Galapagos to Marquesas Day 16

Day 16: Sunday 3/31: Happy Easter!!

Another very good day. For the most part the sea conditions cooperated and we had a moderate ride. We still must be in this trough as we had clouds and occasional squalls and the seas would pick up around the squalls for a semi-rough ride!! Met Bob, the New Zealand weather guru, has said there is a convergence zone along 5S from 110W to 140W and this extends southwards to 12S around 125W. We have been in this zone for most of a week so that helps explain all the clouds and squalls…..arghhhhhh!!!!!

Kathy outdid herself for Easter…..eggs Oscar/Florentine……yummers……w/poached eggs, steak and spinach…..it was just missing the champagne!!! Alas, no Easter egg hunt 🙁 (((((We ate on the FB….of course, it started to sprinkle so we came back to the pilot house!

I think we are all getting anxious to see land…..I know I have not been able to totally relax…..the brain is always on and thinking and you are alerted to every new noise or nuance……I wish I could be a bit more bored but not the case……the weather has not helped either…..for the past week or so mainly cloudy with squalls……it makes the sea so grey and at times too onerous……we wish for the calm, deep blue seas we had at the beginning!!!!

I know the crew is getting anxious and some are getting tired/frustrated with the constant motion…..some are sleeping well and others not…..all are very experienced boaters and all are coping quite well but all will be glad to see land!!!!

Repairs: none!!!! Took the day off from Mr Nobeltec!! But get this, Mr FBB 150 sat phone is back working…..yeah, but why???? I have been turning it on every day to no avail….but today, it came on, had a gps signal and connected….we have done two data sessions…..after about an hour it lost the gps signal but has kept tracking. We have left it on and it is still connected 15 hour later…..I assume if we turn it off that it will not work w/o a gps signal. So….I think we have something loose…..I checked the cable and it is tight so something must be loose in the antenna dome…..I have emails out to the experts so we shall see!!

Song for the night: Rolling on the River…..Les had trouble sleeping the previous day/night so Rose let him sleep for most of his watch….. he is up now and wired….so, out of respect I did not belt it out……just hummed it to myself all watch!

Blog comments: I’m not sure what has happened to my blogs day 14 & 15…..Josh??????  I didn’t get any scores yesterday but tough call on Louisville and Duke????? Have to root for the home state Wichita Shockers tho!!!!

Craig: can’t believe you went skiing…..sweet!!!!!

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Position 4/1 @ 1300 UTC:

Position: 7 53S 129 31W

Traveled: 162nm today; 2425nm total; 575nm to go; ETA sometime 4/4-5

Course: 245M HDG, 247M COG

Wind: ESE-ENE (70-125M) 8-12 kts all day until early evening then 10-15 kts ENE-ESE, then calming again after midnight; current wind is 8 kts @ 100M deg

Waves: ESE 4-6′ swell; 10-14 sec period; 3-5′ wind chop 3-6 sec ESE; moderate to semi-rough ride; had to use stabilizers; moderate ride now

Speed: current speed is 6.6 SOG; has varied 6.3-7.1 SOG; avg 6.75 SOG today; 6.42 SOG total for passage (we planned for 6.0 but hope/want 6.5).

Weather: 50-100% cloud cover all day; occ squalls; sea temp 81.6 deg F

Boat sightings: 0; 8 since we left.

Fishing: 1 small bonito at dusk and the one monster that got away (that is 2 monsters on this trip that have won….ugh)……the monster spooled most of the reel then was gone…..when I reeled the line back the lure was still there but no hook…..no Wayne, the knot was good, this was one of those double hooks and the loop must have come off between the double hook shanks……whoa, that is some force to do that!!!!Rose did shave and we said “fish on” twice, but to no avail; 22 total for the trip; 13 bonitos, 7 skip jack, 2 Mahi. Still nothing on the grill 🙁 ((((

Fuel Burn: After 378 hours we are burning 2.31 nmpg, 2.78 gph, 998 gallons total and 37 gallons more than expected. I’m going with Les’ fish stopping theory….now up to 29 stops at a gallon per stop so our fuel burn is right on plan!!!!!

Sail: Still up and helping