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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