We had a great day yesterday. Poled out the jib and had full sail up for most of the day, running down wind touching 9 knots at times. Currently we are yet again motoring as the wind has died down substantially. We can't seem to tie two days together without motoring. The Pacific High appears to be moving right over the top of us and that means no wind. I can't believe I'm going to write this but I hope that the gale to the west of us gets here soon. I am going to download the weather gribs here after sending this out into the web and see what we see.
Pizza was good and we ate two of them. I thought we would have some leftovers but alas, no.
We are doing pretty good in the food department. Still have frozen chicken, frozen pork, frozen Mahi, frozen brats and some awful frozen hamburgers. You know the kind, you cook them while they are still frozen. 30 grams of fat in each burger. Last resort those babies. We still have a head of cabbage, papayas, some carrots and potatoes with 5 onions. Not bad. Been out here 9 days nows. I figure another 10 or so till Seattle. If we get wind. On the leg to Honolulu we only ran the motor to charge the batteries and shut off the freezer with a week. Now, with all this motoring we have plenty of electrons to share with the freezer. The freezer is also starting to behave itself. It was running continuously when we left Hawaii. About 4 days of running. No idea why. I shut it off for a night and once I turned it back on, it was cycling like it should. Almost like a Windows computer.
Plenty of canned goods. Running out of drinking juice though. Jugurtha is starting to become unhinged at the thought of no ice. Asks for it all the time. Now he knows how we felt while in Mexico. "Please sir. Can you spare a cube? Please!" I imagine that in a British accent. I think I'll start making some ice and surprise these dogs with ice in their sundowners. Maybe. I think they are talking about me. I watch them while they sleep and they just look...guilty.
Pete has just called down the hatch and we have some wind!
More later...
I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Monday, July 14, 2014
Motorin'
SUNDAY JULY 13th
Can somebody text me on the inReach with the answer to this please. Night Ranger was a band in the 80s with some hits. Did they have a song called "Motoring" or did the song "Sister Christian" have "motoring" in the chorus? Been bugging me ever since we started the motor. We're motoring...insert guitar riff here...what's your <something, something> to life (?). Man I miss the Internet. It knows all and I could just pick up my phone and figure this out. Oh well.
Writing this Sunday night at 2000 Honolulu time. The crew refuses to switch time zones and I'm not sure that we even have to yet heading north like we are. The crew is going to keep on Honolulu time till Seattle they say. Crazy kids!
We motored all night last night and most of the morning. So while running the engine, I decided to make water. Good thing too as Jugurtha hasn't taken a shower in 4 days and he needed to do laundry. Papa Fox left his hatch open while sleeping last night and was surprised by gallons of water sluicing in the hatch and hitting him right on the face. Soaked everything up there. I looked under the V berth for water intrusion and there was none. Jen has stored a bunch of stuff up there and I don't want it to get wet. So Papa Fox had to clean his bedding again. He just did it yesterday.
I swore 3 times today. Once, when I cut my finger cleaning the forward head and I ran across pieces of broken mirror that Pete accidentally broke a couple days ago. The second time was exactly the kind of swearing I am trying to get rid of. The "I'm swearing and don't even know it" swear. Here is how it went down. When making water on Appa, the freshly made water only goes into one tank. Appa has three totally separate tanks. You have to empty the watermaker tank into the tank you want filled. I do this with a hose that plugs into the outside shower spigot and then I run the hose to one of the two tank deck fills. So having three tanks means I have to make sure I am drawing off the correct tank to fill the other tank. See where I am going? I accidentally left the tank selector on the tank I wanted to fill NOT the watermaker tank. So I was not filling anything. I was taking water out of the tank and putting it right back in it. For 15 minutes...hence the swear word. I kept looking at the water level indicator and wondering why nothing was moving. DUH!!!!!
Jeez, after writing that I can't even remember the third happenstance of swearing.
I made dinner last night and tonight. Last night it was mango sauce over baked mahi mahi. Tonight we had roast with potatoes and onions along with coleslaw.
Had the fishing line out today but no bites.
Water is getting colder and we are wearing jackets at night now. Definitely not in the tropics anymore.
The weather has been tricky the past couple of days. Light wind and no wind. I think we are down to 85 gallons of diesel. Out of 100. The wind is suppose to fill in here around 2300 or so. 15 knots out of the south and then building to 20 in the afternoon tomorrow. That would be great. There is also a low pressure system moving this way and it is developing into a gale. That might hit us also in the next 3-4 days. Or it could not. Hard to tell. My weather guru Michael is on the job and my Dad is also monitoring the situation. Michael said a couple hours ago, "The wind will be there in 6 hours, then in 12 hours, there will be more." I love the confidence!! To quote Pulp Fiction, "That's a bold statement."
We are getting into the routine and are having a good time. All of us are anxious to get into the wind and take a bite out of some mileage. 1400 miles to go. As the albatross flies. Seen tons of these beauties.
We are also in the Pacific Garbage Patch. On the western edge of it actually I'm told. We have been seeing buckets, nets, discarded fishing gear, etc. Not constant but enough to make you sad for the planet. At night we just plow ahead and hope that there is nothing too big right in front of us. Knock on wood.
Seen three ships since we left Hawaii. Nothing else but garbage and birds. No dolphins, no nothing.
MONDAY JULY 14th
We finally got into the wind at 2330 last night. 15 knots or so out of the SSE. We are going to gybe in a bit and once the crew is fully awake, we will try to go wing on wing and run dead down wind. The boat is rocking and rolling through the wind waves and big old swells. Same old, same old. Hitting 8 knots at times, feels good to hear the water rushing past the hull rather than the motor pound out it's 5 knot song of slowness.
Jeremy made bread last night and I think today is pizza day!
Jugurtha continues to fish without any luck. Maybe we should change lures as I believe that we are out of mahi mahi waters and in the tuna area. Hmmm.
Hopefully the wind continues to build and we can continue on north.
Can somebody text me on the inReach with the answer to this please. Night Ranger was a band in the 80s with some hits. Did they have a song called "Motoring" or did the song "Sister Christian" have "motoring" in the chorus? Been bugging me ever since we started the motor. We're motoring...insert guitar riff here...what's your <something, something> to life (?). Man I miss the Internet. It knows all and I could just pick up my phone and figure this out. Oh well.
Writing this Sunday night at 2000 Honolulu time. The crew refuses to switch time zones and I'm not sure that we even have to yet heading north like we are. The crew is going to keep on Honolulu time till Seattle they say. Crazy kids!
We motored all night last night and most of the morning. So while running the engine, I decided to make water. Good thing too as Jugurtha hasn't taken a shower in 4 days and he needed to do laundry. Papa Fox left his hatch open while sleeping last night and was surprised by gallons of water sluicing in the hatch and hitting him right on the face. Soaked everything up there. I looked under the V berth for water intrusion and there was none. Jen has stored a bunch of stuff up there and I don't want it to get wet. So Papa Fox had to clean his bedding again. He just did it yesterday.
I swore 3 times today. Once, when I cut my finger cleaning the forward head and I ran across pieces of broken mirror that Pete accidentally broke a couple days ago. The second time was exactly the kind of swearing I am trying to get rid of. The "I'm swearing and don't even know it" swear. Here is how it went down. When making water on Appa, the freshly made water only goes into one tank. Appa has three totally separate tanks. You have to empty the watermaker tank into the tank you want filled. I do this with a hose that plugs into the outside shower spigot and then I run the hose to one of the two tank deck fills. So having three tanks means I have to make sure I am drawing off the correct tank to fill the other tank. See where I am going? I accidentally left the tank selector on the tank I wanted to fill NOT the watermaker tank. So I was not filling anything. I was taking water out of the tank and putting it right back in it. For 15 minutes...hence the swear word. I kept looking at the water level indicator and wondering why nothing was moving. DUH!!!!!
Jeez, after writing that I can't even remember the third happenstance of swearing.
I made dinner last night and tonight. Last night it was mango sauce over baked mahi mahi. Tonight we had roast with potatoes and onions along with coleslaw.
Had the fishing line out today but no bites.
Water is getting colder and we are wearing jackets at night now. Definitely not in the tropics anymore.
The weather has been tricky the past couple of days. Light wind and no wind. I think we are down to 85 gallons of diesel. Out of 100. The wind is suppose to fill in here around 2300 or so. 15 knots out of the south and then building to 20 in the afternoon tomorrow. That would be great. There is also a low pressure system moving this way and it is developing into a gale. That might hit us also in the next 3-4 days. Or it could not. Hard to tell. My weather guru Michael is on the job and my Dad is also monitoring the situation. Michael said a couple hours ago, "The wind will be there in 6 hours, then in 12 hours, there will be more." I love the confidence!! To quote Pulp Fiction, "That's a bold statement."
We are getting into the routine and are having a good time. All of us are anxious to get into the wind and take a bite out of some mileage. 1400 miles to go. As the albatross flies. Seen tons of these beauties.
We are also in the Pacific Garbage Patch. On the western edge of it actually I'm told. We have been seeing buckets, nets, discarded fishing gear, etc. Not constant but enough to make you sad for the planet. At night we just plow ahead and hope that there is nothing too big right in front of us. Knock on wood.
Seen three ships since we left Hawaii. Nothing else but garbage and birds. No dolphins, no nothing.
MONDAY JULY 14th
We finally got into the wind at 2330 last night. 15 knots or so out of the SSE. We are going to gybe in a bit and once the crew is fully awake, we will try to go wing on wing and run dead down wind. The boat is rocking and rolling through the wind waves and big old swells. Same old, same old. Hitting 8 knots at times, feels good to hear the water rushing past the hull rather than the motor pound out it's 5 knot song of slowness.
Jeremy made bread last night and I think today is pizza day!
Jugurtha continues to fish without any luck. Maybe we should change lures as I believe that we are out of mahi mahi waters and in the tuna area. Hmmm.
Hopefully the wind continues to build and we can continue on north.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Had another great day yesterday. Warm and some wind. Ripped the heck out of the spinnaker though. 30 foot tear across a couple of panel. Not good. Unrepairable out here. It'll be an expensive fix. Ah well. I didn't swear when it tore. I thought I might but didn't.
Jugurtha made a chicken stew dish and was delicious.
Today is rainy and a little cooler. I wonder if the tropicds are now finally behind us. By rights there should be. We have about 1500 miles to go. We've put almost 800 miles behind us.
Wind is gustyaround 15-20 and out of the north which is not the preferred direction but we'll make some east and see what wind we can find. We are heading 55 degrees true with a wind angle of 45 degrees or so. Meaning we are bashing once again into the wind and waves. Not too uncomfortable. Either that or we are use to it.
Boat is handling things well.
I am making dinner tonight. Baked mahi with potatoes of some sort. Maybe mashed.
That's it for now...
Jugurtha made a chicken stew dish and was delicious.
Today is rainy and a little cooler. I wonder if the tropicds are now finally behind us. By rights there should be. We have about 1500 miles to go. We've put almost 800 miles behind us.
Wind is gustyaround 15-20 and out of the north which is not the preferred direction but we'll make some east and see what wind we can find. We are heading 55 degrees true with a wind angle of 45 degrees or so. Meaning we are bashing once again into the wind and waves. Not too uncomfortable. Either that or we are use to it.
Boat is handling things well.
I am making dinner tonight. Baked mahi with potatoes of some sort. Maybe mashed.
That's it for now...
Friday, July 11, 2014
WOW! That is all I can say about yesterday! Well, not all I can say cause I'm going to put in down here.
We had a beautiful day of sailing. The ocean laid down and the wind waves all but disappeared. All that remained was a easterly wind at 10 knots, bright blue sky, and a gentle rolling swell. The blue of this ocean...
We are seeing some garbage now from the mid ocean garbage patch. Google if you don't know what I am talking about. Discarded fishing nets, buoys, and the like are passing us in a slow, sad parade of how we are truly trashing this planet. How can I be out thousands of miles from anything or anyone and still see signs of man? Sad.
Anyway, it was still beautiful out. All day long we had great wind and Appa gliding across the water at 6-7 knots effortlessly. This is what we signed up for. All of us on deck, reminiscing, BSing, getting to know each other better...remarkable group of people I have onboard. I am thankful.
I swore 5 times yesterday. Grrrr.
Jeremy made a pork stew with chutney yesterday. The pork was slow cooked all day. So tender. Today is Jugurtha's turn to cook.
Yesterday as we were enjoying a great sunset, the fishing line went crazy. FISH ON! Mahi Mahi. Jugurtha reeled that baby in. Big. 10 pounds of meat of that fish. I have pics and a cool little video. Jurgurtha was so happy. It was great to see.
Making breakfast now. We are motoring and have been since last night. Batteries are fully charged and the freezer is full of fish. Life is good.
We had a beautiful day of sailing. The ocean laid down and the wind waves all but disappeared. All that remained was a easterly wind at 10 knots, bright blue sky, and a gentle rolling swell. The blue of this ocean...
We are seeing some garbage now from the mid ocean garbage patch. Google if you don't know what I am talking about. Discarded fishing nets, buoys, and the like are passing us in a slow, sad parade of how we are truly trashing this planet. How can I be out thousands of miles from anything or anyone and still see signs of man? Sad.
Anyway, it was still beautiful out. All day long we had great wind and Appa gliding across the water at 6-7 knots effortlessly. This is what we signed up for. All of us on deck, reminiscing, BSing, getting to know each other better...remarkable group of people I have onboard. I am thankful.
I swore 5 times yesterday. Grrrr.
Jeremy made a pork stew with chutney yesterday. The pork was slow cooked all day. So tender. Today is Jugurtha's turn to cook.
Yesterday as we were enjoying a great sunset, the fishing line went crazy. FISH ON! Mahi Mahi. Jugurtha reeled that baby in. Big. 10 pounds of meat of that fish. I have pics and a cool little video. Jurgurtha was so happy. It was great to see.
Making breakfast now. We are motoring and have been since last night. Batteries are fully charged and the freezer is full of fish. Life is good.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Send me on my way
It should be noted that this blog post should be read whilst listening to Rusted Root's "Send me on my way". Great tune.
The water in the kettle is coming to a boil this morning and I am looking forward to dipping Samira's biscotte (sp?) in my decaf coffee. Jugurtha "found" the biscotte this morning in his duffle. It appeared to have been nibbled on for a couple of days. I'd like to think that shame eventually made him dragged the partially eaten loaf out and share with us poor bastards.
It is Thursday and we are still heading NNE around 12 degrees true at 7.7 knots with bursts into the 8s. Our angle to the wind is 55 degrees. Swell is around 3 foot with a period of 6 seconds or so. Wind waves are 2 foot chop. Pretty comfortable actually.
Late night Jugurtha and I had the 2100-0000 watch and the wind was off and then on. We motored for one hour or so. A couple of squalls pasted over us and it rained some. Refreshing warm rain. Once those clouds past, the wind filled back in and we took off. Been sailing ever since.
The crew is doing well with seasickness nothing but a bad memory in the rearview mirror. We are slowly getting into our routine. We have another 2 weeks, that's right TWO WEEKS to go and it takes awhile for that to sink in.
I have resolved to give up swearing and have been doing OK at it. Amazing how much of my language has been populated by "colorful euphemisms". Well no more. I hit my foot on a winch yesterday and said "Jeepers" instead of the usual string of words that would make a US Navy sailor cry.
No fish caught but then we weren't dragging any lines.
The days are sunny and warm. The water is very warm. I have been on the bow in my swimsuit, desperately wishing my Benny was with me to partake in the thorough splashing/take down the waves administer while Appa bashes home. I miss my family!!!
Ben is on Sand Dollar now helping them get the boat from Hood Canal to their homeport in Seattle. I love the fact that he and I are at sea together. It is a small connection but a connection nonetheless.
My deceased father's birthday is coming up. I'll be at sea and it seems fitting somehow. He always wanted to be out here, doing something like this but cancer got to him first...
My step-father's birthday is coming up and he is very much alive. You can't pick your parents or even your step-parents but I got very lucky with my bio Dad and my step-dad. I am really looking forward to his birthday party in August.
Boat stuff. The wind instrument is slowly dying meaning we are unable to have the computer drive the boat using wind angles. Crazy right?!? It is one year old and I replaced it only because I didn't want the old one to die on us. Joke is on me...as usual. We can still have the computer drive by compass heading so it is all good.
We had a batten in the mainsail tear itself out of it's cozy home. Dropped the sail and repaired that.
Pete was on watch two nights ago and had me get up to verify something. He swore that he saw a signal flare off our starboard bow. This is 4 in the morning. I got up and saw something but really couldn't say what it was. Jeremy was then woken and a new pair of eyes studied the situation. After about 5 minutes, we decided it was Venus rising. The clouds can play tricks. That and flares don't last for 20 minutes usually.
Just before we left Hawaii, I allowed Rachelle to use the shower in my cabin so she could catch her flight all refreshed. I then promptly forgot to shut off the valve that drains the shower. The shower drain has a one way valve but it leaks a bit. So the boat filled up with 60 gallons of water as we were leaving Hawaii. Maybe not 60 but I pumped on the bilge pump for a while to clear the water. Dumb. Luckily the water didn't do anything to the food we have stored in the bilges. Just wet cans. My tools are cleaned in salt water now so I have to clean them up a bit but nothing big. Just dumb.
The waves have been on the beam and it has been a wet ride at times. Once in awhile the waves will be at the right angle and the boat heeled as such that the resulting spray is enormous and a wall of salt water crushes us in the cockpit. Usually right after a fresh water shower has been taken by a crew member.
Pete broke a mirror in the forward bathroom and about an hour later got doused by a wave. Bad luck? He was incredulous that Appa has glass mirrors. Hell, we have porcelain sinks. It is a French boat.
Nothing else to report. I am going to have my coffee now.
text us if you want on our inReach. The address for that is back a few posts. It is free and we love hearing from people.
The water in the kettle is coming to a boil this morning and I am looking forward to dipping Samira's biscotte (sp?) in my decaf coffee. Jugurtha "found" the biscotte this morning in his duffle. It appeared to have been nibbled on for a couple of days. I'd like to think that shame eventually made him dragged the partially eaten loaf out and share with us poor bastards.
It is Thursday and we are still heading NNE around 12 degrees true at 7.7 knots with bursts into the 8s. Our angle to the wind is 55 degrees. Swell is around 3 foot with a period of 6 seconds or so. Wind waves are 2 foot chop. Pretty comfortable actually.
Late night Jugurtha and I had the 2100-0000 watch and the wind was off and then on. We motored for one hour or so. A couple of squalls pasted over us and it rained some. Refreshing warm rain. Once those clouds past, the wind filled back in and we took off. Been sailing ever since.
The crew is doing well with seasickness nothing but a bad memory in the rearview mirror. We are slowly getting into our routine. We have another 2 weeks, that's right TWO WEEKS to go and it takes awhile for that to sink in.
I have resolved to give up swearing and have been doing OK at it. Amazing how much of my language has been populated by "colorful euphemisms". Well no more. I hit my foot on a winch yesterday and said "Jeepers" instead of the usual string of words that would make a US Navy sailor cry.
No fish caught but then we weren't dragging any lines.
The days are sunny and warm. The water is very warm. I have been on the bow in my swimsuit, desperately wishing my Benny was with me to partake in the thorough splashing/take down the waves administer while Appa bashes home. I miss my family!!!
Ben is on Sand Dollar now helping them get the boat from Hood Canal to their homeport in Seattle. I love the fact that he and I are at sea together. It is a small connection but a connection nonetheless.
My deceased father's birthday is coming up. I'll be at sea and it seems fitting somehow. He always wanted to be out here, doing something like this but cancer got to him first...
My step-father's birthday is coming up and he is very much alive. You can't pick your parents or even your step-parents but I got very lucky with my bio Dad and my step-dad. I am really looking forward to his birthday party in August.
Boat stuff. The wind instrument is slowly dying meaning we are unable to have the computer drive the boat using wind angles. Crazy right?!? It is one year old and I replaced it only because I didn't want the old one to die on us. Joke is on me...as usual. We can still have the computer drive by compass heading so it is all good.
We had a batten in the mainsail tear itself out of it's cozy home. Dropped the sail and repaired that.
Pete was on watch two nights ago and had me get up to verify something. He swore that he saw a signal flare off our starboard bow. This is 4 in the morning. I got up and saw something but really couldn't say what it was. Jeremy was then woken and a new pair of eyes studied the situation. After about 5 minutes, we decided it was Venus rising. The clouds can play tricks. That and flares don't last for 20 minutes usually.
Just before we left Hawaii, I allowed Rachelle to use the shower in my cabin so she could catch her flight all refreshed. I then promptly forgot to shut off the valve that drains the shower. The shower drain has a one way valve but it leaks a bit. So the boat filled up with 60 gallons of water as we were leaving Hawaii. Maybe not 60 but I pumped on the bilge pump for a while to clear the water. Dumb. Luckily the water didn't do anything to the food we have stored in the bilges. Just wet cans. My tools are cleaned in salt water now so I have to clean them up a bit but nothing big. Just dumb.
The waves have been on the beam and it has been a wet ride at times. Once in awhile the waves will be at the right angle and the boat heeled as such that the resulting spray is enormous and a wall of salt water crushes us in the cockpit. Usually right after a fresh water shower has been taken by a crew member.
Pete broke a mirror in the forward bathroom and about an hour later got doused by a wave. Bad luck? He was incredulous that Appa has glass mirrors. Hell, we have porcelain sinks. It is a French boat.
Nothing else to report. I am going to have my coffee now.
text us if you want on our inReach. The address for that is back a few posts. It is free and we love hearing from people.
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Day 3
N 25 44 W 157 52
80 degrees out
Wind 19 knots apparent from the East. We are sailing at 60-70 degrees to it making 8 knots at times. We are pushing through the water pretty quick.
We left Honolulu at 1100am Sunday. Went around the windward side and got pounded by waves. 7-10 footers and we had to beat to weather to get out of there. Jugurtha got seasick and is just now recovering. Jeremy is off and on but generally is doing good. Pete, Papa Fox and myself have been alright so far.
We caught our first fish yesterday. 10 pound Mahi. Bright blue when we landed it. Beautiful fish. I filleted him and PF baked the fish and made a mango salsa to go with. Served on a bed of rice.
So we are double reefed and have about 3/4 of the jib out. The wind is forecasted to lighten in the next day or so maybe get more south in it. We'll see.
All is good. Check our tracker if you want. I can't remember the address but I posted it in a earlier blog.
----
This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using GMN's XGate software.
Please be kind and keep your replies short.
80 degrees out
Wind 19 knots apparent from the East. We are sailing at 60-70 degrees to it making 8 knots at times. We are pushing through the water pretty quick.
We left Honolulu at 1100am Sunday. Went around the windward side and got pounded by waves. 7-10 footers and we had to beat to weather to get out of there. Jugurtha got seasick and is just now recovering. Jeremy is off and on but generally is doing good. Pete, Papa Fox and myself have been alright so far.
We caught our first fish yesterday. 10 pound Mahi. Bright blue when we landed it. Beautiful fish. I filleted him and PF baked the fish and made a mango salsa to go with. Served on a bed of rice.
So we are double reefed and have about 3/4 of the jib out. The wind is forecasted to lighten in the next day or so maybe get more south in it. We'll see.
All is good. Check our tracker if you want. I can't remember the address but I posted it in a earlier blog.
----
This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using GMN's XGate software.
Please be kind and keep your replies short.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
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