Galapagos to Marquesas Day 13

Day 13: Thursday 3/28

Another relaxing day!!!!! The seas were a deep dark blue and mesmerizing to view. We are seeing a lot of birds which is amazing this far out!!!

Kathy is still ahead in the arrival pool……we had a 9-10 hour period of >8 kts SOG……whoa, that’s a 1.5 kt favorable current and maybe 0.5 kt help from the sail!!!!! We’re back down to >7.2 kts and ETA is 4/4 in the am!!!!!

Unfortunately Rose’s hair continues to grow…..she now wears just long pants 🙂 )))…….threw another 10 lures out but at least did not get skunked…..brought in a monster Mahi…..Not….it barely measured 12”…….threw him back and told him to bring Papa!!!!!

Repairs: I finally had the fortitude to tackle Nobeltec again. After the very stressful fueling and as we were leaving the fuel depot Nobeltec crashed, losing all its instrument connections. In Panama we had to switch to Nobeltec Time Zero as there is no longer support for our dear friend VNS 9.2, plus we needed to purchase new Pacific charts so a good time to switch. Now, we like Nobeltec so did not look around at other programs. After several attempts that fateful Saturday, we got it back going, not perfect but livable. For instance, we could not use the autopilot in Nav mode. So, Les and I spent several hours going through the setup with no luck…..we now have an email out to Greg and Nobeltec asking for help!!!!

Still no luck on the FBB 150 sat phone but the Iridium is still working like a champ!!!!

Blog Comments: Thanks Rich, Richard, and Craig for the NCAA update….ok sweet 16…..gotta go w/Jayhawks…..rock on!!!!!

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Position 3/29 @ 1300 UTC:

Position: 6 08S 121 32W

Traveled: 182nm today (best day yet); 1937nm total; 1063nm to go; ETA sometime 4/4-5

Course: 250M HDG, 247M COG;

Wind: ESE-ENE 10-15 kts most of the day/evening then built to 15-22 kts overnight; current wind is 16 kts @ 100M deg

Waves: ESE 6-10′ swell; 10 sec period; 3-5′ wind chop 3-6 sec ESE; semi-rough ride in the am became moderate in the afternoon/overnight, much better ride as more aft; had to use stabilizers; current conditions – swell down to 4-6′, wind chop 3-5′ all ESE

Speed: current speed is 7.3 SOG; has varied 6.8-8.4 SOG; avg 7.6 SOG today; 6.33 SOG total for passage (we planned for 6.0 but hope/want 6.5).

Weather: 50% cloud cover all day then 100% late night; some small squalls overnight and on radar; sea temp 80.8 deg F

Boat sightings: 1 today moving southeast; 7 since we left.

Fishing: 1 baby Mahi, 20 total for the trip; 12 bonitos, 7 skip jack, 1 Mahi. Still nothing on the grill 🙁 ((((

Fuel Burn: After 306 hours we are burning 2.26 nmpg, 2.76 gph, 795 gallons total and 27 gallons more than our plan. We are achieving the nmpg #’s we want thanks to the favorable current, but not the fuel burn, about 6-8% higher. Les has another theory on the slightly higher fuel burn…..it’s the fish factor. We have caught 20 fish and probably had another 4-5 hit and get off……well, every time we slow down and speed up burns extra fuel….maybe a gallon each time…..maybe totals 20-25 gallons……hmmm,the fish factor…..now ponder that one a bit!!!!!

Sail: Still up and helping