Japan to Alaska Day 8
12 June 2016 | Boat position at noon: 45 38.64'N; 156 20.0'E
Pam Lau and Ted Berry
Picture: A pot of Thai chicken stew secured to the stove by stainless "pot holders". The stove itself is hung on gimbals so that when the boat heels, the stove stays level.
Day 8 position at noon: 45 38.64'N; 156 20.0'E Noon to noon miles: 97 To date miles: 21,999 Cloudy in the morning, cold (again). Morning: Wind - Southeast 4-8 knots Boat speed: 4.5 knots, motored a bit but sailed most of the time Afternoon: Wind -east, 20-23 knots, in the evening it increased to 27-30 knots, headwind. Boat Speed: 6-8 knots (sails heavily reefed)
Breakfast: Oatmeal, dried fruit and cashews. Lunch: Scrambled eggs on toast and bacon. Dinner: Spinach, potatoes, small bit of ham, udon noodles. Dessert: Chocolate cookies (a piece each). Drink: Coffee, hot and cold water, wheatgrass-lemon-honey water. Snack: Granola bar, dried pineapple, dried fish, peanuts and Japanese crunchy bars.
It seems that each day, we put on another layer of clothing and another blanket on our bed. It is freezing cold! We try to use our kerosene stove but it was too dangerous because when the glass chimney tips to the side, a naked flame flares up. We tried last night when the sea was a little bit calmer but one of us has to sit in front of it so that we can hit the "off" button if a big wave comes. When that happens we use a kitchen knife to hold the glass chimney down. The stove has an automatic cut-off switch in case it gets knocked over, but it is secured to the mast so that is not going to happen.
Our first water tank of 20 gallons is empty. Now we have started on our last 50 gallon tank. We have to seriously conserve water. It means no showers until we get to Alaska; wash "important parts" of course. We started to use sea water to wash the dishes and I used it to make Thai chicken stew yesterday. I had to dilute it with three-quarter of fresh water otherwise it would be too salty for our taste. It turned out very nice, but I like to add my own seasoning so I think I will not use seawater for cooking.
I was getting somewhat seasick so I took a pill. Somehow it always makes me sleepy so I took a nap. I felt refreshed after the rest. I heard the engine stop so I know we have wind. Ted said, "Unfortunately we are heading straight north again". We want to go east as much as possible and then when we reach our waypoint we would turn towards Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Unfortunately, it did not turn out that way. The wind at night kept pushing us north. Worse yet, it pushed us a bit to the west of due north, toward Russia, opposite to the direction that we want to go. It was like a continuation of last night's nightmare, except worse. We have been using the genoa exclusively so far but Ted thought the mainsail would allow us to sail closer to the wind so we could use the strong wind to sail east even though the wind was coming from the east. After we hoisted the mainsail, which involves lots of work, it did not work out as we planned, so we dropped it again. The problem turned out to be the autopilot. Right in the middle of the raging storm, the autopilot all of sudden quit working! This is a serious problem! We cannot steer outside in the cold and wet until we get to Alaska! For about forty minutes, the wind pushed us toward west, while Ted rigged up the wind vane steering system. He tried to fix the autopilot, but couldn't. I think by that time he was totally exhausted because he hadn't slept much during the last two days and two nights of stormy weather. Finally he succumbed to sleep and I stayed up for night duty and lis-tened to the wind howling and the banging as the bow of boat lifted up and dropped back down into the sea. All the time I was praying for the boat to withstand the punishment and the wind vane steering to work. It was freezing cold both inside and outside. Everything is damp. The compartment under our bed is very cold and damp with condensation, so it is like sleeping on an unheated waterbed. Because of that we have started to sleep on the couch in the saloon, since we take turns sleeping there is enough room. Both Ted and I are survivors, so we will cope with whatever comes. However, the thought of turning back to Japan, about 500 nautical miles away, did occur to us. We dismissed the idea because "Shuang Yu" is going home!