Author: Pete
Location: 03º 18.939N’ 82º 45.492W’
Date: 17:00 March 13 to 17:00 March 14
Day 5 at sea.
Last night we got some wind in our sails at about 22:00, came up from 3 knots to 7 knots, enough to sail with. Miranda and Felix shut down the iron genoas and unfurled sails. We made 3 knots for a few hours. When I went on watch at 2:00 a line of clouds marked a weather shift. Sure enough as we went under the wind came up to 15 knots. I put a reef in the mainsail which balanced the boat and put us in a nice 6 knot cruise.
The price of wind is rougher seas. The wind hasn’t been strong for long enough to make any appreciable waves, but we have some chop making for a slightly annoying ride right now. In chop of a certain frequency and height the boat hobby horses until it’s bled off a knot or two, and then resumes its motion, an awkward dance that disrupts the normal flow of the boat. At least we’re moving, if not in style.
Liza spotted the reason for our lack of wind. There is supposed to be a low wind area as one passes through the ITCZ, a band of rising air. We finally got a surface condition weather fax that was a little more zoomed out to find that there are TWO ITCZs right now, one north of the Galapagos, and one south! Not a crazy phenomenon, but it means that we have a high pressure ridge (low wind) right where we want to sail. Nice sleuthing to our weather officer!
March 14th is always a special day for us math-geek folks- PI DAY! Being that it’s 2015, it’s exact special. Instead of just celebrating the first three numbers of pi (3.14) on the date 3-14, we now get the added bonus of tacking on the next two numbers- 3.1415! Too choppy to bake a pie, so we had pie filling instead. Sailing is all about being resourceful, right?
We are progressing on our same course. It looks like we should have some wind for the next day or two, then have a day of motoring to get through a lull before getting back into some wind. But that’s 96 hours out, lots can change between now and then.
No boats last night. Only the odd albatross. Wonder what they’re doing all this way out here? They probably wonder the same about us! Still 467 miles from the Galapagos. At an optimistic 5 knots that’s 93 hours, or about 4 days, plus one or two more to make up for low wind and our arrival point not being the same spot as our projected harbor. But who’s counting? Anyone up for a round of ’99 Bottle of Beer on the Wall’?
