S/V Samadhi V - Passage from Hawaii to California, Day 3

S/V Samadhi V - Passage from Hawaii to California, Day 3

Date: 2 August 2009 2200 UTC (1200 Samadhi Time)
Distance sailed in last 24 hours: 167 nm
Distance to Half Moon Bay: 2030 nm
Latitude: 29 00.163 N
Longitude: 156 13.486 W
COG: 017M
SOG: 7.5 kts under sail
Wind: 10 kts E
Seas: 3 ft E swell
Weather: 80% Cloud Cover
Barometric Pressure: 1021.3, rising
Sea Temperature: 79F

The wind is changing, moving towards the East. This means that we are no longer sailing "upwind" (which is good). The wind velocity has dropped as well, so we removed the reef in the mainsail and deployed the 130% genoa. We are currently reaching under full main, staysail, and genoa. The seas are still relatively calm, and Samadhi is riding smoothly across the ocean, making good progress towards Half Moon Bay.

We have started experiencing more squalls. Each squall typically lasts less than 30 minutes, and causes the wind to shift around as they pass. Aside from the isolated cloudbursts, the sky is mostly clear. We have been going through a squall every couple of hours since late last night. The air temperature seems to have dropped a bit since yesterday, and we expect it to continue to drop as we head North. We've also seen the pressure rise daily and the sea surface temperature drop to 77F at night. It's clear that we're leaving our tropical home for a very different environment.

Yesterday we made some changes in our computer software to eliminate the problems with our satphone email. We tested the system yesterday afternoon, and all looks well. We appear to be back to our normal email reception performance.

Last night we tried making fried rice with coconut milk, which worked out OK (the texture of the rice suffered). This morning we have been dining on our fresh Hawaiian fruit which we must eat before it spoils. (Kauai is such a paradise!) Unfortunately, all of this consumption has yet to put a dent in the contents of the fridge. It seems we may have once again overprovisioned. At least it's better than the alternative!

We saw another vessel this morning around 10am. Kelly spotted a small blue fishing boat (approx 50-70' long) called "Glory", homeport unknown. There were several fisherman on the stern deploying what appeared to be a long line. All aboard seemed as startled to see us as we were to see them! We're still wondering what brought them all the way out here, more than five hundred miles from the nearest port.

Kelly's parents Pat and Kathy called again this morning to check in and give us a weather update. It has been so fantastic to have this kind of help weather routing. Pat is really making things easier for us, not to mention less stressful! Thanks so much to our wonderful land-based crew!