08/22/2009, 48 48.64'N:175 49.63'E, Pacific Ocean
Saturday about 10:30am local time we spotted our first Humpback Whale. Joe was at the helm when he yelled, "whale" we all scurried to the topside to check it out. "There she blows" to our North, a humpback whale as we watch her magnificent presence leisurely floating by. One of life's grand moments indeed. Weather wise we have a two lows we are dodging one from the west and the other from the southwest. We are planning on the southwest low to somewhat catch up with us in about 12 hours. Which will be about midnight local time and of course at night. So we will get Equus ready for some higher winds and seas before the sun goes down. Till next time we bid you all well, Equus and crew.
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08/19/2009, 45 50'N:170 40'E, en route
Day 18. We are continuing to scratch our way north; each succeeding wind forecast indicates a doldrum just ahead. We are trying to wring as many miles north under sail as we can before starting the motor and using our limited amount of diesel fuel. Frustrating to be so close (4 days to Kiska at our current speed) and be facing a calm. So far, so good, although we are just going at 5 knots. Saw a large group of porpoises early this morning - what a joy. It is of course getting cooler every day - but so far tolerable to us who have spent so many months in the tropics.
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08/16/2009, 37 11'N:171 50'E, Pacific Ocean
We made the turn heading north at 9:45 local time and made a friend along the way. This guy rode our bow for a couple of hours.
Time has been the question, we have been trying to decipher what time do we go by out here? Zulu time, via Bob Cook our weather router, local time which we think is Zulu (Greenwich Mean time) + or - 11 hours depending which side of the date line you are following or then of course we are coming to the date line (@ 180 degrees) which will throw us into "Groundhog day" and we will live the same day twice.
The sky's are gloomy and gray, seas and wind have increased as we head toward the cold front that we hope to start to cross in the next few hours. Then it is reported the wind will clock around then lighten and hopefully the seas will follow suit and we may have to motor sail for some time to get us to the winds again.
We only have about 48 hours of cruising fuel left and then our reserve for the generator. Given we have over 1000 miles to our nearest fuel refill, (Adak Island) we are guarding our fuel consumption vigilantly.
Being Sunday we had blueberry pancakes and bacon (for the non-vegetarians) as our breakfast, corn beef hash for lunch, I had tofu hash of course and left over's for dinner. This quick dietary summery is to let you all know we are eating quite well. Now all we need is good southwest wind to keep us heading north.
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