May 17 & 18

A whisker pole
on the front sail 

No sooner had Chantal taught us the word "rien" (nothing) when we looked at the radar and there was something.  Now we need the word for something.  We think the blip on the radar was a big ship, 15 miles away, going to the Panama Canal. It was too far away for us to see it with our eyes.  

Lots of to-do Wednesday with wing and wing, whisker pole, back to broad reach, Barry discovering loose bolts holding the Monitor together and to the boat causing him to climb OUT of the boat again to tighten everything  up.  Oh, my.  I think we saw 30 birds yesterday, petrel types.  Thanks for your emails!!

Thursday afternoon: Radar: rien.  Toilet: counterclockwise.  Pressure cooker: way better than a microwave and maybe better than my iPad.  Angels: forecasters Wally & DGS & Formosa who faithfully and conscientiously put out Nat'l Weather Service, Nat'l Hurricane Center, Climate Prediction Center, Hurricane Predication Center bulletins for us and for everyone on the sea courtesy of US government/our taxes.  Thank you very much!

Friday: It is 32c = 89f in the boat and 90% humidity. HOT! It is better outside because of trade wind breezes.  Apparently, the sun spots are inactive or too much skip, too little bounce or problems with the ionosphere because the SSB can't connect to the land station.  We use San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Watsonville or Honolulu and none will connect.  We are at 9 degrees N latitude which means we are S of that boiling caldron off Central America thus out of harm's way. We are approaching the ITCZ where it is narrow and relatively inactive. That's good for us. Less problems with squalls and thunderstorms which occur in the ITCZ. A few days to the ITCZ, another few to the equator and Barry guesses in all 9 days to get to Hiva Oa. We are faster than last time so far, I think because we sail better. Yesterday was the day to fish if you wanted.  Barry said Vince would love it and would be fishing.  There were other, bigger fish jumping out of the water besides the flying fish.  The squid come to the surface at night so we never see them jump.  Today, rien.

Brad&Debra - The Inmarsat-C sends our position, speed & course to our children 2x/day. Sheryl puts it on the blog as near as I can tell but it took her a bit until she figured out how (we didn’t receive reports until 2 days after their departure).  I don't know what time Stratos/Inmarsat sends it (0830 & 2030).  When I connect to Inmarsat it is polling our position about every 30 seconds.  No noonsite for us. Just have the equipment and knowledge about how to use it in case of emergency.  I'll give you the entry for noon + - for the first 3 days: May5 33d40N, 119d 17W; May6 31d09N, 119d40W; May7 29d19N, 121d12W. (I posted on the blog the locations which usually corresponded with their posts. I’ll post all the daily locations, as that makes more sense for tracking than the blog locations.)

Fri eve: wind speed down to 10 knots and boat speed cut in half (3.5 knots) - bleh!  We agree with Bill Lee, the designer and builder of Santa Cruz brand yachts and legendary race boat MERLIN  - Faster is Funner.  We are plodding along under sail alone, saving our fuel for our crossing of the doldrums/Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), where the wind speed will probably be even lower.

Re: birds. It is fun to be the birdwatchee or birdwatched rather than the bird watcher. The Tropicbirds and boobies (not sure which, as it was dark) especially circle the boat to get a good look, maybe sizing up the perch possibilities. The albatrosses, petrels and storm petrels will occasionally give us a second look. 

Re: food. The kale and broccoli have lasted all this time.  Now we are down to the brussel sprouts.  I guess I will hold my nose and cook them for Barry but NOT eat them. We still have carrots, beets, yams, apples and oranges - all in good shape.

Position :  10 05.16' N, 132 30.56' W
Speed : 5.4 knots,  Course : 196 degree