Day 3: Monday 3/18
Today continues the challenge of finding the elusive favorable current….. like, where the “blank” is it? For 48 hours now we have had a counter current when the Bouyweather current map predicted a 1-2 kt favorable current. Our speed the last 24 hours has gotten worse…..from 5.6 down as low as 4.8 SOG. We have 20% reserve of fuel and we are using it at this rate. At 1000 UTC we are dead into the current……COG and HDG both at 250 deg M. We must be in some big back eddy/counter current from the big current up north. The question is how to get out of it. We are hesitant to go north as that is backtracking (for every mile north we must come back south) so the speed gain must be significant to overcome the additional mileage. We are hesitant to go too far south as historically that will be into a counter current or at least a much slower favorable current. The rhumbline to Hiva Oa is 246 deg M so that is the course we have taken to see if we can eventually get out of this counter current. At least we are not adding mileage.
There was another bothersome incident with a fishing buoy. Right at shift change with Kathy and Les at midnight, we hit a fishing buoy on the starboard side. It hit, rolled down the boat and exited aft. Les saw a lighted fishing buoy drifting away. All system checks indicated no issues but our speed is so low I’m a bit worried we may be dragging something. We probably will dive the boat in daylight and ensure ourselves all is ok. We really think everything is ok and the slow speed is just due to a counter current. The best indication is our boat/water speed is still around 6.0 kts.
Needless to say after that, both Rose (she stayed up to help watch w/Les) and I did not get any sleep either. I got up an hour before my shift and Les and I tried to figure out how to get out of this counter current. We changed the course +/- 50 deg and did get a speed increase but not enough to justify a drastic course change…..ugh!!!
I think overall we are all starting to get into the rhythm and starting to relax/catch up on sleep from that grueling last day before we left and the very stressful/intense fueling. I finished cleaning up the lazarette from that episode, took more and better naps, read some more and Kathy got a few other chores done. We even fished for part of the day but as soon as we threw the lines in we caught bonito……fun, but nothing for the plate!!!!
Tuesday 7:00 am MDT or 1300 UTC:
All is well. Conditions have been mild!!!
Position: 01 16 S 96 14 W
Traveled: 128nm today; 383nm total; 2624nm to go; ETA sometime 4/7, lost a day or so
Course: 246deg M HDG, 242deg M COG; being pushed to the south
Wind: for the most part E-ESE <6 kts but had a brief period of S-SSW 7-10 kts and NE of 20 kts in a squall
Waves: 1-3′ SW swell; 14 sec period; very little wind chop, some from wind against current chop; very gentle ride, no stabilizers
Speed: current speed is 5.1 SOG, has varied 4.8-5.6 SOG; avg 5.3 SOG today; 5.8 SOG total for passage (we planned for 6.0 but hope/want 6.5).
Weather: mostly cloudy, squalls all around us, a big squall went through around 2000 UTC, NE to SE, lasted about 2 hours, nice boat wash; much cooler today; sea temp 82.5°F
Boat sightings: 3 since we left; 1 today, another fishing vessel; several long lines out!
Fishing: 3 bonitos which we don’t like so back to the sea they went; twice the fish hit when we put the lines in…..they must be following the boat????
Fuel Burn: After 48 hours we were burning 2.17 nmpg, 132 gallons total….just ok, about as planned (planned @ 2.25 nmpg). We should be able to empty the port 160 gallon fuel bladder today….yea…..we will see if all the weight in the stern has slowed us down any…..I don’t think so but we shall see!!!
