Distance remaining: 463 Previous 24 hour run: by GPS: 150
Date: Mar 30, 2012, Time: 10am Hawaii time
19° 49' N 149° 28' W
Wind speed: 18 / wind dir: 050 (NE), Heading: 280, Speed: 6.0
Barometer: 1018, Water Temp: 73
Log: 5003.0
Distance remaining: 316 Previous 24 hour run: by GPS: 149
Its been sweet sailing for the last three days. I can leave the boat on a broad reach all day, starting below my rhumb line and end up above the line after a 24 hour run. Then I switch to wing-on-wing and let the boat run for another 24 hours and end up below the line. All the time I'm making good progress toward my destination. Right now I'm back on a broad reach, running well in moderate seas. There is the occasional wave which reaches up and hits the underside of my starboard solar panel and splashes its way into the cockpit. But aside from these infrequent rude waves its been a pretty dry ride. The boat continues to pitch, roll and yaw in the waves we are in, but not as much as it has earlier in this passage or earlier off the coast of Oregon. Its a pretty comfortable ride, although you rarely relax on board - I'm constantly bracing myself against something. My sea berth has been great for sleeping in - when lying down I can feel the boat rolling/pitching/yawing but the motion is minimized by where the berth is (close to middle of boat) and I can easily fall asleep. Being rather tired probably helps with this.
If everything remains relatively the same weather wise, I should be in Hilo on Sunday. Yipee! I don't want to arrive at night, and so will make a decision tomorrow on whether or not I continue at this pace, or slow down to ensure a daylight arrival. If I slow down, I'll arrive on Monday. I'm not exactly racing along as it is - the main is reefed as is the genoa. Its a conservative plan which handles the occasional gust up to the mid 20's easily and is comfortable. I would make a lousy racer if this passage is typical of how I'll do all long passages, as I'm not pressing the boat or myself very hard.
I continue to see a lot of flying fish around, although they are getting better about staying out of the boat. I am also seeing schools of infant flying fish - roughly 1 inch long with little wings. As the boat moves through the water I'll come across a school of these and they will all take to the air and fly away. It looks like the surface of the water erupts with tiny insects that are flying away - its hard to believe they are really fish. Which leads to the question: if a group of flying fish is referred to as a school in the water, do they become a flock when they take flight?
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| March 29. 24 hour surface |
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| March 29. 48 hour surface |
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| March 29. 72 hour surface |
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| March 30. 24 hour surface |
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| March 30. 48 hour surface |
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| March 30. 72 hour surface |
Catla got launched on the 28 and it was a swell party! Wish you'd been there. So, getting closer. What a ride! WooHoo! Congratulations! or almost. Love those flying insects. Flock works for me! :-) xoxoMum
ReplyDeleteThis is great reading. What timepiece are you using as a 3-alarm alarm for waking up (gads, every 20 minutes!) ? Or are they different timepieces with different alarm sounds?
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading about your "Land-Ho" moment. I agree with Mum.... flock it is.
Hi Elena. The timer I use is a WatchCommander. One site listing it is: http://www.sailsafely.com/ Oddly enough, Lunde marine in Ballard is the distributor I think. Its a great device. It was designed by a sailing couple, and they would use it even with the two of them aboard. Its highly recommended. Although for you folks who aren't single handing, I'm not sure how the off watch crew will like it. I believe you can turn the volume of the first alarm down.
ReplyDelete