Pacific Crossing - Day 8 - Dorado

[April 16]

Lat/Long: 06°01'S / 105°51'W
24hr distances: 143nm and 140nm

Well, at least the conditions are consistent out here. We continue to cruise along at 6 knots, and clock excellent mileage each day. We're out of chicken, so we managed to catch a nice Dorado for dinner a couple nights ago. Yum.

Not much to report. We're not very productive, as a result of the uncomfortable motion, but each day does seem to be getting better. For example, I haven't taken my daily gravel yet, and it is almost afternoon snack time!! As you can see, our days revolve around meals. Kind of like the hobbits, I suppose. But we usually have breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, dessert, and then various late night snacks as a way of keeping awake during night watches. No wonder we seem to be the only cruisers who don't lose weight on long passages! My mum send down yummy easter eggs, and we've finally finished those, but luckily, we seem to still have a healthy chocolate supply on board.

Pacific Crossing - Day 6 - Rock and Roll

[April 14]

Lat/Long: 05°03.20'S / 101°08.48'W

Still crusing along out here. We've had two more great days: 140 and 138 miles respectively. And it is relatively easy sailing. We haven't had to change sails the whole time, and simply reef the sails at night (wind seems to pick up overnight), and then shake them out again in the morning. Once in a while we tweek the monitor wind vane to stay on course. But it is a pretty rolly ride. There are good size swells out here, and wind chop that are not always coming from the same direction, and we're getting tossed around pretty good. We've both got a few new bruises from being caught offguard when we roll unexpectedly.

Then again, if I had to choose between fast and rolly, or slow and stable, give me a galloping stallion any day!!

Pacific Crossing - Day 4 - WOHOOO

[April 12]

Lat/Long: 03°57.61'S / 96°38.28'W

Well, we're finally getting our sea legs after our first few days at sea. We've both been feeling a little 'under the weather' so working at the computer hasn't been a lot of fun, but we seem to be turning a corner. Most of our queasiness is a result of the lively seas out here. The swell and waves are working together to keep the boat bouncing along in a somewhat unpredictable motion. But we're happy with the motion, because we're KICKING BUTT!!

For the last few days, we've been averaging 6 knots of boat speed. Our first 24 hours saw a record 142 miles, the second day was 135 miles and today we tallied up 144 miles - another record! So we are ticking off miles, as we set off towards the South Pacific.

Getting out of the Galapagos was interesting. Took some time to get our ZARPE (exit documents) and passports, and the fuel and water delivery didn't come until the final hour. It was chaos aboard Renova, as we tried to siphon fuel into our jerry cans, and fill our water tanks, simultaneously, in a super rolly anchorage, at dusk! Sheesh. Oh well...we grabbed as many groceries as we could carry, and weighed anchor, excited about our passage. I'll write a future post on the Galapagos, as many of our cruising friends have asked for more details, stay tuned.

We've been listening to the Pacific Puddle Jumpers Net each day on the high frequency radio, and noting the positions of our friends as they do the crossing also. Sounds like the ITCZ (sometimes called the doldrums) is a wide swath at the moment, so we are feeling sorry for them, as we know the pain of being adrift in no winds! We don't have an SSB transceiver on board, so we can't join in on the conversation, but friends have offered to relay our position to the net, so the group knows where we are. It's pretty wild that there are so many boats are out here doing the crossing, yet you wouldn't know it...you never see another soul out here.

I'll been playing around with new sat phone software, and I'll keep you updated on our progress. I'm hoping to cut down on the minutes that we use to download our weather files and emails. Since we really enjoy receiving email out here, it is worth it for us to look at alternative options.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKEY....we miss you!!