Day 16, Onboard Update, April 27, 2010

***Life on board***
Some milestones reached onboard today. We crossed into another time zone last night and are now in Greenwich time plus 9 which makes us 5 hours behind you guys on the east coast of the US. We also crossed the "500 miles to go" mark this afternoon. Woohoo! A celebratory honk of the horn announced this to the wind a waves.

The Wind was light all day today and we have averaged just under 6 knots most of the time. The wind and well shifted more easterly as well and we gybed the #1 headsail and main accordingly this morning. Since then we have been sailing on the starboard tack! Imagine that. Starboard tack after 15 days of leaning to starboard. What a difference.

Will is on watch now and I have the 8-midnight watch. At our current rate of about 140 miles per day we would reach Marquesas in about three and a half days. Knock on wood.

***The Boat***
Our spare jib halyard jammed at the masthead sheave this morning and Adam was hoisted to the top of the mast to free it. Luckily the wind was very light and it was no big deal. We will also look into the cause of this when we are inspecting the Navigation Lights.

With the light wind of the last few days and our downwind heading, the wind generator has been mostly relaxing and enjoying the weather and not charging our batteries. The solar panels alone cannot handle out consumption alone and they do not receive full sunlight all day long since they are shaded by the sails shortly after local noon. Thus, our battery bank is down to 79.9% and we will need to be more power conscious from here on out.

***Communication***
We checked in with the Barefoot net again this evening. All is well.

Today is the first day that we have not been able to send any emails over the SSB radio. We are about 2500 NM from the CLOSEST Winlink email stations in Hawaii and about 2700 NM (and increasing) from the Stations on the West coast in California and Panama. Hopefully we will pick up new stations soon but for now it looks like the connection will be light and we may not be able to send the daily updates as regularly as we have been. Knock on wood though.

***Weather***
The wind and swell is not out of the ENE and much calmer. The swells are down to 3-5 feet and we have had about 10-11 knots all day. Clear skies and very very bright moonlit nights lately.

Position (11:00pm):
11 deg 33' S
129 deg 41' W

Alan and the Crew

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Day 15, Onboard Update, April 26, 2010

***Life on board***
We are doing well on our new heading but the wind has decreased today and so added to out one headsail a second on the opposite side and are holding it out open with the end of the boom (still no mainsail up). In this way we added a little to our speed and are making just under 6 knots which is still pretty good all considering.

I made pancakes today and later Adam made a stew out of leftover beans and rice which was quite good. Lazily we read and pondered and slept. Will worked on some video editing and I did some writing on my computer. We plan to watch another movie tonight.

***The Boat***
We have had some problems with the Navigation light at the top of the mast and are now using only our anchor light as a signal to other ships at night. We narrowed down the problem to be in between a connector just under the mast and the fitting at the mast head so someone will have to go up the mast to check the connection at the fitting when we get to Marquesas. It would not be something we can easily do at sea. If need be, we have temporary navigation lights that we can run up the mast or affix to the bow pulpit.

We also discovered a small crack in the plexiglas window ontop of the main companionway hatch. We will attempt to reinforce the area with a piece of wood as a permanent fix when we arrive in the Marquesas.

***Communication***
We checked in with the Barefoot net again this evening. Propagation was not so good and everyone was having a little more trouble than normal copying the net controller but we got our report in.

***Weather***
The swell is about the same but the wind has died down today to around 10-12 knots out of the ESE. The boats motion is still pretty harsh, rocking and rollling around when the swell catches us a little sideways and not dead from behind.

Position (11:00pm):
11 deg 37' S
127 deg 37' W

Alan and the Crew

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Day 14, Onboard Update, April 25, 2010

***Life on board***
We made a pretty big change on board today. We did some math and decided to try a new sail combo to make better progress toward the Marquesas. We ended up taking down the mainsail completely and going under just the #1 headsail with the whisker pole out to hold it full. In this way, the mainsail cannot cast any wind shadow on the headsail and we are able to head more downwind and actually straight for our destination! Even though we are making about a half a knot slower on average on this new course, we still estimate that if the wind continues steady and from the same direction, we may shorten our crossing by as much as a whole day.

There are other perks that have come with the change. Firstly, the boats motion is different mainly owing to our new heading being almost exactly with the large swell that is coming in from the ESE. Although reduced somewhat, the motion is now equally to port as to starboard meaning that some items which have been tied up perfectly for our previous heading began flying across the cabin since they were not used to leaning the other way. "The wet" is much less able to go splashy splashy over the rail and onto the unsuspecting watchman which is good. The sail is full all the time whereas before it would sometimes backwind and flap loudly or snap like a whip. This is NOT good for a sail so we are glad to be mostly rid of that. Additionally, simply being more "on course" for the Marquesas has improved moral. Just under 800 NM to go!

The only real downside of having only the #1 headsail up are than without the main available to blanket the sail, it would be more difficult to take down the whisker pole or to drop the sail in general since we usually use that wind shadow to our advantage when doing so. Theoretically, if the wind picked up very quickly, we could hoist the main back up in order to more easily drop the headsail but with a steady forecast there is little concern.

Adam made some Almond biscuits today that were pretty good. Tasted kind of like pancakes as I'm guessing pancake mix was a large ingredient but they were hot, new, fresh, and biscuity so they were GREAT!

***Communication***
We checked in with the Barefoot net again this evening. They asked "where are you going?" and we had to explain a little about our heading and how we were hopefully more "on course" now. Most of the cruisers headed to Fatu Hiva are staying much farther north in the favorable current before cutting south toward the islands. Sometimes it's good to be different I guess.

***Weather***
The weather has deviated little from yesterdays wind and wave state. Still about 12-15 knots out of the ESE with accompanying 5-8 foot swell with the occasional 10-12 footer. It is still pretty choppy but with our new heading, the boat is staying pretty dry.

Position (11:00pm):
11 deg 43' S
125 deg 31' W

Alan and the Crew

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Day 13, Onboard Update, April 24, 2010

***Life on board***
We are making fine progress, albeit still a little southward, toward Marquesas. We put a reef in the mainsail which seems to alleviate some of the wind shadow problems that that headsail was seeing.

Lots of sleeping and reading (of course) today. Adam baked a peach cobbler in the oven which tasted incredibly just like peach cobbler! not that I doubt Adams cooking ability but I do doubt that we had ALL the proper ingredients for a peach cobbler so well done Adam. It was delicious.

Being on watch still means hiding from "the wet" as it has been pretty choppy on top of the swells for the last few days so that does not help. Sometimes we get a big dumper that nearly breaks right next to us and either send a big splash of water into the cockpit (and sometimes on top of YOU), or it breaks midships and washes over the dinghy and, if the main hatch is not closed, right down onto the cabin floor YIKES! We usually always keep the hatch slid closed but sometimes we forget and of course that is exactly the moment the ironic forces of the sea choose to SEND THE WET! Fortunately we only get one of these about once or twice a day and then only under perfect splashy wave conditions. Usually it takes a couple of waves combining at exactly the right moment to get water high enough to come over the rail.

In addition to the wet and all of its nuances. We have also discovered a weird growth about the ship that has manifested itself in the corners of the deck near the scuppers where water continually flows and also in an area on the side of the hull about 1 foot above the waterline (apparently also where water is constantly splashing up onto. The grown in the scuppers is just an rather indistinct slimy film but on the side of the hull there are clear orange and yellow circles of growth and also some bigger mushroom like structures the biggest being about 2 inches long and a dark red color from what I could tell. It had some kind of base attached to the hull just above the water line with a stalk and then some kind of a ploom at the top. Perhaps some kind of muscle creature. There are quite a few of them in various stages of growth.

***The Boat***
We ran the engine up to operating temperature today so it does not feel left out and really to make sure that it is still working fine (it was). When done, we closed the water intake and exhaust exit sea cocks just to be safe. The starting key is clipped to the handle of the water intake seacock so that the engine cannot be started unless the water intake is opened or at least not until someone takes it from the handle (and hopefully opens the valve!). Otherwise the boat is doing fine, no problems. Knock on wood.

***Communication***
We checked into the Barefoot net today again with our position as always. Also, today I learned that "Barefoot" or the "Barefoot Route" is another name, apparently of German origin, for the "Milk Run" which is generally the name of the cruising grounds that stretch across the Pacific from Panama to the Torres Straight.

We also heard from our friends on S/V "Tahina" who just left Isla Isabela in the Galapagos and are now heading for the Marquesas. They were very light on the radio but then again they are nearly 2000 nautical miles away.

***Weather***
Wind today has been mostly our of the ESE and around 12-15 knots with 8-10 foot seas. Occasionally we line up just right on the front of a swell and ride down the face very fast sometimes hitting 10.5 knots in the burst. It has been partly cloudy today but overall a nice day.

Position (6:30pm):
10 deg 45' S
122 deg 37' W

Alan and the Crew

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Day 12, Onboard Update, April 23, 2010

***Life on board***
We made good progress today but are being pushed farther and farther south so at some point we will have to make a turn and head more westward for our destination. The wind direction and swell have made it difficult if not impossible to hold a straight line course for the Marquesas which is a little hard to explain since it is downwind from us. Should be easy right? Well it mostly has to do with the fact that the mainsail casts a "wind shadow" on the headsail when you sail very deep downwind and that causes the headsail to Luff or Flog which can tear it to shreds and must be avoided. So we have to "head up" and thus end up just off of our course (too far south in this case). Our choices are to gybe and do the same thing the other way or to sail "dead-down-wind" which can be dangerous in large swells if the boat turns too much to one side. It could cause us to broach which would be bad.

Not as many flying fish today. Perhaps they are regrouping for another attack. Lots of sleeping was done by all aboard. Adam made some rice and peas and corn in the pressure cooker which we have been munching off of for most of the day.

***Communication***
Checked into the net this evening. We are the furthest boat to the south and out of the westward current by all accounts further north. But at this point, it would be a full days sail due north to get back into the current (which is around 1 knot at most) which would not be worth it.

We received an email from our old friends Asia and Alek onboard "Mantra Asia" who we met in the San Blas and helped transit the Panama Canal. They are on their way to the Marquesas for the second time after turning back with Wind Generator and Engine problems which they were able to fix in the Galapagos. Perhaps we will see them in the Marquesas.

***Weather***
It was overcast for most of the day and is also a bit cooler in the evenings enough that i wore my foulie jacket on my watch. We had a wind shift from the East for a few hours but it returned to SE in the later afternoon. We will see what wind the night brings.

Position (11:00pm):
09 deg 28' S
120 deg 01' W

Alan and the Crew

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Day 11, Onboard Update, April 22, 2010

***Life on board***
We had a slower day today. We have gotten pretty far south now and have lost some of the extra speed we were getting from the SEC (South Equatorial Current) so our average has dropped down a bit. We sent up the #1 headsail on the whisker pole today to try to make more progress west and less progress south (this is having mixed results). Eventually we may have to turn "dead down wind" for a bit to gain some northward and get back into the current. The sail change and the large swell is making the boats motion quite uncomfortable and we are rolling back and forth sometimes violently and without regularity. The problem is that the boat has a hard time sailing at an angle just off of dead down wind. It either likes to sail directly with the wind or about 45 degrees off on either side. THe course we want to take is right in between these at the moment so we have to pick. Since the Marquesas is still south of us, we will probably just stay on the southward heading otherwise its almost like going the wrong way (north)

There were mountains of flying fish today. Will was struck by, not 1 but 2 large flying fish this evening while we were sitting in the cockpit watching a movie. He is apparently quite the flying fish charmer. The decks were covered with them this morning. Adam reported throwing off 18 dried out fish that flew to their death in the night. They smell terrible and leave their scales on everything.

We made a soup today and then rice and chicken noodles for dinner with a can of mixed fruit on the side. Counting down the miles.

***Communication***
Checked in with the net today. They are moving the check in time for the morning net since everyone is headed west and it is getting a bit early be having a net.

***Weather***
Lighter wind today but building back this evening. Swells still up and chop down a little.

Position (8:30pm):
08 deg 27' S
117 deg 50' W

Alan and the Crew

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Day 10, Onboard Update, April 21, 2010

***Life on board***
Yesterday I had a hard time connecting over the radio so I'm putting this update up a little late. It's 7:30am and Adam is on watch. Conditions have remained the same all night and yesterday. Yesterday morning it was mostly cloudy and we watched a small rain shower on the radar pass 2 miles south of us on a parallel course but we never got any rain.

Yesterday afternoon the weather cleared up and last night was a very clear night with the moon full and lighting up the clouds like it was daytime.

Will concocted some salmon/tuna cakes that he fried in the frying pan and we sprinkled corn flakes on for dinner. We also had a movie night last night and watched "Austin Powers" (one of them not sure which) down below. The person on watch, had to go up top every few minutes and check on the boat.

Having finished my latest book. I have now taken to a project that I thought of and bought the materials for while in Panama. I bought a bunch of rope and and am in the process of building a homemade hammock.

***Communication***
Checked in with the barefoot net again yesterday. They are talking about moving the times for the net so that the morning one is not so early. For us it is at 4:30am! and we usually miss it.

***Weather***
Nothing new here.

Position (11:00pm):
07 deg 50' S
116 deg 24' W

Alan and the Crew

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Day 9, Onboard Update, April 20, 2010

***Life on board***
Today was a windier and wavier than normal day and we took several dumping waves over the windward rail that put about 6 inches of water in the cockpit. It was a wet day to be on watch. The swell was around 8-10 feet all day (but I saw some 12 footers in there) and we have had steady 15 knots all day.

We set up some spray dodgers on the windward side to keep splashes of water from making it down the aft companionway so that we can keep it open during the day. Otherwise it would be very hot and unpleasant down below.

We have been running under full main and #3 headsail since last night when we dropped the mizzen as the wind picked up. We have plenty of wind and plenty of speed and are ready to reef the mainsail if the wind picks up further.

Cereal for breakfast and PB&J tortillas for lunch. Will baked an awesome "half way" cake to celebrate our 1/2 way point to the Marquesas! Very yummy. Adam made a great stew for dinner from miscellaneous cans that were starting to rust a little.

Tonight we pass through the western edge of the standard time zone known as "Mountain Time" and enter the "Pacific Time" region. At sea this technically occurs at 112.5 degrees. Tonight we change the clocks back another hour and will be 4 hours behind Eastern Time. We will be in this time zone for the next 900 miles (about 5 days at our current pace) until 127.5 degrees West Longitude where we will set the clocks back AGAIN!

***Communication***
Checking in with the net this evening revealed that we are about 100 nautical miles ahead of our closest neighbor "Dignity" who reported slightly more wind than us and a higher speed, although the proof is in the miles :)

***Weather***
More wind, more waves, and still lots of water. Partly Cloudy.

Position (11:00pm):
06 deg 49' S
112 deg 12' W

Alan and the Crew

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Day 8, Onboard Update, April 19, 2010

***Life on board***
More of the same here on the open sea. We busied ourselves reading and fooling ourselves into thinking we saw a boat on the horizon only to find it to be a capping wave. We have been now 7 days without seeing another boat or any other humans for that matter. (We saw one boat our first day out). We had a snack of canned fruit today and also the Ginger Snaps which were opened just yesterday are now mysteriously gone (big surprise). For dinner I made a tuna soup macaroni casserole which was pretty good. We also finished up the last of the chili and rice from the night before.

I found this morning the largest flying fish I have yet seen. He was about 8 inches long and I took a picture. We also found another squid (this one bigger) sun-baked onto the windward side deck.

I also furthered out course on my plotting sheet and took today a morning sight, fore-noon sight, noon sight, and after noon sight. Thought the moon is out earlier each day it is hard to shoot a sight of it because it has been very faint. At night the horizon cannot be distinguished for taking sights and I have yet to master the morning and evening twilight sights of stars and planets. Those require some planing and pre-calculation so that you can take the sights quickly before the the horizon disappears in the evening or the stars disappear in the morning. I'll be working on it.

***Communication***
We managed to miss both morning and evening nets today first by sleeping in and then by watching a movie. OOps. We will be sure to check in tomorrow morning.

***Weather***
Nothing new. Good wind, going fast.

Position (11:00pm):
06 deg 05' S
109 deg 44' W

Alan and the Crew

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Day 7, Onboard Update, April 18, 2010

***Life on board***
Another beautiful day in the South Pacific here onboard the WTP. We had grits and tuna scrambled eggs for breakfast and for dinner Adam made a chili soup with rice AND cornbread. Man we sure are suffering our here. We also opened our bag of Ginger Snap cookies that we bought in Panama. I wonder how long those will last.

I spent a lot of my day, when off watch, working on my navigation and taking sun and moon sights and plotting our fixes. My best fix today put is within 5 miles of our true position once again after deviating a little overnight.

After dinner we watched another episode of the BBC mini series "South Pacific". We learned that a type of bird we have spotted out here on the ocean can stay airborne for 4 YEARS continuously! No wonder they are so far out here. I wonder if they will fly their whole lives and never see land.

We have made our first time zone change since leaving Galapagos. We are now in what is called "Mountain Time" in the mainland US. Out here however, it's called "zone time" GMT +7. That is, you have to add 7 hours to get to Greenwich Mean Time. We are 2 hours behind Eastern Standard Time. But with daylight savings time it is 3 hours.

We are making increasingly more miles each 24 hours with each passing day. If we keep up, we may have our first 200 nm day! We are no doubt being helped by the South Equatorial Current that is pushing us along toward Marquesas but we don't have a way to directly measure the speed of the current having no "speed through water" sensor on board. We are however, moving decidedly "faster than normal" compared to the feel of our speed when we are not in any current which we can usually judge pretty accurately.

***Communication***
We slept in this morning and missed the Barefoot net but checked in for the afternoon net with our position. All boats are well and making good progress.

***Weather***
As stated, the weather is unchanged owing to the steady trade winds in these latitudes in this time of year. Steady, SE wind.

Position (11:40am):
05 deg 06' S
106 deg 38' W

Alan and the Crew

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Day 6, Onboard Update, April 17, 2010

***Life on board***
We are generally comfortable onboard these days having fallen into what could be called a "routine" of sleeping, reading, and resting. The days seem to be flying by and our progress toward the Marquesas is very pleasing. Knock on wood.

"The wet"....
With the current combo of wind and waves we experience what I like to call "the wet" on a pretty regular basis (at least once every 10 minutes or so) when out of the relative safety of the cabin. Almost always preceding "the wet" is a loud THUMP on the side of the windward hull which instantly sets off what is now an involuntary reaction to everyone on deck to jump, dive, or plunge into whatever spot on deck they think the water might miss. Naturally, the laws of irony, of which mother nature has such a keen understanding, cause "the wet" to fall directly onto those places. Occasionally just one of us is on deck and, when hearing the thud from down below, we listen for the always amusing, "Kersplash.....UHHHHHH!!!". We have found that there is sometimes nothing to do but succumb to the salt. And laugh at yourself for getting all wet.

Fishing....
No luck of fishing today. Although this morning, I found a 4 inch long squid plastered to the top of the bimini (which was folded down for the night) so I guess you could say we caught a squid. Not having an appetite for squid at the time, I used him as bait on my lure but it was, in the end, not to be. Maybe tomorrow.

Navigation....
I took two sun sights and one moon sight just a few minutes ago today. The sun sights, taken before and after local noon revealed that our dead reckoning position was about 30 or so miles off our true position. With the sights factored in, our new DR (dead reckoning) position was within 5 miles of true. I am getting better and faster at taking sights and doing the calculation and it is good to know that I just might be able to navigate us somewhere in the event of a total electrical failure. Knock on wood.

Will is on watch, Adam asleep after having made a delicious soup for dinner and I about to turn in in preparation for the midnight watch.

NEWS FLASH...Will was just moments ago struck in the back by an enormous flying fish while on watch. One of the biggest I have seen. Well done Will. He even had the courtesy to throw it back. Add one flying fish to the days catch list.

***Communication***
We made contact with the barefoot net today in the morning and evening. The closest boat to us is still "Dignity" who is about 60 miles south and 75 miles east of our position.

***Weather***
The weather here has been almost the same for the last 3 days. Wind from the SE, 5-8 foot swell that make the cockpit semi wet and mostly clear skies with occasional clouds. And STAY there! says I to the weather. Knock on wood.

Position (11:40am):
03 deg 21' S
99 deg 41' W

Alan and the Crew

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Day 5, Onboard Update, April 16, 2010

***Life on board***
Today has been another day of fine sailing. The wind has been unchanged since the night before last. We are sailing on a Port tack (boom on the starboard side) and on a broad reach at an overall average of just a hair over 7 knots with full main and #3 headsail. The boat has been heeling to starboard from the wind at about 15 to 20 degrees almost constantly for the last 3 days. Today was partly cloudy most of the day and it got fairly hot down below in the cabin. Lots of sleeping was done. We have put out the fishing lure again to try to score some fish meat. Fingers crossed.

On the early morning watch this morning, I spotted a large sea turtle about 3-4 feet in diameter and we sailed past him about 2 boat lengths away. He didn't seem to mind much at all as he never budged. On the same watch I also spotted a green plastic gallon jug possibly for holding antifreeze of some other engine related liquid. It had seaweed and barnacles on its underside that I could make out and has probably been floating for some time. There sure is trash everywhere you go now a days.

On the evening watch the moon and Venus were out bright. The moon is just a sliver of silver now and getting bigger each night but with a clear sky it still makes a great reflection in the sea. I was watching the reflection when I saw the outline of a dolphin jump into the air. Dolphins at the bow and around the boat jumping out of the water. A sign of good luck for a sailor.

My tracking of our progress by dead reckoning and sextant sights has been working quite well. It helps that we have steady wind and are going in a straight line. I have found that when compared to the GPS for any particular dead reckoning position I have not been more than 5 miles off our "true" position which is quite close enough for making a landfall I think and, I hope, will improve with practice.

***Communication***
We had our first teleconference with Mr. John Poole's Class today! It was about 15 minutes long and we really enjoyed answering the class's questions about wind and weather, solar panels, Alan's moustache, Will's beard, our progress so far, fishing and various other great questions. Thank you!

We made our contact with the 'barefoot net' again this morning although the connection was not so good for whatever atmospheric reasons that block radio wave propagation. We connected with them again this evening at 6:30pm with another position report. There are about 10 other boats on route to the Marquesas also checking into this net regularly.

***Weather***
It has been blowing a steady 15 knots for the last two days with no signs of letting up in the forecast. It is still fairly choppy and the swell is around 5 to 8 feet but it is not so bad in the cockpit that one cannot read a book (as long as you don't mind reading a slightly damp book)

Position (11:40am):
03 deg 21' S
99 deg 41' W

Position (6:30):
03 deg 31' S
100 deg 30' W

Alan and the Crew

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Day 4, Onboard Update, April 15, 2010

***Life on board***
Last night we were welcomed into the Pacific by flying fish. We have seen them constantly since leaving but it seemed that last night they were particularly happy to go midnight flying. Unfortunately it landed many of them on our decks to dry out. We found about 10 crispy flying fish of various sizes (the biggest about 6 inches long) on the decks this morning and even one in the head! What a way to go. First your flying along happily through the night and then into...what's this, a window? then SLAM! right into a closed door. As you take your last breaths wondering where all the water went, you stare up wondering what that big white bowl thing is and why it smells a little weird in here. (of all the ways to go). Today on watch another fish jumped on board right in front of me and bashed into the mainsheet. He was one of the lucky ones as I threw him back. I have yet to be struck while on watch by a careless flying fish but it's good to have things to look forward to.

We have had great wind all day and by 8am this morning had made a well rounded 90 nautical miles in 12 hours running full bore through the night. We commonly saw speeds of up to 8.5 and 9 knots in bursts. Unfortunately with more wind comes more WET and it has been a bit of a wet day on watch with a stray spray coming on board every few minutes or so soaking its unsuspecting victim.

I have had good luck tracking our position using only dead reckoning and celestial navigation. It has been hard not to peek at the GPS however and I have found that I am plotting our "true" position on the same sheet at intervals to see how far off I am. SO far not more than 5 miles. The noon sight (A sun sight taken at noon) was obscured by clouds but an afternoon shot of the sun put us right on with the GPS. I also just took a sight of Venus which we can see setting in the North West here every evening as a very bright object so we will see where that puts us.

7:30pm now. Adam is on watch, Will cooking pasta. All is well.

***Communication***
We checked in with the "barefoot" net again this evening and got position updates for all of our new neighbors. Dignity is still the closest boat to us. (about 60nm to our S and E). A large pack of about 5 boats left Galapagos yesterday so there are a bunch bringing up the rear as well.

***Weather***
It has been cloudy most of the day and pretty windy. It even rained on us for about 30 minutes at one point. The sea is choppy and confused but most of the swell is out of the South or South East. Highest winds today reached about 18knots but higher winds are expected ahead of us up to around 25 knots so I suspect foul weather gear will become commonplace in the cockpit on watch.

Position (7:30pm):
02 deg 49' S
97 deg 44' W

Alan and the Crew

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Day 3, Onboard Update, April 14, 2010

***Life on board***
This morning brought light winds but now it has picked up and we are making great progress. Adam baked a macaroni casserole for dinner with rice that was delicious and we had another movie night this evening. Adam is on watch now and were looking forward to putting on some real distance tonight with good winds.

Last night during the midnight watch, my fishing pole went swimming. It was in its usual position with the line still out and the mainsheet snagged it and lifted it right out of its holder. Don't worry though, it had a strong line tied to it and it was recovered straight away. Tying lines to things that you don't want to lose is the name of the game out here. Fishing poles, buckets, even people! No luck fishing today. Tomorrow is a new day.

Today I started a plot of our position on a "plotting sheet" that is used in conjunction with celestial navigation to track ones position with a combination of dead reckoning and celestial navigation sights. I am going to try to keep up with our position as we cross the pacific using just the compass, sextant and our speed and heading. Wish me luck! I'll let you know how it's going.

***Communication***
We listened in to the "Pan Pacific" net today but found there was not formal net held for whatever reason. So we made a general call for anyone who was on the frequency and were able to speak with a boat named Dignity who is also bound for Marquesas. They gave us the scoop on the other informal net that cruisers use on the Marquesas crossing called the "Barefoot" net and we checked in with them at 6:30pm with our position and got the positions of some other boats around us. This morning we were just about even with Dignity and about 10 miles North of them. By the Evening we were still about 10 miles away but had put them to our South East and behind us. The net meets in the morning and evening and it is good to know that there are other boats in such close proximity to us that we could call on for help if we ever needed it. The Pacific is a BIG place.

***Weather***
It was very clear all day today with only a few trade wind type cloud patters that arrange themselves in small puffy bands that stretch out all the way to the horizon. The wind was light most of the day until around 4pm when it started to pick up and now just after sunset, we have a steady 10-12 knots.

Position (8:30pm):
02 deg 26' S
95 deg 06' W

Alan and the Crew

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Day 2, Onboard Update, April 13, 2010

***Life on board***
Today has been a quiet day. We have made some good progress with a more steady wind and lots of sleeping was done during most of the day. Adam and Will did get off one chess game in the early afternoon in which Will was the victor.

We put out our trusty cedar plug trolling lure once more this morning and it has been soaking all day with no fish to show...yet.

Our pot of rice and beans is still lingering in the galley. Perhaps we made just a bit too much of it for the three of us. In general our appetites have gone down quite a bit even in the first couple of days out and with easy sailing and lots of sleep, a mostly sedentary lifestyle, we don't need much. We cut up one of our Papayas today but found it to be not quite ripe and mostly like eating an apple that tasted a little bit like a papaya. I also made some hot water and filled the thermos for the night watch. I'm not much of a coffee drinker so I went looking for some tea. We have a pretty good selection of Tea but about half of them were "organic nighty night tea" which probably wouldn't do for a night watch.

The "bio luminescence" that causes little pankton in the water here to glow when disturbed is very abundant and bright here. While motoring last night we left in our wake a 3 foot diameter tunnel of light just under the surface churned up by the spinning propeller that was so bright as to almost spoil your night vision. Our bow wake was just as awesome sending bright splashes of glowing water 10 feet out on either side of the boat with every wave. It looked as though we had installed white neon lights all round the outside of the hull.

We have seen birds still today. Small black swallow-like birds as well as larger white and grey birds which almost always have been in pairs.

***The Boat***
The batteries remained topped off all day thanks to the wind generator and strong sunlight.

***Communication***
This morning we made contact via the "Pan Pacific" radio net and gave our check in and position. We know of at least 4 other boats ahead of us en route to the Marquesas all of which have between 1 and 3 days lead of our position.

***Weather***
The sun rose and fell bright today and the sky remained a clear blue almost the entire day save for some thin low clouds on the horizon in the evening. The wind has slowly shifted more and more to the south and we hope that by tomorrow the wind will be off our port quarter and we will be able to make our course on at least a beam if not a broad reach. We think we are also starting to feel the effects of the favorable SEC current and this evening we have been making steady 7 knots sometimes more over the ground.

Position (2:27pm):
01 deg 33' S
91 deg 55' W

Position 9:00pm):
01 deg 41' S
92 deg 51' W

Alan and the Crew

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Day 1, Onboard Update, April 12, 2010

Hello Eye followers, the crew of the William T. Piquette is once again on the move. Destination Marquesas. This will be your main source for updates from us as they pertain to our daily life onboard the ship during our longest crossing. We officially left for the Marquesas at 9:30pm on April 11th, 2010

Nothing Lasts Forever. For the crew of the WTP, last night was a tough one. We said our fond farewells to Trevor. Howling wind and pounding rain, sweltering heat and bitter cold, windless nights and unforgettable trips, Trevor has been through it all with us in these last 5 months. A special bond is formed among friends who triumph together in the face of adversity or against the elements. For a sailing ship where close quarters, limited privacy and no secrets are the norm, this is especially the case. Trevor, you will be greatly missed and we wish you the best of luck and success in your coming months of new jobs, new opportunities and new friends. Don't forget to write!

***Life on board***
It will take a few days for us to settle into a routine of sleep, cooking, and sailing and with 3 people onboard, watches are more frequent and sleep becomes a spontaneous happy place that one strives to visit as often as possible. However, there are some good aspects to a crossing of the south pacific ocean in mid April. The ocean is quite calm almost all the time and storms are very infrequent. The trade winds in this area are from the SE which means smooth downwind sailing as long as we stay in them. There is also a Southern Equatorial Current which flows westward at between 1 and 2 knots. If all else fails, we will eventually drift there (we hope all else does NOT fail).

8:30am- Adam is on watch and Will is in his happy place. I go on watch in an hour. With any luck we will be out of the light stuff today. We took on limited provisions in Galapagos mainly due to the lack of stuff on the islands period. We have 2 Papayas, a large melon, some bread, lemons, and tomatoes which obviously won't last the whole trip. We will start to tap into our canned food stores and get creative with SPAM while also offsetting our non-perishables with (knock on wood) more delicious fish.

8:15pm- I am on watch now till midnight. Adam and Will have just turned in. I made dinner (rice with a can of black beans, chili beans, and beef stew in the pressure cooker, pile onto a tortilla with some hot sauce and yummy!). We also just finished watching the first in a BBC documentary series called "The South Pacific". It is similar to the planet earth series with great camera shots and stories about the isolated pacific islands. Mid way though the movie, the wind died. Progress S and W has been difficult today with a light and variable SW wind. You may notice tacks on our track that seem irregular and inefficient. We think so too, but such is the way with a North setting current at the Galapagos that seems to keep "sucking" us in. We will just keep pushing West and South (now under motor power) until the SE trade winds return and the current shifts to the west.

***The Boat***
-A note on TIME, As we move farther and farther west, we will be sailing through time zones at a rate of about one every 8-9 days (or every 15 degrees of longitude). In the Marquesas we will be six hours behind Eastern Standard Time. We are currently 2 hours behind EST. Our ships clock will be updated to reflect local time while our "HOME" clock will remain in EST. All the times in our updates will be in in local time.

The boat is ship shape. Nothing to report.

***Communication***
The Ham radio is once again our main source of communication with home and our source for weather information. We are also looking forward to using the Sattelite phone for communicating with some classrooms back in the US during this long crossing.

***Weather***
8:30am- A light southerly wind pushed us westward away from San Cristobal last night but until we get a little farther west, there is a north setting current which makes progress south difficult. This morning, with very light winds we turned on the motor to get some distance between us and the Galapagos. Once we get far enough south and west, the trades and SEC (South Equatorial Current) will take over and (knock on wood) we can let the engine sleep the whole way there.

8:15pm- More light winds with unfavorable components have turned what could have been a swift departure from the Galapagos into a slow zig zagy crawl. The sky may make it all worth it however. Last night I counted 4 shooting stars that lasted over 3 seconds. I think I can honestly say that I can see ALL of the stars.

Position (8:30am):
00 deg 54' S
90 deg 17' W

Position 8:30pm):
01 deg 06' S
90 deg 52' W

Alan and the Crew

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The Cockpit Sessions: Volume Two

The Cockpit Sessions, continued.

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San Cristobal Island Adventure

We arrived safely on Tuesday morning in Wreck Bay here on the island of San Cristobal. A crossing of just under 7 days which is quite good for this area which is notorious for unsettled and light winds. We managed to ride a steady breeze for almost the entire trip.

Our first day on the island was mainly exploratory. We completed the check-in process, found lunch, had some ice creme (of course), and stopped in at a grocery store for hamburgers and hot dogs which we grilled that evening. We were relieved to find the check-in process was not as difficult as we thought and the town in Wreck Bay is wonderful. It is well policed and well lit, there are shops everywhere, and the people are very friendly and helpful. The most noticeable thing about the island is the amount of life here. There were sea lions swimming all around the boat as we anchored, manta rays off the coast as we approached the island, and birds of every shape and size.

Wednesday, we chartered a taxi for a trip across the island. We made stops at "El Junco" (a freshwater lake formed by a volcanic crater), the Galapaguera, (a preservation habitat for the giant tortoises), and a beach on the other side of the island that had some great body surfing. We finished up with a trip to a farm for lunch with some of the freshest fruit I have ever had.

Thursday, Adam and I signed up for a diving trip to "Kicker Rock," see Adam's Journal post Galapagean Scuba Trip for the details. Great diving in an entirely unique location! Who knows what other adventures await us in the coming days. Stay tuned.

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Good Evening, Update Day 6, Mon. April 5th

Good evening from onboard the WTP

***Life on board***
8:15pm- Today was a great day of sailing with a big wind shift all day which allowed us to make a lot of progress south. We are however, now motoring (i know i know) but we want to arrive in the morning and since the wind died about two hours ago we decided to motor and push on rather than sit all night and arrive late tomorrow.

Today marked one of the biggest milestones of the Eye of The World Journey, our first crossing of the EQUATOR!! What a great accomplishment. In naval tradition, the crossing of the equator is a right of passage for seafarers. Before one has crossed the equator at sea he or she is known as a "pollywog" and afterward is known as a "shellback". Today we all became "shellbacks" horay! We decided that it would be fitting to hold our very own equator crossing ceremony in true EYE fashion...

Accordingly, we decided that a bit of humility would do well to please the unseen but always present forces of the sea and graciously allow our humble vessel to safely continue its passage of her vast ocean waters. In order to show our humility to the sea we each gave up something of ourselves and in this case it was to be...our HAIR. At around 2:30pm we began the process of cutting off all of our hair. I volunteered to go first and Trevor (who has experience cutting hair, namely mine which he cut in Jamaica) equipped himself with the buzz clippers and went to town. "As short as you can", I said and he did. Afterward, since I figured there could not be a better time than now, I decided to go all out and my head was shaved smooth as a baby's bottom. Alan is bald as bald can be. Adam was next and elected to self-cut his hair to a fuzzy and very short buzzed length. Will (with the longest hair of the group by far) went under the buzzers next with Adam as the barber. First trying on a fabulous mullet and admiring it in the mirror for a few minutes, he had the rest gone soon after. Will, seeing my bold/bald statement, decided to step up to the bald plate also and we both now sport looks that would make a cue ball jealous. Trevor couldn't stand all the hair we were depositing into the sea without him. Though initially only planning to shave his beard for the ceremony, he couldn't in good conscience, make such a minor contribution and handed me the clippers telling me to, "do it fast before I regret it" which i did to a well suited 1/2 inch buzz. Excited over our new looks and with Will and I having already applied copious amounts of sunscreen to our newly exposed melons, I counted down the minutes to the equator crossing as Will and Trevor worked on grilling up some grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.

At 3:15pm the moment came. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (we counted down the seconds on our latitude) ZERO! we had arrived at the equator. We backed the headsail and put the boat into a stall to "park" her on the zero'th line of latitude. We decided that a swim around the boat full circle would be quite fitting and in pairs we flipped, jumped, or dove into the crystal clear and unimaginably deep pacific blue. We swam the circumference of the boat to complete the ceremony. We relaxed for a bit and continued jumping in for fun, cooling off and taking the opportunity to get clean as well. After we were satisfied that we had succeeded in an appropriate ceremony we got back underway.

We made some progress after that but soon the wind died down and Will made a great dinner of rice and, sadly but thankfully, the last bit of the enormous fish we had caught nearly 4 days ago. Afterward, with just 90 miles to go, and realizing that we would not make it to the anchorage until late tomorrow at this rate, we decided to save tomorrow and star the motor. What a successful wind driven crossing we have had so far. We were not at all reluctant to give a last little push especially since we had planned to motor so much more.

Trevor is at the helm now, and we motor along at about 6 knots in very light wind gazing at the stars. THE STARS!! They are the brightest and most amazing stars I have ever seen. Like the blackest of black dark rooms with pinholes punched into it letting light in the sky is littered with stars, nebulas, and the most milky and incredibly milky way. We watched Venus and Mercury set into the western sky just after sunset and then picked out Saturn, Sirius, Taurus, Orion, the big dipper, the southern cross, and with the help of a star chart a few new ones.

Life is good aboard the WTP. Cannot wait go see the Galapagos.

***The Boat***
Nothing to report here. All is well. The engine charges our batteries without complaint and we are running radars, and laptops, and lights, oh my!

***Communication***
We checked back in with "Gemini" this evening and told them that we were motoring and hoped to make the anchorage by tomorrow. They indicated that they would be on a little later probably not until Wednesday. We also are looking forward to meeting our German radio friends.

***Weather***
The sky is as clear as clear can be. The wind is light from the southeast. It is chilly on deck after sunset and coats will be needed tonight.

Position (8:30am):
00 deg 09' SOUTH!!!!
88 deg 39' West

"Cue ball" and the Crew

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Good Morning, Update Day 6, Mon. April 5th

Good morning all, this will be a morning update and I will attempt to follow up with it, an evening update as well.

***Life on board***
8:30am- Adam is on watch, Trevor and Will are sleeping. The boat is making great progress south on a heading of about 215 degrees. We're just watching the miles count down toward the equator now.

Bobby, the bold boat bird, banished himself from the bow at about 8am this morning. He made several "false good byes," reported Trevor, whereby he launched and then promptly returned 3 or 4 times before finally deciding that it's what he really wanted. He will be missed.

It appears (knock on wood) as though this evening may be our last one on the open pacific before making landfall. If this wind holds out (knock on wood again) we could make landfall in as little as 16 hours putting us off San Cristobal at around 4am in the morning tomorrow (Tuesday)were we would wait for sunrise to make our final approach. Of course, you didn't hear me say that since (at least I think) it is pretty unlucky or, at the very least useless, to try and forecast anything relating to future progress or estimated time of arrival. We shall see.

***The Boat***
All is well with the boat. Batteries are charging at about 5 Amps/hour and holding 85.7% of full with the help of sun and wind. The head still works, the lights work, the stove works, nothing is out of place.

***Communication***
We made contact with the Panama Connection net over ham radio on a frequency of 8.107Mhz just a few minutes ago and relayed our new position. We also were updated by Gemini who experienced similar winds last night and is now making great progress as well. They reported their position as almost exactly 60 miles due East of us.

***Weather***
8:30am- The weather this morning is clear and sunny with a cool SE wind at around 12knots. Last night we had a great amount of dew on deck and everything was wet to the touch from it. Almost as soon as the sun went down last night, our long awaited wind shift came and we have been laying a course well south of our layline to the Galapagos ever since. We will take full advantage of the shift until we are sure we can comfortably point for our destination. Of course, we hope this wind keeps up throughout the day.

Position (8:30am):
00 deg 22' North
87 deg 50' West

Evening update to follow
Alan and Crew

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Onboard Update Day 5, Sun. April 4th (Happy Easter)

Happy Easter Sunday Eye fans,

***Life on board***
7:20am- The wind calmed overnight and has shifted a little to the east (to our great relief) and the boats motion was calm and relaxing all night. Yesterday we noticed, and now more so, that the air is cooler than before and jackets were required last night sitting outside. The water temperature (according to our sensor under the boat) is unchanged so perhaps a cooler wind from the south has made it to us. We are making a heading of about 250 degrees. I logged into the ham radio email to get more wind forecast data. Adam is on watch reading. Trevor and Will are sleep soundly.

Once everyone started moving around, Adam set to work on an Easter Sunday breakfast. We all sat down to the cleared and unfolded dining room table while the windvane steered us happily along. We had soft boiled eggs, peas and carrots, pita bread, crackers, cheese, and sliced pears. A great breakfast feast.

Around noon, much reading was accomplished and everyone lazed about. Alan read part of 'Evolution's Captain' aloud to Trevor and Will. It is quite a timely story to read on our way to the first island that Charles Darwin visited in the Galapagos. Can't wait to get there.

2:09pm- A ship is spotted! Our first sighting of another ship since our departure. She is pretty far off to our north but we try channel 16 on the VHF just in case. A response! She replies to our hails in French and Adam (having studied french in high school) is able to learn that she is called "Lazareene" and is also sailing for the Galapagos but bound for a different island. She left around the same time as us. We kept track of her for about 3 hours before the large rolling swells obscure her from our view once again.

6:00pm- As the sun is going down we hang out in the cockpit and, to our surprise, watch as a pretty big bird starts circling the boat. This is a new bird, one which we have not seen until now. He makes a close pass and a bold attempt at what (to him) must be most akin to a jet making an aircraft carrier landing at sea. He is eying the protruding railing of our bow pulpit and makes his approach. Unfortunately he has sorely misjudged his distance and, instead of perching gracefully, his upper torso makes pretty rough contact with the railing rather than his extended landing gear. Seemingly unfazed he backs off and sets up for another approach. This time he stumbles but is able to recover and pulls it off. Obviously tired (or maybe just lazy) he has been sitting there ever since (nearly 2 hours so far) despite our close investigation of him with up close cameras and an attempt to see if he likes crackers (he doesn't). We have named him "Bobby".

8:00pm- With the sun down we are settling in for our 6th night offshore since leaving Panama. Adam is working on a fish stew in the pressure cooker and Trevor and Will are already thinking ahead to some fried fish tomorrow OR perhaps some grilling? The wind and sea will tell if that might be possible. Will is working on his computer and treating us to some new tunes from his I-pod (new music on the boat is always a welcome thing), Trevor is taking a rest and Adam is on deck taking his watch as his stew is stewing in the galley.

***The Boat***
7:20am- With lighter wind and cloudy overcast skies, the chances that any major battery charging will result are slim. The batteries however are still feeling the effects of the past days charging and are now at 85.3% of full. Later, the wind picked up and sun came out and the generator began whirring once again. So far so good with the boat.

***Communication***
This morning we checked in with the Panama Connection net as well as the Pan Pacific net this morning and spoke to "Gemini" again for their position update and to share wind conditions. They reported similar conditions and a position to our south and east.

At 10 till 7pm we checked in with "Gemini" again for another update. To our surprise they reported that they had experienced an almost windless day today and have moved just 19 miles from their mornings position. In contrast, we have made nearly 55 miles in that time. This was surprising given our close proximity to them (less than 100 miles). Surely we would have expected her to have experienced at least as much if not better pressure than us being farther south. I guess if just goes to show that nothing is a sure thing out on the ocean.

Also, as mentioned above, the WTP made sucessfull contact with the French vessel "Lazareene" also heading for Galapagos.

***Weather***
7:20am- This morning, overcast and cloudy (a medium dark grey all around) with light southerly winds. The wind forecast data retrieved for this morning indicates that perhaps we won't see any more wind shifts from the west anymore which is good news. With luck the wind will remain due south and light today and shift to the south east and build to around 10-15 knots later. With a shift like that we COULD be home free to sail a straight course for the Galapagos on a steady south-easterly (knock on wood)

8:00pm- The wind steadily built today as the sky cleared and it was a very bright and sunny day all day. We have had very steady wind all day from the south and have maintained a steady 5-6 knots on a heading of about 250 degrees. New forecasts show a shift to the SE that we are very much looking forward to.

Current Position:
1 deg 07' North
87 deg 03' West

Happy Easter everybody
Alan and Crew

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Onboard Update Day 4, Sat. April 3nd

***Life on board***
7:56am- Last night we feasted on Rice with chick peas, fish curry delight (one of Trevor's specialities), and fish stir-fry with peppers, onions and some peanuts! The fish is keeping very will in our ice cooler. And yes, we still have ice! Will is finishing up his watch now and I will be on momentarily, Trevor and Adam are both out like lights. Adam on the floor and Trevor in Adam's bunk. Sometimes we sleep in each others bunks when the boat is rocking because the two aft bunks are by far the most comfortable when the boat is moving around a lot so we swap in and out. Adam is on the floor because the two aft bunks were taken and the floor is the next best place especially with a big v-berth cushion thrown down.

Will reported seeing a pod of about 30 dolphins this morning just after sunrise, "but now they are gone. I got some video though!" he said excitedly. My watch went by pretty fast with not much to report. We have noticed a cooler breeze today and more birds than we have seen in the last two days. Some of them are larger white birds and occasionally they fly very close to the sails but only for a moment getting some kind of lift from the boat and resting.

7:12pm- We just finished up dinner. Fish with onion and pepper stir-fry this time with cheddar cheese melted on top then put in a pita bread with onions and mustard YEAH! We also had crackers and cheese. We are lucky to have a block of cheddar cheese and to be able to keep it cold. If we had known the ice would work so well me might have brought more cheese.

Not much to report today in terms of boat life. The days seem to be going by very fast (as least to me) and I spent a majority of the day awake reading since I got a good long chunk of sleep last night.

I am currently reading a book called 'Evolution's Captain' by Peter Nichols about the voyages made by Captain Robert FitzRoy aboard the survey ship HMS Beagle in the 1830's including the famed 5 year voyage with Charles Darwin who gained fame through this voyage with his meticulous preservation of animals, plants, birds, bugs, coral, and even fossils from around the world. He is most well known for his eventual realizations on the evolution of some of the species that he collected, especially those in the Galapagos Islands. It is a great historical read and gives some incredible insight into what it was like to be a discoverer of new lands in the not so distant past. Voyagers who took to the sea then are most akin to the astronauts of today, boldly going into the unknown in the name of science and the human race. Sailors and discoverers (as they are synonymous) of the world were literally sailing right off their charts. The Beagle, a specially outfitted survey ship carried precise instruments for making measurements of position by celestial observation. These were later used to improve, or in some cases map out for the first time, coastlines, safe harbors, and dangerous rocks for ships to better navigate by. Darwin's position of "naturalist" onboard the survey ship was more or less a fortunate coincidence.

Nowadays with GPS, Radar, and accurate charts of anywhere you want to go, a circumnavigation seems almost easy by comparison. It makes me really in awe of what Captain FitzRoy accomplished with few charts, no GPS, no Radar, not even waterproof Raincoats! And what's more, Darwin and FitzRoy were 22 and 26 years old at the time of the famed voyage. Inspiring!

***The Boat***
As expected with the wind on the nose, the battery bank is charging well thanks to the wind generator. We are currently a healthy 86% of full. Windvane, sails, rigging, stove, electronics (everything) are all working smoothly but as always...we knock on wood. You can knock on it for us too. You can never be too careful.

***Communication***
After checking into the Panama Connection net this morning, we re-connected with the sailing catamaran "Gemini" also bound for Wreck Bay on San Cristobal, Galapagos. They were to the south and east of us (about 80 miles) as of 8:30am and we checked in again with them at 6:50pm just to say hi, check out each others weather conditions and position. They seem to be gaining on us slightly and also possibly experiencing more wind (being further south) than we are. Time will tell. Needless to say, the race is on.

***Weather***
Early this morning, the wind shifted more to the west and pushed us from a heading of about 250 degrees onto a heading of around 280 degrees (North away from Galapagos) after which we tacked onto a heading of about 140 degrees so as to make some progress south. As the wind shifted again back into the south we started making more easting than southing so we tacked again back on a course just high of our layline to the Galapagos which lies at around 230 degrees. We continue on this course now. Our forecast indicates that another shift like the one experienced today might occur again tomorrow and then, with luck, another shift bringing wind from the SE will allow us to head right for our goal. (knock on wood). We have been immensely lucky so far to not have not had to turn on the engine ONCE! (knock on wood again)

***Special Upcoming Events***
We are all (well at least I am) very much looking forward to our crossing of the equator! We are planning a very special ceremony. It will be my first time EVER in the Southern Hemisphere (south of the equator). I can sit in the cockpit saying to myself, "I've never been further south than THIS"..."Now, I've never been further south than THIS!!" It's fun at first but then it gets old.

Also coming up will be our crossing of the 90 degree of longitude which signifies our passing into another TIME ZONE! We will be in GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) minus 6 hours. GMT -6 and the ships clock will be adjusted as such. Also by a great coincidence, The Galapagos is situated due south of St. Louis, Missouri, USA (and therefore shares it's time zone) the home town of none other than Eye crew member Trevor!

Current Position:
1 deg 53' North
84 deg 55' West

Sailing Along
Alan and Crew

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Onboard Update Day 3, Fri. April 2nd

***Life on board***
It is nearing 4:30pm onboard. This morning I took the 5am to 8am watch. This watch is agreed to be one of the best watches due to the fact that you get some light but it is still nice and cool. And you get to see the sunrise. On my morning watch. I took note of the following things floating by:

-6:19am A black flip flop, overturned
-6:32am A broken black bucket
-6:47am Something yellow
-6:58am A pair of corks floating together
-7:01am The other flip flop
-7:14am A white piece of foam and a waterbottle

In addition, we have seen lots of birds despite being far our to sea. Also, as of today, there is a large brown and grey moth about 2 inches long hitching a ride on one of our backstays. Perhaps a stowaway from Panama, I saw him flying around this morning and he has been resting on the aft deck ever since.

We have been able to sail all day today although a wind shift last night (see weather) has changed life on board a little. We are now sailing into the wind and no longer with it. Our house is therefore leaning a little to starboard which (as you already know, if you kept up with Trevor's post about the effects of heel on boat life) causes us to have to close the drain for the sink lest it flood the galley meaning that dirty dishwater must be scooped out manually. It also means that anyone venturing into the head may have to coordinate with the helmsman if they wish to have any water with their flush.

The other major downside to sailing upwind (also called "beating") is that unless the water is perfectly flat, which it is not here, (actually its quite choppy right now) then there will be spray coming over the windward rail which may or may not make it into your lap as you sit reading in the cockpit. This also necessitates that the windows on the port side (in the V-berth and the head) remain closed as well as the two cabin hatches on top so that we don't get everything inside the boat wet. This in turn makes the boat hot and muggy down below. It's not nearly as bad as if we were running the engine (knock on wood) mind you but it is still a little uncomfortable.

For breakfast this morning we had cereal (Rasin Bran) and milk (powdered milk) and for lunch, FISH. This time a baked fish dish with a mango salsa (mango, onion, red peppers, garlic some oregano and a pinch of salt piled on top of 4 big fillets in some oil). For dinner...you guessed it. As soon as this is sent, I'm on dinner duty.

***The Boat***
A benefit (yes there are some) of sailing upwind is that our apparent wind (the wind that we feel on deck) is greater than the actual wind speed due to the fact that we are moving. This makes the wind generator very happy and we are charging a lot more now. The battery bank is currently at 70% of full and we expect it will improve if this wind keeps up (knock on wood).

***Communication***
We successfully checked in once again to the "Panama Connection" ham radio net this morning at 8:30am to report our updated information.

***Weather***
Last night the wind died briefly and filled back in eventually from the south. We are now sailing a course of about 240 degrees magnetic and are glad to be making south and westward progress without the use of "the iron tops'l". The wind is currently out of the S at around 15knots and we have swapped the #1 headsail for the #3 which is working out well.

Position:
2 deg 45' North
83 deg 40' West

More to come
Alan and Crew

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Onboard Update 9:30pm (A Fishy Tale)

Get ready for a fishy tale...

It all started when we spotted a lot of birds hovering over one spot out ahead of us. Occasionally they would dive down to grab a meal. Little fish on the surface usually means bigger ones down below. In no time we had pulled out our brand spanking new "mahi-jet" lure (which we had been saving for a pacific occasion) This lure has it all: green and yellow flashy colors, squid like rubber dangle-do's, even slits cut in the front which make a bubble trail behind it with beads inside that "rattle" as it is pulled along. Of course it also has a nice big shiny hook hidden in the tail. So we let it out and sure enough in about 20 min of trolling. we hear that now oh so familiar sound and we know exactly what to do.

"Ziiizzz Zizzzz," the line is flying off the reel and the pole is bent back hard. Trevor jumps for the reel and starts to tighten the choke which slows down the release of line but it just keeps spinning out and out. Then the line goes taught and for a second there is silence before...sssBANG! the line shoots back down the pole and the now broken end flops tensionless in the cockpit. The fish was gone and so was our lure. Thus ended the life of the brand new "mahi-jet" lure. A short lived yet probably intensely exiting life.

We got over it pretty quickly and soon we had new line on the reel and a new lure out in the water. This time a trusty favorite the "cedar plug" this is just what it sounds like, a cedar (wooden) plug about 5 inches long with a line running through it and a hook on the end. We dressed it up a little with some yellow and green rubber squid tentacles that slid over the top and we thought disguised the hook quite well. Now we wait.

We went about other things. Including a jam session in the cockpit with all instruments present and cameras rolling. I made PB&J sandwiches for everyone and we hung out in the cockpit just sailing along. And then...

"Ziiizzz!!! Zizzz!!! "Trevor the reel!", "Get it, Get it!", "I got it, I got it!". He tightens the choke but it is obvious that this is something very very big. "I'd better let it out some," he says, "we gotta try and tire it out" and boy was he right. Suddenly, we saw it... A sea monster of enormous proportions leapt from the water about 50 yards off our stern. We were speechless, aside from our lunatic screaming, "holy cow it's huge! What are we gonna do?" It's a fair question, this is by far the biggest fish we have ever hooked. Adam and Will set to work slowing the boat down (we were doing almost 8 knots) and I grabbed a pair of gloves and our gaff hook (our 3 foot long gaff hook, at that moment seemed like a joke). Trevor worked the monster fish for about 30 minutes trying to tire it out. It continued to leap out of the water flashing its huge body at us. We were stunned. This can't be happening.

Finally Trevor brings it close in and now it's hugging the side of the boat but it hasn't given up yet and I tell him to let it back out again. It would be suicide to attempt to bring it on board with so much fight left in it. It was thrashing and jumping. It could easily have knocked one of us out or trashed the cockpit if it got free. We used the time to regroup and plan the next moves. We cleared the deck and put away the headsail. By now the sun has set and I am using a headlamp to watch the fish from the bow. My gloves are on and with gaff hook in hand, Trevor and Adam both lead the burdened fishing pole around the rigging to the bow. I reach down and go for it. I hook the gills and pull it up out of the water grabbing hold firmly with my other hand and put it on the deck. Trevor jumps onto the tail and holds it down firmly. "Don't let it get free i say!" The adrenaline is rushing. Now the yucky part...

Up until this point the fish we have killed had been small enough that a firm thrust with a sharp knife put them out of their misery in no time flat. This however was a whole new ball game. I was given the gruesome task of dispatching the beautiful beast as I have done with our previous fish. I guess I'm the fish guy. With bigger fish we had read that a club was sometimes used to literally knock the fish out. Having no club to speak of, we employed the 3 foot long heavy steel handle of the anchor windlass to great effect. I'll spare you the details. "How long is it? get the tape measure," Adam says. We hold the tape measure from the tip of the tail to the tip of the nose. Are you sitting down?...7 feet 1.5 inches and we have pictures to prove it. I told you this thing was a monster.

It took a further 45 minutes to clean the fish. It just kept giving and giving. We filled a large cooler bag full of boneless, skinless fillets which went immediately on ice. Thank goodness we filled the cooler with ice before leaving Panama. Throwing back nothing but inedible bones, it is good practice to waste nothing that you must kill. Personally I feel this is important out of respect to the animal (fish in this case).

It is now 9:30pm. Everything is mostly back to normal (save for the cooler full of delicious fish). We have the sails set again and are still sailing well (and in the desired direction, always a plus). Trevor is on watch, Adam is resting, I am writing this update, and Will is, what else, cooking fish! I can smell it from here. Pan fried, bread crumbs, egg. --Update-- I just had the fish. It was delicious! Man oh man. What a fish. Can't wait to share the photos.

Position (9:30pm)
3 deg 53' North
82 deg 18' West

Thanks to the sea. She provides for us once again.
Goodnight
Alan and Crew

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Onboard Update Day 2, Thurs. April 1st

***Life on board***
Yesterday afternoon the crew continued to enjoyed calm seas and following winds making good progress south. At around 5pm we spotted dolphins off the port side but they didn't investigate us for long. We also came upon what looked like a black balloon off in the distance which turned out to be a small black flag on the end of a pole stuck into a buoy. Nearby there was also a small white buoy. We are not sure what these could be but our best guess is that they were marking some kind of a net. Dolphins were jumping nearby perhaps warning us to steer clear.

Our newly installed "boat horn" (installed in colon) has been a great moral booster lately. It is a small electric horn mounted under our radar dome which has a push button switch near the wheel. We love honking the horn gleefully for passing boats at anchor but also like to honk just for the fun of it. Most recently, honking the horn has been used to great and hilarious effect to interrupt people before they can speak. For example, Alan says, "Hey Trevor, what is that over there?". Trevor turns and says, "I don.....HONK! HONK!" See? Hilarious!

Last night we all sat down to enjoy MOVIE NIGHT during which we watched Austin Powers. Shortly after, the night watchers hit their bunks and the boat was quiet till morning.

It is now almost 1pm onboard. Trevor is resting. Adam is on watch and Will is trying his best to photograph some birds which have made their way out to sea with us. This just in! A turtle was spotted off the port side. It was swimming next to a big log about 6 feet long. Maybe it is a "LOG"-gerhead turtle. Hey Trevor, put that in the "LOG" book. Haha. All is well with the crew.

***The Boat***
This morning we noticed a small amount of wear on the leech of our #1 headsail no doubt caused by rubbing on the mast. The loose threads appear superficial and we are keeping an eye on it. Repairs are now scheduled for this sail to keep the wear from getting any worse.

Our wind generator is whirring now but we are still very power conscious and have turned off electronics save for the GPS during the day to give the solar panels and wind generator maximum effect to recharge the batteries. Currently our battery monitor says that we are at 79%. With the wind predicted to die off soon, the engine may soon become "the great recharger" allowing us to power whatever we like but until then we must try not to take more than we can make. Other than some pots and pans finding a home on the floor of the cockpit last night, all else is well with our beloved home.

***Communication***
This morning we successfully "checked-in" with both the 'Panama Connection' and the 'Pan-Pacific' ham radio "nets". These nets meet every morning to keep track of vessels underway and to give vessels underway an opportunity to communicate with one another. We reported our destination, position, weather conditions, speed, and heading so that others may plan their own crossing and or keep track of us. We also made a friend this morning who is also underway to the Galapagos just ahead of us. See the Science of Sailing Post "A friendly race to the Galapagos".

***Weather***
We are glad to report that we are still enjoying a north wind which is pushing us south at a healthy average of around 7 knots. Unfortunately, the forecast calls for the wind to die at any time today. Last night we observed some heat lightening way off to our west but the sky above was clear and the moon shone brightly. This morning we have a mostly clear sky and bright sun.

Position:
4 deg 57' North
81 deg 13' West

Over and Out
Alan and Crew

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