Author: mtashby

Current Position: 10 58.458’N 127 01787W; Course: 180; SOG: 5.2 kt; TWS: 17.3 kt; TWD: 030; TWA: 142; Distance to Waypoint (Hiva Oa): 1438 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 1864 nm;
Comments: There was a beautiful sunset last night. The sun itself was blotted out by thick clouds, but the sea was turned red by indirect light. I tried to get some sleep about 20:30, but was waken a half hour later by an increase in wave height that caused the boat to roll. At daylight, I replaced the first reef line and shook out the second reef. About three-quarters of the Yankee was deployed. That gained me about 0.5 kt boat speed (5.5-6 in 18 kt). The seas are relatively calm this morning and the skies are clear. Should be a good day to make water. I relaxed in the cockpit most of the morning. It’s been 3-4 days since that was possible (because of the waves, spray, etc.). My 9:00 check showed I made (1610-1478) 132 nm on in the last 24h, my best day yet because I sailed only 16 degrees off the waypoint. That’s an average of 5.5 kt (half a knot better than average), and with a double-reefed main. The fact I used the TillerPilot the whole time (because the control lines on the wind vane need to be replaced) may have had something to do with it. The seas were relatively calm today. Winds blew steady 15-19 kt all afternoon, propelling the boat 5-6 kt. It was perhaps the best day of sailing since the trip began. It became partly cloudy in the afternoon, but nothing that looked threatening. As I write this, the boat is surrounded by flying fish. There are also many seabirds, feeding on the flying fish. It amazes me to find them a thousand miles from the nearest land. I have started including the total number of miles sailed since leaving on my trip from San Carlos. I just caught a Dorado, the perfect size for a couple of meals.
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Current Position: 13 04.169’N 126 16.989’W; Course: 180; SOG: 5.1 kt; TWS: 20.6 kt; TWD: 037; TWA: 141; Distance to waypoint (Hiva Oa): 1569 nm;
Comments: Last night was uneventful. Concerned there might be squalls at night, I left the jib mostly furled and two reefs in the main. Still, I averaged 5 kt to the S. At first light I sat in the cockpit for a while. The seas had calmed down, but I was surrounded by squalls and heavily overcasts skies. I was only doing 4 kt in 14 kt of wind, but I resisted the urge to shake out a reef, because the wind almost always picks up after sunrise. Instead, I let out half the jib (which better balanced the sails anyway) and made 5.5 kt, which I was satisfied with until I could learn what Nature’s plan was for the day. I was as right about the wind, which picked up to 21 and veered more easterly about 8:30, allowing me to point almost directly at the Marquesas (195) and make 5.5-6 kt, which given the sea conditions, was about all I could expect. Sea conditions have made it very difficult to cook, but I managed to cook some curry noodles last night and oatmeal this morning. More importantly, I managed to get most of it in my mouth rather than all over the galley. My 9:00 progress check showed I made good 118 nm to the waypoint, one of my best days, despite using almost no headsail and a double-reefed main. This is due to the fact my heading is now towards the Marquesas. I also lost almost exactly two degrees of latitude, as expected. PredictWind has not come around to my way of thinking and has modeled basically the course I am on. It looks like I will have these 20+ kt winds until Sunday, and then the winds will die down. Starting next week, I’ll have to deal with the ITCZ. Once I know I don’t have to deal with wind gusts over 12 or so, I will break out the asymmetrical spinnaker. I have been following two other boats that left Cabo about the same time. Both chose to go south earlier. While it is unclear whether that strategy will prove to be faster, it is clear they are dealing with more serious storms down there right now. I had some excitement about when I discovered one of the control pins for the wind vane had washed overboard and was being dragged behind the boat. I used a gaff to retrieve it and did some acrobatics off the stern of the boat (while clipped in of course) in big following seas to retread the line through the tubing and pulley system of the wind vane. While doing that, I noticed the part of the line that goes through the tubes was frayed to the point that the wind vane is not reliable if used unattended (for example when I am sleeping). As a friend told me, everything on your boat is broken, you just don’t know it yet. Like yesterday, the sun came out for a bit in the middle of the day, just in time to charge the house battery bank. Up to that point, I had turned off everything that was not necessary to pilot the boat (including the VHF, AIS, refrigerator, etc.). The afternoon was pleasant sailing with 15-22 kt wind. I averaged 5 kt with half the Yankee and a double-reefed main. I could probably gained more, but it was nice for a change not to thrash about. I was able to prepare hot meals.
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Current Position: 15 40.541’N 125 29.557W; Course: 183; SOG: 5.3 kt; TWS: 16.8 kt; TWD: 043; TWA: 142; Distance to waypoint (Hiva Oa): 1728 nm;
Comments: I could tell last night the weather was changing. At 4:00 the winds shifted and I jibed south. I went back to sleep about 5:30 and woke up about 7:00 and looked outside and although the winds were relatively light, about 11 kt, I could tell there were storms developing. I wanted to furl the jib, but it seemed hung up. I went forward and found a piece of the furler sitting precariously on the bowsprit. I grabbed it before it fell overboard. The “finger ring” clamps around the base of the furler and keeps the furling line from wrapping around the forestay, I have been having a problem with that but couldn’t figure out why. The two halves clamp together with two screws and one a cleaved off, the consequence of crevice corrosion. Unfortunately, I did not have a a replacement for the special screw. Despite the fact the remaining screw was bent, I tightened it and used stainless steel wire in place of the other screw. The piece is not really load-bearing, so it should hold until I can arrange for a more permanent fix. While I was on the bowsprit fixing the furler, it started to rain. A squall was developing. I quickly finished my work, furled the headsail, and put two reefs in the main just as the squall hit with 35 kt winds. The worse of it was over pretty quickly, although it continued to rain for a couple of hours. I could see other squalls around the boat (visually and on radar), so I left the jib mostly furled and the two reefs in the main all day. Nonetheless, I sailed south at about 5-6 kt most of the day. As I write this, I can see more squalls upwind, so I will leave the sailed reduced overnight.

Current Position: 16 04.090’N 124 06.263’W; Course: 245; SOG: 6.0 kt; TWS: 19.1 kt; TWD: 045; TWA: 149; Distance to waypoint (Hiva Oa): 1788 nm;
Comments: Last night was uneventful. Winds averaged about 15 and did not get experience the wind gusts that were predicted. Waves were high and at times the boat rolled significantly. I woke up to overcast skies … little solar. The weather forecast seems to be changing rapidly/often. My 9:00 progress check was 95 nm (1813 nm to waypoint). I have been traveling on average 260 all day, nearly due W. As I approach the longitude of the Marquesas, my progress towards the waypoint has been lessened, even though my average speed today was over 6 kt. I believe tomorrow by dusk or perhaps Friday morning I will be ready to jib towards the S. At that point, ai expect to make two degrees latitude per day until I reach the ITCZ.
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Current Position: 16 05.916’N 121 22.503’W; Course: 254; SOG: 6.1 kt; TWS: 17.8 kt; TWD: 035; TWA: 142; Distance to waypoint (Hiva Oa): 1875 nm;
Comments: Nature played an April Fool’s joke on me. Since I had just got cleaned up, I decided to wear something clean to sleep last night. When I went to the hanging locker, I found everything was soaked … my summer and winter clothes, clean bedding, towels, shoes … everything. A quick taste proved it was salt water. One of the latches for a porthole behind the door, one I cannot normally see and don’t use, was loose, and gallons of seawater must have come through it over the past week or so (I wired the dog ears of the hatch down so it cannot happen again). It is lucky I found out, or everything would have mildewed. In any case, the whole boat has been turned into a clothesline. Everything with zippers had to be rinsed in fresh water (so much for the water I made yesterday). It’s hard enough to keep things dry, now the inside of the boat is like a sauna. The clothes I washed this yesterday morning and were hanging all day outside were still not dry, so it is going to take days to get the things dry enough to store. And, I won’t be able to use the hanging locker because it’s going to take even longer to dry it out. Ironically, I also used the locker to store my extra-absorbent paper towels, which were of course a soggy mess. I am going to dry things in batches and store them in on top of the stuff in the V-berth until I get to the Marquesas, where hopefully I can find a laundry. Since I have turned the cockpit into clotheslines, I cannot even see the wind vane, so I set up the TillerPilot for the night. I was passed by no fewer than ten ships during the night, none closer than 10 nm (this must be a shipping lane from Asia to the Panama Canal). I had sustained winds of 25 kt for long periods (30-60m). Since the sails were unreefed, I adjusted my course to be 250 to reduce the speed, but still surfed 8 kt at times. Also, there was a tendency for the boat to want to round up during the particularly strong gusts, sometimes even 280, but the boat never felt overpowered. I can hear if water is coming across the leeward toe rail, and in general it was not. The forecast is for stronger winds at I travel W. I will reef tomorrow before dusk. My average speed overnight (beginning at 22:00) was 7.3 kt. At times, the boat was surfing almost 9 kt. Despite the fact that I had the course set for 255, the actual course was due west due to the boat rounding up in the gusts, which sometimes hit 30 kt. The forecast is for stronger winds as I travel W. I will reef tomorrow before dusk. Right now, it looks like Thursday morning I will gib and start heading S. My 9:00 progress check shows I have made good 96 nm towards the waypoint. Which is remarkable as I traveled almost due W the whole time. I am without doubt clear of the developing dead zone to the SE of me as it is blowing 25 kt steady. I notice that three sailboats that chose to travel S earlier than me are moving slower. One of them Bandit, who left a day and a half before me from Cabo, was 240 nm closer to the Marquesas, and now it is 200 nm, so I gained 40 miles on it despite the fact it is a larger/faster boat. I spent all day doing a preliminary drying of the clothes, bedding, shoes, etc. … developing a system. It was all made more difficult because the boat was rolling severely, anything hung anywhere outside except right under the hard dodger was just going to get more wet, there was no sun today, and I couldn’t open any of the portholes to get air in the cabin because periodic waves were crashing onto the deck. Nonetheless, by the end of the day, most of the stuff was at least partially dried. It was impossible to coke at the stove today. I ate some crackers and cheese, an apple, half a red bell pepper, and a hard boiled egg. In the afternoon the sea had settled down a bit after the blow last night, so I decided to shorten the sails to prepare for what I anticipate will be a bigger blow tonight. I sheeted the boom and the jib and headed downwind to take some of the load off the sails. I tried to partially furl the jib , but it would not budge. I could see the furling line was wrapped around the outside of the drum, something that happens sometimes when I sail downwind donating periods I went forward to clear the line and noticed a weld in one of the stanchions had failed under the load of a preventer line. I temporarily secured the stanchion, rerouted the preventer, cleared the furler line, and put a reef in the main. I’m going to have to find a welder in the Marquesas. It’s been a busy 24h.
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Current Position: 16 21.409’N 118 35.602’W; Course: 255; SOG: 6.2kt; TWS: 17.8 kt; TWD: 037; TWA: 131; Distance to waypoint (Hiva Oa): 1984 nm;
Comments: Just after I submitted my check-in yesterday, my dolphin buddies dropped by to say hi. Not as many as yesterday, perhaps a half-dozen, and they didn’t stick around too long. Shortly after that, I noticed the mainsail was misshaped. It was ballooned around the lazy jack lines. Thinking it was because I had the boom out 45 degrees, I went to the mast to loosen the lazy jack. Even when the lines were loosened to the point the sail pack had dropped, the sail was misshapen. Then I noticed the first jiffy reef line was not attached. It had abraded through where it passed through the grommet in the sail. Fortunately, there was enough line to reattach it. Next time I am at anchor, I will sew some dyneema (firehose ) sleeves around the lines where they pass through the sail. And, when it rains it pours. There are two tankers crossing my path tonight, one about 22:00 and the other some hours later. The tankers proved to be less of a problem than the other sailboat near me, Dovka. Nonetheless, I was awake the first half of the night monitoring the vessels. I was also kept awake because I had chosen to leave the sails wing on wing, which had worked great during the day, but at night the wind backed to the N but the swell remained from the NW causing the boat to rock violently. I sheeted the boom and tried to sail more of a broad reach, but the whisker pole was on the wrong side. To add to the problems, winds were gusting to 30 kt. Live and learn. I woke up to clear skies (it has been cloudy the past couple of days, and I cleared seven flying fish off the deck. At 8:00 I furled the jib, removed the whisker and sailed W on a broad reach at 5-6 kt in 17 kt winds. The other reason for heading W is there is a developing dead zone behind me and I don’t want to become becalmed.The 9:00 progress check showed I had made 110 toward Hiva Oa (2004 to go). it was a sunny day, which meant I had energy to make water. I took a shower and washed clothes. I calibrated the paddle wheel speed sensor. I knew it was off, but the app on my phone wouldn’t connect to it. I charged my backup iPad and for some reason it could connect. Now my BSPD and SOG are consistent. When I shook out the first reef in the main, I discovered the jiffy reefing line was not in fact long enough, so I temporarily spliced another one onto it. It’s always something. All the weather programs say I should be heading west to avoid a weakening system, so that is what I did (and will continue to do until Thursday morning or so). It will adversely impact my apparent progress to the Marquesas, but will be faster in the long run. I did over 6 kt the whole day. The control line on the wind vane needs to be replaced. It is original and has become hard and slick, so it slips sometimes in the cam cleats. I don’t think I have the right diameter with me, so I will look for some double braid when I get to FP. As I write this, a large cargo ship is coming up on my stern, about an hour away, but it looks like no action will be needed (it will pass to my starboard quarter by a mile or two).