Easter Island Passage Update
11 March 2014 | South Pacific Ocean
Eric
Today is our 9th day at sea. The passage has been a tale of two halves so far. We left Galapagos with just about zero wind. Any breeze that we did have was coming from the SW - the direction we were heading. Not ideal conditions, that's for sure, but we motored in the calm seas and light winds in a similar manner as we had reached the Galapagos 3 weeks earlier. For a Caribbean sailor, the Pacific offers a whole different experience. The swells are so long and spaced out, it seems surreal. In the North Atlantic and Caribbean waters, shorter period swells dominate, and the motion can be very choppy and rough. The Trades tend to blow a little stronger in the Caribbean too, which adds to the discomfort. Just south of the Equator in the Pacific, the boat rose gently up the crest of each wave and wooshed down the back smoothly. The period was probably about 15-20 seconds as compared to the normal 5-6 second beating you take in the Atlantic. Coupled with no-wind conditions and abundant sunshine, the sea was a gigantic mirror for the sky. It seemed to me very similar to rolling grassy hills, only an intense glossy blue.
We continued SSW (bearing 212) propelled by our engines, one at a time, for 4 days until the wind finally filled in somewhere south of 8 degrees. It happened at night. I was on watch and a thunderstorm had blown up (as happens on and off all throughout each day, especially at night). The wind climbed rom the paltry 8kts to around 20kts, so I killed the engine. We were moving fast. Dad came on watch after me, and we discussed reefing, but decided the storm was soon passing and we'd be becalmed shortly. Much to our surprise, the storm passed but the wind stayed. We had finally broken through into the Trade Winds. One side of this cloudburst held light, variable winds, whereas the other was home to the most consistent winds in the world. We've been sailing very fast ever since, with breeze on the beam blowing anywhere from 12-25 kts (last night I had the pleasure of dealing with a 35 knot squall while on watch).
Thankfully, our boat sails exceptionally well with reduced sail when the wind is up. Controlling weather helm is an especially important thing for us to keep the boat moving optimally. Basically, if you have too much mainsail up for the given wind, the boat continually tries to turn into the wind. The wave action only exacerbates this tendency. So, we sail with greatly reduced mainsail - for the past 18 hours we've had our 3rd reef in - and a slightly fuller headsail. With the wind and waves at or aft of the beam, the weather helm is at its strongest. Again, the reduced sail helps tremendously and actually helps our speed most of the time, since the boat is more under control and can track more evenly. It's easy to tell if you've got too much sail up, as the boat lurches uncontrollably and the autopilot is working extremely hard to keep the boat from turning toward the wind. Moving with reduced canvas, we've been making excellent progress ever since we broke into the Trades.
Just as our speed has been a tale of Half 1 and Half 2, so has the ocean. When there is little wind, there are small waves. Now, we've got 20 knots on the beam and seas to match. The boat is very loud, with the waves crashing against the hull and smacking up underneath the bridge deck occasionally. The cockpit is soaked several times each hour by waves cascading over the topsides. In once such incident, on the night when the wind finally filled in, I had my hatch ajar. As I said, the wind had been extremely light and the seas quite calm. Having the hatch barely open was safe. But, conditions changed quickly and I was caught with my pants down, so to speak. Sea water absolutely soaked my bed. The comforter, blanket, sheets, mattress pad, memory foam topper, mattress, pillow�...all varying levels of disgustingly soaked. We did our best to dry out my mattress and mattress pad, and I have a sub-par setup right now. The sheets, etc. are still very damp with salt water, but I've put on my extra set. Salty things never dry, since they keep pulling moisture from the air back into the fabric. We'll have quite a bit of laundry to do once we arrive�...
In addition to my bedding issues, the boat itself has become much less conducive to sleep. The overall decibel level inside the boat increases daily thanks to the boisterous sailing conditions. Still, we're becoming more and more fatigued, so sleep invariably comes without too much trouble. On watch, we've been snoozing a bit with a short timer set. The timer beeps, we wake to scan the horizon, check radar, monitor wind speed and sail trim, and crash back onto the couch. Personally, I employ this tactic more on my second watch, from 1:15 to 4:15 in the morning. First watch for me, I've been indulging in movies. Uncle Stan graciously gave us a hard drive full of movies and television series, and I've been slowly picking through the films on each night watch. Dad and I have been watching Breaking Bad too, which provides nice entertainment for 45 minutes each day. We read lots, nap, write, fiddle with the radio to communicate with Mom and to get GRIB weather files, and snack frequently. In this way, the days have been tumbling one by one, and only 5 remain. I'll be very glad to reach Easter Island and be done sailing for a little while. Still, I've settled in to a nice routine on this passage, and we're both beginning to understand what is meant when long distance sailors talk about such a transformation.
We have about 5 days left until we reach Easter Island. Our chartplotter tells us we're moving south, but so does the thermometer. Our route takes us a total of nearly 2000 miles and crosses 27 degrees of latitude. It's noticeably colder down here than on the Equator. The water is colder, the skies grayer, and the wind much stronger. If you left Florida to sail poleward 27 degrees, you'd end up in Canada! The change is noticeable, and we're not sure yet if it's welcome. I'm excited - beyond excited - to reach Polynesia via this extremely remote island. This passage has weighed on my mind for a long time, and we're finally out here doing it. Rapa Nui should be an enchanting place, and I'll be sure to update you further after some time exploring this distant isle.