Another boring day…..yeah!!!!!
The winds did indeed calm late morning to 8-12 kts. It was hot, humid and sunny all day. Around dusk squalls started forming mainly from the north, and winds picked up to 12-18 kts. Seas also calmed to 3-6′ E and picked up more chop w/the squalls. There has been no convection in these squalls, just wind and rain. All seas and wind are beamy….so a not so comfortable ride. The winds did calm again late in the night but then picked back up at daybreak in the 14-18 kt range.
Worked some more on the AP….no luck…..did tech support at Nobeltec email back……of course not…..ugh!!!!
We are about to have one of those experiences where you hope you are ready and trained…..we have to pass through a narrow cut in the atoll where the currents can be high. The Tuamotus are a series of coral atolls and during a flood tide water comes in and then back out during the ebb. In most cases the water just flows in one or two cuts in the atoll. So, besides many coral heads and skinny waters you need to time these cuts at slack tide. We have plenty of experiences in skinny waters, coral heads and timing narrows…..Pacific North West, Bahamas/Exumas, Albuquerque Cays and San Blas to name a few.
We shall see how good our tide tables are for our first atoll, Raroia. The nearest tide table is 400 nm away….ugh!!! We are also using a slack water “guestimator” put together by S/V Visions of Johanna back in 2010. All that says slack tide is around 2:00 pm and our ETA right now is around 1:45 – 2:30 pm…..so, pretty close!!!!
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Position 4/30 @ 1630 UTC:
Position: 15 04S 142 08W
Traveled: 178nm today; 390 nm total; 58nm to go; ETA 4/30 around 1-2 pm
Course: 186M HDG, 192M COG
Wind: ENE-NE (50-80) 10-20kts; current wind is 18 kts NE
Waves: E 4-6′ swell; 10-14 sec period; 2-5′ wind chop 3-6 sec E
Speed: current SOG is 7.4 kts, has varied 7.0-7.7 kts; avg 7.4 kts SOG today; 7.3 SOG for trip; 1500 RPM
Weather: 20-40% cloud cover; a few squalls overnight and this am; sea temp 84.0 deg F
Boat sightings: 0 tonight; 0 total
Fishing: Nada today and for trip….bummer
Fuel Burn: 1.5 nmpg…..actually pretty good for 1500 rpm.
Sail: Up and helping in the 12-18 kts!!
