Squal land
11 June 2011 | 18.5N; 144W
Peter
Yeah, well, sorry. Nothing broke today to write about!! :-) On top of all that, we had a great day! The sun came out for the first time in about a week and that lifted our spirits considerably. And with less than 650 nm to go, and the troubles of the past couple days behind us, we are both starting to feel like we might just make it to Hilo!
Not that we were ever in any doubt. But it just seems like the days go on and on. The ride hasn't been that smooth. The sun (and solar for the panels) and moon have been non-existent. And 3,300 nm is a long, long way to go!! So we were kind of in the dumps morale-wise this morning anyway. It wouldn't -- and didn't -- take much to lift our spirits.
We must be getting near Hawaii. The squalls have started. So now we must be on 'squal alert'. These are little micro-bursts that will increase the wind strength about 15k over the current wind. It will mean shortening sail (probably reefing the jib) in advance of the squall, and then unreefing it after it passes. We shook the single reef out of the main this morning, and good thing we did. The wind got light today. But late in the afternoon,as the squalls were lining up, we took a preemptive strike and reefed the main before any of them could get to us.
On top of that, we caught another mahi-mahi. This one was a little bigger than the last one and should keep us well stocked all the way into Hilo. I am hoping we can make Hilo by Sat. night. The alternative is standing offshore till Sunday morning, and that does not sound like fun at all. But we are at the mercy of the Lord and the winds and we'll arrive when we arrive. Can't do much about it either way. We've escaped hurricanes and boat breakdowns and some sleep deprivation, so we are really starting to hone in on the target.