Author: Pete

Location: 06°41.359S’ 103°59.124W’

Date: 11:00 April 5 to 11:00 April 6

 

Day 7 at sea.

It’s Easter Sunday and one full week on the water! We had home made granola for breakfast and followed it up with an Easter basket: five pounds of Jelly Bellies smuggled aboard by a castaway! Thanks Mom! We’ve been trying to ration them, as dialysis clinics are few and far between ’round these parts. We’ve only eaten about a half pound so far. It’s a good boat snack because they all have different flavors and you can’t mow handfuls at a time like popcorn, puppy chow, peanuts, M&M’s, pretzels, Chex Mix… am I giving the impression that we go through a lot of snacks aboard?

 

Weather continues to be good for sailing, if not for comfort. 13-16 knot winds, making 6.5 knots on a beam reach. Had another PR day with 157 miles covered. The waves on the beam still make for a rowdy ride, but we’re getting used to it.

It’s funny because topside on watch at night is gorgeous. There’s always some light noise of the wind generator whirring, the sheets creaking, and the water rushing by, splashing. But down below it sounds like the boat is coming apart. The wavelets slap on the underside of the bridge deck, and bounce off of the hulls, reflecting off one, smacking into the other. It’s like being in a bass drum sometimes. The bulkhead joints groan. You get used to it, but you can even feel the impacts through the fiberglass. Once you pop up topside, it’s whisper quiet though, and out on deck the boat shrugs off all but the biggest waves that come in broadside to us. When it sounds and feels scary down below, go up top!

 

The other boats in the Tangaroa Trans-Pacific Fleet (cool name, eh? The Scots came up with it!) are doing well. There are two or three 60 footers that can really cut through the chop. They’re averaging 7 or 8 knots. In calm seas with wind we’d be able to give them a run for their money, but not out in the big waves. So we’re hanging in there with the normal boats. Nice to hear everyone on radio every day, see where they are and hear some yarns about fish caught.

No fish today for us. Trolled the waters with a very unhappy flying fish who ended up on our deck. No bites though. We made up for it with pizzas for lunch, and Greek chicken, potatoes, and our last surviving broccoli for dinner.

Other than my poor fishing skills, all is well on Tayrona.

Author: Pete

Location: 06°23.190S’ 101°33.436W’

Date: 11:00 March 4 to 11:00 March 5

 

Day 6 at sea.

Our fastest sail on record Saturday! 155 miles in the last 24 hours, averaging 6.5 knots. Doesn’t sound blazing fast, but that’s an average. In the morning when the winds were strongest we saw one 12 knot ride down a wave. It’s like a 32-ton skateboard. Very exciting. Good winds scoot us along, but choppy seas also.

 

We’re pushing plantains! Get ’em while they’re yellow and not brown! Yesterday was plantain bread, today was plantain pancakes, hot off the griddle with butter and syrup. Couldn’t tell them from bananacakes.

 

My night’s sleep is broken up into two pieces, 9pm-2am, and 5am-10am. I sat up awake in the middle of my second ‘sleep’ of the night and realized the towing generator wasn’t wired with a fuse. All the wiring is conveniently tucked under Liza and Felix’s bunk, so I was up fretting about that until they were up and I could do some wiring under deck on a bucking boat.

Our fleet is doing well. we’re holding pace with the pack for the most part, although the two 60 footers are screaming faster than us mere mortals. One back stay and another’s reefing lines damaged in the past days’ squalls. They cruise on though. It’s odd to have some 10 boats now all cutting the waves, all between 20 and 150 miles away, fairly close in the 3000 mile crossing we’re on, but we can neither see them, sense them on radar, nor hear them on VHF. Alone in our snow globe. That’s the way I like it, I suppose.

 

The two nights that we could see a masthead light on the horizon it became the focal point. Are they gaining on us? What’s their heading? Should we be bearing more south to take advantage of the conditions there? Bah! Who cares! It’s nice to have the quiet support of safety in numbers without being encumbered someone sailing right next to you.

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.