Thursday, March 15, 2012

Third day outbound

Date: March 15, 2012, Time: 10:00am
22° 30.6' N 114° 44.5' W
Wind speed: 12 / wind dir: 345, Heading: 270, Speed: 6.5
Barometer: 1017, Water Temp: 69
Log: 3308.9, Batteries: %100
Distance remaining: 2263 Previous 24 hour run: by GPS: 142

I'm currently a few miles south of my rhumb line, and hours ago I altered course to head more directly toward my destination. I'm about 10 degrees north of the direct bearing to Hilo and so will make a little more northerly over the next little while. For most of yesterday and this early this morning I was sailing on starboard tack at 40deg apparent. Once I relaxed that to 60deg where we are now, the boat sped up nicely. So far, its all upwind sailing. I'm looking forward to some downwind sailing later... The weather GRIB file shows a high ridge approaching in 24 to 48 hours. This will confuse the winds here and delay the tradewinds I have been looking forward to. Drat.

At 5:45am (8:45 local) I was on deck looking around when a whale broached directly in my view! It was maybe 200 yards off the starboard beam of Luckness. The whale went down and then broached again. Most of the whale's body got out of the water and there was an incredible splash. It was awesome! 15 minutes later I saw the same whale broaching again to my stern and more north of where it was last time. Other than that, there isn't much going on here. Sleeping, eating, reading, some gymnastics as I move around the cabin. The swell is increasing in size, to perhaps 9 feet but the ride is fine.

3 comments:

  1. I hesitate to comment because I don't want to clog up your internet while at sea, but just know that we are watching every post with vicarious pleasure. So wonderful, this trek you are on.

    Take care, be safe, fair winds, etc..
    - Kit & Roy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your adventure is so awesome! And now a whale to greet you! Feeling fine! xo Mum

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Kit and Roy! Don't worry about adding comments to the blog. They don't get forwarded to me while I'm 'at sea'. I can only read them when I get back to shore and get plugged back into the internet. While I'm as sea, my email is limited to a sailmail account that I use mainly for weather, blog and a few people who know what it is. (If you try hard enough you can figure out the sailmail account, as they follow a pattern.) If you want the sailmail account, just let me know!

    ReplyDelete