May 31
Hi All,
Can you say FOG, FOG AND MORE FOG….arghhhhhhh!!!!
Yep…..came in last night around 2200….ugh….thick, <1/4 mile visibility…..hoping it burns off today so we can see the Kamchatka peninsula!!!
Yesterday we were treated to many snow covered mountains/hills on the islands….beautiful. But the best was the bird show out the PH windows…..a gazillion birds all swooping down over the water, many buzzing over Mystic’s bow and down the sides…..we all just sat and watched for hours….we felt very blessed to be fortunate to witness something like this!!!! My favorite of course were the Albatross but the Puffins were darn cute!!
Weather: A very good day indeed!!! Almost trawler weather….sweet as!!! Winds were 3-20kts during the day….one minute <5 kts the next minute 20kts…..weird….but, all SW and behind us. Seas built from 2-3′, to 2-4′, 3-5′, 4-6′ and now 5-8′ SW…..ride is fairly comfortable….Mystic does have a corkscrew motion on the 8′ following seas!!!
I started to read James Michener’s book Alaska….just to the part where the Russian Admiral Bering explored Alaska and the Russian fur traders wiped out the 7′ sea otter population and killed many of the Aleuts….very cruel and interesting!!!
Boat Stuff:
Cummins Racor Gauge: the new Parker gauge is slowly creeping up…started practically at 0.0 vacuum and is now -1.5psi vacuum…..hmmm….with clean fuel it should read maybe -3-4psi vacuum….this Racor filter has almost 4000nm on it so it should be a little dirty. So far no condensation/water in the filter bowl. It remains a mystery as why it is reading so low????
Stats: May 28 1600UTC (7:00am May 29 Japan time, +15hrs GMT):
Position: 50 34.2N 156 58.2E; about 10nm south of the Kamchatka pennisula
Traveled: 189nm today; 722nm total; 172nm to go; ETA to Petropavovsk 7-9am (Russian time; we gain 3 hours) Friday, June 1!!!!
Course: 45M COG
Wind: 18-25kts SW
Waves: 6-8′ SW, directly behind
Speed: current speed is 7.7 kts SOG; has varied 5.9-9.4 kts today; passage avg is 7.5 kts; 1600rpm
Weather: 100% cloud/fog cover; air temp is 42*F, sea temp is 38*F…brrrrr; cabin temp 64*F…..diesel heater staying on all the time, can’t keep up with these temps, wind and no sun….ugh!!!
Boat sightings: ~15-20; a few cargo ships, many large fishing boats; cargo ships taking the great circle route to Canada or USA; some right on our course and some 10-20nm east of us!!!
Hit something: Nothing
Wildlife: many birds including several Albatross and the cute Puffins; several pods of Pacific Whiteside dolphins but no whales or sea lions yet
Fishing: Nope; too, too cold
Sail: down
Fuel burn: 1.25 nmpg yesterday….better; Total is 1.3nmpg, not too bad considering a 0.1-0.3 average foul current!!
Hope all is well!
John
Mystic Moon
GO MYSTIC GO
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