rudder of the boat and steer so that the wind vane is straight up and down again. If you would like the boat to go in a different direction you reorient the wind vane and it will flip and flop until it reaches neutral or the up and down position.
This is possibly the most important piece of equipment on a voyaging boat. Steering for long periods of time can be painful and if you are a single hander like myself impossible. Why not just use an auto pilot? Two reasons they BREAK absolutely always, and power they use is substantial because they are providing the muscle to move the rudder. Of course they are expensive but so is self steering gear.
Ben Lindner, S/V DAWN
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