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Moorea . . . Captain’s Log |
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March
22nd 2006 The
following are entries straight from my Captain’s log: Day 1: We are on our way to the South Pacific (yeah baby!). Beautiful Day, Beautiful Day. Day
2: The
shaft on “Monty” our wind vane broke at 03:00. Put replacement on in the daylight. We hand steered until then. Days run=144NM (our best days run) Day
3: A
flying fish landed aboard last night.
Had a reef in until 07:00. The
color of the ocean is super blue and clean.
Days run=132NM Day
4: Ran
with the spinnaker all night. Not sure
if I should be running so dead downwind!
Only sailing at 3 knots. Days
run=112NM Day
5: Sailed
into the night, by 05:00 the wind died.
Ran the engine to move at 3 knots (1400rpms) and to charge the
batteries. Damn brown footed booby
kept trying to land on boat. La Kelly
and I knocked him down (with boathooks) into the water before he could land
on our boat. Days run=74NM Day
6: Our
spinnaker pole got too high; the boat rounded up and heeled way over. After about 10 minutes we got the spinnaker
back under control and lowered it before dark. Days run=89NM Day
7: Still
battling boobies. Ran with spinnaker
until wind was too much. Our spinnaker
sock got caught and we had to take it down without it. Sailing wing and wing with the jib poled
out to starboard. Days run=120NM Day
8: Haven’t
touched one thing (sails, direction) for 30 hours! Days run=139NM Day
9: Heavy
rain, low visibility, thunder and lightening!
Poor sleep with the boat being tossed from side to side. Days run=121NM Day
10: Collected
15 gallons of water. Flying fish on
deck. Lost my sunglasses and bungee
cord to the deep blue. Ran the engine
for 1 hour to charge the batteries.
Days run=115NM Day
11: Partial
jib only. Wind gusts up to 25
knots. Seas are confused because of
cross swell. Lost La Kelly’s shorts to
big blue. Days run=126NM Day
12: Jib
only. We have done a few loads of
laundry. Popcorn for the night
shift. Sun is hot. Both La and I slept in the cockpit while
off shift. Days run=135NM Day
13: Had a
long night, wind died. Started motor at
02:00 and ran for a couple of hours.
Flew the spinnaker in the afternoon and rope burned the hell out of my
left hand! Days run83NM Day
14: Making
3 knots wing and wing in a light breeze.
Pactor (e-mail) has not worked for 3 days now. Families think that we are dead. Days run=69NM Day
15: Wing
and wing for 24 hours with great wind through the night AWESOME! Half moon and clear skies. A big Marlin took my fishing lure. Days run=119NM Day
16: Ran
engine to charge batteries, got e-mail working again. Awesome close hauled sailing through the
night. Caught 2 gallons from rain
squalls yesterday. Days run=126NM Day
17: Just
fell in love with open ocean sailing.
Calm smooth seas, light wind, boat moving at 4 knots. Saw a meteor with a long contrail, bright
green and red. Waxing moon like
spotlight with clear warm skies. Days
run=84NM Day
18: Enjoying
watching the fish fly. Saw many
dolphins near our boat. We couldn’t
get on either of the nets with our HAM radio.
Days run=77NM Day
19: Radio
or Pactor is taking over the computer, cannot send e-mail or talk to
anyone. Moorea is taking a beating
with swells knocking the wind out of her sails. Days run=67 (worst days run) Day
20: “Otto”
our electric auto pilot broke. When we
motor we now have to hand steer.
Rained at night with fluky winds.
We hand steered in the rain.
Days run=75NM Day
21: Had a
tough time yesterday, the wind was out of the S.W. and fairly light. Each tack showed us going either N.W. or
S.E.! But today is sweet. Days run=73NM Day
22: Yesterday
we had a double reefed main and half of the jib out. The wind was whipping. Ran the engine twice to recharge the
batteries (no sun). Jib tore in two
places (replaced it with our newer one).
Days run=124NM Day
23: Holy
weather Batman, thunder, lightening and heavy rain. The wind was up to 30 knots. Ran engine to charge batteries. Days run=120NM Day
24: Ran
engine to charge batteries. Motored an
additional 1 hour looking for wind.
Mainsail slide connection is missing.
We may put up our old main.
Days run=110NM Day
25: Waves
up to 6 feet. Ran engine to charge
batteries. Extremely rolly all
yesterday, last night and today. Lost
hat and tried H.O.B. (hat overboard) drill and was unsuccessful. Engine was running hot again trying to make
headway against the wind and waves.
Days run=143NM Day
26: LAND HO! As the sun rose we could see the islands to
starboard. Only 10NM left to go. Our current Lat. and Lon. = 09°48.14’S and
139°01.89’W. We were happy to see and
smell land again after being at sea for so many days.
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