Sailing the Pacific

Since last night, we have been struggling to go the direction we want to go which is SW to the Marquesas Islands. It's really kind of worn us out a bit, having interrupted sleep schedules because of rain coming through, sails slapping, and mixed direction waves.

The rain changes the wind, even when the rain is just close by. It can go from 8kt wind to 15, to 20 and even 25 briefly. And then, it also changes direction as it passes so we have change direction as well.

I guess we were expecting an easy trip from here on. It's not bad, just not what we thought plus we are getting to the end of very long trip.

Also, we finally figured out that wing on wing doesn't work well for us. We'll need to come up with a downwind solution which will probably be using the spinnaker to go downwind. We will need to get a piece of hardware made to do that so it doesn't help us for this trip but we have a plan. Wing on wing just subjects the sails to a lot of flapping which beats up equipment. We can't have that for days on end. This flapping is due to the motion of the waves which is more pronounced.

From here on, we will have to tack (or gybe) back and forth as necessary to get to our destination. Not a big deal but it might add a few more hours to the trip.

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Vessel Name:	Crystal Seas
Vessel Make/Model:	Taswell 43
Hailing Port:	Lewes, DE
Crew:	Kirk and Crystal
About:	We met in 2014 and have a common love of exploring the world. Both of us have traveled quite a lot but vacations don't really give the opportunity to get to know a place and the people. That's why we thought it would be better to sell everything and live on a boat! And that's what we did... [...] More
Extra:	We live this lifestyle not because we are adrenaline junkies wanting to climb mountains or some other extreme activities. Surely there are people like that in this sport and we have nothing against that. It's just not us and it's not what motivates us to deal with the compromises, uncomfortable [...] passages, and effort or this lifestyle. Crystal and I both have a passion for travel and experiencing other cultures; seeing things from a different perspective. That is the underlying motivator. But, of course, there are other ways to do what we are passionate about. So why sailboat? Our sailboat is our home and we get to move our home, with nearly all of our earthly possessions, to a new country whenever we desire. Are there any other ways to do that? Maybe an RV but that has geographic limitations. A sailboat does not because most of the Earth is covered by water. Also, there are some areas of the world (a lot in fact) that are not so accessible by land. These are the areas we want to see. Places like the Sea of Cortez and the South Pacific islands. Sure you can fly to place in these areas, but you will only see a resort which does not expose you to the true culture or geography. Sailing is not for everyone and we are not even sure it's for us! There are times we are ready to sell the boat and move back to land but just then, we are presented with some of the most glorious, pristine sights on the planet that most never have the opportunity to see. That keeps us going. We gave ourselves 5 years to try this and re-evaluate things to see if we continue. We are two and half years into this and still we have doubts sometimes. Maybe those doubts never disappear; we don't know yet but we'll let you know when they become more than just doubts! More
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