06-Mar-2012, 305nm to go to the Galapagos

At about 0630 yesterday (Mon, 05MAR) morning some steady wind out of S...SE set in at 7-12kn. We had a beautiful sail, close reaching at ~5kn over the entire day with the Hydrovane steering happily and Namani clocking away the miles. The wind died again in the evening but around midnight a light breeze has set in again, allowing us to resume our slow drift at 2.5kn. We've now dropped below 2°N and will soon break the "300nm to go" mark. We now have a steady cloud cover during the day, but with very little vertical development. Also, the clouds seem to fall apart after sunset, despite the warm surface temperatures of the water. Very different so far from the typical squally conditions during our Atlantic crossing 4 1/2 years ago. Some more dolphin company today. A nice and relaxing day overall. All is well aboard, stay tuned...

PS: Picture above shows Nicky today in "Boat School"

09 - Pacific Crossing

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Wind: none
04-Mar-2012, 421nm to go to the Galapagos

While we had light winds suffcient for slowly sailing on a close reach from midnight last night to about 1500h this afternoon, the air hasn't moved around us since then. An opportunity for Nana to inflate the kayak and paddle around Namani in the open Pacific. For the rest of us the chance for a little swim call to cool off. The water temparature is significantly warmer than it was close to Panama and there is increasingly more moisture in the air as we move SW - so things start to feel truly tropical again. No convection so far but this will likely change as we get closer to the ITCZ (which has been stubbornly stuck just a bit south of the Equator).

This slow speed drift/sail is quite different from the longer passages we had so far and certainly has its upsides. The boat is flat and we could even have dinner at the cockpit table without the risk of cuttlery, plates and glasses becoming airborne. Nicky has been keeping busy with school work and reading. He also joined us in taking some sextant sights when we were trying to brush up our celastial navigation skills. Having seen a Killer Whale leisurely swimming past Namani just before dinnner has been another little highlight of the day. All is well aboard - stay tuned...

09 - Pacific Crossing

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Wind: very light out of the SE
04-Mar-2012, 470nm to go to the Galapagos

After slowly motoring through a dead calm through most of the day and the first part of the night we pulled the genoa back out at midnight when a hint of a breeze picked back up out of the SE. We are now sailing very slowly on a close reach under full main and barber hauled genoa over a moonlit Pacific that looks like a duck pond - absolutely beautiful! Otherwise, we had a relaxing day. Got checked out by a US Customs and Border Protection aircraft (see picture), giving us two low passes before deciding that we weren't Colombian drug lords and dissapearing in the distance. Earlier today everyone aboard got a bath (it's Saturday!) in Nicky's old inflatable kiddy pool. We put it in the cockpit, fill it with a few buckets of salt water and then rinse off with a bit of fresh water, before repeating the procedure for the next person. Now that would have been a sight for the CBP folks... Our daily routine includes a radio check-in in the morning with the Panpacific Net on 8 MHz and a radio chat later in the day with some other boats under way: Astarté, whom we met in Portobelo on the Atlantic side (Markus line-handled for them through the Canal), Avatar, whom we hope to meet in the Galapagos, and Azimuth (headed for the Ecuadorian mainland, Easter Island and Pitcairn - we may cross paths with them in Tahiti). Now it's time to get the latest weather forecast - let's hope those winds will pick up a bit and stay! All is well aboard, stay tuned.

09 - Pacific Crossing

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