Passage to Marquesas: Day 6

05. Apr. 2015
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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.

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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.

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Passage to Marquesas: Day 4 and 5

04. Apr. 2015
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Author: Pete

Location: 05°57.424S’ 98°45.381W’

Date: 11:00 March 2 to 11:00 March 4

Day 4 and 5 at sea.

Good wind on Thursday, between 10 and 16 knots, accompanied by taller rollers than we’ve had so far on this passage and some chop. We’re sailing on a beam reach heading roughly WSW. Gorgeous night on Thursday (who cares what day it is out here, right?) with almost full moon and light cloud cover. The boat is pitching and bucking in the bigger waves, but seemed happy to be making 5-7 knots after several days of light wind.

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Had a low key day Thursday. Attached the towing generator better so it doesn’t vibrate so much. Caught a tiny mahi mahi, maybe 20″, but threw him back. Great colors though, gold and blue! Played Rummikub this afternoon. It tests not only your logistic capabilities, but also how well you can hold your lunch down. He who can stand to look at the tiles on the table longest wins! Made a good curry with the last of our cauliflower, a tricky feat on a rolling boat. There are some veggies in the bilges now I’m sure.

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Squalls came more and more frequently during the day Friday starting early in the morning. Couldn’t get a radio signal good enough to send an email due to the heavy weather around us. Winds kicked up to 22 knots in the squalls accompanied by rain all day long. We all got a good shower on the house! We have a double reef in the main and jib and the boat is sailing along happily. She doesn’t seem to notice that we’re being shaken up like a snow globe in here! Liza somehow made plantain bread out of some sweet, ripe plantains, a treat on a stormy day.

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The first several hours of heavy seas is a little wearing on the nerves. One thinks that being out in the elements at the helm with all the crew at the ready is the way to keep the boat upright. But really, she needs to have appropriately reefed sails, a good heading, and a lookout for boats. Other than that, she’s happy to handle herself, and we need just watch from the navigation station inside, protected by Tayrona’s thick shell, and hold the hell on. It’s hard to overstate the value of having rested crew. It’s difficult to resist the temptation to be up and running around on deck tweaking sail trim, scouring the horizon for squalls, and standing in the way of the on watch crew. Eventually, you just have to get into dry clothes and get some shut eye. Night watch can be long when it’s rainy and dark.

Now, the hidden full moon is blasting the high cloud cover with light and the scornful sea is illuminated. Tayrona is charging through the waves happily. The only sounds are the whir of the wind generator, the buzz of the towing generator when the ‘fish’ skips out of the water on a big wave, and the bang of the chop on the underside of the hull.

Passage to Marquesas: Day 3

02. Apr. 2015
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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!