Busy night watch dodging squalls and keeping up with the constant wind shifts. The moon set a little while ago so the stars are so clear. We are heading straight for the Milky Way and there have been some very bright shooting stars. Venus should be rising shortly - this time will not stress over why I could not see the suspected contact on radar when it is indeed only a planet.
Fishing report: pulled in my lines to check and, again, some monster of the deep has broken off the leaders of both lures. New hooks tied on straight to the strong line (200 lb test I think) and a flying fish added as bait. The tuna we caught seems like a long time ago so looking forward to fresh fish ...
Wildlife report: Bobbie the Booby has appeared to move on which does minimize the clean up I need to do on the foredeck. The dolphins have come to visit regularly and there are still squadrons of flying fish bounding all over the place.
Maintenance: Liz mentions the refrigeration challenges later. Also keeping an eye on the vang attachments as they are creaking. I have figured out what is moving and will see if I can find a machinist in the Marquesas to make me some bushings. The "to do" list on the spreadsheet is growing already for our arrival.
Some excerpts from Liz's emails home:
Day 18:
"We no longer have a crew of pollywogs - now we have a crew of shellbacks. This afternoon, King Neptune held court, asked some challenging questions, of the gathered entourage, and we celebrated with treats (both ones we had packed and some surprises sent with us from some of our friends - we are so grateful to be so blessed). It was a fun afternoon for everyone. We had earlier contemplated a mid-ocean swim, but the winds were good (in fact, Neptune provided us with a bit of a rolly period), so we all stayed safely aboard. It is quite likely that swimming stations will happen at anchor after we arrive :)
The Lego emerged from its cupboard yesterday, and peace has been reigning aboard Fluenta ever since! Even with a small fraction of their available Lego, Victoria and Johnathan were absorbed for hours today, both making and playing. They have even been cooperative and put it all back in its box during the after-dinner stow-the-boat period. I love to listen to their play, as the bad guys plot and the good guys win in the end.
I think Fluenta did us a favour today. I woke up from an off-watch nap to find Max wearing his favourite (not!) Refrigeration Technician Hat, and poking around in the engine compartment with his multi-meter. The fridge had not been running for part of the day, and he was trouble-shooting the problem. After poring over the circuit diagram with Nancy, and checking various voltages in the engine compartment, he traced the problem back to a switch that is above head height behind the nav table that had somehow gotten bumped into the off position. This is an old switch that we have never used, and never bumped before. In the process of his trouble-shooting, however, he found two places where cables had come loose and were rubbing that could have caused damage down the road (one was a power cable and one was a fuel line). Thankfully, it was a simple fix, but I was grateful that he discovered these other problems in advance. All I could think was, "Thank you, Fluenta!" Our fridge is cooling happily again, and after a couple of little wire-tying jobs everything will be in its place in the engine compartment, but it could have been so much worse!
Dinner tonight was a feast of individual pot pies from the La Cruz Market. So yummy and so easy. (And if there was any doubt about the freezer, I wanted to enjoy them while they were good!)
All is well in the southern hemisphere - less than 700 nm to go!"
Day 17
Greetings!
Today was all about preparations for crossing the equator. The sailing was lovely and lazy (perfect conditions if you didn't have somewhere to go... as for us, we were appreciative when the wind came up to 8 kts in the evening from +/- 6 kts throughout the day). On the bright side, the current is *finally* helping us - it is pushing East to West at about a knot). The kids got to work in the afternoon making costumes all around (amazing what they could come up with using tinfoil and imaginations). This also used much of their energy so there was less left over for winding up each other (or me), which was nice. They actually commented at dinnertime that they had had a good day.
Today was also the day that Victoria created a fort at the head of the aft bunk and Johnathan practiced tying some of the knots from the Marlinspike Sailor and from Victoria's knot book ... once again, fun to see what some pillows, some sheets and/or some lines, and some imagination could lead to.
The main excitement of the day came just after midnight, when we woke everyone up to watch the latitude numbers count down to 00 deg 00.000 minutes N. We will celebrate properly tomorrow, but the crew of Fluenta has successfully crossed the equator!
Just to remind us, once again, that we are *not* alone in the ocean, as we were disbanding from our mini equator crossing party, Nancy said, "I see a light off the bow." It was *not* (as I first hoped) a brand new star from the southern hemisphere, although it was almost as bright -- it was a ship. There was much less excitement than the last time when we saw a fishing vessel - we flashed up the radar (yes, sure enough - a ship), tried to hail him (no luck on either Ch 16 or 12), changed our course by about 20 deg to be sure of plenty of sea room, and shone a bright light on our sails. We probably got no closer than 4 nm away, and then carried on our way to the Marquesas, back on our bearing of 212 deg M.
Thank you for all the prayers and good wishes. We feel very blessed that thus far, our passage has been reasonably smooth, with cooperation from the weather and from our boat. We have friends who left a day later than we did, and have had no end of grief (either no wind or too much wind). They have been hand steering for the last three days because the seas are too big for their windvane. Other friends left the same day that we did, but they tore their mainsail within the first week, and they are struggling now that the wind is more on the nose. They are both hundreds of miles behind us. A third boat left La Cruz five weeks ago, lost their autopilot early in the game, and have been handsteering the entire way with just two of them on board. They have been a "couple of days away" from Hiva Oa for almost the last week, but they are hoping to arrive by the weekend. These scenarios remind me of how fortunate we have been, and how vigilant we must continue to be, as we complete the last several hundred miles of our journey. Please keep all of these boats in your thoughts and prayers. That being said, we hear from each of these boats each evening on the PPJ SSB (HF) net, and spirits are good aboard them all. Everyone has their own journey as we cross this ocean together.
On the more mundane side of things, I threw out two cabbages today (probably could have eaten them up until a few days ago, but didn't bother in time). They molded the whole way through. We made slaw for dinner (mac & cheese) with our jicama (still fine, kept out in the open in a crate), beets (kept in green long-life bags in the pantry and still good), and carrots (from the fridge) and Aunt Margaret's boiled vinaigrette. (Made with my Allison-inspired mandoline). It was popular all around and a good way to get some crunch after over two weeks at sea. It is taking some creativity to feed everyone a few servings of fruit & veg every day ..we still have loads of apples (thanks to Exodus for the suggestion to bring lots!) and potatoes, that are all keeping well in the bags that Allison sewed. These are in the pantry (aka forward head) in the stacked plastic crates from the tienda (fruit & veg market) in La Cruz, but other than a dozen carrots in the fridge, that is it for fresh food.
Well, my bunk calls, so I will wish you a good night / good morning :)
Love from the southern hemisphere"
Day 16
Fluenta has been flying along! She seems to love this point of sail. Even with still about a knot of current against us, we have been doing 6+ kts over the ground (ie 7+ kts of boat speed) with the boat riding comfortably through the water.
Tonight is a beautiful starry night - no storm clouds to be seen - just lots of stars, and finally some moon. Even still, I didn't like to leave the cockpit during my watch, so now that Max has taken over, I have a minute to send a note.
The highlight of the day - we celebrated passing through 1000 nm to go in the late afternoon. We are down around 960 now.
Day 15
I just finished my watch - bouncy!
The word(s) of the day today was hot - and humid - and heeling. The good news is that our winds have picked up an have been steady (10-15+ kts) for the last 24 hours, and we are heading towards the Marquesas directly (ie not trying any longer to go S to get through the convergence zone). The bad news is that the winds are from the S/SE, so we have been on a close reach most of the day. This means that the sails are in pretty tight, and the boat is heeled over at about 15 degrees. This is fun for a Wednesday night race heading towards the windward mark, but it wears thin after a bit when it is your house (especially your kitchen) and it goes on all day and all night! It could be worse - we have friends who left a day or so after we did and have spent much of the journey waiting for wind. These conditions just make us appreciate the trade wind sailing when it comes all that much more.
We still have a lot of current against us (this is expected to last until about 1 deg N). Most of the day we were eeking out 5 kts of boat speed which was converting to a measly 3.5 kts over the ground. Now that the winds have picked up tonight, we are doing over 7 kts through the water which is still over 6 kts over the ground. Even with a double reef in the main and a reef in the genoa, we are doing these kinds of speeds, which is so much more heartening!
Back to the words of the day - hot & humid - by this I mean that it is over 30 deg C in the cabin and the relative humidity is about 70-75%. I tend to keep Benjamin down below to keep him out of the sun, but he just drips with sweat all the time, so it is a constant juggling act. I drink and he drinks, and he is otherwise happy and hydrated.
We are still eating some fresh veg from the pantry - sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, and lots of apples. I have a couple of beets and some cabbage that are still waiting as well.
Our next waypoint is the mouth of the harbour for our anchorage. The miles are counting down - we had 1089 to go when I came off watch. We will celebrate the various milestones over the next few days - 1000 miles, equator, 500 miles, etc, etc. Hopefully these moments will provide some distraction as well.
So, it is off to bed for me and on-watch for Nancy. Fluenta seems to be enjoying these conditions - 15 kts of wind, boatspeed between 6-7 kts, and waves to blast through. My watch made me think that if ever I had ridden a fast horse that loved to gallop, the feeling would have been similar. The sky has cleared off, and there were no squally clouds at all for the last few hours. It is a completely different night than last night.
-----
At 5/9/2014 8:49 AM (utc) Fluenta's position was 01°52.00'S 130°51.00'W
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Friday, 9 May 2014
Monday, 5 May 2014
And out of the convergence zone ?
I was going to write a blog post tonight but it is a bit bouncy now. Excerpts from Liz`s email home today:
Today was a loooong day - winds as light as 4 kts, boatspeeds as low as 1 kt (with almost a knot of current against us) leading to a couple of hours here and there of motoring to avoid squalls. We are in the doldrums. We celebrated crossing 5 deg N just after supper, watching the numbers count down to 0.0 and then 4 deg 59.9 minutes. According to the gribs we could expect the wind to pick up again around 4 deg 30 min; it is possible that we have already hit it, because we have had 10 kts from the S/SW since just before dinner. Here's hoping!
I must tell you about two of my favourite pre-departure purchases - my pressure cooker and my baby carrier. Both make cooking dinner safe/feasible most nights. In fact, the pressure cooker doesn't even go into the cupboard when the evening dishes are done - I put it on the stove and lash it in place overnight. I don't always use the pressure settings, but it is very handy to boil in a pot that will stay closed even in a sea state. The baby carrier is self explanatory - Benjamin goes where I go, and with him on my back I can cook, wash dishes, wash diapers (even grind winches when necessary!)
Time to go on watch ...
0145 update - my watch was quiet - lots of big clouds, but squalls don't develop til the cooler after-midnight hours. This is good because Benjamin spent the first half of my watch on my back (sleeping) and the second half on my front (feeding and then also sleeping). It is possible but awkward to do what I need to with him in the carrier, but squall response is a bit tricky!
The first one of the night was spotted - 0130 hrs - just as I was handing over the watch (and prepping to send this email). All three of us were soon awake (time for Benjamin to interrupt his dinner to be popped into his carseat - thank goodness he cooperated - just stretched and went back to sleep). With six hands, we did a quick radar check, a quick 2nd reef, a quick reef of the genoa and not much else - a bit of rain and some darkness overhead. On to the next (shake out the reef in the genoa, leave the reef but raise the traveller for the main, and carry on). As an aside, we can see squalls on the radar, and we respond to them like big container ships (taking relative bearings, etc). They have right of way (!) so we maneuver as necessary to avoid them. The dark clouds form before our eyes while we are on watch, but so far, we haven't had any that were too nasty. They have been parting around us in many cases :)
We had a quick celebration after supper of crossing into the 4 deg latitudes (any reason is a good reason for chocolate!) The kids are getting a big stir crazy, so it was a good distraction. We think that by the time we cross below 4 deg we should be back into the trades and heading for French Polynesia. At the moment we have almost 2 kts of current against us, so it will be nice to be moving again in a couple of days! I believe this is the equatorial counter current, and it is making progress slow!
Since Liz has written that we have been close hauled in 11 to 12 kts TWS. We are doing what we can to work our way south to get out of this foul current but even close hauled we are making at best 210 degrees course over ground. However, it is still better than bobbing waiting for wind like we were doing earlier.
Bobbie the Booby bird is still with us. He (or she) is a grey booby bird that joined us a few days ago. He sits on the pulpit and occasionally heads off for food but always comes straight back. He appears to be quite house (boat ?) trained as seems to be pooping over the side rather than on the deck.
That's all for now ...
Max
-----
At 5/5/2014 9:09 AM (utc) Fluenta's position was 04°41.00'N 125°22.00'W
----------
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Today was a loooong day - winds as light as 4 kts, boatspeeds as low as 1 kt (with almost a knot of current against us) leading to a couple of hours here and there of motoring to avoid squalls. We are in the doldrums. We celebrated crossing 5 deg N just after supper, watching the numbers count down to 0.0 and then 4 deg 59.9 minutes. According to the gribs we could expect the wind to pick up again around 4 deg 30 min; it is possible that we have already hit it, because we have had 10 kts from the S/SW since just before dinner. Here's hoping!
I must tell you about two of my favourite pre-departure purchases - my pressure cooker and my baby carrier. Both make cooking dinner safe/feasible most nights. In fact, the pressure cooker doesn't even go into the cupboard when the evening dishes are done - I put it on the stove and lash it in place overnight. I don't always use the pressure settings, but it is very handy to boil in a pot that will stay closed even in a sea state. The baby carrier is self explanatory - Benjamin goes where I go, and with him on my back I can cook, wash dishes, wash diapers (even grind winches when necessary!)
Time to go on watch ...
0145 update - my watch was quiet - lots of big clouds, but squalls don't develop til the cooler after-midnight hours. This is good because Benjamin spent the first half of my watch on my back (sleeping) and the second half on my front (feeding and then also sleeping). It is possible but awkward to do what I need to with him in the carrier, but squall response is a bit tricky!
The first one of the night was spotted - 0130 hrs - just as I was handing over the watch (and prepping to send this email). All three of us were soon awake (time for Benjamin to interrupt his dinner to be popped into his carseat - thank goodness he cooperated - just stretched and went back to sleep). With six hands, we did a quick radar check, a quick 2nd reef, a quick reef of the genoa and not much else - a bit of rain and some darkness overhead. On to the next (shake out the reef in the genoa, leave the reef but raise the traveller for the main, and carry on). As an aside, we can see squalls on the radar, and we respond to them like big container ships (taking relative bearings, etc). They have right of way (!) so we maneuver as necessary to avoid them. The dark clouds form before our eyes while we are on watch, but so far, we haven't had any that were too nasty. They have been parting around us in many cases :)
We had a quick celebration after supper of crossing into the 4 deg latitudes (any reason is a good reason for chocolate!) The kids are getting a big stir crazy, so it was a good distraction. We think that by the time we cross below 4 deg we should be back into the trades and heading for French Polynesia. At the moment we have almost 2 kts of current against us, so it will be nice to be moving again in a couple of days! I believe this is the equatorial counter current, and it is making progress slow!
Since Liz has written that we have been close hauled in 11 to 12 kts TWS. We are doing what we can to work our way south to get out of this foul current but even close hauled we are making at best 210 degrees course over ground. However, it is still better than bobbing waiting for wind like we were doing earlier.
Bobbie the Booby bird is still with us. He (or she) is a grey booby bird that joined us a few days ago. He sits on the pulpit and occasionally heads off for food but always comes straight back. He appears to be quite house (boat ?) trained as seems to be pooping over the side rather than on the deck.
That's all for now ...
Max
-----
At 5/5/2014 9:09 AM (utc) Fluenta's position was 04°41.00'N 125°22.00'W
----------
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Saturday, 3 May 2014
Into the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ICTZ)
Much deliberation on the ITCZ crossing. We do a mini-net on the SSB daily with a boat about 120 nm away from us who has employed a weather router ashore. He forwards on the weather router's advice. However, we have been tracking the ICTZ with GRIBs, weather faxes and satellite pictures and our best estimate differed from the dated email from the weather router. So ... we gybed over to a mostly southerly course at about 11N 124W aiming for our expected ICTZ start of 7N 125W. As of writing this we are at 7 54'N 124 31W and no ITCZ yet but certainly the puffy little cumulus have more vertical development verging on squalls. They are causing lots of wind shifts but no squalliness yet. From the weather fax 24, 48 and 72 forecasts looks like the ICTZ will be moving north so hopefully with our southern course we will have a short passage from the convergence zone. Should know in a few days ...
Johnathan and I (Max) have been practicing our celestial navigation with daily sunsights with the awesome old sextant than Wendall (Liz's dad) has lent us. Johnathan has done a great job as the navigator's yeoman recording times and observed angles. Once through the ITCZ looking forward to trying some star and planet sights as well.
Our investments in energy management (wind, solar, Honda generator plus reducing demand with LED's, low power electronics, reefer insulation) seem to be paying off so far. We have run the engine for a few hours to charge the batteries and make hot water and then topped them off yesterday with the Honda. I have also been playing with the gain on the new autopilot to calm it down too. It was doing an excellent job of staying on the selected wind angle but it was trying too hard. Of course, with the Sun so high (83 degrees at meridian passage) in the sky we will get less solar once we get further south but it is sure nice seeing those free amps pouring in. So far no use of the engine for propulsion. Nice to have a lot of diesel onboard though in case we need it.
Despite the length of the passage there has been no time to get bored. As always with a boat there is no lack of maintenance. Fluenta has been good to us but we need to do our part. We are constantly on the lookout for new noises, chafe and the like. I emptied the big lazerette and took apart part of our bed to chase down noises from the new autopilot. The autopilot was fine but the autopilot mount was slowly working loose. I have tightened it and if necessary we can hove to and reinforce it with fiberglass. The bolts that hold the vang to the boom also were loosening off so I have tightened them and if they reoffend then locktight them in place. The sails are doing well so far with only one little hole in the main from chafe on the boom furler and that already has a temporary repair in place. The Automatic Identification System (AIS) has also died but all our troubleshooting from that has confirmed that the unit itself is dead and in emails with the company it is beyond repair onboard. Impressive turn around on emails from the manufacturer, Vesper, and they have said that if we ship it when we arrive they will have it shipped back in time to meet us in French Polynesia somewhere. The AIS is not mission critical and certainly not in such a low traffic density and good visibility area as here but we are missing having it keeping us company on watch. The new autopilot and chartplotter are working out well and reducing our workload. Also, the many hours on reworking much of our mainsail in-boom furler (Furlboom) has paid off as it has been cooperating with the frequent reef/unreefs we do each day. Glad we had a chance to do about 5000 nm in Fluenta last year to work out many of the bugs.
The sailing has mostly been broad reaching under main and genoa although we have had some good spinnaker runs during the day. Today with the winds from about 15 to 20 knots true wind speed it was a boisterous broad reach south.
Fishing: we enjoyed our fish so far. Some big fish down there. Twice our line have been violently snapped despite the bungee system and the 110 or 200 lb test line. Not sure how we would get a fish that big in anyway ...
That's all for now ...
Max
PS: As preparing to send this on the SSB/Pactor still with 18 to 22 kts TWS and a few squalls with lightening around. Now at 7 03N 124 31 W. We are doing good speed due south to get through this region as quickly as reasonable.
-----
At 5/3/2014 7:57 AM (utc) Fluenta's position was 07°36.00'N 124°41.00'W
----------
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Johnathan and I (Max) have been practicing our celestial navigation with daily sunsights with the awesome old sextant than Wendall (Liz's dad) has lent us. Johnathan has done a great job as the navigator's yeoman recording times and observed angles. Once through the ITCZ looking forward to trying some star and planet sights as well.
Our investments in energy management (wind, solar, Honda generator plus reducing demand with LED's, low power electronics, reefer insulation) seem to be paying off so far. We have run the engine for a few hours to charge the batteries and make hot water and then topped them off yesterday with the Honda. I have also been playing with the gain on the new autopilot to calm it down too. It was doing an excellent job of staying on the selected wind angle but it was trying too hard. Of course, with the Sun so high (83 degrees at meridian passage) in the sky we will get less solar once we get further south but it is sure nice seeing those free amps pouring in. So far no use of the engine for propulsion. Nice to have a lot of diesel onboard though in case we need it.
Despite the length of the passage there has been no time to get bored. As always with a boat there is no lack of maintenance. Fluenta has been good to us but we need to do our part. We are constantly on the lookout for new noises, chafe and the like. I emptied the big lazerette and took apart part of our bed to chase down noises from the new autopilot. The autopilot was fine but the autopilot mount was slowly working loose. I have tightened it and if necessary we can hove to and reinforce it with fiberglass. The bolts that hold the vang to the boom also were loosening off so I have tightened them and if they reoffend then locktight them in place. The sails are doing well so far with only one little hole in the main from chafe on the boom furler and that already has a temporary repair in place. The Automatic Identification System (AIS) has also died but all our troubleshooting from that has confirmed that the unit itself is dead and in emails with the company it is beyond repair onboard. Impressive turn around on emails from the manufacturer, Vesper, and they have said that if we ship it when we arrive they will have it shipped back in time to meet us in French Polynesia somewhere. The AIS is not mission critical and certainly not in such a low traffic density and good visibility area as here but we are missing having it keeping us company on watch. The new autopilot and chartplotter are working out well and reducing our workload. Also, the many hours on reworking much of our mainsail in-boom furler (Furlboom) has paid off as it has been cooperating with the frequent reef/unreefs we do each day. Glad we had a chance to do about 5000 nm in Fluenta last year to work out many of the bugs.
The sailing has mostly been broad reaching under main and genoa although we have had some good spinnaker runs during the day. Today with the winds from about 15 to 20 knots true wind speed it was a boisterous broad reach south.
Fishing: we enjoyed our fish so far. Some big fish down there. Twice our line have been violently snapped despite the bungee system and the 110 or 200 lb test line. Not sure how we would get a fish that big in anyway ...
That's all for now ...
Max
PS: As preparing to send this on the SSB/Pactor still with 18 to 22 kts TWS and a few squalls with lightening around. Now at 7 03N 124 31 W. We are doing good speed due south to get through this region as quickly as reasonable.
-----
At 5/3/2014 7:57 AM (utc) Fluenta's position was 07°36.00'N 124°41.00'W
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Tuesday, 29 April 2014
Fluenta PPJ - A week into our passage
We are well into the trade winds now. We scoot along at about 6-7.5 knots most days, sometimes with full sails, sometimes with reefs (glad the furlboom / vang setup is working better than last year!). We have played with various sail configurations including running wing-on-wing and broad reaching with the foresail "poled out" with our spinnaker pole - this seems to give the steadiest ride. With a preventer on the main and the pole on the genoa, the rig is solid despite the swell, so at least we are not getting a lot of "slatting" and noise from the sails.
It took me a few days to get my sea legs (ok, understatement - for days 2-4 of the trip, I was pretty much flat with seasickness. The antidote seemed to be time (lots of time), sleep, Gravol, a mix of homeopathic remedies, and TLC from Nancy, Max, and the kids. I didn't find that the one-earplug solution worked this time), but we are all well now, and getting more and more into a routine. This means that I am getting caught up on washing - diapers, laundry, and dishes need to consume some time each day. It also means that I can share more of the watches - Nancy and Max did the lion`s share in the beginning. Now we each take a piece of the night, get a good solid duration of sleep the rest of the night, and try to take one nap in the day time. Long night watches and long off-watches seem to be working the best for us at the moment. On that note, the nights are warming up. We needed extra layers for the first few nights, but not so much anymore :)
Our pantry is still dishing out fresh produce - apples and potatoes have done particularly well, especially considering that many of them were procured 3 weeks ago. Carrots were hit and miss (not enough airflow, and not enough checking, I think ... I am hoping to make carrot bread, muffins, etc to finish the useable ones tomorrow... this task didn't quite happen today.)
Our fishing lures are starting to come out even - we donated two to the sea early in the trip, but have since caught a nice little dorado and a lovely 14 lb yellow fin tuna. Tasty!
The kids are thriving. They saved the Harry Potter books to read on passage, and with stomachs of steel, they have been reading morning til night.
We had dolphins come to visit a couple of mornings ago (quite amazing, as they stayed with us for over half an hour). Victoria told us in a very matter of fact tone of voice that they were pan-tropical spotted dolphins. How did she know this, I wondered? She had read it in the field guide, of course. This is my kind of school! This afternoon, in an attempt to distract Benjamin, I heard both kids, on separate occasions, reading him the pictorial fishing guide.
Fluenta has been good to us this week. Max has had a couple of maintenance jobs, but I'll leave them for him to describe. Our new solar panels and our wind generator are pumping in energy, so the first time we had to charge our batteries with the engine or generator (we went with the engine given the rolly seas) was today - day 8!
On that note, we will continue this story on another day. One-finger typing with a babe in arms while propped up in order to not fall off the nav seat has its limits!
Love to all - and thanks for your good wishes!
Liz
----------
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It took me a few days to get my sea legs (ok, understatement - for days 2-4 of the trip, I was pretty much flat with seasickness. The antidote seemed to be time (lots of time), sleep, Gravol, a mix of homeopathic remedies, and TLC from Nancy, Max, and the kids. I didn't find that the one-earplug solution worked this time), but we are all well now, and getting more and more into a routine. This means that I am getting caught up on washing - diapers, laundry, and dishes need to consume some time each day. It also means that I can share more of the watches - Nancy and Max did the lion`s share in the beginning. Now we each take a piece of the night, get a good solid duration of sleep the rest of the night, and try to take one nap in the day time. Long night watches and long off-watches seem to be working the best for us at the moment. On that note, the nights are warming up. We needed extra layers for the first few nights, but not so much anymore :)
Our pantry is still dishing out fresh produce - apples and potatoes have done particularly well, especially considering that many of them were procured 3 weeks ago. Carrots were hit and miss (not enough airflow, and not enough checking, I think ... I am hoping to make carrot bread, muffins, etc to finish the useable ones tomorrow... this task didn't quite happen today.)
Our fishing lures are starting to come out even - we donated two to the sea early in the trip, but have since caught a nice little dorado and a lovely 14 lb yellow fin tuna. Tasty!
The kids are thriving. They saved the Harry Potter books to read on passage, and with stomachs of steel, they have been reading morning til night.
We had dolphins come to visit a couple of mornings ago (quite amazing, as they stayed with us for over half an hour). Victoria told us in a very matter of fact tone of voice that they were pan-tropical spotted dolphins. How did she know this, I wondered? She had read it in the field guide, of course. This is my kind of school! This afternoon, in an attempt to distract Benjamin, I heard both kids, on separate occasions, reading him the pictorial fishing guide.
Fluenta has been good to us this week. Max has had a couple of maintenance jobs, but I'll leave them for him to describe. Our new solar panels and our wind generator are pumping in energy, so the first time we had to charge our batteries with the engine or generator (we went with the engine given the rolly seas) was today - day 8!
On that note, we will continue this story on another day. One-finger typing with a babe in arms while propped up in order to not fall off the nav seat has its limits!
Love to all - and thanks for your good wishes!
Liz
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Friday, 25 April 2014
Into the Trades
Looks like we are in the trade winds now. After a bouncy night with winds forward of the beam at up to 19 kts in a confused sea the winds all of a sudden swung around to behind us and reduced to a between 7 and 10 kts. It was a slow spinnaker run today but a lot smoother. Funny to go from having to reef to stop Fluenta going up to her hull speed to now having to eke out every bit of energy from the wind.
Planning to stay north of 12N until 121W based on what we see in the gribs and based on what Windcutter's weather router (a weather service you can can hire to assist with passage planning) advised. Windcutter is sailing in approximately the same chunk of ocean with us so we are occasionally in VHF range.
School is still adjourned until everybody gets their sea legs but the kids are going through their books quickly.
Later,
Max
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Planning to stay north of 12N until 121W based on what we see in the gribs and based on what Windcutter's weather router (a weather service you can can hire to assist with passage planning) advised. Windcutter is sailing in approximately the same chunk of ocean with us so we are occasionally in VHF range.
School is still adjourned until everybody gets their sea legs but the kids are going through their books quickly.
Later,
Max
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Wednesday, 23 April 2014
Passage Update 23 Apr
We are still heading towards the Socorro Islands but as the wind has veered we are intending to pass to the south of them now. The close reach was turning into close hauled and beyond so we assessed it not worth trying to go around to the north. The gribs from last night show little difference in wind strength from the north side to the south side. Fluenta is bounding along on a beam reach although the beam seas are making things a tad rolly. Reading in the cockpit takes a bit caution as the occasional wave slap splashes across.
No fish on our lines today but a bit of wildlife to watch. Small porpoises came to play for awhile which is always appreciated. We also saw our first large schools of flying fish and collected a few suicidal squids from the deck.
The solar and wind generator combination continue to pay dividends as the batteries were topped off again today.
Cheers,
Max
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No fish on our lines today but a bit of wildlife to watch. Small porpoises came to play for awhile which is always appreciated. We also saw our first large schools of flying fish and collected a few suicidal squids from the deck.
The solar and wind generator combination continue to pay dividends as the batteries were topped off again today.
Cheers,
Max
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Tuesday, 22 April 2014
On Passage - PPJ Day 1/2
We sailed off our anchor from Punta de Mita yesterday with air horns of encouragement from our friends on Heavy Metal and then a cannon salute later from Destiny. Winds have been a fairly consistent with the forecast: 9 to 14 kts from the NW meaning we have been on a close reach most of the time resulting in speeds from 5 to 8 kts. Everybody is getting used to the reefing system as the winds have been changing frequently.
Less wildlife than our departure from the bay last year since the Humpbacks have moved on in their migration. We have been spotting lots of formations of rays which amuse us with their jumping dolphin imitations. Destiny (heading into the bay) reported catching a 45lb yellow tail tuna and Windcutter (parallelling our course for the Marequesas) hailed us to say they caught a 25 lb yellow fin. So far we have one little Skipjack filet in the fridge. We even adjusted our course to pass close to the renowned fishing area of La Corebanea to no avail. Fingers crossed for some tasty tuna later.
The boat has been cooperating. The only problem so far was the fridge/freezer shutting down but that was a just a clogged filter on the water cooling. Suspicion was that running the fridge while I did my free dive spearfishing practice (i.e. breath hold hull cleaning) may have caused to suck up all the sludge. All good now. The new solar and the wind generator we installed last year are doing well. The conditions are ideal for both so the batteries are topped up again by 1700. This will likely change as we head downwind after the Socorros as we will most probably have more shading and will almost definitely have less apparent wind.
Everybody is doing well but all are looking forward to fully finding their sea legs and starting the downwind portion of the passage.
Cheers,
Max
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Less wildlife than our departure from the bay last year since the Humpbacks have moved on in their migration. We have been spotting lots of formations of rays which amuse us with their jumping dolphin imitations. Destiny (heading into the bay) reported catching a 45lb yellow tail tuna and Windcutter (parallelling our course for the Marequesas) hailed us to say they caught a 25 lb yellow fin. So far we have one little Skipjack filet in the fridge. We even adjusted our course to pass close to the renowned fishing area of La Corebanea to no avail. Fingers crossed for some tasty tuna later.
The boat has been cooperating. The only problem so far was the fridge/freezer shutting down but that was a just a clogged filter on the water cooling. Suspicion was that running the fridge while I did my free dive spearfishing practice (i.e. breath hold hull cleaning) may have caused to suck up all the sludge. All good now. The new solar and the wind generator we installed last year are doing well. The conditions are ideal for both so the batteries are topped up again by 1700. This will likely change as we head downwind after the Socorros as we will most probably have more shading and will almost definitely have less apparent wind.
Everybody is doing well but all are looking forward to fully finding their sea legs and starting the downwind portion of the passage.
Cheers,
Max
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