Thought it interesting to review some the statistics and observations of the passage from the Galapagos Islands to the Marquesas. While the passage took 21 days, which was the average time it takes all boats, this was a disappointing number for us as we should've done it in 18 days. It took an extra three days because of three things.

1) We failed to notice a bent bracket which held the spinnaker pole to the mast prior our departure from the Galapagos which meant we couldn't pole out and run as square as we would prefer.

2) After 3-4 days of flying the spinnaker we noticed that we'd over-tightened the halyard and split the spinnaker block at the head of the mast resulting in chaffing of the spinnaker halyard at the head of the mast. Not having a spinnaker or being able to pole out slowed us down in the last week when the winds were dead downwind. We were actually lucky to have spotted this early as it would have eventually resulted in the spinnaker coming down forward of the boat, we may've ended up running over the spinnaker creating all sorts of difficulties getting it back on board; and of course if this were to have happened it would've almost certainly done so at night in the middle of a squall.

3) Towards the end of the passage the grib file was showing strengthening winds and building seas; on top of the stiff breezes and large seas we were already experiencing. So we changed course for Nuka Hiva to avoid the more severe weather. Alas the weather forecast changed, the winds and seas receded and we changed course back to Hiva Oa. This cost us at least half a day in itself.

So getting back to some stats, here are a few things we noted:-
* Days to complete the passage => 21
* Nms covered => around 3000
* Strongest wind => 38kts
* Weakest wind => 5kts
* Average wind direction => ESE
* Maximum swell => 3.5m
* Smallest swell => 0.5m
* Number of swells from different directions at the same time => 4 to 5
* Typical swell interval => 15 seconds
* Maximum boat speed (water not SOG) => 9.8kts
* Average boat speed => 5.9kts
* Most miles covered in a day (fastest) => 185 nms
* Least miles covered in a day (slowest)=> 125 nms
* Engine hours => 34hrs
* Genset hours => 50hrs
* Diesel used => 46 glns
* Fresh water used => 355 glns
* Sail configuration changes => 42
* Gear failures => 2 (spinnaker pole bracket and block)
* Sailing vessels seen => 6
* Motor vessels => 2
* Manta rays => 6
* Killer whales => 3
* Dolphins => 3 pods
* Flying fish that missed the mark =>19
* Squid ditto => 20
* Squalls => 2
* Fish caught => 6 (5 mahi mahi, 1 bonito)
* Fish that got away => 5
* Lures lost => 3
* Broken fishing rods => 2
* Broken fishing reels => 1
* Number of alcoholic drinks 1.5 each (half shot of Campari at half-way, and G&T to recover from a tiff)
* Most missed items => chocolate, crisps, citrus fruits, apples and pears
* Most useful pieces of equipment => autopilot, watch commander (timer that wakes you up on night watch)

Overall, it was a relatively uneventful trip for us. Particularly when we consider the issues that arose on other boats that did the crossing around the same time as us; which included issues such as:- engine failures, transmission failures, watermaker failures, steerage failures, auto-pilot failures, rigging failures (stays and shrouds), halyard failures, torn sails and broken bones; the list goes on and on.