Day 15: Saturday 3/30
Another lazy day……finished one book and on to another. The big story is the wind/seas…..the wind and seas finally calmed in the afternoon and all night….yippee!!!! Winds reduced to 8-12 kts ESE and seas calmed to 4-6′ ESE. There is still an occasional set of waves that will give us a good roll, but for 98% of the time this is a very calm ride!!!!! Oh what relief it is!!!!
Les’ work on the ER temps is working. We are blowing the port fresh air directly over the Cummins and we saw a 7 deg ER temp drop…..from 115 deg F to 108 deg F…..yes!!!!!
I had to change from the port to starboard Racor fuel filter. The pressure had risen from 2 to 5 psi which is not too bad, but the needle was jumping indicating the fuel pump was seeing some resistance……Professor Les taught me this!!!! By switching to a clean filter the pressure went back to 2 psi and the needle is calm. You can see some stuff in the bowls. I think our 9 year old tanks have some settlement and with these beamy seas we are getting some of the stuff to stir. I’ve been fuel polishing quite often and so far those filters are ok.
No luck yet on the Nobeltec…..gave it another shot….maybe getting closer to the issue but need some expert help.
I was wrong on the time change yesterday….we are at: (-08:00 UTC)…..still one hour behind the west coast.
We have gone over the 25,000 nm mark for Mystic…..I don’t know why, but seems like a big milestone for us/her!!!!
Blog Comments: oh say it ain’t so…..KU blew a 14 point lead……arghhhhhh!!!!!! Hmmmm……I guess gotta go w/Louisville…it’s been a while for them!!!!
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Position 3/31 @ 1300 UTC: Happy Easter!!!!!
Position: 7 20S 126 53W
Traveled: 160nm today; 2263nm total; 737nm to go; ETA sometime 4/4-5
Course: 247M HDG, 247M COG
Wind: ESE (100-125M) 15-20 kts all day until late afternoon then calmed to 8-12 kts E-ESE; current wind is 10 kts @ 90M deg
Waves: ESE 6-10′ swell; 10 sec period; 4-7′ wind chop 3-6 sec ESE; semi-rough ride; then calmed to 4-6′ ESE; had to use stabilizers; moderate ride now
Speed: current speed is 6.8 SOG; has varied 6.3-7.1 SOG; avg 6.7 SOG today; 6.4 SOG total for passage (we planned for 6.0 but hope/want 6.5).
Weather: 50-70% cloud cover all day; high clouds, no rain or squalls; sea temp 81.6 deg F
Boat sightings: 0; 8 since we left.
Fishing: Skunked for only the 2nd day, Rose has said enough – she is shaving tomorrow……maybe that has been the issue all along; 21 total for the trip; 12 bonitos, 7 skip jack, 2 Mahi. Still nothing on the grill 🙁 ((((
Fuel Burn: After 354 hours we are burning 2.30 nmpg, 2.78 gph, 930 gallons total and 34 gallons more than expected. I’m going with Les’ fish stopping theory….now up to 27 stops at a gallon per stop so our fuel burn is right on plan!!!!!
Sail: Still up and helping
