shane511-blog

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Drogue deployment in southern ocean gale

Drogue deployment in southern ocean gale

World Sailing is the world governing body for the sport of sailing. One of it’s responsibilities is to issue standards or regulations governing equipment required to be carried by yachts competing in race events. The most stringent set of standards apply to transoceanic races in which air and sea temperatures are likely to be less than 5C. These race events  – such as the Vendee Globe, the Volvo…

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First across the International Dateline 1/1/17

First across the International Dateline 1/1/17

I don’t know if that headline is accurate, but until someone tells me this is not the case, I will hold it to be true. For most of us, the usual means for crossing the international dateline(when longitude shifts from 180E to 180W(or vice versa), is via plane. Sailing east means sailing into a rapidly advancing UTC/GMT/ZULU clock.  Dusk encroaches a little earlier with each “day” of easting. When…

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Episode 43: Sailing in a Cook Strait gale

Episode 43: Sailing in a Cook Strait gale

My 1400 nautical mile trip across the Tasman to New Zealand was really without incident. There were more calms than gales which meant that what I was hoping would be a 10 – 12 day passage, became a 15 day passage. The body of water between the North and South islands of New Zealand is called Cook Strait.

To enter Cook Strait from Australia you have to go around Cape Farewell. To exit Cook Strait…

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Episode 42 : Am I lonely?

Episode 42 : Am I lonely?

Am I lonely?

It’s a question that I was asked frequently during the 70 days of non-stop single-handed sailing.

Before leaving Australia, many had asked me if I thought I would be lonely. Whilst I like my own company, I am reasonably social and am certainly more extroverted an introverted, so for many the prospect of me getting on a boat on my own for extended periods, was a little counter…

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Episode 41 - Approaching Cook Strait

Episode 41 – Approaching Cook Strait

This is the first of several videos taken during the 70 day non-stop trip across the Tasman Sea and Southern Ocean. In this video, taken about 200 miles from the western approach to Cook Strait New Zealand, I talk a bit about balancing my approach to sail balance, my wind vane (listen for my very prescient comment about my wind vane:)), and you will see a typical weather forecast I would get…

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Episode 40: Southern Ocean hazards in boat-to-boat transfer

Episode 40: Southern Ocean hazards in boat-to-boat transfer

  Recap: During the night of Friday February 18, 2017 my yacht Mushkawas rolled, dismasted and immobilised by a freak wave in gale conditions about 600 miles north-west of Cape Horn. After cutting away rigging and spars, making satellite phone calls to family and friends and search and rescue authorities, I went below for a few hours sleep before making a decision as to whether I could…

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Episode 39 : The knockdown as it happened

Episode 39 : The knockdown as it happened

Friday February 17 was a typical Southern Ocean Friday. I had noticed a pattern with Southern Ocean gales. They occurred over weekends. Weekdays were the time for the never ending passage of east travelling lows to ease up, but weekends were their “party time” so to speak . Sounds improbable but this was the third weekend running where Bruce my weather-router had provided a forecast of…

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Episode 38: Knocked Down

Episode 38: Knocked Down

LOG: Feb 18, 0340 UTC; LAT:51’45″S  LONG: 85’04″W

On Saturday afternoon Australian time in near gale force conditions, Mushka was knocked down and de-masted 300 MN west of Chile. Shane is fine. However after many hours of cutting away the damaged rig and attempting to get systems up in order to continue in some form, he has decided to take up the offer of being picked up by a nearby commercial…

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Episode 37: What I'm Wearing

Episode 37: What I’m Wearing

LOG: Feb 16, 0300 UTC; LAT:49’59″S  LONG: 86’43″W; BEARING 135T;  SOG 2 KNTS Via Satellite Phone, another audio blog from Shane, where he describes his sailing wardrobe – layer by layer. A trip to The Head – or in Shane’s case The Bucket – is an involved process down in the Southern Ocean and we get a zip by zip description of the rather complicated procedure.

With communications now relying…

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What I'm Wearing

What I’m Wearing

LOG: Feb 16, 0300 UTC; LAT:49’59″S  LONG: 86’43″W; BEARING 135T;  SOG 2 KNTS

Via Satellite Phone, another audio blog from Shane, where he describes his sailing wardrobe – layer by layer. A trip to The Head – or in Shane’s case The Bucket – is an involved process down in the Southern Ocean and we get a zip by zip description of the rather complicated procedure.

With communications now relying…

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Episode 36: My Weather Guru

Episode 36: My Weather Guru

LOG: Feb 11, 0100 UTC; LAT:47’13″S  LONG: 91’58″W; BEARING 080T;  SOG 5 KNTS

Last summer I went to a friend’s wedding in Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens. It was the height of summer and whilst Melbourne’s weather can be unpredictable, the probability of being rained on during the 60 minute duration of the outdoor ceremony, on that Saturday afternoon, is pretty remote.

Well it rained proverbial cats…

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Epiode 36: Weather Guru

Epiode 36: Weather Guru

LOG: Feb 11, 0100 UTC; LAT:47’13″S  LONG: 91’58″W; BEARING 080T;  SOG 5 KNTS

Last summer I went to a friend’s wedding in Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens. It was the height of summer and whilst Melbourne’s weather can be unpredictable, the probability of being rained on during the 60 minute duration of the outdoor ceremony, on that Saturday afternoon, is pretty remote.

Well it rained proverbial cats…

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Episode 35: Southern Ocean Storm

Episode 35: Southern Ocean Storm

Shane has taken Mushka through the toughest conditions on the trip so far with 3 days of winds over 50 knots and seas in excess of 12 meters. With limited communications due to his current position email has proved to be impossible however we’ve managed to record a satellite phone conversation which you can hear in the video clip below where Shane outlines both a good decision and a bad decision…

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Episode 34: H F doesn't mean Having Fun

Episode 34: H F doesn’t mean Having Fun

LOG: Jan 31, 0300 UTC; LAT:49’59″S  LONG: 114’19″W; BEARING 050T;  SOG 5 KNTS

Having a high frequency, HF, also known as Hotel Foxtrot – radio on board used to be de rigueur if sailing to the nether regions of the oceans. HF radios though have these days become a bit passé with the advent of reliable satellite phone communications. On Mushka, I have both and have found the HF radio useful for…

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Episode 33: This is Hard

Episode 33: This is Hard

LOG: Jan 28, 0500 UTC; LAT:47’55S ” LONG: 121’16W”; BEARING 120T;  SOG 3.9KNTS.

Yesterday was 46 days at sea. And I had a melt down.

I was over it. The boat. The Southern Ocean. Everything. But in priority order it went like this. 1) No rain to replenish my fresh water reserves and a nagging set of questions as to how much water remains in my tank(conservatively, I should have about half tank…

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Episode 32: Five Things I Love

Episode 32: Five Things I Love

LOG: Jan 25, 0500 UTC; LAT:47’25S ” LONG: 128’52W”; BEARING 090T;  SOG 5.8KNTS

In Episode 29I had a bit of a rant about what I had come to love to hate about this trip. During the last 10 days there has been variable/no-wind/mirror calm/no progress/drifting conditions.  My hate list hasn’t changed. However, I did say that I would give my top 5 things I love about a long distance solo passage like…

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Episode 33: Steering Failure

Episode 33: Steering Failure

LOG:  Jan 22, 1730 UTC; LAT:47’16” LONG: 135’28” BEARING 080T; WIND SE 7 KNOTS After a very quiet previous 18 hours with wind struggling to reach 8 knots, I went to bed Saturday night with the boat nudging along at 3.5 knots in a ENE direction. On waking early Sunday morning Mushkahad clearly veered more north than east during the night, so I set about re-setting the windvane and bringing the…