We had a great first day, with the wind coming up earlier than forecast and stronger than forecast. It was mostly on the beam, and the seas were quite calm for awhile, so we had an exhilarating sail, with winds almost 15 knots NNE (that's a lot of wind for Indonesia near the equator). We did 6-7 knots all afternoon.
Fortunately, the winds quieted a little at sunset, and we had a beautiful night, still sailing with full main and full jib. The sunset was nice and the full moon rising an hour later was even nicer. Around 8pm we crossed the equator. This being our 6th or 7th crossing of the equator, I DIDN'T go flush the toilet to see if the water ran the other way :; I splashed a little rum in the sea to thank Neptune for another great crossing of the equator. Dave never woke up.
About 6am the wind died out completely, as forecast, and we reluctantly started the engine. 24 hrs later, we are still motoring, but the wind is finally starting to come back, a little. Only problem is, it's right on our nose! Fortunately, it's only 6-7 knots. We are motor sailing for now, but assuming the wind does as forecast, we hope to be able to sail on a close reach in light winds sometime today.
The other factor we're dealing with is current. There is a ripping (up to 3 knots) of current coming up through the slot between Halmahera and Sulawesi (the two big funny-looking islands in eastern Indonesia, that we are sailing between). So we have been using FastSeas.com's routing to try to balance the wind and the current. We have done pretty well so far, mostly staying out of the current, and sometimes having helping current. But at some point we're going to have to head out into it, and get across it. The tactic at that point will be similar to the Gulf Stream, cross it at 90 degree angle as fast as possible.
We are still 120 miles from Ambon, and with current issues and wind on the nose, we MAY make Ambon tomorrow sometime. But even so, we are having a pleasant passage, even if we are having to run one engine. We have enough fuel to motor all the way to Australia, if we had to (if we were going there!). Our consumption on one engine is a paltry 1.3 liters per hour. And we know we can get fuel in Ambon if we need it.
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Sherry & Dave
In Indonesia til at least September!
At 4/13/2017 11:50 PM (utc) our position was 02°30.30'S 126°50.83'E
http://svsoggypaws.com/currentposition.htm
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