Underway to Pohnpei

We departed on Sunday December 9 from Kosrae bound for Pohnpei in the FSM after bringing trash to shore and then taking a look at the Lelu Ruins. Given enough $, this national treasure could be maintained, but now it sits fallen to ruins. (Ooops, no pun intended.)

Motorsailing to gain on Cape Halgren, we ultimately sailed past it and safely out to sea before losing our wind the following morning. For two full days we battled calms and squalls and current. Many times Carina acted like a toddler confined to the clutches of an old aunt...she wiggled and squirmed and was just not happy. Large swell slapped us down and threw wind from her sails. We groaned continuously with frustration as we tried to keep the sails full and Carina moving at least west.

GRIBS continued to promise tradewinds so we stubbornly stuck to our rhumb line even if we drifted NE during some periods with the 1.5 knot adverse current. Squalls occasionally terrorized us.

Winds finally arrived on Tuesday midday and we've been sailing along nicely since. It is a thrill to see Carina breezing along taking each wave like a gazelle leaping over a bush. Last night the breezes were warm and the bright starlight cast a warm glow over the sea. If the winds hold, we should be able to pass through the reef at Pohnpei later today. Everyone, including the patient fat cat, would like that.

At about nine thirty local time last night a deep draft vessel, the Mt. Victoria, passed us on an exact reciprocal course to our own, going 9 knots. We sailed a bit south of our rhumb line to allow it to pass about 2 nm to starboard.

At 12/12/2012 and 19:34 UTC (GMT) our position was: 07°00.54'N / 158°53.16'E.
We were traveling 288T degrees true at 6.0 knots.



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Getting There

A trip of all conditions...but the most memorable of those conditions are the squalls. Looming eerily in the distance they advance in a cloud of driven grey water, often pushing large sea swell ahead. A wall of wind hits you and suddenly conditions get a bit dicey. Blinding rain envelops Carina and we struggle to ease sheets to lessen the sudden heel while we ride out the near gale-force winds. Once past, large seas come from different directions and bounce Carina around. We then tidy up and wait for the tradewinds to fill back in. Some days and nights this might occur every hour for many. A grey black squall is approaching now and Philip waits, the genoa furled, trysail and staysail trimmed. We are ready.

We're currently 55 miles or so away from Kosrae and expect landfall Sunday morning. We found out that Kosrae does not have propane for sale and we're pretty low. We won't be able to spend much time there before we'll have to leave for Pohnpei.

At 11/30/2012 and 23:38 UTC (GMT) our position was: 04°18.72'N / 163°31.04'E.
We were traveling 341T degrees true at 2.3 knots.




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in the North Pacific once more

at 0716 UTC...supper time here last night...we crossed the equator for the eighth time. Philip asked Neptune for permission and protection and donated a tot of Capt. Morgan's. Winds have turned NNE and it's now a beat to try to get to Kosrae. May have to tack back to the east.

A developing typhoon well to our west threatens friends and we're watching its track closely.

At 11/27/2012 and 17:45 UTC (GMT) our position was: 00°34.94'N / 163°33.51'E.
We were traveling 344T degrees true at 4.0 knots.

short-footer

Monsoon

Since leaving the Arvanon Islands on Tuesday we have been riding the first of the monsoon westerly winds east and north towards Kosrae. There have been a few whopper squalls but mainly winds of 10 knots or less. A low to our north and a low to our south both turn slowly; that in the southern hemisphere clockwise and in the northern hemisphere counterclockwise. One is feeding us winds from the north - from Mexico's deserts - and the other from the south - from the warm So Pacific - that are converging with the westerlies blowing in from Africa. For our passage, this has been a beneficial convergence.

Today is Sunday and we are just reaching the longitude of Kosrae, which is 481 nm due north. Yesterday was a particularly squally day and this launched us into the phase where sleep is all we dream of. Too, either of us can now sleep at any time of the day and with any racket going on around us.

At 11/25/2012 and 02:04 UTC (GMT) our position was: 02°43.67'S / 163°00.77'E.
We were traveling 036T degrees true at 3.4 knots.





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All's Well This Morning

The cyclonic storm SE of us is still there (due north of Vanuatu) and still projected to intensify. There is no word this morning of Shark Face, caught in it and dismasted. We are hoping the SAR guys are on the ball.

Aboard Carina, we are enjoying southerly winds and using them to book on north. There is little to no chance the storm will visit us, though we may enjoy some of the squalls in the troughs that emanate from it. We had a warm quiet night of sailing with <10 knots and a wee bit of moon.

At 11/20/2012 and 20:03 UTC (GMT) our position was: 06°50.09'S / 158°22.60'E.
We were traveling 066T degrees true at 2.7 knots.





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Slow Going

Spent yesterday, Sunday, drifting. The water was 91 degrees!! Squalls this morning. Ducked into Arvanon Islands - Kerehikapa - in the Manning Strait. Beautiful. Crocs, turtles and megapodes but we won't see them probably, even though the park extracted a fee for anchoring and a fee for park "entry".

At 11/19/2012 and 04:47 UTC (GMT) our position was: 07°27.36'S / 158°01.57'E.



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(no subject)

Well, at long last we are underway. We left Liapari yesterday - Saturday Nov 17 local time and are now in "the slot" and bobbing around with no wind. It's so calm and so hot Philip has fired up the grill to cook supper. The water temperature beneath the boat was 90 degrees F today!!

At 11/17/2012 and 23:34 UTC (GMT) our position was: 07°40.64'S / 157°24.49'E.
We were traveling 094T degrees true at 0.9 knots.





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Departing Soon

Dear Friends;

After a long stay in the Solomon Islands, we are perhaps two weeks away from departure..stay tuned.

Leslie & Philip and the fat cat
SV Carina
Gizo


At 10/24/2012 and 08:22 UTC (GMT) our position was: 08°05.99'S / 156°50.32'E.






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Carina in Tavanipupu

After just about every possible type of sailing - from ghosting along on flat seas and light winds to slopping around with the sails slatting to screeching along on a close reach into 30+ knots and torrential rain to motoring while rolling around like a pinball in large seas - we arrived at Tavanipupu Island in Marau Sound on the SE end of Guadalcanal. It was only a 30 hour trip but it felt much longer ;-). The "anchorage" is tight but we're holding well in the channel and the current is keeping us straight. Parakeets in pairs travel to and fro over our heads while a heron struts the shore. Later we'll venture ashore to the tiny resort and explore and maybe splurge on lunch or such. Maybe even try to get attached to the internet.

6/29/2012 and 04:49 UTC (GMT) our position was: 09°49.81'S / 160°51.11'E.



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Underway Again

We had a slow start this morning after our engine died, apparently as the result of water in our Racor filter. We got underway at 0847 local bound from Santa Ana to Tavanipupu in Marau Sound, on the SE end of Guadalcanal. Winds are abeam and brisk, and Carina is loping along merrily. Squalls keep us on our toes.

At 6/22/2012 and 00:36 UTC (GMT) our position was: 10°50.19'S / 162°27.07'E.
We were traveling 086T degrees true at 0.0 knots.



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Arrived

Oh what a night...our last night at sea on this passage - Vanikoro to Santa Ana - was a classic dark and stormy one. Perhaps it was fate then that we had to heave to most of the night to avoid arriving near the island of Santa Ana before the sun was up. Carina rides well hove to and as storms passed she just sat pretty and rode through the maelstrom with grace.

All is well aboard and we are settling in at Santa Ana...more on that in our Passage Notes.

At 6/22/2012 and 00:36 UTC (GMT) our position was: 10°50.19'S / 162°27.07'E.

short-footer

Not yet

Dear Friends;

After a slow night on Tuesday trying to keep the genoa from slapping itself to death while still moving forward, Wednesday dawn brought squalls. This is the Solomon Islands after all, most times home to the SPCZ, so this was not surprising. What was surprising was that one particular squall brought strong westerly winds and then seemed to suck away all hope of wind. Behind it came sunny weather and calm winds. We motored for a few hours and then gave up hope of arrival on Thursday without using an a lot of diesel when we aren't sure of when we can resupply, so we turned off the engine and drifted. What emerged from this is the insight that we have 0.5 knots of adverse current, pulling us east. And so, we galumped and slapped and went round in circles until nightfall, when with a whisper of wind, we were able to move once again towards our destination. NOW all we have to worry about is going slow enough to arrive in the morning on Friday (and not before).

Life is good; we have fresh baked bread, leftover pasta sauce and plenty of reading material.

At 6/20/2012 and 06:16 UTC (GMT) our position was: 11°03.84'S / 164°11.64'E.



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Carina Underway again Tomorrow

Dear Friends:

We expect to depart tomorrow - Father's Day in the USA - from Vanikoro, Solomon Islands bound for Star Harbor on San Cristobal Island (also in the Solomon Islands). We may also stop at Santa Ana, which is about five miles from Star Harbor. The trip is about 300 miles and should take us about three days, though we are expecting light winds so we aren't sure yet. We will plan to check into regional radio nets and also the Pacific Seafarers' Net (14,300 0300 Z, our callsign WZ7LL). We had hoped to depart today but the weather is a wee bit squally with little wind between squalls, plus we needed to solve an intermittent alternator issue that was affecting our ability to charge our batteries.

It has been difficult to tear ourselves from the lovely folks here at Vanikoro; our stay will have been seven days.

Departing from: 11-40 S / 166-56 E
Intended Destination: 10-49 S / 162-17 E
Possible Intermediate Destination (Santa Ana): 10-50 S/ 162-27 E

Cheers,
The crew of the yacht Carina,
Philip, Leslie and fat cat, Jake



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Anchor Down at Tikopia, Solomon Islands

After passing Anuta Island yesterday, we hove to in order to push back our expected arrival at Tikopia to coincide with midday so the sun could be overhead for better viewing of coral. We got underway again about 8 pm local time last night, having drifted for seven hours. Despite out minimalist sail plan, we flew through the night propelled by strong trade winds and occasional squalls all the while getting buffeted by large seas. Our timing turned out to be good and we sailed up to our Tikopia approach waypoint at about 10 am local time.

When we first started the engine for our final approach, we found our exhaust was pumping no water. Philip grabbed his wrenches and went below to check the raw water pump belt. The source of the problem is still a mystery but eventually we did get water pumping, lowered the staysail and motor-sailed under mainsail alone directly towards the island as we'd lost our wind to the island's wind-shadow.

Clouds made coral spotting difficult, despite the hour of the day, so our approach and surveying was done very slowly. Coral shelves line the shore where islanders were gathered to fish the reef while the tide was low; no one seemed to pay too much attention to us. One curious fisherman in a dugout outrigger paddled up for a brief chat.

Tomorrow we will launch the dinghy and go to shore and find the chiefs. We had been told there were three but Freddie (our fisherman) assures us there are four. Oh my, now we'll have to come up with four identical gift assemblies...that could be a challenge. For now, we're just tidying up a salt-encrusted Carina while anticipating a long night's sleep in our own bunk. Jake is still swaggering as if at sea but his nose is twitching as he raises his head to explore the island's perfume; he's one happy cat.

At 6/6/2012 and 02:06 UTC (GMT) our position was: 12°17.60'S / 168°49.12'E.



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Whoa Girl

The night is brightly lit by the nearly full moon as Carina races up and down the waves, propelled by only a tiny slip of a mainsail and staysail. The seas seem to be calming down a bit but the wind continues strong.
We had hoped to maintain an average speed of <4 knots to make our destination in the late morning of Wednesday, but it seems impossible to slow down this little boat as she surges up the waves and gracefully slides down the other side, galloping through the night. If conditions continue as such we'll heave to sometime tomorrow to allow some hours to pass and to get back on our arrival "schedule".

At 6/4/2012 and 11:32 UTC (GMT) our position was: 10°57.57'S / 170°20.85'E.
We were traveling 227T degrees true at 4.5 knots.



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Predawn Play

It's 6 am Majuro time and the sky is just beginning to brighten to the east, creating silhouettes of the cumulus clouds that dot the sky. A morning star peaks through, bringing hope of a fine day. Suddenly there's a splash and I catch sight of a fish (???) jumping. But NO, I realize it's a dolphin shooting skyward and flicking its tail and falling back into the sea. Again, it jumped and, perhaps content I'd seen it's gleeful display, disappeared into the dark waters below.

At 6/1/2012 and 18:07 UTC (GMT) our position was: 06°47.22'S / 172°08.88'E.
We were traveling 176T degrees true at 3.6 knots.



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A Squall Passes

The melody sung by the rigging slowly lowers in pitch from a screech to a hum as the moon emerges from the thick clouds above and the sea now shimmers as it rushes by. Reefed sails glow as Carina plunges forwards towards the blackest, most ominous cloud imaginable that is the backside of our squall. Only the wooly bear caterpillar-shaped blob on the radar screen slowly falling to lee gives us confidence the worst has passed and it's safe to sheet in the main and let out a bit of genoa. Adrenaline keeps us alert and we train our eyes to windward - breathing once again - while seeking, but hoping not to find, yet another storm.

At 6/1/2012 and 10:42 UTC (GMT) our position was: 06°28.17'S / 172°13.98'E.
We were traveling 195T degrees true at 3.4 knots.



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Dolphins

Philip woke me for my watch at 10 pm and I came on deck groggy from the warm cabin and interrupted sleep to meet a glorious moonlit night and cool breezes. Sitting in the lee aft edge of the cockpit coaming sipping my sweet milky black tea I suddenly heard a dolphin at close range surface exhale and dive. He was not alone; the pod of small dolphins frolicked about Carina for a half an hour or so, sparking bursts of phosphorescence as they surfaced. It was one of those perfectly peaceful sailing moments...

At 6/1/2012 and 01:00 UTC (GMT) our position was: 05°55.91'S / 172°22.42'E.
We were traveling 187T degrees true at 3.7 knots.





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Sunrise

I always anticipate the sunrise while at sea; perhaps because it is always the same but ever different. This morning the sun just happened to come up behind a distant towering cumulus cloud. The sun made the edges of the curving cloud glow at first and then two glowing orbs appeared, making the it appear like a possessed grinch who was tilting his head as he affixed you with a crazed stare.

We had a pleasant night with bright moon and puffy white clouds early on that gave way to three small squalls which left behind warmish soft tradewinds. The water temperature is 85!

Today will be bread baking day once again which will complement a left over, left over, sumptuous chili and beans.

At 5/30/2012 and 18:56 UTC (GMT) our position was: 04°21.46'S / 172°37.34'E.
We were traveling 173T degrees true at 3.9 knots.




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Soft Breezes & Moonlight

It's a gorgeous night to be at sea. The moon is bright and stars fill the sky and the ENE breeze is soft. Far off to our SE we can see towering cumulus clouds - suggesting convection - but see no squalls close by or threatening. We have begun to head south now as the front emanating from cyclonic gale down south had moved a bit north and is bringing thunderstorms to our east. As I write this a weatherfax of the Pacific streamline analysis is coming through in the background; we are receiving these twice per day from Hawaii. These reports, which are specific to the tropics, give us the location of all the major systems - highs, lows, cyclonic lows, troughs, etc. - in the Pacific and show us lines of constant wind.

We just dodged the 803 Dong Won for the second time today. The nice thing about these long liners is they DO seem to run their AISes (which is more than we can say for the purse seiners) and that their movements are fairly predictable. Our AIS is about the simplest one you can buy but it gives us the data we need to accurately track and avoid larger vessels who are complying with regs and transmitting data. This is our first passage with this new instrument installed.

When we started our engine today to generate power, we noticed our raw water pump wasn't pumping water. We shut down, of course, and Philip tore down the system and found nothing of note but changed the V belt that drives it. This solved the problem. When we get to a well protected anchorage we plan to sand down (both) engine pulleys and apply some paint. We had a belt split and spew water on the engine when underway to Majuro and think that the pulleys are starting to rust and wear belts prematurely. Or so is the theory..

At 5/29/2012 and 11:38 UTC (GMT) our position was: 02°56.62'S / 172°51.72'E.
We were traveling 185T degrees true at 3.6 knots.



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Day 8 - Taking our time and watching the weather

It was a quiet night, despite dodging a container ship (that put out a great AIS signal) and a long liner fishing vessel (that apparently had his transponder turned off) and a couple of minor squalls. We've pulled in all of Carina's genoa and are running only stayail and triple reef so as to slow down to about 2 knots to wait on a stationary trough that's embedded in the SPCZ at about 08 S that's also spawning cyclonic lows. The trough emanates from a cyclonic gale between Nuie and the Southern Cooks that is VERY unusual for this time of year. If need be we'll heave-to or park. If that strategy doesn't work because of the SW setting current, we can retreat NE or even head for Tarawa until this thing clears out. We're not in a hurry.

At 5/27/2012 and 17:54 UTC (GMT) our position was: 01°33.38'S / 172°32.42'E.
We were traveling 135T degrees true at 2.5 knots.

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Carina en route to the Solomons-day 7

At last, the day dawned sunny and dry (!) with a nice 10 knot ENE breeze and a one meter, gentle seaway. We're on a port-side beam reach (i.e., wind striking perpendicular to the left side of Carina) and we're skipping along at 5+ knots on a mostly southerly course. We crossed the equator (for the seventh time since we've been out cruising) at about 0130 this morning; Philip on watch to offer an incantation and gift over the side to King Neptune.

Our visibility seems almost unlimited although there is not much to see except the blue Pacific stretching out in every direction. This isolation is hard to believe unless you've been far offshore to experience it yourself. The rest of the world seems so detached from our current state.

Sea life has been minimal except for a pod of dolphins, a few boobies, tropicbirds and flying fish. On our first day out, a flying fish (possibly being chased by a mahi-mahi) flew aboard Carina, landed and slapped around in the cockpit sole. The noise aroused Jake and he came to investigate just as Philip was throwing it back overboard. Flying fish have a particularly pungent fishy smell and Jake's nose was twitching as he was trying to locate the animal. We never tire of seeing these animals blast out of the waves and glide for hundreds of feet before crashing back into the waves.

Such is our life on this 7th day at sea with "only" 760 miles left to go.

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Neptune here we come

Most of today and last evening, it seemed like we'd never see the end to squalls and rain or ever make it to the equator. As darkness fell this evening, the clouds began to thin and we actually can see some stars above. The setting moon was a sight to see. A huge cantalope colored crooked smile that melted down towards out of the clouds and then slowly slid into the sea. It was one of those sights where at first you catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of your eye and your heart goes thump because you think it's a ship at close range.

It's just after midnight and Philip is sleeping but Jake is ready to boogie. This is the time of night he normally prowls but he's smart enough to know we are on passage, though that doesn't stop him from wanting to prowl.

At the speed we are going, we'll cross the equator around 0200 local. Too late to make a big deal of it, but we'll be sure to make some offering to Neptune since as sailors we are superstitious and hate to temp any fates.

At 5/26/2012 and 12:35 UTC (GMT) our position was: 00°05.10'N / 172°09.57'E.
We were traveling 186T degrees true at 3.6 knots.




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Becalmed

This morning, just 48 miles from the equator, our wind disappeared. It had been a subdued night of sailing filled with stars - great for sleeping - and we were able to continue south. This morning after a brief but torrential warm tropical rain, the wind simply died. Now we watch the horizon for a distant squall, hoping it'll breeze by and give us a push as we drift north (gasp) by west.

At 5/25/2012 and 22:02 UTC (GMT) our position was: 00°48.10'N / 171°57.53'E.
We were traveling 291T degrees true at 0.5 knots.



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Sailing west of Kiribati

After three days we've all adjusted to life at sea, despite three squally nights. This means that any of us - including Jake - can now sleep through sailing noises of squeaking rigging and waves slapping against the hull as the boat rockets up and down the sea swell.

In the interest of sleep and avoiding moments of terror, we're only running a small mainsail and staysail when a squall threatens. (We roll in the genoa.) We adopted this strategy because this is a period of little moon when the night is particularly black and also that some violent squalls we have had did not return dark radar returns and took us by surprise. This conservative strategy has allowed us to sail into squalls comfortably and for the watchman to be protected from the pelting rain by the dodger.

Boat life is normal, we're eating well and even baked our first bread of the passage.

At 5/24/2012 and 04:46 UTC (GMT) our position was: 03°17.56'N / 171°54.44'E.
We were traveling 142T degrees true at 5.7 knots.



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ITCZ

Well, it was a dark and stormy night but one which we flew through using mostly 160 ft2 of sail - a triple reefed main and the staysail. The squalls sometimes came at us at 15 minute intervals. When rain is pelting you in the face, the wind generator is screaming and the boat is bashing through the blackest of waves into the blackest of rain clouds, it's hard to imagine for a minute that squalls are good for the earth, but of course they are.

It's still cloudy this morning but winds are very light, seas are lumpy and we can see clouds in the distance dropping their payload on the sea. Here comes another one! Here's hoping the ITCZ receeds east once more...one can always hope. ;-)


At 5/22/2012 and 18:32 UTC (GMT) our position was: 04°45.28'N / 171°33.33'E.
We were traveling 182T degrees true at 2.7 knots.



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And you thought it was all umbrella drinks and sunshine

Dear Friends;

Today we:

a) varnished
b) spent 3 hours re-organizing paper charts
c) rummaged around Google Earth making chartlets of the poorly charted areas of the Solomon Islands
c) did engine maintenance - changing out a water "pipe" that had spewed seawater all over the engine compartment and chased down an air leak that made the auxiliary quit at the most inopportune times
d) went off to the only laundry still operating now that Majuro has officially run "out" of water.

Tomorrow, Monday, it's back to "work" spending money and boosting the economy as we stuff Carina a wee bit more full of provisions.

Now, if we still have waterline, we'll set sail...soon.

Love,
L & P and the fat cat J



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(no subject)

Hello all;

We are soon to be underway from Majuro, though the day we'd hoped to depart looks dubious, weatherwise. We'll play it by ear and let you all know.

Cheers,
L & P and the fat cat, J
Majuro

At 5/13/2012 and 07:14 UTC (GMT) our position was: 07°06.50'N / 171°22.09'E.
We were traveling 239T degrees true at 0.0 knots.

/\
~~~~



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Carina Still in Majuro for Cyclone Season

We'll be adding to this ocean log once we are underway. Check with us again.

If you want to join our "Dispatch List" please follow the link back to www.sv-carina.org.

Fairwinds,
Leslie, Philip and Jake the cat

At 1/31/2012 and 19:15 UTC (GMT) our position was: 07°06.51'N / 171°22.09'E.
We were traveling 179T degrees true at 0.1 knots.

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