05/29/2012, 06 51.084'S:115 19.354'W, Galapagos to Marquesas
its 2120zulu. SOG 6kts. COG 259mag. Wind is dead astern. We are sailing wing and wing. Which works pretty well. Though I wish we had a whisker pole. Thought it wouldn't be needed on a cat. But it would be helpful.
The weather is nice, though sailing downwind is HOT.
Sorry there haven't been any pictures in a while. I'm waiting until we get in to port with internet access somewhere. Our satellite service is outstanding, but it costs a fortune to post pictures through it on a regular basis. And now and then, when I get the bills, I remember that I'm not employed :).
I just put the fishing lines out again. It has been a while, since the last fish we caught was good sized, and our freezer was pretty full. So we'll see what we get this time. Mahi Mahi is always nice, but I'd love to catch a good tuna. Lots of tuna varieties, though, and some are not that great. But the good ones--outstanding!
We haven't seen any sign of civilazation in days. No ships or other boats at all. Though now and then we see a plane or a satellite at night. And we have been in SSB Radio contact with some friends. We speak to a boat named Barefoot every afternoon. The are about 500 miles south of us, heading to the Austral Islands. We also spoke to our friends on the Clementie yesterday--they are still in the Galapagos. And every evening I check in on the Pacific Seafarer's net, which is a ham radio net that keeps track of any boats sailing the pacific that want to check in. They also log the positions of the various boats, and can provide a way to get in contact with boats at sea. Boat positions can be see on the "yotreps" website. google "yotreps" which is a phonetic verson of Yacht Reps (or reports...). Some boats need to be looked up via their ham radio call sign. Mine is KK4FWI.
All is well here, and I hope it is there as well....wherever there is....
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Comments [1]
05/28/2012, 06 02.473'S:112 43.578'W, Galapagos to Marquesas
I hate mondays. Getting up for work after a nice weekend really sucks. Oh, wait.....
Position is as of 1900z. SOG 6.7k. COG 258mag. All is well. We are now about 1300 miles from the closest piece of land. It is hard to find any part of the ocean that gets you farther from land than this. You can do it further south in the south pacific, really in the southern ocean, between New Zealand Cape Horn. Maybe a couple other places...but not many. Our Closest port would now be Easter Island. Which hardly qualifies, as there is no port.
Very much looking forward to getting to the Marquesas. Sometime next week....
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05/27/2012, 05 45.49'S:109 56.06'W, Galapagos to Marquesas
Position is as of 1825zulu. SOG 7.8kts. COG 258mag.
8 days done, starting our 9th. Officially our longest time at sea. All is well. Lots of books being read :). And a fair number of movies and tv shows being watched.
Boat is sailing really well right now. Seas are easy and from the right direction. We expect this to change on either the 30th or the 31st. The grib files are showing that a potentially uncomfortable swell will come in from the S to maybe even SW. 3 to 5 meters. Not looking forward to it. Must be a system somewhere south that is sending up remnant swell. The grib files disagree on the period. I hope the one showing the longest period is right!! It looks like the big swell ought to last a couple of days.
Fried mahi has been delicious!!
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Alan Walton.
05/26/2012, 05 22.798'S:107 22.332'W, Galapagos to Marquesas
Location is as of 18:46zulu today. SOG is 7 kts. COG is 260mag.
All is well. don't feel like writing much today. Last 24hrs has been a good sail averaging about 8kts, often well into the 9's. Winds have died a bit again now.
Lovely fried mahi for lunch...
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05/25/2012, 05 14.573'S:104 19.356'W, Galapagos to Marquesas
Position is as of noon, 1800zulu. COG is 250mag. SOG is 6.2kts. Wind 15kts ESE. Seas 2.2meters. Are we there yet?
All is well. Motion is kind of tough with the seas coming on the beam. Kids are working on their french lessons. Amy made some ginger bars. I just sit around ordering everyone to work harder.
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05/24/2012, 04 56.957'S:102 09.699'W, Galapagos to Marquesas
Its 1:31 EDT or 19:31 zulu. SOG 5.6 kts COG 268mag. Thie wind has died and come around to the east, dead on the stern, so we are motor sailing a bit today. Hopefully it will move to the SE soon and pick up a bit. All is well. Just a couple thousand miles to go....
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05/23/2012, 04 24.399'S:099 39.976'W, South Pacific
Another day. More water. We are sailing at 7.5 kts with a bit of help from the equatorial current. COG is 249Mag. We regularly change course now, so that whenever we can head west, we do. Then when the wind gets lighter or the wind backs, we can point more southerly. Just trying to keep the boat speed up and the comfort level up. The winds are about 14kts. The have been oscillating between about 12 and 19. Occasionally a little less and occasionally a little higher.
We decided to put the fishing lines in, and we caught a lovely Mahi Mahi within abougt 2hrs. Enough for a lunch and a dinner for the 4 of us. We will put the lines back in when we feel like having more fish.
Today Amy and the kids have been watching a school of tuna surf in our wake, pretty neat sight.
All is well.
Oh, I forgot, I was going to mention when we got further west than Duluth, MN. It was only a couple of days ago. We are nearing 100w. Whiich is about the longitude of Bismarck, ND. Duluth is at about 92west and is actually almost due north of the Galapagos--it is actually slightly west of the Galapagos. The Galapagos are around 90west. For as long as we've been sailing west, we've only made it into the western Midwest!!
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05/22/2012, 03 42.33'S:096 48.066'W, South Pacific
Its 18:08zulu (noon local). COG 240mag SOG 7.2kts. We are making good progress. I can't believe the number of squid that end up on deck leaving inkspots that I hope wash off when we get in. We are starting our fourth day, and all is well. Amy was kind enough to make bacon and eggs this morning, and a cake as well!
Had an interesting breakage yesterday. The shackle holding down our main sheet just shattered. It wasn't under high load, but we were wallowing a bit, and I think it popped when the main filled. Fortunately we have a spare. The spare, however, broke open too, without breaking the shackle though. When I reattached it, I lashed it down with some spectra. Also developed a small tear in the jib along the luff tape--so we dropped it and I stitched it with a bit of spectra tape too. Can't have enough spectra stuff on board...
Now to figure out a way to absorb some of the shock loads on the main preventer...
Its roasting hot today but its nice in the breeze in a shady spot in the cockpit.
Kids are doing math right now, and we are having them write an essay each day to pass the time.
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05/21/2012, 02 23.134'S:094 16.170'W, South Pacific
its 9:40 am local, 15:40zulu. COG 230mag SOG 7kts (STW 8.5!!)
We are starting our third day, and beginning to get into a rhythm. We have had good sailing so far, but the current has been against us, and the seas are a little confused--so it could be more comfortable. We are hoping to get into better current etc. by tomorrow. But who knows.
Deck is covered with squid and flying fish. Yuck.
All is well.
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05/20/2012, 01 19.41'S:92 26.27'W, SW of the Galapagos
its 19:50z or about 2:50 UTC - 6. Which is Galapagos time or Eastern Daylight. Its hot and sunny, and the fish are everywhere. There are schools and schools of flying fish jumping. Often being chased by a tuna or two that leap after them. We don't have lines out right now because the freezer is too full and no one feelis like cleaning fish right now ha ha. We clipping along on heading of 221mag at about 6.5 to 7 kts SOG. Our speed through the water is in the mid 8's but we have some current against us now. We are trying to get some southing in to get to better current.
all is well.
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