Drifting and Dreaming (of a breeze) 02 30S 135 55W It seems right after I wrote the last report, the wind diminished to less than 10 knots, seriously slowing our progress and making some changes necessary. Willie, our Monitor Windvane, requires more than 10 to operate, so we disconnected it and rigged up Tillie, our Raymarine Tillerpilot 2000, to our wheel with the adaptors I had previously made. We like to use it in light conditions as it uses much less electricity than Millie, Pincoya's main autopilot. A problem immediately surfaced: The power plug we would normally use for Tillie had our trolling generator plugged in it. So I ended up splicing its +&- wires into the tillerpilot wires and Voila, problem solved, at least temporarily. Without wind, sailboats don't function well; you don't get anywhere, sails flog and damage themselves and the boom, and trolling generators plus wind generators don't produce much electricity. So we turned up the freezer and for part of the night did a form of fore reaching which didn't require the autopilot. It was a quiet smooth night as the sea had settled also. Morning saw us 60ah down and mostly cloudy but we hung in there and 9ish, the clouds burned off. Then the breeze picked up to 15-16+ and it was a stunning day for a sail. On a close reach, with full sails through smooth seas, we cut the water at 5 knots + minus the current toll. It is a beautiful sunny day, the flying fish are skittering out of our way, temperature again 85, with a great breeze keeping us cool. And because the seas are smooth, we could have our salon hatch and galley portlight open a bit. And thanks to the bright sun, our batteries are topped off, so all well on the Equator front.

Oct. 14, 00 46S 135 08W Perfect Sailing Days For us, they are the conditions, the boat, and any smudges. The last 2 days and nights have been 13-17 knots ESE, 5% clouds, 1-2 M long swells with some wind wave chop, and temperatures 75-85 degrees. Pincoya is running about 55 degrees off the wind, 10-15 tilt, not much pitching, no reefs. The only smudge has been the S Equatorial current which cost us l.5 knots, but we left it about 1 20S and are now sailing 4.5-5 knots, so all well. This morning we were 15ah down, Wow! I'm thinking this is pretty hard to beat! We haven't been bothering with grib weather files since the Honolulu weather faxes Tropical wind wave forcasts include detailed wind feathers for our area and seem to be pretty right on. No fish yet, but having Mahi tonight from the freezer and steamed green papaya-Yum! Back to reading and studying Spanish�...