June 11
Hi All,
Blowing stink right now outside this cove….20-30kts NE….inside ~20kts but we are well protected in this Casco Cove…..maybe <1′ chop so all is well. Have I said lately how much we like our diesel heater…46*F outside now and blowing 20kts…..warm and snug inside!!!
So….a little time to catch up on the final day of that rough passage from Petropavlovsk. After much consideration, this passage does make our top 5 rough passages…..maybe #3, behind #1 the Fiji to NZ run in 2014 and then #2 the Philippines to Okinawa run…..notice 2 of the top 5 are this year….arghhhhhhh!!!! This was 3 1/2 days of some big headseas with lots of motion on the boat…..thankfully no one got sick, just some boat bites from crashing into things….ugh!!!
The last day got pretty rough…..winds 18-22G26 kts ESE-SE…our strongest yet….waves in the 5-8′ ESE and more of that short period crap….lots of boat slamming and one huge roll….maybe 35-40*…..we would discover after we anchored and looked around that the port dinghy chalk….dingy support….had completely stripped all 8 screws off the deck and was on it’s side barely supporting the dinghy…..which had slid over maybe 1-2’….wow….that was some force to make it do that. We have since made repairs….drilled and epoxied all 8 holes and will rescrew tomorrow after an 48 hour epoxy cure….fingers crossed that holds!!!
We were very happy as seas and waves calmed the last 10 nm and we were escorted into the Bay by 3-4 Orca whales…..needless to say there was much celebration on Mystic that night!!
Final Stats:
Position: Casco Cove on Attu Island: 52 48.488N 173 09.848E
Distance traveled: 544nm, arrived 7pm on 6/10 RST, 10pm on 6/9 AKDT; 80.5 hours, 8.5 hours more than planned
Speed: passage avg 6.8kts; 1425-1650rpm; had planned for 7.3 kts
Boat sightings: 10-15, all cargo ships on the great circle route going to Japan, Korea or China!
Hit something: Nothing
Boat Slammings: too many to count….ugh; took one 35-40*roll….yikes….did some damage to the dinghy chalks!!
Wildlife: many birds including many Albatross, the cute Puffins, ONE Whale plus 3-4 Orca whales as we approached Attu!!!!
Fishing: Nope; too, too cold
Sail: down
Fuel burn: 1.18nmpg for passage, normal for 1600rpm is 1.35…..burned more fuel that planned….478 gal used vs 519 planned or +41 gal. Projected fuel amount when reach Adak is 224 gal so still a good safety margin!!!
Hope all is well!
John
Mystic Moon
GO MYSTIC GO
