The treasures of Robinson Crusoe Island have been discovered and are being taken with us to help solve the secrets of Easter Island.
Took a day off of treasure hunting to relax before heading 1624 miles westward toward Easter Island. The wind slowed down in the anchorage enough to letting you think it was going to be a calm day. The sun was even peeking out between the clouds. A boat we saw in Valdivia showed up in the anchorage this morning, we shouted hello and goodbye as we raised anchor and they were heading ashore to clear in.
In the lee (shadow) of the island we raised the main and dodged the many lobster traps set along the shore. As we cleared the island, the winds picked right up where they left off, 25knots with a gust near 30knots. We had the correct sails up and just let it rock along at near 10knots of boat speed. Once cleared of the island effect the winds have settled back down near 20knots. We shall see how it holds for 2 weeks of constant west motion.
There are several ways to track our progress at www.svsugarshack.com/current-location all have slightly different updates along the way. Quick explanation of them.
CruiserSat.net : follows the other boats out doing the PPJ (Pacific Puddle Jump) so we post daily check-ins there so that they too can keep track of where we are. PredictWind.com : Mostly where we get our weather reports (besides our mentor via SSB) Post short updates as we gather updated weather reports SpotMessenger : just tracks us SSB : Position reports every time we connect to get emails or weather.
1608 of 1624 miles left to go. [realtime]
At 3/15/2019 @ 1:55 PM UTC Our position: 33°38.40’S, 078°49.45’W Traveling 0.4 heading 180T
Google says we are here www.google.com/maps/place/-33.64000,-78.82417

Sweetness. With the exception of about 30 minutes the spinnaker has been flying and dragging us across the ocean with the waves. The sun even made and appearance for a bit, the temperature is still warming up, butter is still not melting.
We snuffed the spinnaker for an oncoming rain shower, looked like we had already seen the increase in wind speed, but to be safe stuffed it in the sock and waited till the showers were just past us. Then launched it again. Its holding nicely as the waves are a bit more organized today.
Ran the Honda to top up the batteries over night and fill up the fresh water tanks at the same time. Today enough sun came out to keep the batteries charged while we run the inverter for the computers and auto-pilot. With the water maker and the auto-pilot our electrical budget was over 30+ amps going out of the batteries. The SSB only added another chunk of power during the transmission.
Still looking like a midnight arrival. Ugh. Well to be fair we didn’t even try to time this arrival when we left, we just left when we were ready as its 500 miles and there are lots of variables. Could be 10 PM if we could surf it all the way there, but even 10 PM is dark.
One piece of bad news, the starboard starter key that was sticking is no longer sticking. Well the ‘not sticking’ part with the glow plugs enabled is good news, the bad news is its not staying in the ‘ON’ position, thus the engine runs but the gauges and lights to the tack are not staying enabled. Feels like some plastic inside the turning mechanism has taken a holiday. Wondering if the ‘old one’ in the spare parts bin works better, tho there was a reason I replaced it.
Have spotted land and the obligatory ‘Land Ho’ was announced.
Cheers [realtime]
At 3/12/2019 @ 11:14 PM UTC Our position: 33°56.28’S, 078°30.81’W Traveling 6.4 heading 320T
Google says we are here www.google.com/maps/place/-33.93800,-78.51350

Weather cooperated today.
Overcast and grey still chilly, BUT the WIND changed during the night. After it died, the wind came returned from the south as it was supposed to be coming from.
Spinnaker time for real this morning. Launched it as soon as Christine woke up and its was flying all day. The motion of going with the waves is much nicer than beating against them. Just before sunset we jibbed the spinnaker, moved it to the other side as we were getting a little off course and the wind is expected to shift a bit so rather than doing it in the dark. Got it all setup after a nice bowl of Gumbo, not from scratch but decent.
Our ship count for yesterday was a big fat zero. Nothing on AIS, no lights on the horizon, nothing but a few sea lions and a few dolphins to keep us company.
All is good, 175 miles to go. So that puts us again arriving at oh-dark-thirty. No matter what we do we always seem to arrive in the dark. So we will most likely slow down to try for an 8am arrival.
It is warming up, but the butter is not melting yet.
Cheers
[realtime]
At 3/12/2019 @ 12:16 AM UTC Our position: 35°56.87’S, 076°41.81’W Traveling 6.3 heading 308T
Google says we are here www.google.com/maps/place/-35.94783,-76.69683