June 5, 2013 at sea It’s been a hard couple of days. We have had winds from the north and that’s where we’re trying to go. It’s not possible to sail directly into the wind so we sail we aim as close as possible to Fiji. Even then, it’s incredibly uncomfortable to go upwind. There’s an old saying in the yachting world: Gentlemen don’t sail to weather (upwind). This is proof positive that Cyndi and I are not gentlemen! Weather always changes and the winds are backing so that they are now coming more from the west. Better. It’s still a hard ride though as there are big, confused seas to deal with. For anyone reading this hoping to one day take to the sea to find your happiness, I would, at this time, say this to you: Please try everything else you can think of first to make yourself happy. Only failing that would I consider doing this. OK, maybe those words are written in the throws of sailing’s childbirth and when we see lovely Fiji we’ll forget all the nonsense it takes to get there. -Rich (The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cyndi who is sleeping or otherwise I’d ask here and report her response to you but I can’t as I hardly every get to see here anymore because when she’s awake, I’m asleep and visa versa.)
Month: June 2013
Our Fans
June 3, 2012 at sea on our way to Fiji.
What? We have fans! Several small electric ones mounted around the cabin that we use when it gets warm.
Guess what? It got warm today. (Comfortably warm – you have a little while yet before you have to read my complaints about the oppressive heat.) I went to the cockpit early this morning to start the day’s boat projects (monitor windvane repair, refrigeration repair, and commission the watermaker and fill the tanks) and the air had a different feeling. It was that feeling I remember from the tropics when we’d sit in the cockpit each morning with our coffee and watch the sun come up. I’m really looking forward to that again.
Anyway, I worked up a sweat on the projects and when I came in, I shocked Cyndi by turning on one of the fans. It felt good to be warm again. -Rich
P.S. Boat work details… a circlip came off on the monitor windvane (the thing that steers the boat by the wind). We have lots of spare parts for it, including the bearing I dropped into thousands of feet of water during the repair. The water pump that cools the refrigeration compressor quit for some unknown reason. I made it work again by basically just messing with it. I don’t have a lot of confidence in it any longer but we do have two spare ones aboard. It’s a moderate task to replace so we’ll hope this one holds up until we make landfall.
Legacy At Sea
June 2, 2013 We’re dancing around a bit out here avoiding strong winds and big seas (stronger winds and bigger seas I guess is more appropriate!). We had a bit of a weather pattern yesterday that required us to head straight west – not towards our destination. This morning, we were able to head north again – more towards Fiji but still not on track. It’s pretty rough today with 25 knot winds and big seas. We’re doing well though. Hopefully, the winds will die a bit tonight. We’ll be left with big swells but I think this big wind wave on top of the swell should die away quickly (fingers crossed). Right now, we’re looking at arrival in Fiji on around the 10th. Still a long way to go. -Rich (Don’t forget the Track Us option in the menu above. That link should so our position.)