Miles today: 133
Miles to go: 2,015
Wind E at 15-20 kt
Seas E at 6-8'
Sailing SSE at 5.5kt - 2 reefs in the main, staysail, 1/3 genoa
We motored all night last night in light SE winds. By 6am we were 50 miles off South Point, the south end of the Big Island. As soon as we got near South Point, the wind started picking up at little. We finally had the genoa out and the engine off by 7am. We've been sailing ever since.
It has been an overcast and sloppy day. As expected, we got extra winds and seas from the 'South Point Effect' so for awhile it was pretty wild. Midday it wasn't too bad, but around sunset it got bad again (windier, and the seas get bigger). At dinner (stew I cooked several days ago, just for weather like this), we had 2 or 3 waves slam into us, and spray a good bit of water over the top of our big cockpit--this almost never happens. Fortunately, we are all buttoned up and dry in the cockpit, so we didn't get wet. We keep tweeking the roller furling genoa in and out--adjusting the size--trying to stay as fast as possible within a reasonable comfort zone, and keep adjusting for the changing wind conditions.
As I was writing this, things started to get quiet outside... I went up to check on 'Janet' (our autopilot) and we must have just crossed over into different weather. We got a 20 degree left shift, and the wind went down about 5 knots, and the seas are smoother too. This is all good! Hope this holds through the night.
It was so rough this evening that Dave is feeling queasy. He started with a Scopalomine patch 3 days ago, but it came off today. He didn't eat much dinner, but took a Stugeron (first time, we'll see how it works), and he's off watch and asleep til 1am. Hopefully he'll feel better by the time it's his watch again. He's usually over it after a couple of days. I am, as always, unaffected by the motion. I get to do dishes tonight!!
We're trying out a new watch system--6 hours each at night, so we have a chance at a decent sleep. Depends on what time we get through with the evening radio schedule and dinner--then we just split the time left til 7am.
We have 3 radio schedules a day... 8am and 5pm with the 3 other boats out here (Infini, Sea Flyer, Reflections), and then the Pacific Seafarer's Net at 5:30pm. The Pacsea Net is a dedicated bunch of ham radio operators across the Pacific--from the mainland US and Mexico all the way to NZ and Australia--who monitor boats on passage.
And.. we heard at the tail end of the Pacsea Net that they finally got Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. It was breaking news on the net, so I don't know many details, but it sounded like it was confirmed, and not a rumor. Yess!! Hmmm... reminds me that I forgot to turn back on the Reuters Headling News daily email before we left internet land...
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Sherry & Dave
Headed South for French Polynesia
http://svsoggypaws.blogspot.com
At 5/2/2011 6:15 AM (utc) our position was 17°35.39'N 156°11.68'W
http://svsoggypaws.com/currentposition.htm
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