On Monday February 21, Australian sailor Lisa Blair set sail from Albany, WA in a second attempt to sail solo, non-stop, around Antarctica in record time aboard her yacht ‘Climate Action Now’.
Blair is still trying to raise money to cover project costs. To sponsor Blair, see: https://lisablairsailstheworld.com/sponsors
In her latest blog post, Blair gets some much needed shut-eye and answers a question from social media on how she manages to dry her wet weather gear.
Blog day 70
Latitude 48 23.11S
Longitude 45 28.98E
Baro 1017
Air temp 3c
Local time 0244 UTC+2
Tracker: https://lisablairsailstheworld.com/
Hi all,
Well I have to say sleeping is the best thing ever. I feel just so much better from the little bit of extra sleep I managed to get yesterday, and now I am no longer falling into heaps and crying over nothing. After finishing the repairs late last night and finally getting the blog off I ended up having a protein shake and then climbing back into my warm bunk and slept for most of the day.
I had gone to bed at 0600 am so I managed to complete the first micro plastic sample change then before sleeping but I needed to wake in two hours to change them over again. At 0800 am I managed that before sleeping until 12 noon where I got up and checked on things. The winds were easing but there were still some squally conditions around and we were getting winds ranging from 20 knots to 35 knots. I ended up keeping in the third reef in the mainsail and sailing with that and the storm jib up for the rest of the day.
I still hadn’t managed enough sleep, so I went back to bed until 5pm where the easing conditions forced me to get up and do some sail changes. I unfurled the no 1 jib, the large one, on the bow before going ahead and shaking out the mainsail to the 1st reef. I could have gone all the way to the full mainsail as the conditions were to continue to ease, but the light winds weren’t staying for long. I opted to save my energy and only winch it up to the first reef. I might have now managed some sleep, but I am far from rested. Things like winching up the mainsail are very energy taxing, everything becomes a balance out here.
By 9pm the winds had dropped right out to 12 knots, and we were slowly sailing along in calming seas. I could feel myself fading again, so I took myself back to bed where I remained until midnight. The winds have now swung around from the South to the NW so I woke up to put a gybe in. The wind angle now has changed from downwind to a beam reach and the new winds are filling in. I have also changed over the jibs to the slightly smaller No 2 Jib. And that is my whole day, and I am so happy that it was a simple day filled with rest because I still very much needed that.
I am also super excited to have crossed over into the 70th day solo at sea. Last Antarctica Record I dismasted on day 72 of the record on the other side of Cape Town, so to only be on day 70 and have cleared most of South Africa it just goes to show how much further ahead I am on this record than the last one. Australia is only a few more weeks away, where I will be able to have a real hot shower. I can’t wait.
We also got a question on social media from Debbie
Q My questioning mind wonders how you get all your gear/clothes dry, as
often as it seems you get soaked in this cold wet weather. You can
only store so many changes.
A So thanks Debbie for sending us your question, it’s a good one. In my provisioning for clothing and working with my awesome partnership with Musto I have taken with me enough base layers for a fresh layer against the skin each week, but I only really have three sets of everything else. So, three sets of mid layers, vests, body armour layer, foul weather gear.
When that gets wet there is only one way to dry it, and that is to sleep in it. Several times when my underlayers have gotten wet I dry them as much as I can with a towel while wearing them and then climb into bed. While its cold, in about eight hours my body heat had mostly dried them.
Also, this time when I run the main engine out of gear with the Bio diesel to charge up the batteries, I have a heater that uses the hot water of the engine and runs a fan past it. It dries out the cabin fairly well. I hang my gloves and the likes nearby, and lay my wet weather gear across the engine box to dry it out.
It is a nice change from last record where the only way to dry things was to sleep in it or put it in the sleeping bag with me. So I hope that answers your questions Debbie and if anyone else has any please feel free to post them to my social media and mum will send them across to me.
And so after yesterday’s essay of a blog I am going to keep this one short and sign off here, but before I go I would like to take a moment to thank the following degree sponsor.
Thank you to:
040 East – Jenny Rickerby – dedicated to the Slavedrivers 2 night owls, Morgan and James – thanks Jenny so much for all your amazing and ongoing support. This dedication is a classic, Jenny was fundamental in her support of my project in Albany and arranged for me to have access to The Boat Shed for preparations and as she would pass through, she would find me and Morgan and James working until well past midnight those last few weeks before departure.
We also pulled a few overnight working bees. James doesn’t even live in Albany and drove several hours to help, and poor Morgan was also still working full time while basically volunteering full time to help me with the preparations. So thank you all so much for your support. It made all the difference in getting to the start line.
Goodnight all.
Lisa
How to follow Lisa Blair’s voyage:
Track Lisa Blair’s position on her website – https://lisablairsailstheworld.com/
To sponsor Lisa Blair, see – https://lisablairsailstheworld.com/sponsors
Lisa Blair’s Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/LisaBlairSailstheWorld
To purchase Lisa Blair’s book ‘Facing Fear’, see – https://lisablairsailstheworld.com/eco-shop
