. . . and "All is well on board!"

Are we there yet? Yesterday we marked a milestone, of sorts - the GPS said we were only 2000 nautical miles from Hiva Oa along the rhumb line (a straight line from start to finish) - meaning we had sailed nearly 650 nautical miles since leaving Banderas Bay. The spirit of celebration was muted somewhat with the realization of just how much further that means we have to go - that translates into about 2300 statute miles, or about the distance from Seattle to New Orleans - at less than 10 mph!

Perhaps we need to find something else to celebrate just now - like, we are making progress (sometimes more, sometimes less) in generally the right direction! Everything depends on the winds, of course, and they have not been what we had hoped for or anticipated - those fabled 15-25 knot NE trade winds have evaded us! For the past couple of days we have been dealing with light to moderate NNE winds that have not allowed us to sail much below about 240M - and the rhumb line is about 218M, so we keep going further west than we should without going as far south as we should. The day before yesterday we gibed over onto the other tack to get further south, but the winds would not allow us to sail deeper than about 150M - which meant we were back tracking to the east! So, after several hours (during which time we made some southerly headway) we gibed back onto a starboard tack to keep going WSW. And now it looks like the weather (wind) is going to deteriorate even further t hrough the weekend, because of a cold front that is moving onto the Pacific coast of the US that will break down the high pressure system that has been providing us with what little NE wind we have had, and that has, up until now, fueled stronger NE winds further out west. And did I mention the NW swell that keeps the boat rocking side to side; every sailor knows that scenario - light winds, the boat rolls, and dumps the wind from the sails!

But what am I complaining about - we are out here living the dream, right? We doubt people who dream of sailing away to the South Pacific actually contemplate the passage-making, but focus instead on visions of lush tropical islands, palm-fringed sandy beaches, and the beautiful island natives (we are trying to keep this gender neutral here for everyone's benefit). However, even with what little off-shore experience we had before starting this voyage we did do much more than just contemplate the passage; we planned and worked for years, really, and then right up until the morning of our departure, getting ourselves, our boat, and our provisions ready for this trip. And much to our satisfaction, most everything we have done to get ready has worked out well; we have what we need to be safe, efficient, and as comfortable as we can be under the circumstances. So we are meeting what we knew would be the "challenge" of the passage, and we look forward to its ultimate reward -the "dream" of exploring and enjoying those lush tropical islands, palm-fringed beaches, and beautiful island people! Are we there yet? "NO!"

A good friend of ours from Port Townsend, Gary Jonientz, who himself has a few thousand ocean miles under the keel of Harlekin, his classic Swan 47, told us that on passage your world focuses on daylight and darkness, daylight and darkness, ad infinitum. After some experimentation early on, we have finally settled into a daylight/darkness routine that works well for us. We have divided the darkness into two 6-hour (more or less) watches. Linda comes "on watch" around 9 pm, I relieve her at 3 am, and she is back on deck around 9 am. This allows each of us to get about 5+ hours of sleep a night. During the day, we are both "on-watch" and we alternate taking naps as necessary, tending to the boat, and tending to the myriad other tasks aboard - such as preparing meals (Linda's job, because she won't let me in the galley), navigating, checking weather data, submitting Yotrep position reports, etc. We also find time for reading, and occasionally writing up a blog post! Some times we just sit, watch the waves roll by, and contemplate - it is tough work trying to become a Type B personality, but I'm making progress!

Thanks for checking in! We'll post again soon.