Author: Pete

Location: 04°10.162S 94°40.047W

Date: 11:00 April 1 to 11:00 April 2

Day 3 at sea.

Good wind and great weather today. Lots of sun but not too hot. Last night mid-watch the wind kicked decidedly to port and stiffened to a blustery 11 knots apparent. It was enough for me to pull out sail and kick off the motors just to see if there was enough to sail with. It’s hard to know. Going at 6 knots under motor in 11 knots of apparent wind almost straight on the nose gives roughly 5 knots of true wind once you kill the engines, hardly enough to sail upwind. The angle change in important as was the increase and we had enough to move us at 3.5 – 4 knots upwind. It’s so quiet with the motors down! Sounds like real sailing! We were happy to be under the power of the wind again even if we had to divert course some 20 degrees to the west to do so.

We’re practicing French aboard Tayrona! We’re on to the waters of French Polynesia, and our Spanish and German aboard won’t cut it! We’re having French Hour every day to get ourselves ready! Bonne nuit! Miranda is spearheading the operation, having had the most French exposure in school. Tre bien! We’re so used to slinging Spanish functionally and getting along with relaying our needs and thoughts. I’m out of practice in charades and gesticulation… but not out of practice of looking foolish I suppose.

Made contact again today with our flotilla of boats. A couple more have joined us, so we’re six going across. We’re spread out over a good distance, the closest at 16 miles and the farthest 150 miles away. There are still a few in port at Isabela who will be following us in a few days. Let the invasion of the Marquesas begin!

Something fishy aboard Tayrona tonight! A bright blue flying fish 10″ long on the trampoline just before bed flopping around. We sent him flying back into the sea!

All good aboard with just our wind generator chugging along cheerfully and the moon lighting up the sea.