Marshalls to Alaska Day 5: Passing Hawaii and Mexico

Time to bring out the staysail

Greetings,

What a difference a day makes! We sailed for several days (ie seemingly forever) with 10-12 kts of wind, sunny skies and a calm sea, to the point that it was easy to be lulled into thinking that these would be our conditions until we sailed out of the tradewinds. At suppertime tonight, we entered a blanket of clouds (not unlike the convergence zone clouds we sailed under on our way from Tuvalu to Majuro after Christmas) and the winds ratcheted up to 15 kts or so. This is not much of a difference, but it was enough to prompt us to furl our genoa and hoist our staysail while we still had light.

Having finally learned that having someone on the foredeck when we are bashing to windward is no fun, we turned downwind and immediately the boat's motion eased. Max quickly removed the sail ties on the staysail, then he hoisted it from the mast while Victoria took up slack on the halyard at the winch in the cockpit. A few turns on the winch by Victoria to tighten the luff, a few cranks on my part to sheet it in, and we were back in business, ready for the winds that the night might bring.

More squalls

Backing up to last evening, even as I was at the chart table writing about the clear starry moonlit skies, the clouds were gathering for Max's watch! He had one squall after another for the rest of the night, just reminding us how quickly conditions can change. The morning was a little calmer, and Victoria and I spent some time singing from some of the songbooks we have aboard. (This is especially enjoyable as I had anticipated singing from them regularly, and it has instead been a rather rare occurrence).

I also spent part of the morning watch playing a board game with Benjamin. He spends most of his days occupying himself, or playing with Johnathan, so when he asked to play a game specifically with me, I realized that this was just as much a part of my own to do list as the sink full of dishes that were calling my name. It is very easy on passage to be 'close but yet so far' when it comes to spending time with him. On the bright side, he has been making his way to the cockpit in the evenings at the start of my after-supper watch, where he has been peacefully falling asleep in my lap. I love knowing that he will find a way to get his mama-time one way or the other! Johnathan has also been my capable assistant on the evening watches; it is nice to have a second pair of hands at the ready :)

We stocked up on apples and oranges in Majuro, and some of our apples have gotten past the point of good eating. It struck me that this was as good an excuse as any to make an apple crumble. Along with sweet & sour meat on rice (no one cares about making meatballs at sea), this was on Victoria's to do list this afternoon while I was off-watch. It is quite delightful to have a capable teenager on our crew!

We spent a little time latitude-checking on the chart today - we are now past 20degN, which means that we are in line with Hawaii, and about the same latitude as Benjamin's birth place in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico. Our little 'patas saladas' (salty feet) has completed his southern trajectory and is sailing into Northern latitudes for the first time :) It will be fun to watch our position creep up the Mexican, US, and Canadian coasts until we reach Alaska (and start to work our way back down again).

Getting ready to leave Mexico in 2014

Brothers

Getting fingerprinted for his Mexican passport in 2014 !

When we sought out warm layers for the colder leg of the trip, I reached out to Woolx.com. They were kind enough to send us some heavyweight merino wool for later on in the passage, but they also sent me a beautiful turquoise lightweight merino/spandex top for this tropical segment. It has become my go-to top for the cool-but-not-cold evening watches. I suspect that as we leave the tropical latitudes it won't be long before I am covering it up with a jacket, but at the moment, it is nice to have one shirt which is cool enough for the afternoon sunshine, but warm enough in the evening breezes. Thanks, Woolx!

Liz modelling her Woolx gear (and standing watch)

The overnight forecast of about 15 kts of wind has proven quite accurate, so we are in boisterous but not bothersome conditions. We are certainly glad that we stowed our big anchor below at the start of the trip, as we have regularly been burying the bow in the waves as they move forward to greet us, and the anchor would be acting like a big scoop adding to the forces on the rig (and the noise in the boat). We expect another day of these conditions before we reach the light and variable winds that await us at the edge of the tradewind zone. After that, it is anyone's guess, but the current forecast is for a period of downwind sailing to begin with. That will be nice after a week of close reaching :)

Love to all,
Elizabeth
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At 2019-06-10 7:30 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 21°46.36'N 166°43.74'E

A side benefit to squalls during the day is you usually get rainbows.

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