Category Archives: Passages & Crossings

Here we go again. Day 4

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Another great day of sailing on this big blue lagoon. Nothing much happened, Very un-eventful. A little struggle during the previous night with the port chart plotter, I pressed ‘display off’ and it would kindly remind me to to press a button to enable the display in bright white letters. Its pitch black out, I wanted to turn off the display to preserve night vision, but every 2 minutes, a bright message would say press here to turn on the screen.. Who designs this stuff? So next I tried, stand by mode, at least that standby mode lasted around 5 minutes before coming back on? B&G can do better, The starboard one had a different issue months ago, but worked through that one with support, now need to remember or contact support again to figure out the magical reset sequence.. The new NEON based chart potters do not compare with the previous versions. Enough there back to sailing.

Tried our hand and trolling today, after news that friends just landed a Mahi, the elusive fish that mostly escapes me. I even had fresh new lures the guy at the shop said were good for Mahi Mahi.. No such lock so it was a trolling day, not a fishing day. To be fair, it’s going to have to be a fast Mahi to see and catch the lures at 8+ knots, like today.. Should have put the larger lures in, but didn’t want to catch a tuna that dives deep then clean it. So just sailed along peacefully.

With no excitement from the trolling lines, We resorted to working, or more correctly volunteering Christine’s copious time. She signed us up to study the world one droplet of sea water at a time. We toss a torpedo looking weapon off the back of the boat and tow it for a bit, hope that a shark doesn’t mistake it for lunch, then pul it in to see what lurks in the waters around us. I have asked If I can paint the torpedo to look like a giant lure to attract and serve as a flasher / teaser and get reminded this torpedo is for science, my toys are just toys. I do as I’m told, occasionally. Christine does all the work of collecting the samples and logging them to the Citizens of the Sea app, and when we arrive we will turn over the samples for the real scientists to make discoveries of what lies beneath or within our oceans. This is part of our daily routine on passage.

Picture of part of the process as we left New Caledonia

Damn the TORPeDNA! Launching the Citizens of the Sea collection unit.

And Yes, we do play Tom Petty on the stereo during this process.

All in all another good uneventful day. Few miles closer to the destination, 300 or so, looks like 2 more sleeps out here on the ocean. Tomorrow is shaping up to be an engine day, but before we get there a frontal band has to cross our path. Possibly rain and 30kts gale force winds.

Sausage / Egg / Bagel for breakfast and another crowd favorite Pulled Pork quesadillas for dinner.

Here we go again. Day 3

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Another night another motoring night. Winds fell off again, they must have had a party to attend else where, say 30 miles behind us our 2 boats we left Noumea with made up some ground on us over night. We can’t have that. Hopefully daybreak will be different.

Into the darkness with our spreadsheets we go

Switching into night mode, the newly drafted quaterback wasn’t sure what he was in for. I changed the screen brightness which for unknown reasons rebooted the screen, the autopilot got upset that his playbook was changed from white to red and stated He simply didn’t know what to do so sat down. A few wise words like, it will be okay, or red light is the new white, and even a you got this, and he jumped right back into actions .

Well makes you wonder where the fault is, something is still not quite right with the auto pilot. We keep our track shoes on so either one of us is ready to jump in at moments notice and take over, should the beeping of sound terror starts. No spring actions were needed this evening he played well all game.

Daybreak and, sails up and it was off to the races. Well really just happy to turn the engine off, and splash splash along. Making comfortable speed, under a gray day, no rain, but just really overcast. Then somewhere around 2pm, I finally realized the sails were not well trimmed. So a tweak here, a tweak there and 8kts was our standard. Great sailing, just needed some blue skies to go with it.

The wind steadily increasing decided to take some canvas down before going into the night, had checked the radar and Norfolk island and there was some rain going to be crossing our path. So prudent to take a reef.

All well on board
Crossed the 1/2 mark, 430 miles left
jambon wrap for lunch, and pulled pork quesadilla for dinner

ps. Feels like this should be day 4, it maybe or just looking track.

What’s Swimming Beneath Us? Citizens of the Sea

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While most sailors are busy collecting sunsets, fish stories, and the occasional wayward flying fish, we’re helping collect something a little more scientific—DNA from the ocean itself!  As volunteers for Citizens of the Sea we play a vital part in this scientific discovery.

Citizens of the Sea, a New Zealand-based citizen science program that equips sailors with the tools to gather valuable ocean data while cruising some of the most remote parts of the Pacific.

Their mission is simple but ambitious: use the sailing community to help scientists better understand ocean health, biodiversity, and the impacts of climate change.

Our job is to collect environmental DNA (eDNA) samples. Every creature in the ocean leaves behind tiny traces of genetic material in the water.

By towing a torpedo-shaped device called the TORPeDNA behind the boat, seawater is filtered and these microscopic clues are captured for later analysis. No marine biology degree required—just a boat, a steady hand, and a willingness to play with science equipment at sea.

eDNA Ocean Samples

The samples we collect will contribute to a growing database covering Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga, and the vast stretches of the South Pacific in between. Scientists can use this information to identify thousands of species, monitor biodiversity, track ecosystem changes, and improve our understanding of ocean health across an enormous area.

Matt launches the torpedo 4 times.  First to rinse it, then 3 consecutive times after that to collect samples.  The torpedo drags 15 meters behind the boat for 10 minutes.

It was a bit tricky with the difficult sea conditions.  We had 2-3 meter seas and 20kts of wind each time we were taking samples.

But Matt and I were clipped in and took extra precautions.  

After Matt pulls the torpedo in, he drains it and hands it to me.

I remove the end cap, take it inside, and remove the gasket.  Slowly and carefully, I fold the filter in three and the store it in a vile.

Next, I insert a new filter, place the gasket back on and put the end cap back on the torpedo for its next launch.

We repeat this process three times each day between 1000 and 1400 (when the sun is at its highest).

The Results

The results so far have been impressive. Participating sailors have already helped generate more than a billion DNA sequences from over 1.5 million square kilometers of ocean, all at a fraction of the cost of traditional research vessels. That’s a lot of science from a lot of salty volunteers!

We’re excited to do our small part. After all, if we’re already crossing these waters, why not help scientists learn a little more about what’s swimming beneath us? And let’s be honest—telling people we’re “collecting eDNA samples for marine biodiversity research” sounds much more impressive than saying we’re just out for a sail.

Our blog posts run 7-8 weeks behind actual live events.  

We collected samples for Citizens of the Sea on our passage from New Zealand to New Caledonia.  Early June 2026.