Marshalls to Alaska Day 4: Squally Sunday

More repairs underway ...

Greetings!

What a lovely day!

Mild squalls approaching

Victoria and I earned our keep on our morning watch: we found ourselves in Squall Alley (an unusual place in the daytime - squalls normally hit at night) and all morning we were reefing and easing, dodging squalls, sailing under big storm clouds, or drifting along in 6 kts of wind in their aftermath. It was a surprisingly enjoyable mother-daughter adventure, and it wasn't long before we felt like we had hit our stride, bearing off to reef, hardening up to sail through the trailing edge of the squall, or slowing down to let most of it pass in front of it. Somewhat analogous to the 1980's video game of 'Frogger' dodging traffic.

Frogger from 1981.

By early afternoon, we were either through the squall zone of the heat of the day had steadied out the weather, as the afternoon shift was much calmer for Max and Victoria, with glorious sunshine and the moderate winds that keep the boat moving at about 7 kts in calm seas.

The staysail still up once the squalls calmed.

With the Speedy Stitching done on the starboard side of the bimini yesterday, Victoria was able to turn her attention back to her first love today - finishing a knitting project. In this case, it was the second half of a pair of mittens she made for Johnathan (she made something with wool from Fiji for each of us in preparation for Alaska). She has now begun sketching out the pattern for her next project on graph paper.

Mittens for heading north

As the sky darkened after sunset, I felt a surge of gratitude and comfort to see the Southern Cross lit up clearly behind our stern in the cloudless sky. I know that as we sail north, this familiar companion will drop onto our southern horizon, not for us to see again until another adventure calls us back to the Southern Hemisphere. Each day that I can still see it seems like a gift from another time and place. As we look ahead, we can see the Big Dipper drawing us home to Canada. The Marshall Islands are one of the few areas we have cruised where we could see both constellations at the same time, making it a very special place, indeed.

Victoria trimming the genoa.

Johnathan, Benjamin, and I had an idyllic watch, a rare mom/boys chat that extended through the evening. Once Benjamin fell asleep, I carried him down the stairs and transferred him to the aft bunk (I marvel now at how many transfers like this I made when he was a baby/toddler - it is no easy feat to get a sleeping child down the companionway stairs without either of us falling or banging our heads on the walls) and with no moon until after midnight, Johnathan and I continued to contemplate our transition back to home and school under the gaze of millions of stars. Somehow the constancy of the stars, and the serenity of the tonight's calm sea, remind me that in the grand scheme of things, we are all part of a much bigger picture than our own immediate cares and concerns. These are the nights that draw us from our homes to go to sea!

The only landmark on our route at the moment is Wake Island (formerly Enenkio Atoll), a good 500 nm from pretty much anywhere else in the Marshall Islands. My understanding is that the final test for traditional Marshallese navigators was to complete the round trip to Enenkio and back, an extraordinary accomplishment by any measure. As for us, we put a big red circle on our chart to make sure we would give it plenty of clearance, as it is now a US government site, and visitors are not welcome. The winds seem to be conspiring to bring us there, as they have dropped to 6 kts post-squall, but I suspect that this will be short lived.

A tradional walap or ocean crossing sailboat.  Now that would be an experience ! (From Wikipdia)

Speaking of navigation, you may be curious about the direction our track takes as we head towards Alaska, apparently via Wake Island and either Japan or Russia. We are maintaining a pretty constant wind angle of 45deg apparent (close reaching), and the trade winds are from the North East, sometimes veering to come from the East. We are making as much northerly progress as we can through the trades, and then once we reach the variables (somewhere north of or parallel with Hawaii) you will begin to see our track point a little more directly towards Dutch Harbor, Alaska. In the meantime, we celebrate when we get within 10 degrees of our desired course!

Love to all,
Elizabeth
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At 2019-06-10 12:09 AM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 20°06.48'N 166°49.98'E

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