Return the normal everyday jargon and getting so say Yeah Naw! One day I hope to figure out if that means. Yes or No. š
This marks the first 400 nm down and on to the next mile stones.
Daytime run has been a bit better, started out sweet then a wimpy squall showed up. Wasnāt grown up, but just a bit of colder wind and spritzing shower, just enough to ruin a few hours of relatively comfortable sail. We will take it.
We have been knocking off the miles, and maintaining a decent course. We are approaching the Wednesday boats, well the slowest of them anyway. If the weather holds we should catch them in the dark. By catch, I mean stop in and see if the could spare a cup of sugar. Christine wants to make some cookies.
Red blob us, green below is Wednesday, green behind is our Thursday fleet.
The 2 red lines on the right are our previous runs down to NZ, that crazy one on the far right was when we were running from the cyclone. The boxes are about 60 miles square, thus we look close but still canāt see each other.
Going healthy for dinner Asian Chicken salad, courtesy of Becca on Halcyon so many years ago.
Dangerously close to breaking the 500 miles left barrier. More importantly the first 24 hours of actual sailing. Itās now a thing, complete these last few hours without burning more dinosaur juice.
Wind has been light and shifty all day. Maximum of 10kt, with 30 degree shifts every 10-15 minutes. Iād say fluky winds. One minute you are going off course left, a few minutes later off on the right. Checking your path, you would definitely be pulled over and given a breath test. āNo I have not been drinking, officer. Iām just following the wind, I swear. He has been like this all day, honest. You should really see what he is onā
Moon rise, light winds, making it work
We are counting our blessings on making it through the SPCZ thunderstorm alley with nearly no chaos, the one squall that we did encounter, was with sails down so no issue other than a fresh water rinse of the boat.
Next up is the ITCZ. Looks like itāll start rinsing the boat in just a bit more than 24 hours. With those showers also comes a change in wind direction. Yup, right on the nose. We have been heading a bit farther East to be ready for the wind direction change. Well really, I had been really hoping the forecast would change the North East winds to merely East winds, then it would be a non issue. Doesnāt look to be happening, now that we are a few days out, the forecast should be close to reality.
Stopped into Jasonās Deli (are they still even in business?) for dinner and picked up some loaded baked potatoes for dinner. Loaded with bbq pulled pork. Since we couldnāt source the āgiganticā spuds the Texas chain uses we opted for garden fresh Kamara (Kiwi), Yams (proper English?), Sweet Potato (American).. but these were āKamalaā as they came from the gardens of Gaua, Vanuatu. Yummy..
Left to go, 500 miles
Equator, 75 miles
Diesel burned, 0 liters. And for people from Texas, that is 0 gallons.š
Another 24 hours, another 72 liters (19 gallons) of diesel consumed.
It is what it is.. probably did the math another 24 times, and I believe we could continue running the engine at 1800 rpm and still have some fumes in the tanks. Course then why buy a sailboat? Chould have bought a trawler and just motored everywhere. For this passage we wanted an easy passage, wet got it so far. We have have had zero drama, so far. Touch wood.
However, Itās freaking HOT when there is very little wind and itās 36c. (93F) I feel like we have lost touch with Austin, Texas summers where there would be nearly 100 consecutive days over 40c (100F) .. and still went bike riding. Riding to the pubs but still.
Itās so hot you can just cook on the deck.. so we did!
Solar oven from our friends on Moana.
Instead of adding to the āholy hotnessā that is the kitchen, er galley – broke out he solar oven and baked up some fresh bread courtesy of Mr Fireball in the sky. Turned out quite nice, and the kitchen was no hotter than before..
The MOON.. the friggin moon is full of brightness.
Moonrise
Passages are always a planning game, weather, visa, schedules, etc. Being able to include the full moon on a passage is special. The moon lights the way, helps spot ominous looking clouds, and for those prone to seasickness helps keep the horizon level. We have been ahead of most of the clouds and squalls so far, there is some stuff building as we get close to the finish line. No worries, Mr moon should still be there with us. Tho seems like his is sleeping in later and later.
Speaking of where we are, we have between 4 and 6 days left, or another 120 hours if you are keeping track in hours. I used to use day x of passage but then by day 3 Iād forget if I stared day 1 on the day we left or the first complete day of passage, so trying hours this time. There is a little guy on the navigation station that keeps track of hours, so far he is doing a good job.
We have 699 miles to go, so sometime tomorrow will be 1/2 way. The next milestone is the equator, itās about 270 miles till the toilets start flushing the other way around.
With any luck, we will make some decent time this evening. The wind came up just at dark, meaning its 6knots of breeze. The sails were raised and hopefully they will keep us going through the night and make the journey a little better quicker than under diesel power. Or at least for a little bit.
Just a few nibbles from the chicken of sea, even sailed through a school that were jumping all about. :(. I think Mr Marlin must have actually warned his friends or left that Yelp review.
