On our way
03 April 2023 | Underway, 28 degrees 19 minutes N. 119 degrees 17 minutes W
Eric
Post time is 1350, 4/3/23. Watch change in 10 minutes. Eric Relieved by
Kristin, Burt will continue on wastch.
Winds and seas have been building with occasional lulls. Current wind
and waves where we are are 21 kts and 6.6 ft waves. As the front off
California chases us we expect the wind to build to 22 kts, gusts to 23
by midnight, with waves building to 10-12 tomorrow noon. After that
things should ease up.
The wind has been up and down, so weâve got a sail plan of three reefs
and the staysâl that we put in during a set of gusts to 27. Even with
the conservative sail plan the average speed has been around 6. We surf
down the swells and instantaneous boat speed has been up to 9.
The crew are still getting their sealegs. A couple of us have plenty of
appetite, and the others are surviving on bananas and pretzels, but
retaining more calories.
The Iridium locked up overnight, so we asked Benny to send texts of
weather updates via the Garmin inreach devices. He responded promptly,
and we got the updates about the time Kristin figured out how to reset
and restart the Iridium. It works.Thanks, Benny; now we have a backup
weather delivery path.
Itâs cloudy and occasional rain (not enough insolation) so we ran the
engine to make electricity to charge batteries and run the watermaker
(desalinator).
Saw another few ships on radar and AIS. Saw our first Albatross (we think)
but no whales.
Passed by Guadalupe Island in the dark, too far to see the lights.
Thatâs the last island until the Marquesses.
Solving problems, exercising the systems and getting better at sail
handling as a crew. Morale remains high despite the roller coaster.
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