Fluky Winds near the Yap Trench

Our chart tells us there is approximately 4400 meters of water below. This depth is unimaginable. As we approach the island of Wa'ab, or Yap, the depth plunges further to 7500 meters!

Two days ago we decided to set sail from Woleai, an atoll in Yap State, for the main island. A tropical low is expected to deepen near Chuuk and head across Micronesia over the weekend. We should be in port a day or two ahead of the low approaching.

Feeling the low "bearing" down, we are anxious to make progress. The first day wind cooperated and we did a 138 nm day on a close to beam reach. Now we sail between squalls and it makes managing our sails (and our progress) challenging.

Squalls have mostly masked the waning moon, though last night in the wake of a squall, the cockpit was suddenly filled with light and my body cast a shadow on the companionway. It was as if a someone behind bearing a search light had found little Carina in the middle of the ocean and said "ah ha, gotcha!"


At 2/19/2014 and 22:41 UTC (GMT) our position was: 08°38.99'N / 140°26.51'E.
We were traveling 300T degrees true at 4.4 knots.





----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Hove To

A dry soft NE wind blows across the water, bright from the three quarter moon as we sit, parked, about 13 nm from the pass at Woleai. It is 4 am and we've been hove to since about 11 pm after reaching a point north and east of our line of travel beyond which we dare not go in the dark. Carina bobs in the swell and to her stern is the moon; her port side to Ursa Major and Polaris and her starboard to a magnificent South Cross sitting upright. The GPS reads zero for speed over ground but our track over the last three hours shows a perceptible drift. All is well as I sip tea and try to wake up for my watch.

*******

At 2/12/2014 and 18:09 UTC (GMT) our position was: 07°17.33'N / 144°07.81'E.



----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Flying

Yesterday at about 3 pm local a squall line appeared behind that stretched towards the NE for as far as we could see. We reefed down and the front passed just behind us, dumping little rain. Behind the front the trades were enhanced and it became clear we were in for a bit of a blow. Adding another reef to the main, effectively a "third" reef, Carina went flying into deep darkness on a beam reach with her rigging screeching.

As dawn brightens the horizon on Sunday Feb 2, 2014, winds are beginning to clock back to their normal direction and moderating, and it appears our downwind sailing is returning.


At 2/1/2014 and 19:22 UTC (GMT) our position was: 06°52.52'N / 147°28.65'E.
We were traveling 298T degrees true at 4.7 knots.





----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Just before the Dawn

As last night progressed, our tradewinds diminished. This is not unusual and we expect them to return as the sun rises. When this phenomenon occurs, there is a period between moonlight and sunlight when ground fog accumulates and the night seems very black indeed. Though there remained stars above, just above the surface of the sea all around Carina was an impenetrable black that allowed me to imagine for a second the inside of a black hole.

Hope now comes as Venus rises, the cloak fades and the horizon brightens.

At 1/31/2014 and 18:39 UTC (GMT) our position was: 06°13.36'N / 149°08.65'E.
We were traveling 297T degrees true at 2.5 knots.



----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Carina Crossing the western North Pacific

We are now moving west in Micronesia, having left Pohnpei on January 11, 2104 after 13 months resident. Our first stop was magnificent Ant Atoll, and then friendly Lukunor, known by the locals as Lekinioch, in Chuuk State.

Today is Friday January 30. As dawn is beginning to brighten the horizon, the stars are fading. There is a blush of pink in the mares tail clouds to windward at the horizon. It has been a perfect night of sailing. NE tradewinds, 2 m seas and brilliant stars with constellations Carina, the Southern Cross, Orion and the Big Dipper obvious amongst the navigational stars and the Milky Way. Lightning could be seen to the south and west but none found us. The occasional thin cloud would pass overhead but none disturbed Carina's brilliant jaunt across the sea.

We have been at sea for 46 hours and we have not yet reached the stage where sleep comes easily, so we are both tired.

We are now less than 300 nm from Lamotrek but, though tradewinds are promised, we will unlikely make landfall on Sunday February 2 and will have to slow down for a Monday morning entrance to the atoll when we would have plenty of time and ample light to navigate the narrow south entrance to the reef.


At 1/30/2014 and 19:54 UTC (GMT) our position was: 05°52.34'N / 150°55.42'E
We were traveling 275T degrees true at 5.5 knots.





----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Departing Again Soon from Pohnpei

We will be underway once more in January 2014 and will update this blog while at sea. Please visit again.

For other news and photos, please return to our website:  www.sv-carina.og

Cheers,
Leslie & Philip

At 11/30/2013 and 04:57 UTC (GMT) our position was: 06°57.75'N / 158°12.05'E.

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.



----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

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.




----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

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.





----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com