***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