Pacific Crossing - Week 4

Day 22 (April 9, Easter Sunday)

Good morning! Happy Easter: extra ration of chocolate for the crew tonight!

Well, here’s hoping that week 4 trumps week 3 in all respects - it wasn’t our best seven days just gone.

Bizarrely on the stroke of midnight last night, the wind came up - nothing fierce by any means, but it’s been enough to keep us moving in the right direction with sails alone since. Chez has recently suggested that we may have been cursed - while that seems somewhat unlikely, if we were, hopefully midnight last night was when that particular hex was lifted!

Since then we have sailed, albeit at a fairly sedate pace. As I rose this morning, Chez headed off for a break - and I’m hoping will soon return refreshed and revitalised. It looks like we’re around half way to the Marquesas, days wise, still a way to go before we reach that mark distance wise, but I’ll keep you updated.

In lovely news overnight, Laura, Martin’s daughter gave birth to Lennie Michael Kosta: Welcome to the world little man x

At ten we flew the spinnaker - successfully.. it’s so satisfying when it’s up, filled with wind in all it’s multicoloured glory. That was short lived, as a squall developed almost as soon as we raised it. Not wanting to suffer the same fate as Linda and Keith (and many others along the way) we cautiously dropped it again, rather than run the risk of overpowering and ripping the light cloth. We had another go at flying it after the clouds cleared - slightly less successfully, it’s tending to collapse a little in the lessening wind, but the associated noise is better than the whip crack of the main or genoa, so for now, we’re persisting. Persist we did - and it flew pretty well all day. We dropped it at sunset. It’s gratifying to have a day of sailing, with a sail type with which we’ve always struggled in the past. From now on, when we have the right conditions, we’ll have no hesitation in letting the spinnaker fly.

Sailed through my shift until 2.30am with genoa alone in light winds and patchy cloudy skies. Update on the occasional series; ‘where are they now?’ To the West and South we remain lined up with Papua New Guinea and Antarctica. To the East, Peru, and we now have Mexico to the North. That’s the only one that’ll change for the rest of this journey, with the USA and Canada coming up in the next few weeks.

Day 23 (Monday April 10… maybe a Public holiday.. but who can tell)

15 knots, following seas, blue skies, sunshine, lollipops and rainbows!

Actually, no lollipops or rainbows, I got a bit carried away there, but we are sailing. Proper sailing!

Chez reports having a great night - with useable wind throughout. She watched the Jessica Watson film - True Spirit, and really enjoyed it. I’m seeing white horses for the first time in.. in I don’t know how long. Thus far, week 4 is shaping up quite nicely.

The most intense rod squeal I have ever heard signalled the demise of one of my squid lures and all my line this morning. Not sure who or what it was that took that one, but there was definitely no stopping the line from being rapidly zipped out. It’s all good; what ever it was would have been too big to land, and I can now add another mysterious monster to my ‘The one that got away’ register.

Ha!!

Reading back that last bit with what I have to write now…

Sadly it’s yet another one to add to that same register:

Mid afternoon, on the same rod, now rigged with a slightly modified lure purchased from John on Ballyhoo. (It had been swimming too deeply and dragging a bit, so I’d used a Dremel to reduce the size of its beak - it worked a treat - swims great now). Dropped it in with a nice long wire leader. Anyway - I get another high pitched excited rod squeal. I jump to the rod holder and struggle to slow the line that’s rapidly spooling out. I eventually manage to get to a stalemate position - the fish not taking any more, and me unable to gain any back. This position, with me tightly gripping the whole reel, holds for about 10 minutes as Chez reduces sail to hopefully provide some advantage in my favour. What follows is the battle royale of fish encounters. I’m writing this with both thumbs burnt from trying to stop line being stolen back from me. We fought to and fro for around an hour, until the last 2 minutes the fish had not shown itself at all. I knew it was massive - and bloody strong - from the weight on the rod. Each time it got sick of me winding in, it would go for a powerful swim to win some line back. It was during one of these swims that my thumbs were burnt; as the reel unwound I tried to use them as brake pads, spitting on them to cool them - not a good look.

Inch by inch, my arms aching, I did eventually get my first glimpse: a flash of silver about 5 meters down. Whatever it is is around 1.5m to 2m long. Blimey..

As I slowly work the rod up and down and took more line in, it came closer to the surface, it’s frantic attempts for freedom whipping the fully bent rod one way then the other. I get it to the transom, pass the rod back and begin raising it by hand just pulling on the line (note: at this point I should have used the gaff…or had Martin on board!)

Up close its magnificent; a great big silver and blue wahoo, I’m so excited.. it’s coming out of the water…. then with a final powerful kick of it’s tail, the lure springs from it’s mouth (the hook bent almost straight) and I let out what I suppose is best described as a primal scream.. a little frustrated to say the least. Big shout out to Chez who acted on my snapped out demands for assistance throughout the battle, and made all the right consolingly noises when it was lost.

The rest of the day a little less exciting - but made better by Chez’s new signature dish: Pansagne (Lasagne done in a frying pan) which we had with a glass of white wine. Other than the toast to my mum and Neptune on the Equator, that’s our first drink on the passage - went down rather nicely.

Day 24 (Tuesday April 11)

Grey, overcast patchy wind.. a pretty ugly morning.

Last night had more of a week 3 feel about it - Shame after such a good days sailing yesterday. The wind deserted us, the swell was its rockiest worst, and to top it off our main cabin bunk got rained on through the open hatches. At the time I’d made a temporary camp in the starboard aft cabin (affectionately known as Martin’s room) to try and get away from the whip crack noise of the genoa directly above my head. Oh well… that was last night - let’s move on. By the time I’m back up again, the wind has sorted itself out and is back to a useable level. So on we sail!

At 8:30am, we’re on to make exactly 100nms for the last 24hrs - a far from record breaking distance, but a nice milestone all the same. We just need to maintain 4knots for the next hour.

…..and right then the wind fails us once more, and we pull up short with an almost (but not quite) respectable 98.2nms for the day. No worries: it’s a lot better than the 11nms we managed in the doldrums!

Since then, we’ve had a good days sailing.

After dinner, I’m heading below from the cockpit, and get a whiff of something fishy.. I check my breath, armpits, clothes: it’s not me. The second time I go down, I smell it again. Investigating - I found the culprit: it turned out to be quite a big flying fish who’d come through the hatch in the roof of the galley. They smell bad.

1:30am update: we’ve been whizzing along at 6knots plus for the last few hours. I’ve just finished watching Godzilla vs Kong which was entertaining but not great - would have been one to see at the cinema. 7/10. Received an email from Charlie to round off my day nicely, he’s doing well. I’m sitting here at 2am with a big grin on my face.

Day 25. (Wednesday April 12)

Whizzing along at 6 knots, sunny skies, 3 to 4 meter swell following - all good

Time for another one of these:

Neptune, somewhat ashamed that he’d been neglecting his duties, decided to take stock of what had happened during his sleepy absence. In the vastness of all his oceans he spied some coins and a few drops of raki (his favourite tipple) which had been left on the equator some weeks ago. Checking with the dolphins - his eyes on the surface - he was told that a small sailing boat, ‘Serenity Now’, was the supplicant of these thoughtful offerings, and that their journey had not faired well.

This was easily rectified; he filled his cheeks, and blew a breeze that would surely delight any sailor. Deftly, he then swirled his trident in the water to provide a following sea to ease them along their way. The little boat was soon gliding happily across his domain, he sat back contented. The cat jumped up on his lap, turned around once, nestled down and began to purr. Neptune smiled - today was a good day.

Made good speed all day: between 5 and 7 knots. Something almost unimaginable back when we were bobbing around going nowhere in the doldrums not so long ago.

Lost a lure

No moon until midnight tonight - so a dark few hours to start my shift.

..and a dark clouded wet squall at 2am to finish it off.

Day 26 (Thursday April 13)

Rain, grey sky, uncomfortable swell, close to no wind. Everything rattling.

Hoping the day improves from the one liner description above.. because as it stands it’s a pretty shit one.

Well it did pick up, the sky remained grey, but the wind rose sufficiently to stop the flapping and cracking and as I write this at lunchtime we’re whipping along nicely somewhere between 6 and 7 knots.

Found another squid on deck this morning. As I’m rapidly depleting my collection of lures, I thought I’d try that with a big hook through it trolled off the back - I’ll let you know how that goes. (Edit: it didn’t work!)

At some point yesterday, we crossed half way (distance wise) between Panama and the Marquesas - hope the wind stays with us, and we can do the second half in less than the 25 days the first half took.

After lunch, we had a few hairy moments: a gust from nowhere kicked us 90 degrees off and the wind increased to have us rolling around going 8/9 knots for a while until we were able to reef down a bit. An exhilarating ride, and for once, thankfully it was during daylight hours.

Lost another lure!

Then bizarrely, after an afternoon nap, the wind dropped to nothing, but the big swell remained, smashing us from side to side forcing us to use the motor - first time in a few days. Didn’t need it on for long - the wind picking up nicely after an hour or so.

Lost another f$&@ing lure.

That’s two for the day! Not overly happy about that. At least the fish are biting!

Night watch was initially a bit feisty, but calmed to a decent ride by the time the moon came up at 1am.

Swapped out with Chez at 2:30am, I must have slept for an hour or so, but the conditions soon descended past feisty, way on down into bloody terrifying. Headed back up on deck, where we managed to reef down to two little handkerchiefs of sail, we then huddled together in the wind and rain - which was actually rather nice - and tried not to die.

Day 27 (Friday April 14)

Big swell (Atlantic style) glorious sunshine, great useable wind.

Well after an absolute smorgasbord of conditions yesterday, we actually had our best day’s sailing yet - a distance of 130nms for the day. Last night’s hostilities seem to have blown themselves elsewhere for now. Writing this after breakfast, conditions are rather lovely (at least while you’re sitting down), and we are both exhibiting a happy to be alive glow. Both managed to snatch back a little sleep during the day. Had a couple of minor kick offs (I suspect there’s a more nautical term, but I don’t know what it is… maybe rounding up?). Regardless of what it’s called, we soon managed to turn back onto our course and carried on. Reefed after it happened the second time - we may now be sailing at slightly slower than we could be (5-6knot range) but I’d rather that than have to endure the intense 5 minutes where it all goes wrong from having too much canvas out. We’re definitely cruisers, not racers.

Nightshift was another dark and feisty affair. Repatriated a flying fish and got smelly fingers for my trouble.

Day 28 (Saturday April 15)

Sunshine, large following rollers, decent ~15knot wind.

Up on deck at 8ish, Chez tired, but had an OK (bit blowy, bit rolly) night. During her shift, she too had saved a flying fish from certain death on our deck - she reports their wings are slimy.

Still bleary eyed, I’m scanning the horizon and… are my eyes deceiving me??.. it’s another boat! Our first since leaving the Galapagos - this calls for underwear! As they approach they hail us on VHF 16. There follows a day brightening chat with Steve, his son Jack a lovely Dutch family of 4 (?) on catamaran ’Samara’ (name to be confirmed). They’ve made significantly better progress than us from the Galapagos, and have had mainly favourable winds along the way. His fishing tales followed a very similar tack as our own: Big ones stealing lures and a few small tuna.

We’ll hopefully catch up with them a little further down the line - it was a great mood lifter to kick off the morning. Next up, the figures for the day: another cracker numbers wise. We made 131 nms at an average of 5.5knots. I suspect we can improve on that a little (we reefed down hard overnight), but not by much. I’d rather have a comfortable and safe ride instead of an exhilarating (terrifying!), line chafing whizz.

Tried cutting my hair mid morning - something I’ve been doing for some time now. It was not to be - on the second chop, the scissors fell apart in my hand - the salt water having eaten the pin holding the two arms together. Oh well, looks like I’ll keep growing it for a while instead.

Wind is keeping us going nicely at the mo.

‘Coach Carter’ was on at night watch cinema tonight. 8/10 thoroughly enjoyed it.