How do you top whales? well I can’t think of anything bigger.

However today we are still rolling along, slow and steady wins the race. Or at least that was the story from the turtle and rabbit story. We have lots of sail choices onboard, and so far on this journey we have used all but one. Our biggest spinnaker is for really light air and since it is so big it needs to have relatively calm seas which we do not have currently and I doubt we will in the next couple of days.

Today we put up the middle sized spinnaker, and I might have been too eager as there will still squall clouds around. We flew it for little over an hour before one of those said squalls got too close and brought enough more wind, that i decided to take it down. Oh well, best effort for day break.

Back to jib only and it’s making decent boat speed, but there has to be more.. so lets try wing on wing. Get it all set up and its just slightly better boat speed. That ran for several hours, then the winds appeared to be slowing down .. so intently watch the gauges for an hour and looking at history on the instruments. .. Oh Okay put the big boy pants on and put the spinnaker up again.

Yeah, its flying and nice speed .. 20% faster then the wing on wing setup for roughly same condition.. of course by now the day is about to become night. And at dark you cannot see the impending dark doom clouds well enough to know which ones have ‘an extra’ little wind hiding behind them so the spinnaker comes down for the night.. daybreak it’ll go back up.. well if the conditions are good enough.

It’s exercise, its math, its fun? Masochistic? Whatever it is, it keeps the boat rolling and passes the time since we can’t just pull into a KOA, La Quinta or even Best Western for the night when we get tired. I guess we could put the anchor out, except I don’t think that it would reach the bottom or anywhere close since its around 5000 meters deep here.

Another great day, miles keep ticking off and the sun was nice no rain.

660 miles to Fiji.

Trinidad Chicken Roti for dinner on the veranda watching the sunset. Of course while going 6 knots up and down over the large swell, another good day on the water.

Picture of medium size spinnaker (150 m2 – square meters – thats almost 1400 sq feet)

Ps. A few hours later, a crystal clear sky with mostly full moon and not a squall once – could have left the spinnaker up … Doh!

[tag Live,Passage,underway]

Today we cross the 1/2 way mark just about exactly 6 days after we left.

Half way is defined as the distance left to go as the crow flies. So far we have sailed 900+ miles with an average speed of 6.2 knots and max speed of 14 knots. Half way says we only have 832 miles left to go. But since the first half was over 900 miles, I’m sure the second half will be more than the mentioned 832. The downsides of not being a crow. Plus I don’t think the crow could fly non-stop for 1664 miles.

Hmm.. 1664? I think I just realized that is one of them beers I used to drink in London when there for work.

We reefed down for the night, course it was a beautiful night as the moon was bright and not a cloud in the sky. So really could have keep the sail up. Oh well. Just when the moon set a couple of squalls came out to play so it was good thing at 5am (still using Tahiti time onboard) that the sail was reefed down.

Back to 1 reef, trying find a comfortable direction today is proving a challenge. The waves have built and the wind is just a bit much given the waves to run a spinnaker without the potential for a shredded sail to deal with. The waves are quartering so they push this brick shaped boat up down and over as they go under the boat. Not terrible but there are much more pleasant angles to sail, just wouldn’t be taking us to where we want to go. We could go to NIUE if it was open. We are pointed right at it right now.

The 1/2 way celebration was not complete till the guests of honor arrived. No not us, but a bunch of friendly whales. I think they were dolphins in a previous life for the amount of time they were playing in the waves and swimming all around Sugar Shack. They were probably as excited to see us as we were to see them. We were so excited watching them play we missed some great photos. We managed a few from the moving boat in the seas. One swam right under the port hull that I was standing on looking down. I’m sure it was deeper that she looked but there wasn’t much clearance. Too bad we were outside or we could have checked the depth gauge.

A great day.

854 miles to go, All well on board

Celebrated 1/2 way with pork chops and smashed tatters per Christine’s request.

[tag Live,Passage,underway]

A wonderful day of sailing, knocking off the miles. Nothing but blue every where, what is your favorite shade of blue?

After a nice fun sail we were rewarded with another fabulous sunset.

Got rid of the hardest number in the distance to go, killed that first 1! Now down into the triple digits. Tomorrow we should cross the 1/2 way mark. The forecast looks like there is plenty of wind to get us to Fiji, no more glassy waters (so it seems).

The waves are here, 2 meter but not terrible. When deciding to add more sail or keep the reef, we were discussing the motion of the boat. After shaking out the reef, and raising a little more sail, Christine said “It’s not and less uncomfortable than without it”.. What I think she said is its not any worse going faster. I think it was time for her nap. :).

Had the fishing lines out for while today, but still no sign of life. No flying fish, no squid on deck in the morning, no birds. Will probably wait till we get amongst the sea mounds and submerged reefs about 400 miles ahead.

Butter chicken bow tie pasta for dinner as we take or sights on the 1/2 way mark.

965 miles to go.

All good on board

[tag Live,Passage,underway]