Day 7: Friday 3/22
Wow…..Day 7……this is now the longest time we have been out on a passage. The previous longest was the Panama to Galapagos passage that was 5.5 days.
All in all a good day but as we came further south to try to find this elusive favorable current, the seas, winds and squalls picked up as expected. Looks like we found a neutral or favorable current around 3 22S 103 30W. We will go west as far as we can before turning south again. I’m not sure we can make 120W at this latitude and hold speed. We will be in a quandary between going further south and the ride getting more uncomfortable and speed. The seas definitely got rougher as it was beamy all day but still a moderate ride overall (up from calm since we left). We will look forward to Omni Bob’s forecast on Sunday to speak to the trough to the south of us, when the trough might weaken sufficiently for us to drop further south and if we have to go further south (5S) what are the conditions.
We emptied the rest of the fuel in the strb fuel bladder without incident….yeah. My body is still suffering from all the ER heat yesterday……but nothing a gazillion amount of water won’t cure.
Repairs: As we were cleaning the fuel bladder using the cockpit hose, it blew up……the hose somehow got weak and just burst. While we did not have an exact replacement, we had sufficient pieces to put together what we needed……repairman Les was in his zone using the clamping tie device…..another boat show device for using wire to twist on a hose and tighten versus a hose clamp……we needed to thread the hose through the opening and a hose clamp was too big. So, a few hours later back in business!!
Health: I think we are all getting into a good rhythm and sleep pattern but I’m pretty tired today. I had an awful night sleep……with the sea conditions we could not open the port windows as water woulds plash in and the stateroom was 87-88 deg F…..the fans just blew hot air over you……I knew I should get up and go to the saloon or fly bridge but I was too tired to move…..ugh……definitely some good naps for John-boy today.
Kathy injured her 2nd toe from the little one on her right foot. When the cockpit shower hose blew we still needed a hose to complete the fuel bladder cleanup. Kathy was stringing a hose from the bow faucet when the boat rolled and she stubbed her toe on the Portuguese door way. The darn toe swelled right up and was very sore!!
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Position 3/23 @ 1300 UTC:
Position: 3 24 S 105 22 W
Traveled: 144nm today; 951nm total; 2056nm to go; ETA sometime 4/6,
Course: 261M HDG, 257M COG; course is almost due West if use True
Wind: SE-E 5-15kts; maybe up to 18kts yesterday am when the squalls were the greatest – no north component all day; had squalls over boat the last few hours; no wind with these
Waves: mixed swells and wind chop seemed to converge, SSW-SSE 6-10′ swell; 14 -20 sec period; had 3-6′ wind chop/swell 6-8 sec, waters seemed confused at times; roughest ride to date but still moderate, beamy; had to use stabilizers;
Speed: current speed is 6.0 SOG, has varied 5.5-6.8 SOG; avg 6.0 SOG today; 5.9 SOG total for passage (we planned for 6.0 but hope/want 6.5).
Weather: mostly cloudy and squally, clouds/squalls all around; several brief squalls during the day but very light; we could see squalls on the radar most of the day but seem to break up at dusk and overnight; sea temp 83 deg F
Boat sightings: 0 today; 4 since we left
Fishing: 1 skip jack today, 14 total for the trip; 12 bonitos and 2 skip jack, but nothing on the grill yet 🙁 ((((
Fuel Burn: After 144 hours we are burning 2.1 nmpg, 397 gallons total and 13 (3%) gallons more than our plan….ugh!!!
Sail: still think it can help 0.1-0.3 kts but the apparent wind has to be >7kts and it must be at the right angle as we are limited on the boom placement by the back mast stays and the bimini. But, boy, when the conditions are right it is a sweet thing!!!!
