Distance sailed in last 25.25 hours: 146 nm
Distance to Hilo, Hawaii: 3061 nm
Position: 12 48.01 N
Longitude: 102 37.55 W
COG: 272 M
SOG: 8 kts under sail
Wind: 16 kts NNE
Seas: 2 - 3 ft wind waves
Weather: 90% Cloud Cover
Barometric Pressure: 1009.1 dropping
Sea Temperature: 88 F
It was a day of great relief as we spent the first 10 hours of it under full sails and a fresh breeze of 10 to 15 kts on our beam. Until the wind slacked around sunset, we had a average speed of better than 8 kts with bursts up to 10.9 kts. With those kinds of speeds, as Pat mentioned, we could conceivably reach Hilo before the month is out in spite of our poor start.
We hope you mothers following along with us had a lovely Mother's Day (US). We spent a fair bit of the morning drafting messages to our relations. The boys couldn't remember when they'd last written so many emails at a stretch! As a special treat, Nana the boys' great-grandmother called on the satellite phone in the afternoon. We all had a lovely chat and enjoyed the opportunity to wish her the best of Mother's Days over more than just email.
We all seem to be settling into the rhythm of the cruise. The boys both finished their lessons in record time and we had a long peaceful afternoon relaxing on a stable boat swishing her tail to the quartering seas. Phillip made "meat cake" (That's meatloaf to the uninitiated.) for dinner, and we all feasted until we couldn't manage another mouthful.
From about 0100Z until 0730Z (7 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. Samadhi Time), we had an insignificant amount of breeze and were subsequently tossed around quite a bit by the wind waves left over from the afternoon. By 0800Z (2 a.m. ST), there was enough wind (about 5 to 8 kts) to set the genoa, and it was better going since then, anywhere from 4 to 6 kts.
Then at about 1000Z (4 a.m. ST) Kelly noticed that she couldn't see any stars or moonlight behind her. There was a 10 mile wide squall fast overtaking us, and it looked ugly. With plenty of time to prepare everything, there were no real surprises. When it finally hit, Phil got up to help, and we worked together to keep Samadhi out of the worst of it. The rain came down in torrents and the wind whipped at the sails as it clocked around. Thunder and lightning became a constant accompaniment. After about an hour, things had stabilized, and Kelly went to rest. Exhausted, Phil joined her once the boys were up and able to take watch, about 1330Z (7:30 a.m. ST).
The boys did a great job on watch. By 1500Z (9 a.m. ST), the wind was gusting to 20 kts which combined with the steep wind waves on our beam to occasionally push us past 25 degrees of heel. Samadhi likes to sail upright, so this got us out of bed to investigate.
Alexander had kept things well in hand. He gave us a brief report, and said that conditions had been pretty stable. We could still hear the thunder, though it was too light out to see its counterpart. We let out the main a bit and put up the staysail for balance. We're well away from the squalls now, and the wind shows no sign of abating.
After the spate of emails yesterday, we'll keep this one short. Here's hoping for another day of steady breezes and a less squally night.
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