Pacific Crossing - Week 5

Day 29 (Sunday April 16)

Sunny, 15 knots of wind 2/3m swell following

This morning has me throwing gang signs (a W on the left and five fingers on the right) and saying ‘Week Five’ in the style of Ali G saying ‘West Side’.

I’m possibly going slightly mad.

Today is the first day of our fifth week at sea.. also known as Pumpkin and Onion week. There will be other things in our diet, but those two are now the core ingredients - the last of our fresh food.

Numbers wise - we’ve yet again improved on our previous score: 135 nms for the last 24hours at 5.6 Knots.

Pleasing.

Saved the lives of two plump flying fish last night, despite their best efforts to jump out of my hand and remain on deck. Another 4 of their smelly brethren were not so lucky, and were cleared away this morning. Not much going on today, did catch up on some sleep. I know this diary is seemingly dotted with nap after nap, but to have a good solid uninterrupted sleep is a rarity. Woke this evening full of beans, made pasta puttanesca for dinner followed by a mocha chocolate bar - all very nice as the sun was setting up on deck.

Night watch cinema was showing ‘War horse’ - it did exactly what it said on the tin. 6/10 bit cheesy.

No moon for me tonight - we’re down to a waning sliver that rises during Chez’s shift. So very dark, not many clouds though, meaning I can see the Southern Cross to my left, the Plough to my right and Orion had just set in front of me.

Day 30 (Monday April 17)

Sunny, 50% cloudy sky, 15ish knots, 3m swell more beamy than following.

Woke a bit early (7ish) - probably a result of changing the clocks back an hour to Pitcairn Time yesterday.

Porridge for brekkie. Chez heads down for her morning catch up nap at 9ish, I’m left watching the dark grey clouds to Port slowly getting bigger as they bear down on us. We’ll be lucky to avoid a squally half hour by the look of them.

Update: we got lucky

Very similar day to yesterday numbers wise: we made 133 nms at 5.5knots. It’s so nice to have some decent - and constant - wind. Not much going on, the seas are too big to see dolphins or whales. Broke the fishing drought at sunset, landing a decent sized skipjack tuna - just in time to save us from pumpkin and onion surprise! We’ve again had a good full days sailing, but the forecast is for the wind to drop and for quite a lot of rain over the next few days. Oh well, rough with the smooth.

Had a really good nightshift - wind dropped, leaving a warm breeze but still more than enough to keep the sails filled. The swell reduced right down, so barely any roll to the boat. There’s also a clear dark sky with the Milky Way vividly snaked across it. It’s all rather lovely. Watched ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ (8.5/10 good solid entertainment so far) sadly the laptop’s battery died, so I’ll have to finish that one up tomorrow. No other shipping around.

Day 31 (Tuesday April 18)

Lessening wind 10-12knots, grey overcast sky, 1m swell.

Woke early (6ish), conditions have calmed even further than they did last night, if the wind drops any more, we’ll be back into the flap zone. Breakfasted on porridge with peanut butter, muesli and tinned fruit. Then realising I’d got up really a little too early, headed back down for another 2 hours…

Day 31 take two: woke to bluer skies than last time. Had a salty bucket wash off the stern. My skin seems to be calming down once again - having flared up pretty viciously when we first set out, anyway, it seems to be on the downside of its cycle - fingers crossed, because regardless of how much I pretend it doesn’t, it really gets to me when it’s bad. On the agenda today: 1) filleting tuna, 2) finish Spiderman, 3) staring out to sea.

Made 112nms yesterday, happy enough with that. Haven’t had to use the engine for the last 12 days.

After lunch, in further fading wind, we opted to fly the spinnaker instead of listening to the genoa flapping. It’s flying well, mainly keeping its shape and looks pretty. That stayed up nicely for 3 hours, then with ominous clouds gathering around us, and a downloaded forecast to match we opted on the side of caution and dropped it down.

Those same clouds turned into a prolonged heavy rain period - good for washing the deck and collecting some fresh water. Not nice for the upcoming night watches, the cockpit now totally soaked.

When the rain stopped, so did the wind, after sending us first due south then due north… anywhere but west in fact. 9:30pm put the engine on (for the first time in 12 days!) The plan being to try and drive for an hour or so to find something we can use.

Well that worked. 10:30pm, back to sailing, in a roughly Westerly direction.

Stayed below for the night watch - just popping my head up every 20mins to check to see if there’s anyone around. It feels very strange - it’s almost like you’re cheating. Sailed well throughout the somewhat moody night.

Day 32 (Wednesday April 19)

Clearing cloud, blue poking through, warm, breeze (8-10knots) from the East. 2m swell. Made 102 nms yesterday.

Good morning! There’s some heavy rains forecast for today, so glad for now to have a fairly calm and bright start. The boat looks very clean after the washing it got last night, as does Chez’s hair after she used some of the rain water collected for a nice wash. This - under current rationing - is a treat. We’re eeking out our second tank of water, which should hopefully see us to the Marquesas. It does taste like ass though - a bit chemically, a bit mouldy, definitely not something Bobby Bouchet would describe as high quality H2O.

The spinnaker claimed it’s second victim mid morning. The genoa had started collapsing, so we decided to try our newly discovered toy one more time. After raising it, it didn’t fly well, returning to the cockpit, I find Chez in an awful state. In summary: exhausted, sweating, laid out hyper salivating.

My nursing wasn’t quite up to her standards, but thankfully she came good within half hour or so. However, her bad day continued - her tolerance for sail flapping being significantly lower than mine. In the constant swell and with the bare whisper of wind that there was, the genoa spent the afternoon cracking. It’s horrible, there’s no getting away from it, and we’re not in a position to drive it out (insufficient diesel). So sadly for her, endure we must. Not a happy bunny.

Chilli for dinner, then jibed and all was well in the world: gliding Westward with only occasional whip crack.

Night watch cinema: ‘Maze Runner’ 5.5/10, don’t bother.

Day 33 (Thursday April 20)

Sunny, 10% cloud, 1.5m swell, 8knots of flappy wind.

Woke up and tidied: cleaned the fridge out, bleached the bedroom (it had got a bit funky with the hatches closed for the last 33 days), had a good sweep through. Prior to all that, I wasted a litre of water having a wash. Wasted, because I’m now hotter and sweatier than I was when I started.

Chez saw a ship last night! ‘Happy Venture’ a large cargo ship that passed within half a mile of our bow as I snored below. Not much else going on today - did get a rod squeal mid afternoon, but lost whatever it was - retained the lure though, and more importantly the swivel - I’m down to my last one.

…and the sorry update to this days entry is that at 6pm, not one, but both the rods hook into something within seconds of each other - and whatever they were, they were sadly too big for the line - twang! twang! That’s another two lures gone… with the swivels. Disappointing end to the days fishing… oh well, worse things happen at… actually no, forget that.

In other news: it’s no longer Mexico to the North of us. We’ve come far enough West to now have the good ‘ol US of A up there.. California to be exact.

Day 34 (Friday April 21)

Stiff breeze, 12-15knots, choppy disturbed swell 1-2m, lots of sun.

Didn’t sleep well - an unusual occurrence for me. Not sure if it was the sloppy swell hitting the sides, or the combination of mouldy water and the large number of recently discovered chipotle chillis rolling around in my stomach - either way: woke up tired.

Jibed to have us trending slightly more to the North in our Westing, as we’d dipped below 10degrees of latitude.

All good.

Spotted a sail mid morning, hailed them on the radio - our second chat since leaving the Galapagos. It’s Mike and Virginia on Toucan. Nice to virtually meet them, they’re whizzing along (in a cat I think), I asked about fishing.. he has a freezer packed with tuna, mahi mahi and wahoo.. good on him. Little bit jealous I’d have to say: both of the fish they’ve caught, and the freezer. I’d been thinking the other night: I’m not sure if I crave land, or just the conveniences associated with landlubbing. We’ve lived 5 years without an oven, a freezer, or a microwave. We only have hot water if we’ve run the engine, and can only watch the TV if it’s been very sunny the day before - and then it’s a rare treat.

I’m ready for some luxury, some baked goods and a relax on a comfy sofa that doesn’t roll around!

Had a glum afternoon, a couple of failed attempts at napping - just rolled around. Hoping to snap out of it overnight.

Day 35 (Saturday April 22)

Light beeeze, 1.5-2m sea, patchy cloud.

Another poor nights sleep, punctuated throughout by the whip crack of the genoa as we rolled in the swell. Happy to be woken by Chez at 6 to try flying the spinnaker. ‘Do something everyday that scares you’ - well raising the spinnaker is definitely mine done for the day. A mess of lines, ballooning uncontrollable sails and some shouted hard to hear to and fro between us did not make for the best start. After lowering - and thankfully not dying in the process - we re-raised it, and. it’s now flying beautifully. Wrote that last bit at 7… went back below until 9, then the wind picked up enough for us to need to rapidly drop the spinnaker again. That doesn’t quite convey the situation - we came very close to being knocked down for a few seconds as a large gust overpowered us. A frantic messy, scary and horrible 5 minutes ensued. We did manage to get it down onto the deck, and we did live to tell the tale.. but only just in both cases. On the good news front… we thought it was going to be a light wind spinnaker day, and just for the moment it’s a filled genoa with no flap day: Bonus!

…it didn’t last.

Spent the day catching up on sleep and continuing to write a short story I’ve been working on for a few days.

We ended week 5 the same way far too much of this journey has been spent: trying to endure the torturous flap crack of the genoa in light wind and rolly swell. Chez tried sleeping up in the cockpit - not sure how successful she found it, but I did have to help her up off the floor once when she fell off the seat she was sleeping on. - shit night truth be told. 1am tried the main alone wide out to Starboard. We’re going a bit SW but I can live with it for now.