This morning as dawn broke we got a peek at the sun beneath the distant clouds. Overhead of the sun's glow on the horizon to east, the thin waning moon smiled crookedly and we could clearly see the stars of Orion's Belt, plus Betelgeuse and Rigel twinkling merrily.
There is no wind but there is overwhelming lovely quiet interrupted by the clunk of the genoa fairlead as we bob in the swell and drift with the current towards our equator waypoint. The swell and the distant storm clouds suggest weather in the region and we hope that with the atmosphere warming up, some of that weather comes for a visit, bringing with it its wind.
For now, we practice patience and rest from our wet, wild and fast first days.
At 7/31/2016 and 21:08 UTC (GMT) our position was: 03°25.56'N / 139°04.29'E.
We were traveling 104T degrees true at 1.7 knots.
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Sunday 31 July 2016
Trough!
About 0415 local time (GMT +10) a trough blazed through. Leading up to it, a vicious-looking squall line with periodic lightning formed to our west. Our northerly winds suddenly ceased and we were thrown into a sea of bouncing standing waves from all directions. Not knowing what was going to happen, we pulled in the genoa and hove to. A puff or two of SW winds was all the warning we got before being blasted by blinding rain and gusting contrary winds. With the passing, we put out a piece of genoa, wore ship and took off sailing on a new point of sail through the waves of warm driving rain. Dozens of shearwaters circled about Carina, enjoying the soaking, while a solitary boobie perched on a small piece of wood watched us impassively as we surfed by.
An hour or so later, we came out of the clouds and rain into a clear sky. Tonight winds are light ENE but Carina is gliding along in the direction we want to go and the stars are out above forming ground fog.
Sedate and calming quiet has engulfed us.
At 7/31/2016 and 13:13 UTC (GMT) our position was: 03°36.23'N / 138°55.10'E.
We were traveling 153T degrees true at 3.0 knots.
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An hour or so later, we came out of the clouds and rain into a clear sky. Tonight winds are light ENE but Carina is gliding along in the direction we want to go and the stars are out above forming ground fog.
Sedate and calming quiet has engulfed us.
At 7/31/2016 and 13:13 UTC (GMT) our position was: 03°36.23'N / 138°55.10'E.
We were traveling 153T degrees true at 3.0 knots.
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Saturday 30 July 2016
Gift Horses
I woke to the sound of the sea rushing past Carina and rain beating on the vinyl window of the companionway cover. Carina was bucking and twisting like a filly which only made the bunk seem more cozy in my groggy fatigued state. Still, I stood up and lifted the flap and called out into the warm torrent "Do you need help?". A firm "No" came from the dark shiny figure whose face I could just see by the glowing red light of the binnacle compass.
"Go back to bed, you still have a half an hour to sleep".
"Ok, but what is happening? Are you hand steering?"
"Yes. I thought the wind was dying, so I put out more genoa. And then this squall struck!"
I climbed back into the warm dry off-watch bunk and fell back asleep to the sound of the genoa beginning to flog and the furling line being cranked...and the sea murmuring-by as Carina settled into a pleasant roll as she surfed the waves at a more subdued pace.
After almost three days of fast sailing, it's easy to think that 6 knots is our right, but it is better not to question the wind gods' gifts during the blackest of stormy nights.
At 7/30/2016 and 19:03 UTC (GMT) our position was: 04°34.53'N / 138°07.31'E.
We were traveling 138T degrees true at 4.2 knots.
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"Go back to bed, you still have a half an hour to sleep".
"Ok, but what is happening? Are you hand steering?"
"Yes. I thought the wind was dying, so I put out more genoa. And then this squall struck!"
I climbed back into the warm dry off-watch bunk and fell back asleep to the sound of the genoa beginning to flog and the furling line being cranked...and the sea murmuring-by as Carina settled into a pleasant roll as she surfed the waves at a more subdued pace.
After almost three days of fast sailing, it's easy to think that 6 knots is our right, but it is better not to question the wind gods' gifts during the blackest of stormy nights.
At 7/30/2016 and 19:03 UTC (GMT) our position was: 04°34.53'N / 138°07.31'E.
We were traveling 138T degrees true at 4.2 knots.
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Friday 29 July 2016
Monsoon Failure
One of our Monitor windvane steering lines failed in the middle of a near gale yesterday. Hove to and had to climb outside onto it to put on new one on. Not such a fun thing but we got it done and even replaced the other line. It's our own fault as when we checked them prior to departure we judged them serviceable.
Hove to again about 4 or 5 am Saturday morning. Over canvassed (really out of balance) with only a double reefed main. Self steering unhappy and hand steering exhausting. It was pitch black, raining and blowing up to gale, so we didn't want to do anything until daylight as reefing means going forward to the mast.
Storminess still around but we're sailing along nicely this morning with third reef and half the genoa on a comfy downwind run well east of our rhumb line and "Bud" is working his magic steering.
And our bellies are full of breakfast...now for a nap.
At 7/29/2016 and 23:07 UTC (GMT) our position was: 06°29.82'N / 137°00.88'E.
We were traveling 130 degrees true at 5.0 knots.
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Hove to again about 4 or 5 am Saturday morning. Over canvassed (really out of balance) with only a double reefed main. Self steering unhappy and hand steering exhausting. It was pitch black, raining and blowing up to gale, so we didn't want to do anything until daylight as reefing means going forward to the mast.
Storminess still around but we're sailing along nicely this morning with third reef and half the genoa on a comfy downwind run well east of our rhumb line and "Bud" is working his magic steering.
And our bellies are full of breakfast...now for a nap.
At 7/29/2016 and 23:07 UTC (GMT) our position was: 06°29.82'N / 137°00.88'E.
We were traveling 130 degrees true at 5.0 knots.
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Thursday 28 July 2016
Underway!
We dropped our mooring at Sam's Tours Palau at 1123 local (0223 UTC) July 28, 2016 bound for Ninigo Islands. As we passed Jake's cove, we said goodbye again and had a good cry.
The day looked stormy but with "weather" we hoped for wind. We have certainly had that with a shift from SE, to S, to SW as we moved offshore Palau. The rocky seas and squalls have made our first meal at sea a challenge and have kept Philip on his seasickness meds, but otherwise all is well. As dawn breaks, we have a favorable current and 15-18 SW with a following sea and the thunderstorms appear to be south of us and moving away. Oh, and we have a BIG brown stowaway that shuffled away faster than we could squash him last night. Ugh.
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The day looked stormy but with "weather" we hoped for wind. We have certainly had that with a shift from SE, to S, to SW as we moved offshore Palau. The rocky seas and squalls have made our first meal at sea a challenge and have kept Philip on his seasickness meds, but otherwise all is well. As dawn breaks, we have a favorable current and 15-18 SW with a following sea and the thunderstorms appear to be south of us and moving away. Oh, and we have a BIG brown stowaway that shuffled away faster than we could squash him last night. Ugh.
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Wednesday 27 July 2016
More Goodbyes
at Belau EcoGlass who are pioneering a free program to turn waste into
genuine Palauan art. They are patient and thorough teachers and we were
lucky to have had the chance to benefit from their innovative program.
We leave Palau with two beautiful, though amateur blow glasses and a
magnificent game set for the PNG islanders. Thank you Eli!
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Sunday 24 July 2016
Goodbyes
foreign ports in small boats. We spent our Sunday afternoon today over
lunch and good conversation with our friend Henry who hails from New
Hampshire now and who is a Peace Corps volunteer. We hope to share
another nice chat in some remote anchorage - somewhere, sometime -
perhaps back in the USA and maybe, just maybe, aboard Henry's future
sailboat!
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Friday 22 July 2016
Flag?
one together from materials we had aboard.
Check, check...the departure list is getting shorter.
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Wednesday 20 July 2016
One Last Trip
done out on the reef. The weather was unsettled so we stayed in the
lagoon and - gasp - worked on the boat, some of which involved
snorkeling. Zincs were changed and the propeller scraped and scrubbed
until it sparkled. What a magnificent place to remember the Rock
Islands by...
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Sunday 10 July 2016
Monsoon
weren't threatened by the storm - it went well north - but we got much
needed rain...so much rain our tanks were filled and all of our laundry
was clean.
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