Coopers Quest

[David Fox]

Day 6, Mr Toads wild ride again
28 May 2021
01 19.037'N: 84 28.265'W,
Weather; Cloudy with hints of sun, wind between 15 - 20 knots, waves 2-3 metres short swell interval


The last 24 hours have been more of Mr Toads wild ride. The forecast was for 13 knots and for the majority of the day we saw 18 to 20 knots which increased overnight to a minimum of 21 knots and peaking at 24 knots. You are probably thinking this is good, in some ways it is as we were at least able to sail along doing a respectable 6 to 7 knots with just the main and the staysail out. The unfortunate thing was that the wind angle was hovering around the 40 degree point which makes it difficult for us to point very high and totally unable to deploy the jib as would just flap and flop around. The other thing to note here is that we are heeled over a fair bit making it darned near impossible to move around the boat easily and making cooking a hazardous occupation, even with a gimbled stove! We miss out on coffee when it's like this and we are both a bit like bears with sore heads for the entire day. Sleeping becomes more difficult too as we are constantly bracing to not fall onto or into something so the tiredness is accumulating nicely. We both snatched an hour or so whenever we could, we are getting this sitting and nodding off down to a fine art!

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No not the Galapagos, but Hartland Point, North Devon ( a wreckers coast), just to break up the text.

We did "catch" 2 flying fish on the deck , both of which got washed overboard with the water we were taking down the gunwales, and there was plenty of that. The enclosure has remained tightly closed up as we have been taking wave after wave over the bow as we plough through them. Gerry at one point went to get something out of the nav station and discovered that the floor was wet and he spent a while trying to discover where the water had come in from, it appears to be somewhere over the cupboards containing all of the manuals but the exact entry spot remains elusive, we suspect it might be something to do with the propane locker but exploring that area is going to be when we have a flat calm day.

I then went to the forward berth for something and discovered that everything in the ensuite there was soaked, it was easy to see why though in this case, as the Dorade that is over this area faces forward and with the amount of waves crashing over the bow it had obviously come in through the Dorade. That didn't make it any the better though as we now have soaking wet towels and a sea water drenched half full laundry basket! It's a good job that all of our clothes will be going in the bin once we reach home.

Dinner last night was a trial to prepare as I was being flung all over the place with sharp knives in hand and things like onions rolling from one end of the galley to the other not to mention the tricky frying pan with the hot dog sausages in it, but I did manage to get hot dogs and salsa cooked and dished up. We are still not seeing the sunset as the cloud cover is continuous so there is no chance of seeing the green flash at the moment but don't worry we are still looking out for it. Absolutely nothing happened overnight as we hung on for grim death in the turbulent wind and waves, the pounding that the waves caused as we crashed through them left me with an horrendous headache first thing this morning, it's only just beginning to abate now as we approach lunchtime - I'm sure a coffee would have helped if only one of us would take a risk with hot water!

In the 24 hours we haven't run the engine at all and we covered 135 NM, the most NM so far, bringing us another day closer to Nuku Hiva!

Day, 7 first week over and done with
29 May 2021
01 12.394'N: 86 36.070'W,
Weather; cloudy with hints of sun but no sighting of same, wind between 8 - 20 knots, waves 1-2 metres

The sun didn't want to come out today and we spent almost all day staring at a pale grey sky. The sea was pretty rough at the height of the day with the waves making us bounce around until mid-afternoon when it suddenly all calmed down and we had a patch of smooth sailing doing about 6 knots on average. We even managed to have our dinner without wearing it which was quite an achievement considering that it was a Thai Green curry and was quite liquid. The sky turned a fabulous orange red colour at sun set and we managed to see the sun dip into a small break in the cloud cover as it set but not for long enough to see it vanish beyond the horizon. The night was a whole different ball game as far as the sailing went. Gerry had gone down to sleep at around 11 pm leaving me with the boat doing a nice easy 5.5 knots with the main and the staysail in play, about an hour passed and the wind began to drop away and then drop away a bit more. I waited patiently for it to pick back up, as it often does, as I really didn't want to start up the engine as I knew it would disturb Gerry who was sleeping in the quarter berth right next to the engine, but in the end as we dipped below 7 knots of wind and were wallowing along at just under 2 knots and I think probably going more sideways than forwards I had no choice.

I called out "Sorry Gerry" and turned the engine on expecting him to appear instantly wanting to know the why, where and what for of me starting up the engine as he usually does but to my surprise he didn't show up. When I asked later if he had realised that I'd started the engine he said he thought so but just turned over and went back to sleep for the next 2 hours. He surfaced just in time to see me about to switch the engine back off as the wind had shown up again and we were back in the business of sailing.

[David Fox]

Apologies for not keeping up with Gerry & Nicky. They safely arrived in Nuku Hiva , French Polynesia after 29 days at sea in a 60' yatch and made a good landfall. They are catching up on zeds and will start their joblist for exotic places as they have only 4 days on their visa.

[David Fox]

Day 8, one more lure down.
30 May 2021
01 00.590'N :89 07.000'W,
At sea to Nuku Hiva
Weather; cloudy with hints of sun but no sighting of same,
wind between 10 - 24 knots, waves 2- 3 metres

I'm beginning to suspect that the sun no longer exists as yet again we had a day of grey and overcast skies. We continued to sail all day without having to resort to putting the engine on at all, it was nice and peaceful on that front but the wind and waves rushing past us certainly made enough noise to prevent us from getting much sleep in during the day.

The constant heeling over had us trying hard not to move around too much as every movement is fraught with the possibility of banging into stuff. It's funny how the heeling over makes you rethink the entire storage areas on the boat particularly as on our current tack all the cupboards which have our tinned goods in are in danger of flying open and spilling their contents all over the cabin sole so every time you need to get something out of one of those cupboards it's a case of trying to time it for the Nano second that the boat straightens up, quickly retrieving the tin that you need, and it's never anywhere near the front of the cupboard, and slamming the door shut before the next sideways movement occurs or you end up chasing tins around the floor as they determinedly roll away from you.

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The same rules apply in the galley where preparing food is a hazardous occupation at best; knives, hot water, round fruits and veggies, unsecured plates, bowls, pots and pans have a habit of ending up in the sink for safety reasons.

We spent most of the day sitting reading in the cockpit as we bounced along doing a respectable average of 6 knots. We put out the fishing stick and had just one strike in the entire day, whatever we hooked must have been quite large as it chomped through the line and we lost our 3rd hook line and sinker with no fish to show off yet again! We changed out our lure and threw it back in the water but there were no further strikes for the rest of the day - maybe tomorrow!

As the night watches began both of us thought we could see a light on the far horizon but nothing showed up on radar or AIS which is a bit disconcerting when you are heading straight towards it, even if it is miles away. We watched with keen interest as it gradually grew larger and obviously closer, we suspected it was a fishing boat and really didn't want to get caught up in any line or nets that it might have out in the water.
I took off for my turn at sleeping and left Gerry to deal with whatever it was that we were approaching, it turned out that when we were just half a mile away from it they suddenly turned on their AIS and showed themselves to be a 236 foot long fishing boat - not something we needed to hit in the dark! Gerry passed it safely and that was the last we saw of life on the water for the night.

Our escort of birds continued for the evening but only 2 of them took up perches for the night, one on the pulpit and one on the stern solar panel. The one on the stern was a different sort of bird from yesterday, it was more like a gull and Gerry decided that it was a Shitehawk. I'm sure that the two birds have added to the mess left on the deck which we still haven't had the rain needed to clean it off.

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We managed our best day yet in the past 24 hours, making 152 NM totally under sail with no engine hours added. George is doing a sterling job of keeping us on track and heading us towards the Marquises, we are one day closer to feeling solid land beneath our feet. We are currently at the tip of the Galapagos Islands, heading across the top of them in the next day or so. We can't see any land, there are no boats on the water in any direction, no flying fish and no whales as yet but we are looking out for them.

A comment from one of their sailing friends.

Enjoying your trip. We did this stretch in 1972 about this time of year. We stopped in the Galopagos for a month, it was different time then. We were on a 36 footer and 100 miles a day was a good run for us. Took 38 days to Nuka Hiva. I remember saying, "I could have done this on a Hobie cat". It was great. I'll be following, fairwinds.

Day 9,
31 May 2021
00 36.663'N:
91 47.287'W,
Weather; cloudy but clearing, wind between 10 - 20 knots, waves 2 metres


We continued to sail for most of the day and night only resorting to mechanical wind when the wind died away to nothing a couple of times, luckily it was only for short periods of time and we ended up motor sailing for just 4 hours. During the day light hours we watched nothing happening on the water - there were no dolphins to amuse us, no flying fish landing on the deck, no whale sightings, no land visible and even our bird escort disappeared as we got closer to the Galapagos Islands.

We didn't put out the fishing stick today as we are in a zone which is marked on the chart plotter with some odd details about it becoming a particular type of area as of May 1st this year but we aren't quite sure what it means and we aren't going to be doing anything like fishing in the area (even though we are more than 12 NM from the islands so officially in international waters) just in case we get stopped by the non-existent patrol boats that aren't passing by us!

We are still on the same port tack that we have been on for a few days now and we are finding more things to dislike about this particular tack and have added the difficulty of getting the shower to drain. The water accumulates to the starboard side and we have to squeegee it out towards the drain which is located more towards the port side, believe me when I say that trying to do this whilst precariously balancing in a bouncing boat with a decided lean on to one side, stark naked, with a shower curtain sliding backwards and forwards and generally getting in the way whilst trying to maintain some semblance of dignity is darn near impossible but needs to be done to prevent the build-up of mould in the shower. The same thing applies to the sinks, (without being stark naked) trying to keep them dry after use is a task in itself.

Anyway enough of trying to explain what boat life is really like - it's not that perfect "living the dream" stuff that everyone who has never done it imagines it to be but it does have some fabulous and fun filled moments too (like arriving at the destination and being able to get a good nights sleep!).


Cannot be a pretty sight.

We had word from Dale and Lorie today that they have had one of the happiest days of their boating life - there are two of these days in boat ownership that are well documented, these being the day that you buy your boat and the day that you sell it. Dale and Lorie are no longer boat owners, having sold Gypsy Palace. We know they have had lots of good times on the Palace as we have shared many of them, it's just so sad that Covid reared its ugly head when it did and threw all of our plans for 2 years of sailing adventures into chaos.

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No, not Opals engine.

Gerry found himself another fixing job (oh, no here comes the toilet tale!) the aft toilet has gradually slowed down when emptying over the past couple of days, we thought maybe because we are on the port tack but it seems to be getting slower by the day and needs to be investigated. So here we are this morning bobbing along, heeled over and Gerry sets about pouring muriatic acid down the toilet to make sure that it is clear of scale ( there is no toilet paper blocking it as nothing but bodily waste gets put down the toilet) Only time and use will tell if the acid has any effect or not, it could be another job for that exotic place we must be going to!

Oh and just one other small job cropped up, the helm has developed a squeak which is really irritating and not immediately obvious as to why. Gerry has greased the bits he can get to but if it continues it means taking the wheel off, removing the instrument pod then the compass to get to the guts of the steering column to find
out the cause and then fixing it (not that we have any spare parts for it so hopefully it's just a protest from George about how much work he's having to do and can be fixed with grease or some sort of lubricant!).

The dawn was overcast and we expected it to be another dull day but as I type the sun has come out and the sky has enough blue in it to make a sailor a pair of trousers so it looks like the solar panels might actually get to do what they are supposed to do today.

On that note it's time to go and bake a cake. We covered 163 NM in the last 24 hours with just 4 hours' worth of engine use, our best day to date.

[David Fox]

Day 10, An exhausting day.
1st June
00 03.779 N 94 05.962 W
Weather; clear sky but not warm, wind between 10 -15 knots, waves 2 metres


Yesterday continued in much the same vein as the day before, the wind played hide and seek and catch me if you can for most of the day and into the night. We tried and were partially successful as we managed to cover 141 NM in the 24 hours but we did have to motor sail for 5 hours of that, still it's not so bad.

Gerry kept himself busy for most of the day checking up on our newly discovered leak in the forward stateroom. He took apart the cupboard and shelfing contents and distributed them all over the bed which he had first folded the mattress in half on, to leave the bare boards uncovered in case the leak made its way onto the bed.

Our oversized towels were then laid on the bare boards to absorb any water and for Gerry to be able to lay on and work in comfort. We have some chamois towels which he then used to line where he thinks the water leak is dropping and at the same time put a container beneath the area to catch any run off.

He then cleaned the area and applied waterproof putty to the small areas where he thinks the water might be coming in to try and block them. It looks like this area has had a leak in a past life as there has been an attempt to apply some fiberglass tape, this is the first time in the 8 or so years that we have owned the boat that we have had a leak in the area so maybe the fix has been good up until now but the time has come for a better job on it.

Whilst we know there will be some "fixing" of it to be done once we reach that exotic place Gerry is trying to get ahead of the game and work out what needs doing whilst we are still running in order to identify exactly where the water is coming in from so we can make an effective fix.

He continued to check the area about every 2 hours for the rest of the day and overnight into this morning, there is still water coming in, not a lot but it is tracking from somewhere other than the places he filled with the waterproof putty. Once we get the exact spot sorted out and dry we will be sanding and fibre glassing the area and hopefully that will be the end of the story.

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I managed to exhaust myself during the day by making a cake. Now I'm sure you are raising your eyebrows and thinking what is the matter with her, how hard can that be, well let me enlighten you about making a cake (from scratch) on a boat that is hurtling along rolling to the side from a zero degree angle to a 20 degree angle repeatedly.
So instead of retiring to the cockpit and relaxing whilst the cake baked I made butter chicken and Aloo Gobi with rice (yes all from scratch) and dished it into bowls ready to reheat for our dinner then washed up those pots as well. By now the cake was done and it was well and truly time to take it out of the oven and retire to the cockpit.

Gerry meanwhile had put out the fishing stick
and had been sitting reading his book, he decided that he needed a nana nap and went below. I kid you not he had been gone 15 minutes and the damn line began to spool out on the fishing stick, I jumped up yelled for him to come and help and began reeling the line in, Gerry appeared, took over and promptly lost whatever was on the line, but at least the lure and hook were still attached so back in the water it went and Gerry returned to his pit. Not ten minutes later the line went out again, repeat of last time, no fish but we still had the lure and hook - third time lucky?

Gerry went back below and this time it took twenty minutes for the line to spool out, I began reeling it in and Gerry appeared and took over. I grabbed the gaff and gloves and this time we managed to get the fish reeled in, it was a yellow fin tuna, just the right size for dinner! I had the gloves on and we struggled to get the hook out of its mouth but eventually got there.

I thought I had bashed it hard enough for it to be dead but once the hook was out of its mouth it wriggled and slipped out of my hands back into the water. I was devastated, so close but still no fish for dinner, I also felt bad as it couldn't possibly have lived with all the messing about we had done to get the hook out of it, we are sure it must have become dinner for some bigger fish. What a good job I had an alternative for our dinner prepared.

So we think we now have the fishing and hooking down pat but need some lessons in reeling in and killing the catch before we are going to get to eat anything from the ocean!

At least this morning we have woken to a sunny sort of day. There were no dolphins frolicking around the boat at dawn and we had no overnight guests at the bird B&T.

Gerry did the deck patrol after breakfast and found that 8 squid had committed suicide on the deck overnight, they have fed a fish or two this morning. We have moved out of the marked Zone that I spoke of yesterday, really not sure what that was about as it didn't appear to be monitored at all. We are currently doing about 4.7 knots; the winds are light but we can at least sail for the moment as the wind is on the beam. The water is fairly flat and calm with a long swell interval so it's not too bad for the minute. The fishing stick is out and Gerry has just gone for a sleep so I'd better get this tidied away as it's bound to zing out any moment .


Comment from a family member of Nicky's.

Honestly ... exhausted doesn’t cut it!!!!! After reading over the past few days I don’t know whether the decision to make a cake came from a woman on the edge of insanity or a woman made of amazing stuff and fortitude!!!!! While you have risked life and limb in the belly of an ever rolling yacht I spent the day on the couch with a dog and a book ....

Day 11, The world turns upside down.
2nd June 00 46.495 S 95 51.030 W
Weather; warm and sunny, wind 5 -9 15 knots, waves 2 metres


OMG, no sooner had I typed the word "June" yesterday than the fishing line began to zing out at an alarming rate, be careful what you wish for!

I was sitting at the furthest point away from the rod as it is possible to be in the cockpit and Gerry as you know had gone below for a sleep. I moved the computer and external hard drive off of my lap to the seat next to me and struggled to get myself around past the wheel on to the up side of the boat, unzipped the enclosure window and went to apply the clutch to the rod just as Gerry surfaced as he had been in the twilight zone and not quite asleep when he cottoned on to the noise being the line spooling out. By now the fish had taken off and was rushing towards the Galapagos Islands as fast as we were rushing away from them and the amount of line that had gone out was considerable. At the time we were doing about 5 knots, under sail alone so there was quite a distance between us and the fish on the line.

Gerry began to try and reel it in, stupidly not wanting to turn the boat into wind to slow us down (understandable in many ways as any gains we make from the wind would quickly be negated and we have far enough to go still without losing what we have gained this far). Anyway the tension on the line was enormous and made reeling the fish in a long and difficult process.

For the next 45 minutes Gerry held on, reeled in patiently and fought the 5 knot drag that we were adding to the weight of the fish. It finally got to where we could just see it dragging through the water but far enough away that we couldn't identify what it was, but it was a good size - finally we were hopeful of fish for dinner! I got the camera ready for the triumphant photo, had the gloves and gaff on standby and we began to discuss where we were going to get it on board.

Then within sight, at about 50 yards off of the stern, there was a ping and the line went slack, what a disappointment after such a long struggle. We don't think the fish itself made good it's escape, we suspect that something bigger saw its chance for a quick and easy dinner.

We had once again lost a lure with nothing to show for it! Gerry reeled in the last bit of the line and packed the rod away in disgust, not even bothering to attach a new lure - that could wait until tomorrow. By now it was coming up to 1.15pm so time for a late lunch, I finished sending off and uploading the blog whilst Gerry made us a sandwich.

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We had just finished eating when our world turned downside up, to quote the Peter Gabriel song. A moment we have been carefully watching out for over the past two days had finally arrived.

There was a big neon sign in the middle of nowhere with flashing lights saying "Welcome to the Southern Hemisphere, where anything is possible". We presented our Equator documentation at the crossing to King Neptune and his representatives so that we didn't have to go through the ceremony of having one eyebrow shaved off, being covered in slops or any of the other hideous punishments that get dished out for crossing the Equator without permission. As we have done the crossing many times in the past we had nothing to fear and were cordially welcomed back to the South. We were now sailing along up-side down in calm waters with a pale blue sky beneath us, we flushed the toilet and drained the sinks to make sure that they were draining in the anticlockwise direction and wondered if the fish in the South would be a little kinder to our attempts to catch and eat them! Our Equator crossing was at 1.31pm on June 1st 2021 and we managed to get the last reading of 00, 00.001N as a screen shot before it clicked over to the South heading which we only managed to get at 00, 00.016S due to the speed we were travelling at and the slowness of the screen shot reset.

For the rest of the afternoon we did nothing except barrel along under sail doing about 5 knots. The night watches began after dinner as usual, followed by a cloudless sunset which wasn't anything worth writing home about, there decidedly wasn't a green flash but the sky did eventually turn a pale orange which disappointingly doesn't come out in the photos. For the first time in this part of the trip we had a beautiful clear sky which filled with millions of twinkling stars, a sight to behold, the only problem with the clear sky is that it makes for a very cold night and we know only too well that it gets darned cold on the Equator as we have photos from our last trip of us wearing fleecy tops at night, which we repeated overnight. As time to start sleeping came around the wind dropped to nothing and the boom began to bang and clang, the jib and staysail began to flap uselessly and it was time to start up the engine to keep us moving forward. We motor sailed for a good deal
of the night until the wind finally returned on my watch and I was able to turn the engine off and revert to sail power. For some unknown reason I also got to see the first 3 sets of fishing drift line lights on the water, these are always a concern as they can be miles long and aren't always lit up, they also have no indication as to how deep the nets below them are so you can't take the chance and pass over them just in case they are near the surface, the last thing we need is to drag a fishing drift net behind us! Luckily these ones were lit up and we sailed past them with no issue. When I handed over to Gerry I told him about them and pointed out that there were more just visible on the horizon and he couldn't leave his nose stuck in his book on his watch.

A few more of these drift lines went past and then back on my next watch I had to seek Gerry's advice as ahead of us was a line of lights going straight across our bow, until now they had been parallel to us; straight across our bow is a totally different ball game.

We altered course to go around what we hoped was the end one on the chain, making sure that we weren't trailing the line behind us once we were past it, all good. Day began to dawn and we were both now in the cockpit, Gerry had his nose in his book and I was blankly staring out at the water when I noticed something ahead in the water that looked to be a big bird but it didn't swoop or fly off, closer looking showed it to be some sort of marker, I alerted Gerry who then noticed a second one off to his side of the boat, this was a different sort of drift line which wasn't lit and only had a flag at each end to indicate it was there, it was a good job it was daytime when we came across it as we were heading straight between the two markers. We altered course yet again to avoid any accidental hooking of the nets below the surface. As we went past we noticed that there were plastic bottles at a few intervals between the flags, again we wouldn't have been able to see these at night, it's a hazard we really could do without.

Gerry got fed up during the night with the squeak coming from George and liberally sprayed lubricant over the working parts that he could get to with success in as much as the squeak has stopped for the time being, only time will tell if more needs to happen there.

Our running total for the 24 hours was 118NM, not our best but also not our worst, of that we ran the engine for 7 hours in total and sailed for the remainder.

[David Fox]

Day 12, 03 June 2021 Finally fish for dinner

01 41.208 S 97 38.443 W
Weather; warm and sunny turning cold overnight, wind 5 - 15 knots, waves 2-3 metres


Gerry had up dated his logbook, he decided to put the fishing stick in the water and tempt fate by announcing that he was going below to have a shower, then he would make us a sandwich for lunch after which he was going to have a snooze. I laughed and joked that it was probably only going to be a very short snooze as we were due to catch a fish, we take our laughs wherever we can get them!

Anyway Gerry got as far as the cockpit companionway steps and the zing of the fishing line going out had us rolling about laughing, so much for his plans! As he was close to the rod holder Gerry applied the clutch to stop the line reeling out and the rod bent at an alarming rate, the drag on it was huge. We were doing a steady 5 knots under sail and because of our certainty that we were going to lose the fish and the lure anyway Gerry didn't want to slow us down by turning us into wind (those extra miles we would lose wouldn't be worth the fish dinner!) I rolled up the enclosure windows, readied the gloves, Gaff and camera whilst Gerry continued to try and reel in whatever had taken the bait.


It hadn't made such an epic escape as the one yesterday or maybe The Galapagos wasn't its intended destination, either way it didn't have as far to come to reach the boat but the strain of winding in the line was huge and the clutch kept slipping, we thought we would never get the fish within sight of the boat. Eventually we could see the splashing of something big, still on the line and the small birds began swooping towards it until finally we could tell from the colour of it that it was a Mahi Mahi, if only we could land the damn thing! I managed to get a photo as Gerry got it almost alongside the stern and then dangled the gaff over the side in preparation, making Gerry comment that there was more chance of the fish making off with both the lure and the gaff than us landing it.

Despite all our jokes and concerns I did manage to gaff it and Gerry then took over the gaff to drag the fish on board the boat a bit further along the deck where there was more room. Finally he lifted the fish out of the water and dumped it on the deck, one large Mahi Mahi was ours and we were determined that it would not make a last minute escape over the side.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahi-mahi

More photos and time for the horrid bit, killing it, which we are not very proficient at (like the rest of our fishing skills!) I felt sorry for the fish having been caught by such incompetent fishermen but we managed to kill it as the change in its glorious yellow and blue colours attested to. We then had some concern about where and how we were going to fillet the thing, it was about 2 foot long and a foot in width, big enough for several meals but our space for filleting is
only small plus we were bobbing along still at 5 + knots.

Gerry took the filleting knife and proceeded to butcher the poor fish and whilst he managed to get 4 really decent sized fillets off of it a great deal of the fish was left behind (note to self don't let him do the filleting if we ever catch another fish) there was so much more we could have taken off of the skeleton which then got feed back into the water as per the "fillet and release program".

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Next came the washing down of the deck, there was more blood due to our ineptitude than I care to admit to but a few buckets of water saw the deck cleaned off.
Gerry took the fillets below and skinned them and then left me to do the tidying up and freezing of the extra fish. Our dinner plans were instantly changed, we were having fresh fish and chips tonight! So now it was time to revert to Gerry's original plan and he went to have a shower whilst I finished tidying up the cockpit mess we had created.

Gerry went below for a nana nap leaving me watching the water. We continued sailing on at up to 6 knots until Gerry resurfaced at which point I went for a shower and then prepared some salsa, aioli and the potatoes for tonight's dinner. I eventually gave in and went for my own nana nap. Gerry cooked up the fish and chips and I have to say that it was fabulous to eat freshly caught fish for a change.

Night watches followed as per the normal pattern, the wind began to drop and move slightly to the aft of the beam which slowed us down and as the night wore on the wind dropped even further and the white flappy things began to be more of a decoration than a working part of the boat. The boom began to crash and bang as it snatched with the slight wind changes and Gerry decided that we should try and put out a snatch block to stop the banging, this was achieved fairly quickly, though there were more than a few sailor speak words as he managed to get the line twisted around other lines a couple of times before finally getting it right. The rest of the night was a continuation of varying winds and boat speeds, the lowest I saw was 2.4 knots with the wind at 5 knots but for most of the time we averaged 4.5-5 knots.

Our 24 hour total was 121 NM and no engine time, we are a little closer to Nuku Hiva each day! I did spot a couple of fishing boats overnight but they were almost at the edge of the horizon and no threat to us. Today has dawned as one miserable day, the sky is a blanket of grey and the sun is absent for the time being, we hope that it puts in an appearance sometime soon as we need to charge our batteries without resorting to firing up the gen set, which Gerry did once in the early hours of this morning as the battery level was getting low and the wind generator wasn't keeping up with the demand put on the batteries by the auto pilot and various other things that run off the batteries.
It's also damn cold this morning, we are both still wearing fleeces at 10 am, where is the palm tree swaying, hula dancing, pineapple cocktail in a coconut holder with the umbrella sticking out of the top, south pacific that we all imagine? I guess I should call this a very successful day, we caught and ate our first fish of the trip, I have the photos, a full belly and some fillets in the freezer to prove it and no lost lure!
A comment from one of the family.

As I was reading this I thought my comment would be "Do you want fries with that?" ... but further reading confirmed that you did. My comment, today, is redundant!


David
And finally the one that didn't get away. Everything comes to those that wait. Patience is a virtue and it paid off. Fish pie. Fish in a cheese sauce baked. Crustless quiche. Fish soup to freeze for an off day. Well done. Sounds like your into a routine and managing your sleep and watches, plus a bit of sport.

[David Fox]

Day 15, 6th June Another lure donated to Davey Jones locker
03 49.728 S 104 21.936 W
Weather; warm and sunny, wind 5-15 knots, waves 1.5-2 metres


You will noticed I missed a few days , but as Nicky said on the blogs there was nothing much happening, but she also writes them to stop her family worrying.


From 10am until midday we continued to cruise along at a reasonable pace but then the wind took off for places unknown to us and we began to wallow around doing anything from 2.5 to 4.5 knots for the rest of the day and well into the night. The good thing was that we must have had a current running with us to be moving along at all. Gerry was determined to not start the motor for some reason so we just put up with the slower pace and the sails flopping around and occasionally filling and pushing us forward.

We decided to amuse ourselves by putting out the fishing stick. I went below to fiddle about making a chocolate cherry pie leaving Gerry in charge of the fishing, when I was about to climb back up the companionway steps the fishing line suddenly began to zing out, Gerry woke with a start (yes he had fallen asleep) and jumped up to apply the clutch as he was closest to the rod.

Then began the bit which has become our mantra, here fishy fishy and Gerry reeled away until the fish was alongside the boat, it was a good size Mahi Mahi, not as big as the one we landed the other day but enough to feed us for a few days.

I did my usual getting ready with the gaff, gloves and camera as Gerry dragged the fish out of the water, it was putting up one hell of a protest and thrashing about for all it was worth. I tried several times to gaff it but it was so mobile that I just couldn't get the gaff into it and at the very last minute it managed to put enough strain on the line to break it and make its escape. Talk about disappointed but there was nothing to be done about it, we had lost another fish along with another lure. The rest of the line was brought in and a new lure attached and the line thrown back in just in case!

We wondered out loud if anyone ever catches fish with hooks and or lures stuck in them because we know for a fact that some of those lures belong to us! Whilst it is really good to have fresh fish straight out of the sea and onto the plate we have speculated about the cost incurred in that one or two meals, if the fishermen are anything like Gerry and I, they spend a fortune on equipment to catch just one darned fish.

I think I may have mentioned that the dawn and dusk hours seemed to be getting later and we changed our clocks by an hour to try and compensate for the change, not really knowing what the correct time is but at least the sun set was about when we expected it to be now and it was a really spectacular one for a change, no clouds and the sky turned all shades of orange, then lemon as the sun vanished below the horizon.
Gerry said he saw the green flash tonight, I think he was hallucinating as it didn't happen; mind you I did have my eyes on the camera image rather than the actual sun disappearing so maybe he did see it and the quest is now half achieved.

The stars were once again spectacular , thousands of them twinkling away in a clear dark sky but there was no moon and it eventually became pitch black so we couldn't see a thing anywhere around the boat.

There were a couple of what we assume were fishing boats with bright lights on the horizon at a couple of points during the night but none of them were of any concern to us as they were miles away. Sometime around midnight the wind finally returned and our speed picked up considerably, making up for the extremely slow daytime sail. We saw between 6 and 7 knots for pretty much the rest of the night which brought our daily mileage up to 141NM with no engine hours. So once again not an exciting day but we are 1886 NM closer to Nuku Hiva with about 2000 more to go. This was the first day of our third week at sea since leaving Panama, how time flies, we have no idea what is happening in the world outside our little bubble and no way of finding out much until we get to civilization and internet, maybe we are better off not knowing!


No room on board for a cadet with his clock book, plus finding one suitable these days that isn't a snowflake and doesn't mind a bit of hard work may be difficult.
They don't makem like they used to. They would be lost on a yatch without wifi for 30 days , 'its our human rights yerr'.

Now this young lady would make a good Cadet, could also double in the galley or take a trick on watches.

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Day 16 07 June 2021,
A couple of jobs to keep us busy.

04 20.016'S: 106 33.433'W
Weather; warm and sunny, wind 5-15 knots, waves 1 - 1.5 metres


Once I had sent off yesterday's blog Gerry decided to get busy, no one had told him that Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. The job that was so urgent? Changing out the water maker membrane.

As I may or may not have told you every time we fire up the water maker we test the water it produces for Total Dissolved Solids (that's salt content amongst other stuff) and the acceptable readout level, for us, is below 500 TDS. I say for us as the World Health standard level is 500 for drinking water but it is still acceptable up to 750 with an increased risk of dehydration at higher levels. So in our monitoring the water we produce has be slowly climbing in TDS and was just under 500. The slow increase is due to the membrane allowing more particles of salt to pass through it and enlarging the miniscule pores which then allow even larger particles to pass through next time around.

The membrane was supposed to last for 2 to 3 years, depending on how much use it is getting, our membrane has been in and operational for just a year and a half and it hasn't been flogged to death by overuse however we did have a bit of an issue a while back with the operating pressure which is meant to be at 800psi but ours was running at 950psi for a while and the absolute operating pressure isn't supposed to exceed 900 psi, so it's possible that we had strained the equipment until we got the psi sorted out.

Anyway irrespective of the ifs and maybes it was time to change out the membrane. A variety of tools came out along with the box containing the new membrane. Gerry delved into the lazarette and removed the membrane housing then spent the next few minutes prising the end caps off, not an easy job and accompanied by more than a few sailor speak words of encouragement. Eventually both ends were off and the membrane was slid out from inside. The new membrane was shucked from its packaging and inserted into the housing - that was the easy part.

There were 3 new 'O' rings to replace the old ones on each of the end caps, getting the old ones off was easy, the new ones were smeared with silicone grease and some time was spent getting them to slot into the appropriate groves but eventually both end caps were ready to be replaced. To say it was a tight fit is a slight understatement, Gerry resorted to using a mallet to bang the caps into place and was lucky that the screw holes all lined up in the correct places once they were in situ.

All that was left was to tighten the screws back in place, replace the housing in the lazarette and reattach the hoses to each end then fire it up to make sure it worked without any leaks. Once everything was in place and the water maker was running it was time for the moment of truth, testing the water that was being produced, the TDS was down to 230 and there were no leaks to be seen, winning! The water maker got run for the next couple of hours to top up our tanks. Another successful job completed. Was it time to sit back and enjoy the view?

Of course not, he was on a roll and next on his list was putting the spinnaker pole out whilst the weather was calm and the waves weren't rocking and rolling the boat around.

The reasoning for putting the pole out now was that the winds were beginning to turn to our stern and there is every possibility that in the foreseeable future we are going to be goose winging the sails to keep us sailing and to do that successfully we need to be able to pole the jib out on the opposite side to the main and keep it on that side without it flopping back to the same side as the main. Putting the spinnaker pole out is a deck job so complete with harness Gerry set out for the foredeck and I manned the various sheets and lines as and when instructed (read shouted at) to do so. Of course it didn't go smoothly, why would it.

Things got tangled, things got stuck, lines dragged in the water, the pole went up, the pole came down, the pole went in between the lifelines, the pole went forward then backwards, curses were thrown about all over the place but eventually it was in the right place and secure.

Time to sit and stare at the water now? Not a chance, whilst we are at it we might as well put the jockey pole out on the other side to change the angle that the preventer is to the centre line of the boat and thus preventing the boom from being able to crash across to the other side if there is a sudden wind shift, which is what happened when we had the incident on the way into Colombia, breaking the traveller and the stanchion etc. So now our boat looks like a muddle of lines and poles sticking out all over the place, but we are ready for almost anything. Finally it was time to sit back and watch the water. The wind died away and we moved along slowly for most of the day at about 4.5 knots.

The fishing stick got it's Sunday rest day and stayed in the rod holder all day, we had done enough without having to wrestle any giant fish on board!
Gerry had his afternoon nap and then it was time for me to start on dinner prep, as it was a fairly calm sort of day I had decided to do a roast and we had a piece of tomahawk beef that we were itching to try, the veggies needed sorting out and I spent the best part of an hour getting dinner sorted, coming back out into the cockpit in time to(not) see the sun set.


Is Tomahawk beef named after the implement you use to cut it?
Well here you go, If in doubt, Google it!

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Is not Donald Russel a Vestey company?

[David Fox]

Day 16/17 Overnight
Dinner followed and then the night watches began. I had a terrible couple of hours of not being able to get to sleep and gave up before Gerry went down at about 11 pm only to reappear about half an hour later as the wind had shifted and the boom was flapping and crashing, the stay sail and jib were flapping uselessly, plus we had a new noise that needed sorting out - a block that has never before banged was hitting the deck and making a terrible noise.

First we needed to deal with the boom and altered course slightly to put the wind back just behind the beam rather than at our stern. Next came the staysail, that went away and our flopping around was better but still not good enough to sleep so the jib was going away for now and therein began our next problem. Gerry tried to furl the jib whilst I slackened the jib sheet but it just wouldn't furl, the furling line was as tight as a drum. By now it was pitch black and the only way to see anything was to go out on deck with a torch, which is exactly what Gerry did. Returning he didn't have good news, there was no obvious cause he could see. A brief discussion followed as to what we would need to do, this involved taking the sail down to check the top of the furler and after making sure it was all rotating as it should, putting the sail back up again and then trying to furl it away. There was no way I was going out on deck to try such a thing in the pitch black of night so I vetoed the idea until daylight, luckily Gerry agreed so in the meantime we just stuck with our somewhat altered course heading and left the jib up.

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The wind had by now settled into a more or less steady direction, if not the direction we wanted at least it wasn't flitting all over the place as before. The block had stopped banging of its own accord so we didn't have to sort that out and Gerry went back to bed. After 2 more shift changes dawn happened and Gerry came up from his sleep turn ready to "fix" the jib. We briefly discussed what was going to happen and Gerry went out to let the sail down whilst I manned the lines and helm. The top of the furler was sprayed with fairy dust and Gerry made sure that it was rotating freely. The halyard for the Jib had worn through and was going to be at breaking point sometime in the not too distant future so Gerry cut the frayed bit off and retied the halyard so there were no wear spots. Now it was time for both of us to be out on deck and for the jib to be hoisted once again.

We started off with Gerry feeding the sail through the slot and me winching it up, I have difficulty doing the winching so asked to change positions, putting myself balanced precariously in the pulpit to feed the sail into the track and Gerry back at the mast winching the sail up into position. Anyone would think we had done this before, it went without a hitch and soon we had the sail back out in position, a quick dash back to the cockpit to tighten up the loose flapping sheets and it was time to give the furling another try. It went a short way before it became tight and immovable once again, Gerry cursed and went back to sprinkle some fairy dust on the bottom half of the furler, this time it worked and we furled away most of the sail. Whilst It seems to be OK for now I'm sure that it will be on our list of things to have another look at once we get to that exotic place. The sun came out and the wind is now sitting just aft of the beam at about 9 knots, we are moving along at a respectable 6 knots. Our 24 hour total was 125NM and no engine hours. We are now over the halfway point and getting closer all the time.


Day 17, a rough and rainy night
8th June 04 37.682 S 109 05.337 W

Weather; sunny with night rain, wind 10 - 20 knots, waves 2 - 3 metres

After the excitement of our early morning start to try and fix the jib furler the rest of the day was spent doing as little as possible. We sat in the cockpit and read or went below to catch a few zzz's whilst the going was calm. At around lunch time i suggested that we put the fishing stick in the water and try our luck which was met with derision and the comment that I could do whatever I wanted but he was having no part of it as he had done enough exercise with the winching for the day, needless to say the fishing rod stayed in its holder, no fish dinner tonight. Our afternoon was pretty uneventful too, with nothing happening, no sightings of ships, whales, dolphins or anything else for that matter. Dinner came around much too quickly and we ended up eating left over beef and the last of the fresh beans, some cauliflower and carrots. At this point we still have some fresh veggies and fruit, but I suspect that after this week we will be down to the tinned and frozen stuff.

Our meat, eggs, cheese milk etc is going well and we have enough to see us to Nuku Hiva and beyond. The bread that we have is now only good for toasting so I may have to make a loaf or two in the next few days, our dry stores are holding out well and most importantly our chocolate is being carefully rationed out so that we have enough until we dock. As you may or may not know we don't drink any alcohol when we are sailing so there is a good supply of wine, rum and liqueur in the cupboards waiting for that celebratory arrival drink, though I must admit there have been a couple of times when a good stiff drink wouldn't have gone amiss on this passage.


Oh, but what a night, as soon as the sun had set the winds increased and the waves began to rear up and attack us. To say the night was rough is no exaggeration, neither of us managed much sleep , at best we snatched an hour and then came back out to the cockpit. We roared along doing speeds up to 9 knots and then dropping away to 4.5 knots for most of the night. It was lumpy and we were being thrown all over the place, adding to the bruise collections. Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse it began to rain, and rain and rain. The cockpit enclosures were secured and we were as water tight as we can get but still we managed to get some drips through around the backstay which drip onto my seat ( of course it's my seat why would it be Gerry's?) anyway the rain has continued into the morning and we didn't so much see the dawn as knew it had arrived due to the fact that we could now see the rain and the darker grey clouds that are crowding the sky.

If there is a silver lining I guess it is that the wind speed is sitting around 17knots so we are moving along at a good pace of around 8 knots, even if we are being heeled over by the swell. Ahead of us the grey sky has turned a bit lighter but the sun hasn't shown its face at all as yet and we have had to run the engine to top up the batteries this morning. Gerry has managed to furl the jib away and then let it back out again, it did get a little stuck but with some encouragement it did what it was supposed to. We are going to have to sort it out when we get to the exotic place as we don't want to be sailing without an operational jib for the remainder of the trip.

ER of Rockhampton Star, Not quite Opals Engine, but just breaks the writing up.

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[b][size=150][color=#BF00FF] Another "fixing job" has cropped up overnight, our aft toilet (oh no, not the toilet story again!)pump has slowed right down and is making some dying sort of noises, we think that the time has come for a new pump - which of course we haven't got a spare of! So now we are down to using the forward toilet which has a manual pump system and should be good to see us through the rest of the trip. The biggest problem is having to get from the stern of the boat to the forward head, I see more bruises , stubbed toes and curses each time we have to use the toilet, either that or we need some adult diapers!

We managed to put another 153NM behind us in the 24 hours and just the 1 engine hour this morning. As I type the wind and waves are still bouncing us around and we are moving along at 8.5 knots for the moment, the sun still hasn't shown itself but the clouds are finally beginning to break up and there are glimpses of blue sky so maybe we will have a decent afternoon.


At those speeds you need to turn your steaming bonnet 180* with peak aft, to squeeze an extra half a knot.

[David Fox]

Day 18, Lets start goose winging
9th June 04 53.353 S 111 51.748 W
Weather; cloudy, wind 10 - 20 knots, waves 2 - 3 metres

The sun finally managed to peep through the clouds at around midday and with it the wind died away somewhat. The clouds began to clear from the sky and by mid-afternoon we had a lovely sunny couple of hours where we weren't being bounced all over the place and were continuing along at around 6 knots. I have to say that lethargy has well and truly found its home at the moment, neither of us can be bothered to do anything that we don't have to do. Reading is almost too much effort, "I spy" is worn to a mere thread and "guess that tune" takes far too much energy to play. Normal card and board games are out of the question as the bits would be flying all over the cockpit so that leaves us with staring at the water as it rushes by or slaps us broadside on.


I hate to say it but even meal times are more hassle than it's worth but we know that we have to eat or we would fade away to nothing (as if!) We wondered aloud what meals other people have when they are on a long and bumpy passage, it strikes us that the easiest things are ready made stews, curries and hot pots that just need zapping for a couple of minutes at the appropriate time, eaten out of bowls, with a spoon (plates are really not an option as everything slides off them and knives are just asking for trouble!) We would be really interested to know any quick and simple menu items that we could add in that don't take long to prepare, are simple to throw together and above all are tasty.

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Talking of tasty, if I ever get offered a muesli bar for breakfast after this trip I think the offending person will be counting the stars swirling around their heads.

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Anyway back to yesterday, the afternoon slipped quietly away with Gerry having his nana nap and me doing nothing on watch. After dinner and the sun setting behind the building line of cloud our night watches started as per usual with me going first and then Gerry following. At around 1.30 am, when he came up to change over watches, the wind had shifted a fair bit and I had changed our course a couple of times but the sails were still back winding and crashing about, we were still doing around 6 knots but it was getting increasingly noisier and difficult to maintain full sails.

Gerry made an executive decision to furl away the staysail followed by the jib and then to try goose winging the jib and the main. Sounds like a simple solution but remember it is pitch black, we couldn't see where the next wave was coming from and we are bowling along at 6 knots. The process was for Gerry to go out on deck and firstly to take down the jockey pole, stash it and then move the preventer to run to the bow. With this secure we now had to get the spinnaker pole, on the opposite side to the main, ready to fly and hold the jib out in place. Gerry was shouting directions at me to winch or loosen the various sheets and down hauls to make this happen whilst he winched at the mast . Eventually everything was lined up correctly and the jib was deployed and tightened down to a satisfactory level.

The wind stayed to our stern and filled both the main and the jib so we had achieved what we set out to do without any sailor speak ( I think we were both too tired to bother speaking!), without anyone going overboard and without any incidents. Back in the safety of the cockpit we congratulated ourselves on a job well done in the dark and it was time for me to disappear below and try to get some sleep.

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For the remainder of the night we bowled along fairly comfortably at between 6 and 7 knots, the swell died away somewhat and we were able to return to our proper heading, the stars came out to play, the sky was clear of cloud but the moon was still absent. We had spent a little time yesterday discussing what the correct time is for our current location as although we have moved our clock back an hour we are finding that sun set and rise are increasingly later, I consulted the world clock on my iPad which told us that we will be some 4 hours behind Panama time in Nuku Hiva which means that we will need to alter our clocks over the next or so by at least 3 more hours, to that end Gerry is going to change it by an hour today which should bring sunset and rise closer to where we expect it to happen.

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Again there have been no sightings of anything in the last 24 hours. We have covered a further 167NM( new record!) and not run the engine in that time. So the plan for the day is to do more of nothing, catch up with some sleep as we can, and watch the miles count down to the next way point (699 NM to then followed by a further 1000 to reach Nuku Hiva - it can't come quickly enough).



Day 19, "It came off in my hand Chief"

10th June 05 18.803 S 114 55.667 W
Weather; sunny, wind 10 - 20 knots, waves 2 - 3 metres

Today's woes begin and end with the aft toilet. As I've already told you the pump was making death throw noises and had slowed down to little more than spitting water into the toilet bowl. We had already made the decision to only use the forward head until we get to the exotic place where we can look at it properly and fix or replace it but that wasn't good enough for Gerry today, he needed to investigate. Leaving me in charge of the watch ( AKA staring blankly out at the water) he vanished below and began with shutting off the overboard valve then proceeded to take the pump apart. There was a momentary reappearance in the cockpit to show me a fur ball and a piece of plastic that was wound around the macerator - I'm sure that he thinks the fur ball is down to me as I have most hair but I swear I don't put any of it down the toilet and as for the piece of plastic - that is a real mystery as neither of us have eaten anything covered in plastic!

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Anyway those bits got cleared and it was on to checking everything else to see if there was anything obvious that was stopping the impellers from rotating, nothing was obvious, it was time to reassemble the pump, apply silicone to the old 'O' ring (he didn't have a new one of the right size to replace it so it was a preservation act) replace it and close the pump back up.

Next came the waiting game to allow the silicone to set overnight but meanwhile he went to reopen the overboard valve and as he turned the handle it "just came away in my hand, Chief". A short panic ensued as he wasn't exactly sure if the valve was now open or closed, it turned out to be closed so that was a good thing but he had a bung ready to stuff in the hole if water began pouring in. The handle shaft is bronze, it has probably been on the boat since day one and had corroded through leaving Gerry holding the handle.
This toilet issue has now become an out of water fixing job which we won't be able to get sorted out until we get to Fiji as Nuku Hiva doesn't have a yard or a lift out facility. So for now we are back to using the forward head and trying to get from the stern to the bow each time we need to use the facilities, risking more bruises and crashing into stuff on the way.
If, once the silicone has set, the pump on the aft toilet works again we could still use it and put everything into the holding tank and then manually pump it overboard which doesn't involve the valve having to be moved, but we wouldn't know if that was possible until the silicone had time to cure. So that was enough of "fixing stuff " for one day, it was time to retire to the cockpit and read for the remainder of the day.

We were cracking along at about 7.5 - 8 knots for most of the day with our main and jib out as goose wings. The swell was reasonable so it was a good ride until the wind began to drop slightly and Gerry then put out the staysail which moved us back along at the same pace we had been before the wind dropped.

We both spent some time below, Gerry sleeping and me prepping for dinner but there was nothing else much happening for the day. We hadn't put out the fishing rod again as the speed was too fast for trolling, I couldn't see us trying to reel anything in when we were moving along at 8 knots! Our night watches followed the usual pattern with us making just one adjustment to the preventer and the main during the pitch black of the night (why is it that we have to do things at this time of the night when you can't see the waves coming to crash into the side of the boat and one of us has to be out on deck, tethered to the jackline, to get the preventer into a better position?) anyway we got it sorted out pretty quickly and were soon back to staring at the stars and the inky black trying to work out where the water ended and the sky began. I think that the sleep deprivation is catching up with us as both of us nodded off momentarily during our last watches. Not that it really made any difference to anything as there was still nothing on the water all the way around as far as the eye could make out, and let's face it singlehanded sailors just pack themselves off to bed and rely on the alarms to keep themselves safe so a few minutes of dozing shouldn't be an issue.

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Dawn broke with the sun peeking through for a change, the clouds have lifted and we are rolling along doing about 7.5 knots, the swell has dropped to about 2 metres so it's quite reasonable for the moment. Gerry has tried the toilet pump this morning but it is still making Cheyne stoking noises, we are going to continue to use only the forward head until we get to Fiji and pray that that one doesn't have any issues until then or its down to the bucket and chuck it! Overnight we have had to run the gen set once to keep the batteries fully charged, the auto pilot uses a heap of power to keep running 24 hours every day but we don't begrudge George the power usage, he's doing a wonderful job!

Our water maker is being activated for 2 hours each day to try and keep up with our water usage and is performing well following the installation of the new membranes. The wind has gradually become more aft and we have changed course slightly to keep from having to change tack just yet, that is bound to happen during the pitch black of night - why wouldn't it? Gerry changed our clocks by another hour overnight so we have a 25 hour total for today of 185NM which is pretty darn good even if we took out the 8 NM for the extra hour we still had a record day! And of course there was no engine hours to add once again. I suspect the rest of today is going to be spent getting as much sleep in as we possibly can, we both need it.

[David Fox]

Day 21 12th June
06 10.013 S 122 20.620 W
Weather; sunny with lots of clouds, wind 10 - 20 knots, waves 2 - 3 metres


Another day of not much happening, it's getting to be the normal sort of day around here! Though of note for me is that today marks the longest sailing passage that we have undertaken, our previous longest passage was 21 days and 12 hours, without sight of land and that was going between the Galapagos Islands and Nuku Hiva on our last trip.

This time, because we haven't stopped at the Galapagos Islands, the trip is taking longer as we have to count the days from Panama on top of the passage from Galapagos to Nuku Hiva.



I know that there are a few of you out there that are wondering how I haven't shoved Gerry overboard by now but to be honest I need him around to fix the stuff that goes wrong. Seriously, I think it is a bit of an endurance test for both of us as we are both sleep deprived to some extent, bored and out of things to keep ourselves occupied during the seemingly endless stretches of nothingness.

Yesterday the day continued in the same vein as the day before, we continued to sail along doing around 6.5 -7 knots, the seas were a bit lumpy for most of the day, the cloud cover was slightly more than normal with just a few hours of sunshine which really didn't top up the batteries enough.

Gerry spotted a few dolphins at one point, just as I had gone below to make us lunch, of course they had gone again by the time I came back out into the cockpit, other than that there was nothing else of note to see all day, still no whales or ships and as we are at 5 degrees south we have been watching out for the weather buoys which are around the 5 degree area.

These buoys are huge, they are tethered to the sea bed by a very long (about 5 mile long) anchoring system which gives them a big drift circumference and they are lit up like a Christmas tree so you can't really miss them. We came across one on our last trip but so far haven't seen one this time around.

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As usual we ran the water maker during the day and the gen set a couple of times during the night; on the second running overnight there was a small hiccough and the gen set stopped producing power for a couple of seconds then seemed to remember what it was doing and kicked back in, this is of some concern and Gerry will probably be looking into what happened, not that he expects to find anything but we can't afford to be without the gen set for the rest of the trip. Another irritating little job has cropped up with the boom vang / backstay hydraulic pump, for some reason it has become hard to pump and Gerry has been looking at why this might be without coming up with a definitive answer as yet - it may just be another Fiji job!

So another 165 NM in the 24 hours to knock off of our total and still no engine hours. We are whittling away at the mileage but when there is still some 1200 to go it seems like a never ending story!

Day 22, 13th June
Change out the fuel filter for the gen set.
06 35.497 S 123 01.496 W
Weather; sunny with lots of clouds, wind 10 - 20 knots, waves 2 - 3 metres


Another day when the sun eventually broke through the clouds and we had a lovely sunny afternoon. The wind remained towards our stern until early afternoon and we continued to do an average of 6 knots. In the early afternoon though the wind began to drift slowly towards the port beam which meant that we could no longer keep sailing along goose winged, to that end the jib got firstly furled away, and yes it went away without any issues despite our concerns over the furler not working properly. Anyway once it was away we could then unfurl it on the starboard side giving us wind power into both the main and the jib on that side.

Sailing continued in this way until around 4.30 pm when there was yet another wind shift , this time back to where it had come from earlier. We reversed the jib back out to be poled out on the port side and once again we were goose winging, this continued for the rest of the night and into this morning with us managing to do 6 knots for most of the time.

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I mentioned yesterday that the gen set had had a hiccough when Gerry started it up and it was time to check it out, I asked him if it was maybe a bit of dirty fuel in the line and he thought the same thing (I think I should apply for RPL in basic engineering!) anyway the investigation involved the replacing of the 10micron filter in the generator fuel system.

The replaced filter was beyond full of crud despite only having been in place for just 62 running hours and was obviously the major cause of the hiccough. Once replaced the gen set was run to make sure that there was nothing else amiss and I'm happy to say its back to running as it should. We suspect that the fuel tank has had more than its fair share of stirring up with all the bouncing around we have been doing and that the crud has been stirred up from all around the tank and into the feed line, our last lot of fuel was taken on board in Panama and you would expect that with the huge turnover of fuel they have there that their fuel would be relatively clean but that's probably not the case.

Anyway the tank that was in operation was the port side tank and it is still about half full so Gerry decided that we would run the fuel polisher for a few hours and try to ensure that what is left in the tank (about 50 gallons)is as free of crud and water vapour as we can make it. That was our excitement for the day over and done with the rest of the day was spent doing the gazing at the world around us, not much to see there just water, water and more water; reading our books and catching up with sleep when we could.

The fishing stick stayed firmly in its holder for the day and we forced ourselves to do a much hated job late in the day and emptied out and defrosted the freezer. Whilst everything was out we inventoried the contents and have more meat and fish than we originally thought, we might not have to stock up too much in Nuku Hiva as I'm sure that we could make it to Fiji and supplement with a couple of canned fish, ham or chicken meals if need be. What we don't want is to arrive in Fiji and have unused meat confiscated, as is the normal process, so we will be doing our best to eat it all before we arrive there.

Another 'A'boat, America Star

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Our night passage was once again very lumpy and the sky was completely obliterated by dark, threatening clouds which only managed to drop a sprinkling of rain but had the winds going all over the place and at all sorts of speeds, at one point I saw 25Knots and we roared along at 9.4 Knots but it was very short lived and we were quickly back to our 6 knots.

Our batteries are still requiring topping up overnight as the demand is exceeding the production still which was why the gen set had to be sorted out urgently. We did another 160NM in the last 24hours and no engine hours, we are getting closer. In another couple of hours we should be hitting the 1000 NM to go, we are getting there - it would be nice if it was a bit quicker but we'll take arriving safely over faster.


Day 23, 14th June.
Change out the 2 micron fuel filter
07 07.255 S 125 27.880 W
Weather; cloudy, wind 8 - 14 knots, waves 2 - 3 metres


Well this was a slow day, the wind really didn't blow hard enough and stayed mostly to our stern. We left the jib poled out for the entire day and overnight but it was a struggle to keep it full and the odd gust that we got tended to back wind the main causing a lot of banging and crashing. Our average speed was down to about 5.5 knots which felt like we were crawling along rather than moving fast enough to get anywhere.

Gerry decided to have a look at the hydraulic vang/backstay pump whilst we were relatively slow moving, this involved removing the companionway stairs and accessing the engine compartment as the back side of the hydraulic pump is located just inside the engine compartment. He topped up the oil allowing him to test the pump, it revealed a leak in the pump as the level dropped but he couldn't find where the leak originates from.

On Location 'America Star 'Ehh?

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He did manage to pressurize the vang but only in high speed and not low speed which means that we at least have function if not optimal.

We had a small incident whilst he had his head stuck in the engine compartment, a wave hit us sideways on and knocked the boat pretty hard on its side which had the flow on effect of loosening the engine compartment door which was tied back and slamming it into Gerry's behind and head, there was much yelling and cursing as I pulled the door back open and refastened it. Gerry has a nice bruise developing on the side of his forehead, it probably knocked some sense into him, but luckily no other damage.


Once again we had to run the gen set during the night and at the first run the damn thing spluttered a bit, this was not good as Gerry thought the issue was resolved with changing out the 10 micron filter yesterday, it was now time to look at the 2 micron filter. Getting to this one is a little more difficult and there was a bit of sailor speak as he managed to spill a bit of diesel in the compartment, not much but enough to require a bit of kitchen towel to mop up.

So once the 2 micron filter was changed out it was time to try it out once again, this time there was no spluttering and the gen set ran as it should which meant that some minute particle had managed to get through the 10 micron filter and got stuck in the 2 micron one, thank goodness we have plenty of spare filters. Of course all this happened in the pitch black of night and the head torches were needed to see anything which is probably how the diesel got spilt - not enough visibility in the compartment!
We are moving along at 5.5 - 6 knots for the time being.

[David Fox]

Day 24. June 15th Loaves and fish
07 28.231 S 127 29.795 W
Weather; cloudy, wind 5- 12 knots, waves 2 - 3 metres

I started yesterday's blog by saying that it was a slow day, could it possibly have gotten worse? Yes it certainly could and did! We continued to roll along doing about 5.5 knots during the morning and it got to the point where the boredom had me going below to make a loaf, so I mixed everything up and then put the dough in the cockpit in the warm sunny spot to proof, all good so far. I then suggested to Gerry that maybe we should put the fishing stick in the water as our speed was down to trolling speed and you never know your luck, so in it went and nothing was happening within the hour so we decided that we could have a shower and I needed to wash my hair. I went first and returned to the cockpit to dry my hair and watch the water rock us about, it was Gerry's turn to have a shower and I looked at the dough and thought as soon as he had finished in the shower I would knock it back, shape it and return it to the cockpit for its second proofing. I had just made myself comfortable and Gerry had stripped off and had just finished washing out his swimmers when the inevitable happened, the fishing line zinged out.

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I started to laugh out loud as I reached the rod and began to apply the clutch, Gerry dragged on a pair of shorts and was soon out in the cockpit taking over the reeling in duties, so now we have to add Gerry going for a shower to the Gerry going for a sleep scenario of the fishing strikes!. The dough got ignored as I prepared to gaff the catch, as it got closer we could see that it was another Mahi Mahi and a reasonable size, not quite as big as our previously landed one but big enough for a few good fillets. The usual flurry of activity occurred as I tried to gaff the darned thing and eventually got it into the fish somehow and Gerry took the gaff from me and hauled the fish on deck whilst I grabbed hold of its tail and held on for grim death as it tried desperately to wriggle and thrash its way off the boat, we won and the fish was ours for the filleting.

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At this point the wind had decided to play hide and seek with the boat, it was now coming from directly behind us and swinging wildly from 150 degrees port to 150 degrees starboard ( that's measured from the bow in case it wasn't making any sense to you) anyway this was untenable as far as sailing goes for us and we were lurching from side to side badly so Gerry called it time to Gybe. This was not a simple change sides and go again, first the jib had to be furled away followed by the main preventer being changed from the starboard side to the port side then the secondary preventer had to be moved from the midline of the boom to the other side of the boat and run through the various blocks and cleated off. Next it was back into the cockpit, carefully avoiding treading on the fish and the blood and mess, where the main traveller was shortened and then the main sheet was winched to force the boom across to the port side and then the traveller was let back out.

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A quick dash to the bow to reattach the preventer followed by the secondary preventer and the boom was in position, time to deal with the jib. As I think I have told you when we are goose winging we have to pole out the jib to keep it from collapsing, well the pole was now on the wrong side of the boat so we needed to move it across to the starboard side to be able to fly the jib. This is decidedly a 2 person job with Gerry man-handling the pole out on deck and shouting instructions as to which lines, sheets, down hauls needed slackening off or winching in as he moved the pole from one side to the other. Finally we had the pole in position and could run the jib back out. Of course it wasn't quite right and needed the pole adjusting and a whole lot more tweaking before it was in the right position. I'd like to say that it solved the problem of us being thrown from side to side but I won't lie, it really didn't make the slightest bit of difference, even when we altered course to try and get the wind more to one side than the other astern of us.

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Gerry vanished to have his shower and I began cleaning up the mess that landing and killing the fish had caused. Once he was back out in the cockpit I thought I needed to salvage our bread so took the dough below, knocked it back, shaped it and then bought it back into the cockpit for the second proofing. Gerry meanwhile had thought he was going to fillet the fish, there was no way I would let him as he wastes a great deal of edible meat when he does the filleting, it was another job for me but not one I relished as filleting a fish on the deck when the boat is bouncing up and down and rolling badly from side to side isn't exactly the perfect place to be but someone has to do it. I managed to get the job done, only stabbed myself once with the knife, getting 8 decent sized portions from the fish plus a few bits for pie or bouillabaisse and released the skeleton remains to the deep. The blood and guts on the deck needed a few buckets of water to get rid of the evidence and then it was time to take the fillets below and tidy them up but at the same time I needed to put the bread in the oven as it was well risen and just needed to cook.

Another half hour or so and I was done with the fish, had it bagged up and in the freezer. Meanwhile Gerry had been trying his hardest to find a sweet spot of wind direction to no avail, despite changing course the wind was still veering behind us and swinging wildly from side to side at a low speed, the swell was also now joining in the game and was hitting us beam on making us rock badly. The main was driving us to distraction as it banged, crashed, flapped, filled, backwinded and cracked as we crept along at 4 knots. Thinking that we might be better off without the jib that got furled away, huh who were we kidding, it made no difference whatsoever and so our afternoon morphed into night. We hoped that with the (apparent) sunset we might get a wind shift as had happened most nights but no, this was determined to be the day from hell.

I went to try and get some sleep whilst Gerry did the first watch ( that's watching the backs of his eyelids for any light leaks!) and by the time I came out to swap over he had decided that the wind was coming more often from the port side so we needed to gybe again, in the pitch black and going up and down like a lift with waves hitting us beam on, I was not happy. Gerry did the deck stuff as usual and I did the cockpit line handling but this time we didn't move the pole across - too hard in the dark, so now we would be running with just the main and hopefully managing to harness what little wind there was. So for the rest of the night we ran with just the main, the wind continued to veer from one side to the other at increasingly low speeds and the main continued to partially fill, backwind, flap and flop around causing the boom to bang and crash endlessly.

Eventually even Gerry had to admit that what we were doing wasn't working and took on board my suggestion that we try running with the engine for a while to see if we could get out of this wind pattern. On it went and we ran for the rest of the night with mechanical wind which helped a little with the banging but really didn't do much to get us out of the wind pattern.

On a separate, but related thought, with the change of sides everything that we think is secure down below suddenly becomes flying missiles, noise producing, irritating, sleep denying aggravations. The interior of the boat looks like a bomb has exploded in it and that's after we have moved and secured the most annoying things!.

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Dawn was our next hope for a wind change, that would be no hope, this is worse than the wallowing in the doldrums! The engine has gone off and we are back to using just the main. There is about 7 -10 knots of wind and we are moving along at 3- 4 knots, most of it from side to side! The sky is covered by grey clouds and the swell is coming at us from what seems like every direction. We did a one hour time change at dusk last night so our 25 hour total was an abysmal 126 NM, of which 6 hours was engine assisted, still its 126 miles off of the total so we'll take it.

Gerry there looking a bit shattered and dejected amongst the disaster area of the Salon.

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