Nice breeze, good sleeping...
January 27, 2009 - Day: 12 (2.3346S,144.6345E) -2.3346S,215.3655W
This morning I submitted two wind forecast inquiries by email, one for my location at the FAD (Fish Aggregating Device - the buoy), and one 60 nm further south at the 3rd parallel. I use an automated system which is very convenient in addition to the advice that I receive from our friends on land. When the wind forecasts at both locations over the next few days returned mostly with flavors of northerly winds, ranging from WNW to NE, I decided to start rowing today.
My boat had been flagging downstream from the FAD, which had been due west ever since I had tied to it. In the morning I started noticing that the boat was shifting to the southwest of the FAD. I waited a few more hours for the seas to set due south, then at 10:47 local time (0047 UTC) I untied from the FAD. I had spent just about 40 hours tied there, resting my back.
The day time hours waiting at the FAD were hot and interminable, however the nights were the best. With the boat's bow turned to the waves, I had the luxury of opening the rear hatch without fear of being splashed in the cabin. When I left the front hatch ajar, the cross breeze through the cabin made for the best sleeping. I even had to cover my legs with a blanket!
Now I am back inside the cabin, the rear hatch closed, with the air inside hardly moving. The boat is nicely tracking south. By tomorrow evening, I should cross the 3rd parallel.
This is a nice break for me to aim for near the PNG coast. There, I expect to find a southeasterly current which will follow the shoreline and matching winds toward the Vitiaz Strait. It should be a swift approach toward Vitiaz.
I hope to pull my boat into the small Dreger Harbor at (06.63S,147.86E), 345 nm down my planned course. Dreger Harbor is located just at the southeast corner of the Huon Peninsula. As I would come out of the Vitiaz Strait turning west toward Lae, I would want to hug the shore. I worry about a counter eddy as I approach the 200 meter wide shallow entrance, but at the same time, I would be sheltered by the land to find calmer waters.
I am seriously considering ending this phase at Dreger. Given the unreliable nature of the winds so far, I do not have faith that my plans based on past wind statistics will play out as I had wished to keep rowing into the Solomon Sea and beyond. Who knows whether this variability is normal or if it is an anomaly...
To introduce some more certainty to the outcome and to avoid the cyclone season in March, continuing overland to Lae, Oro Bay, then over the Kokoda Trail to reach Port Moresby is a definite possibility. Kokoda Trail was used by the Australians in a surprise raid on the Japanese based in Lae during WW2. First let me land this boat somewhere safely...
Erden.
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