Marshalls to Alaska Day 6: Sailing out of the Tropics

More repairs ...

Greetings,

We have officially left the Tropics - we have sailed north of the 23degN latitude. My feelings are bittersweet, as they have been for the last few weeks: I have loved cruising warm tropical locations, and I am really looking forward to being closer to home, in spite of the waiting cold.

The red dot shows our approximate location.  Shows we can expect squally conditions.  In areas with Ocean Predication Centre coverage I download these weather maps and satellite images twice a day via the NOAA FTP site and our Iridium Go.

I woke this morning to continued boisterous conditions: it was good that we had put up the staysail last night, and we continued to sail under a mottled grey blanket of cloud all day. It struck me how much of our assessment of conditions is relative; we were in benign conditions with winds in the mid-teens, and a bit of chop (probably 2m seas), which, if it hadn't been for the gloriously flat calm conditions we had enjoyed for the previous few days, would have been considered quite good :) On the bright side, we finally had some current in our favour, after counter-currents since Rongerik.

and more squalls ...

Sailing is certainly a good exercise in remaining in the present moment. We can plan for conditions to come, we can reminisce about conditions past, but we can only sail in the conditions as they are.

Practicing remaining in the moment ... or maybe wondering when we are going to arrive ?

It seems that the conditions to come are ready to start getting colder. Our sea temperature indicator, which has been consistently at 29.3 deg C since we left Rongerik, spiked slightly to 29.6 for part of today, and then it began to fall, to 28.7 by this evening. We have crossed out of the tropics, and it is time to break out the socks. Even Benjamin (a.k.a. Capt Underpants), who has been wearing nothing but that stereotypical cruiser-kid uniform, coincidentally spent the day in pants and a shirt, although this was apparently more related to the game he was playing than to the temperature.

Furling the genoa.

At sunset, the forecasts were for continued staysail winds, but our conditions seemed lighter, and we could see that the heavy dark clouds under which we had been sailing for the last 24 hours seemed to be breaking up, so we elected to fly the genoa instead. This seems to have been a good choice, as the winds have dropped to below 10 kts and we would be standing still with the staysail. The sky above is dense with stars, and the Big Dipper is hanging above our port window, like a check mark telling us we are on the right track. All is well on board.

Love to all,
Elizabeth
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At 2019-06-10 3:21 AM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 24°05.54'N 166°22.44'E

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