Day 9: Sunday 3/24
Yes, we emptied the 3rd fuel bladder today with absolutely no issues. So, 2 out of 3 perfect, the one incident still a bit of a head scratcher!!! Overall, the fuel bladders did great. I will forever be a Turtle Pac fan. While they maybe more expensive than the competitors, there are so many good features that make it all worth it. We had no chafe, no sloshing, no movement, and no leaks!!!! We emptied all bladders with just gravity siphon and no need for a pump. Each bladder took about 30-45 minutes to empty. However, they do need a better filling setup!!
We are now getting all the blog comments sent to us via email…..thanks Josh…..it is so good to hear from people. You feel very isolated out here and very hungry for news. Thanks to all my buds for keeping us abreast of the NCAA tournament……I don’t have a favorite this year but always root for Kansas and Stanford……heard the Cardinals got knocked out….bummer!!!!!
Whoa….nature is awesome….just went outside on the Portuguese bridge and saw my first rainbow at night. The moon is setting to the west and the rainbow was along the eastern sky…..beautiful!!!!
Speed: absolutely bloody awesome today. SOG was 6.5- 8.1……yes >8……that’s a 2 kt favorable current. We averaged a little over 7 kts SOG for the day……our best day so far!!!!!
Repairs: another day off…yes!!!!!!
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Position 3/25 @ 1300 UTC
Position: 3 48 S 110 47 W
Traveled: 172nm today; 1280nm total; 1720nm to go; ETA sometime 4/5; picked up a day!!
Course: 253M HDG, 247M COG
Wind: SE-NE 5-10kts; yesterday around noon 15-20 kts NE when a squall came through for about an hour; current is <6 kts from ESE; earlier around midnight was 10-15 kts ESE we think from a squall
Waves: S-SSE 6-10′ swell; 14-20 sec period; had 3-6′ wind chop/swell 3-6 sec S-SSE; in the afternoon seas calmed to 1′ wind chop and the long period swell, much calmer; moderate to rough ride, all beamy; had to use stabilizers; current is still very beamy chop and swell
Speed: current speed is 6.2 SOG, slowed way down last 2-3 hours; has varied 6.0-8.2 SOG; avg 7.2 SOG today; 6.1 SOG total for passage (we planned for 6.0 but hope/want 6.5).
Weather: 60% cloud cover and squally, clouds/squalls all around; several squalls during the am and tonight, mostly sunny in the afternoon; sea temp 82 deg F
Boat sightings: 1 today 10 miles out moving NW, on AIS; 5 since we left
Fishing: 2 skip jack today, 18 total for the trip; 12 bonitos and 6 skip jack; one of the skip jacks today was a monster…..30” + 25 lbs.….fun to bring in; but, something large hit our favorite white body, red head cedar plug and broke the 80-lb test line at the reel….whoa, how does that happen????? Still nothing on the grill yet 🙁 ((((
Fuel Burn: After 192 hours we are burning 2.23 nmpg, 2.7 gph, 513 gallons total and 1 gallon more than our plan….it’s getting better!
Sail: During the squall yesterday we had winds NE 15-20 kts…..we had a good set on the sail and we all commented on how much steadying it did for the boat…..we also picked up 0.3-4 kts of speed!!!!
glad to hear problems are diminishing somewhat guys. You certainly deserve to have the time and opportunity to cherish the journey and its challenges. Your book will be a best seller i’m telling ya. Kath…….you better be taking good notes girl. I’m gonna be proding you to write about your sojourn. It is priceless and your adventures are exciting to read about. BTW have a new neurologost for Vana, a fraternity brother of Tanner’s and he is about to help Vana with the vertigo crap. We are very grateful. Also, not sure I mentioned but Tanner is engaged to Allison……wedding in Scotsdale in November. We are excited. Thinking and praying for you all.
Well things seem to be getting uneventful for you four of late… the best kind of passage to have. Also please note: you stopped singing, and now you have a favorable current! No question of a correlation there 😉 so better be careful while showering, that could count too! Can’t help you with world events… we are just moving aboard our boat, so war could break out and we’d be unaware with all the personal chaos. But will send a ‘real’ e-mail soon with an update from Kiwi land. In the meantime, we continue to be in awe of and excited for you as you approach the halfway mark of this long passage.