Distance sailed in last 25 hours: 138 nm
Distance to Hilo, Hawaii: 2653 nm
Latitude: 13 09.630 N
Longitude: 109 47.432 W
COG: 265 M
SOG: 5.0 kts under sail
Wind: 6 kts NNW
Seas: 2 ft swell, 1 ft wind waves
Weather: 70% Cloud Cover
Barometric Pressure: 1010.0, rising
Sea Temperature: 84 F
You probably don't pay much attention to the last line item above, but we do. First, it speaks of the possibility of (and energy available to) a tropical storm. Though highly unlikely at this time of year, it is something we (and our weather router) keep an eye on. Second, it affects our energy usage, both for refrigeration and ventilation fans. Third and perhaps nearest to our hearts, it dramatically changes the ambient air temperature aboard, inside and out.
When we left Costa Rica, the sea temperature was about 90 F. Shortly thereafter we would see daily fluctuations up to 93 F. While this was lovely for swimming, it really turned up the heat below decks. For the past couple of days, the temp has been steady at 85 F dipping last night below 83 F. Though this may be a symptom of the 1+ kt current affecting us at the moment, we're very happy for the cooler temps.
Lots of maintenance items got done yesterday. Our maintenance workload has increased tremendously now that we are sailing 24/7 for weeks at a time. However, the extra maintenance required comes with lots and lots of time to get it done in.
We disassembled the port primary winch (a Lewmar 65) to treat a sticky pawl. Turns out that a glob of a gluey substance formerly known as grease had migrated onto the pawl and was preventing it from moving freely. These pawls are very important as they prevent the winch from rotating backward under load! We were able to get it unstuck without dismantling the transmission, something we were dreading given that some of the parts have a penchant for swimming. We'll wait to give it a complete service until we reach port.
We repaired a loose batten car on the mainsail. The batten had worked its way out of the car (probably when the sail was slatting), so we dropped the mainsail to the second reef and loosened the batten tension then reinserted it into the car. 20 minutes later the sail was back at full hoist and everything was set right. This task would have taken less than 5 minutes if we were tied up in a marina, but working on a moving deck at sea tends to slow things down a bit!
Yesterday when we were replacing the foresail, we attempted to motor downwind to further reduce our apparent wind. Unfortunately, a few minutes after we started the main engine, it cut out and would not start up again, so our next task was to troubleshoot that. We checked and bled the fuel system, and removed some air from the fuel system. Then, we ran the main engine for 30 minutes to make sure everything was working correctly. We have an external electric pump that is used for bleeding the fuel system or in case of failure of the engine lift pump. This external pump is a fantastic piece of equipment! Every marine diesel engine should have a system like this.
We have been testing different methods of attaching the spinnaker tack. So far, we have tried using an adjustable pennant attached to our stem fitting, an ATN Tacker on an adjustable pennant and attaching the sail directly to the stem fitting. Our latest solution is to attach the spinnaker tack to the tack fitting on the genoa furler, this seems promising based on initial results of yesterday's sailing.
Speaking of spinnakers, ours was up and down constantly yesterday. As a plus, we are getting well practiced at hoisting and dousing the sail. As a negative, it is tiring work getting the sail up and down so many times. Tired sailors = bad!
Earlier yesterday Kelly was chatting with her mom on the sat phone when a squall passed by, and the wind suddenly veered and doubled in strength. Quick action with the autopilot remote brought the sail into the lee of the main and we were able to get the sock over the spinnaker without major issue. 20 minutes later, with the squall gone, the giant sail was hoisted once more to get our speed up a bit.
Everything was going great through the afternoon with lovely sailing conditions. We sat in the cockpit listening to music and chatting as Samadhi made easy progress. Suddenly we both felt the wind increase. Within literally 15 seconds it was obvious we were going to be hit with a big breeze very quickly. The time it took to get from one side of the cockpit to the other to dump the spinnaker sheet was too long. The wind hit us like a wall and Samadhi laid right over onto her side. Well, it felt like we were on our side. We probably heeled about 45 degrees which is a LOT! (Even so, we never had solid water over the rail.)
Just as the boat was trying to lay down and rest, we got the sheet free and the sail dumped the wind. Samadhi popped back upright, and both of us worked to get the spinnaker sock over the sail (not easy!). Within 4 minutes the whole episode was over, with the sail safely stowed and Samadhi happily sailing along at high speed under main alone. While all of us were shaken, no harm was done, and we continued sailing without further issue.
Yesterday was "bread baking day" again, and in the afternoon two loaves magically appeared from the oven. We are using a recipe with a combination of 2/5 whole wheat flour to 3/5 of conventional, all-purpose four. The resulting loaf is light tan in color and delicious! The only downside to using the whole wheat flour is the tendency for the dough to be quite sticky during handling. Luckily, we do almost all of our kneading with a Kitchen Aid (Thanks Kathy & Pat!) so the stickiness isn't a big problem.
We're over two weeks into our cruise now, and the unrefrigerated produce s doing well. We've certainly seen some spoilage, but all in all, we've done a fair job of using things in an appropriate order and as a last resort, finding room in the fridge as we can. Our freezer space is slowly opening up as well. We've even been able to make ice a couple of times. Such a luxury!
There were lots of squalls and overcast skies during portions of the day. Happily, the seas have quieted since the day before. Even better we had a good strong breeze through the evening, and though it quieted around 0700Z (midnight Samadhi Time), it was back like someone had flipped a switch at 0830Z (1:30 a.m. ST). Since then, it's continued to be enough to sail comfortably by.
We didn't find any flying fish on deck yesterday, but we saw lots and lots in ocean and air around Samadhi! Phillip saw one almost clear the freeboard!
We haven't had any more of the swallows visit us onboard, but we continue to see them flying past. We are now more than 450 miles from land. What on earth are swallows doing out here? As far as we know, swallows cannot land in water. Do the swallows fly nonstop across the Pacific, maybe on their way from South America?
We fished yesterday, but we didn't catch. Maybe tomorrow will be better. Alex, we wish you and Miguel were here to spit on the lures for us!
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