Distance sailed in last 24.75 hours: 190 nm
Distance to Hilo, Hawaii: 1900 nm
Latitude: 13 59.941 N
Longitude: 123 11.204 W
COG: 258M
SOG: 8.5 kts under sail
Wind: 15 kts NNE
Seas: 4 ft wind waves
Weather: 80% Cloud Cover
Barometric Pressure: 1009.2, rising
Sea Temperature: 82 F
Today dawned with a large swath of blue sky overhead. It's a pleasure to see the morning sun again. The sea surface temperature dipped below 80 F for the first time last night. The boat has been much more comfortable with the cooler ocean beneath us and overcast skies above. Still, we're looking forward to seeing the sun for more than just a couple of hours in the afternoon.
Conditions for yesterday, our nineteenth day at sea, started out mild. The morning saw all of our working sails set, and we made good progress over a fairly settled sea. (With the higher winds in addition to localized squalls, it's been some time now since we last hoisted the chute.) As the day progressed the wind increased, and the seas steepened. By mid day, we were sailing with a single reef in the main, and the genoa reefed. By late afternoon we got down to a double reefed main and staysail. As we moved into evening, the wind trend reversed itself ,and we started adding sail back on... Although we are still making sail adjustments to keep the boat sailing efficiently, we aren't doing it nearly as much as we were at the beginning of the passage. If we were willing to give up a few miles we could go 24 hours without touching sails and still make reasonable progress.
We found 5 flying fish aboard Samadhi yesterday--a new record! One of them even came into the companionway to give us the weather report before returning to the sea. Don't worry; we've got it on video so you don't miss such a rare event. This morning, we found two flying fish and three squid on deck. They were our first squid on deck since our trip down the coast of Mexico. Nicholas was disappointed we hadn't found them in time to turn them into bait.
Our speeds have not been as high as we would like due to the steep beam seas. So, as much as we prefer to sail at a quick pace (quick being relative--we are talking about 9-11 knots instead of 7-8.), we have been trying to keep Samadhi sailing with peak heel of less than 35 degrees when hit by seas, and probably about 20 degrees averaged. This is strictly a comfort issue. We have to live here and cook here, and the boys are trying to do their schoolwork so keeping the boat livable is important. We are all hopeful that the waves will move slightly off our stern so that we can push the boat harder without a comfort penalty. If we were racing... comfort be damned!
In the afternoon, we received a new update from our incomparable weather router. Though his pre-departure predictions didn't pan out for us, his underway updates have been right on the money. In the email, he adjusted our course to have us continue on a more westerly track until we're closer to the ENEerly winds. With the new APs having us continue south of the GC route, our sailing distance is increased slightly. We passed the "2000 nm to go" mark twice yesterday!
We had some excitement just as we were serving dinner when we heard a very loud "BANG!" from up on deck. Phillip ran up to investigate. In the falling twilight, he could see the mast was still standing, all of the shrouds were still attached, we were still sailing... Finally he spotted the problem--the attachment bracket for the rigid vang had broken. The casting that held it to the mast had simply snapped under the shock-loading as we came off of a wave.
In the fading light, Phillip removed the vang from the boom--it had already taken itself off of the mast. Samadhi's rigid vang is quite large and very unwieldy for one person on a rolling, slippery deck. Kelly helped get it first into the cockpit and then strapped down aft on the "sun deck". The culprit looks like metal fatigue in the cast aluminum bracket which held the lower point of the vang to the mast. This is a highly loaded piece that sees load reversals every time we crest a swell. Today, Phillip will make up a soft vang to replace the rigid one for the rest of our passage. The ocean very conveniently sorts out what gear is up to the task and what isn't in short order. Hopefully, we can order a new mounting bracket from Selden after our arrival in the islands.
Disneyland made a mistake when they got rid of Space Mountain. For those who may not know, Space Mountain was a roller coaster in a blacked out building. The simple change of removing the visual cues transformed the fairly mild roller coaster into something extraordinary. Well, last night aboard Samadhi, we had our own version of Space Mountain. The waning moon is rising quite late right now, and as the sunset faded in darkness, we were sailing under an inky black sky. No lights from anything were apparent, not from the stars due to the overcast, not even phosphorescence from the wave crests. After dousing the lights in the salon while on watch, we each took turns sitting in the cockpit and enjoying the ride while everyone else slept. It was great fun to try and track the movements of the boat in pitch black! You hear the waves approaching before they hit the boat. This adds another dimension to the experience. Magical!
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