Galapagos to Marquesas Day 18

Day 18: Tuesday 4/2

Hmmm…..decision time. On our current course and speed the ETA to Hiva Oa was midnight Thursday night. We needed to either slow down to arrive after sunrise on Friday, 4/5, or speed up to arrive before sunset on Thursday, 4/4….any guesses what we did????  My head told me to slow down and save the fuel but the emotional side said gitty-up, let’s go, I’m bored and anxious……of course, the crew is salivating for land (wine, cold beer, croissants, cheeseburgers et al) so an easy decision for them……AND, we speeded up…..duh……and yes we have the fuel!!!!

Yes, we have all gone over to the bored side and soooooo ready to be there!!!!! I don’t mean to be complaining about being bored or anxious to arrive…..boring is soooooo GOOD 🙂 ))))!!!

At the time we had lost the favorable current and were doing 6.0 SOG. We increased from 1200 rpm to 1375 rpm and were doing 6.8-7.0 SOG…..ah, the stabilizers were more effective and the ride was better……then the favorable current said wait for me and we got as high as 7.8 SOG…….we started to throttle back and are now at 1225 – 1275 rpm. We must have a speed gremlin on board because each time I look at the rpm someone has pushed the throttle down to go faster……any guesses who that could be 🙂 ))))

FISHING…..oh, how I love to catch…..2 large skip jacks and 1 medium Mahi. One of the skip jacks swallowed the hook….ugh……so had to bring it in……it was a monster…..+30-40 pounds….very hard to lift…..we got pics……I did the surgery and got the favorite lure……we did some fileting and the meat was dark, dark  red…..joy 🙂 ))))). On the Mahi, it was a double hook-up, but the bull got off……bringing in the female we decided to let it go as we have enough Mahi for many meals and the mate was there so…..you get the picture!!!!

We had the Mahi on the grill….oh, soooooo good…..Kathy made her famous cole slaw and brown rice…..it was calm enough to eat on the flybridge……LIG….of course, the talk was about how a nice cold pinot grigio would complete this scrumptious meal…..and how such a hard-ass the Captain can be….hmmm……I can see how taking grog away made for a mutinous crew…..help!!!!!!

Repairs:  One……the boat speed paddle stopped working…..so, I went into the ER, pulled the paddle, of course that leaves a hole in the boat for water to gush in…..actually not as much water gushed in as when we are at anchor…..interesting…….there was a small barnacle growing on the side blocking the paddle from turning……now how does that happen…..cleaned it off and viola, we have speed and accurate wind kts!!!!

Blog comments: I agree….Kathy should write a book….make $$$$$’s….then we could hire a crew 🙂 ))))))……AND, wine could be had by all!!!!!

SPOT: I think only 2-3 SPOT “ok’s” have gotten through…..this is a 4-5 year old device that has worked perfectly up to now and it might be going bad or has a weaker signal….I did put in fresh batteries….Les has a newer one and his SPOTS’ have been going out to his family.

You can still see our track on the Selene Forum website as I’ve been sending via email daily position reports to that website: http://www.seleneowners.org/SO_guest_map2.php?boatidQ

Final Four….gotta go with home state boys….go Shockers go…..what a weird name 🙂 ))))

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Position 4/3 @ 1300 UTC:

Position: 8 56S 134 43W

Traveled: 166nm today; 2741nm total; 259nm to go; ETA Thursday at sunset, 4/4

Course: 247M HDG, 247M COG

Wind: SE-ENE (85-135M) 12-18 kts all day then calming overnight; current wind is 12 kts @ 85M deg

Waves: SE-ESE 4-7′ swell; 10-14 sec period; 2-4′ wind chop 3-6 sec ESE; moderate to semi-rough ride; had to use stabilizers; moderate ride now

Speed: current speed is 7.0 SOG; has varied 6.0-7.8 SOG; avg 6.9 SOG today; 6.41 SOG total for passage.

Weather: 25% cloud cover all day; lots of sun, NO squalls – yea! Sea temp 81.6 deg F

Boat sightings: 1 today, another fish processing ship; 9 since we left.

Fishing: 3 today, 2 skip jacks and 1 Mahi; 26 total for the trip; 13 bonitos, 9 skip jacks, 4 Mahi.

Fuel Burn: After 426 hours we are burning 2.27 nmpg, 2.82 gph, 1146 gallons total and 59 gallons more than expected; fish stops now @ 34. Of course speeding up will burn more fuel!

Sail: Still up and helping