Distance sailed in last 24 hours: 85 nm
Distance to Hilo, Hawaii: 3286 nm
Position: 12 13.87N
Longitude: 098 30.51W
COG: 269M
SOG: 3.2 kts under sail
Wind: 5 kts E
Seas: 3 ft swell from the SE, 1 ft wind waves
Weather: 40% Cloud Cover
Barometric Pressure: 1009.0 mb, steady
Sea Temperature: 88 F
Yesterday's sailing conditions were much better than the previous days. We are finally seeing steady winds in the 8-10 knot range most of the time. There were still calm periods of 1-2 hours in the evening and the early morning. Our favorable current has been replaced by an unfavorable, but weaker current. This counter current will cut a few miles off of our progress.
Now that we're sailing, and thus adjusting our course to take best advantage of the wind, we're no longer moving in a bee line directly for our destination. When the wind shifts, we follow his lead trying to translate as much of his energy as possible to motivating force. As such, you'll notice that the "Distance in last 24 hours row" above has recently changed to "Distance sailed in last 24 hours" and comes from the "trip odometer" on our GPS. Using the "trip computer" functionality on the Garmin has proved amusing as well. For instance, yesterday, it showed our maximum speed as 65.6 kts! Surely, this must be a record for a Tayana 55! It does seem to do a better job of calculating things like average speed and time underway. We're very proud that thanks to help from our weather router, we had enough to keep us moving all but 18 seconds yesterday!
We didn't get measurable rain yesterday, although we felt a few drops on several occasions. The squalls became less frequent as the day progressed and somehow we managed to avoid the ones that did develop. Although there wasn't rain, we did spend a lot of the day with significant cloud coverage. Thankfully, the clouds kept the heat down!
Wind has brought texture back to the ocean, and Samadhi is now dancing about on the waves. The ocean swells that we are encountering are like rolling hills of water with wide valleys between the peaks. We glide up one side and down the other so effortlessly that we hardly notice. The wind waves are short and steep and causing us to rock around in a somewhat random pattern. Although we have been at sea for more than a week, this sudden motion feels unusual. So far nobody has become seasick on this trip, not even Nicholas. With more wind, the boat will stabilize and move around much less.
There have been loads of small, dark gray dolphins surrounding us, at least a couple of dozen at a time. They followed us through the night and are still cavorting alongside as I write. I don't know what kind of dolphins these are. They are very little and have a slim, curved dorsal fin. So far, these dolphins don't jump. Sometimes you can hear their clicks and squeals inside of the boat as we sail. I often wonder what the dolphins are talking about.
The boobie group hanging around Samadhi continues to grow. The boys counted 15 at one point yesterday afternoon, 5 on the bow pulpit alone! We are down to a single swallow aboard. It's very friendly, even going so far as perching on Nicholas's knee! We don't know where the other swallows have gone (maybe San Juan Capistrano?).
Kelly spends time each day inventorying and checking the unrefrigerated produce stores. We have had a few vegetables spoil, but the vast majority are doing great! Managing the provisions takes up a portion of each day. We brought enough fresh food (vegetables, meat, dairy, eggs, etc) for 45 days at sea. Since there aren't any grocery stores between here and Hawaii, management of our provisions is important.
Phillip baked more bread and made another batch of mayonnaise. He also repaired the BBQ in the afternoon. To celebrate, we dined on hamburgers with fresh baked bread "buns".
The boys have been working hard on their Calvert. School takes up a good portion of each day. The last few days have seen a sudden resurgence in interest in Legos. Alexander and Nicholas spend hours in the evenings creating things from the plastic bricks. Nicholas is also building a model car with Kelly's help from a bolt-together metal kit he purchased in Costa Rica. Both of the kids are behaving very well, and working along side of the adults, taking care of the boat and daily tasks. We are very proud of them!
We have been fishing but haven't had a bite since the tuna. The freezer continues to be almost full to bursting, and we still have loads of frozen, vacuum-packed sailfish from our catch just south of Bahia Honda, Panama. We needn't worry about running out of fish.
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