May 16, 2012
Today is the third day in a row where the conditions have been identical. There’s usually 17 knots of wind from the north-northeast with gusts to about 20 and lulls to about 15 knots. (Though there is some question as to the accuracy of my anemometer. Dean isn’t far away and he’s consistently reading 5 knots more. It also seems to us that the wind is stronger than 17 knots.)
We’ve been sailing a broad reach with a single reefed main sail and just a little bit of head sail unrolled. We’ve had to work to keep the boat from being overpowered in these conditions. We surf down the big swells coming mainly from behind. Once we get to the bottom of the swell, we kind of crash into the back of the next swell and the boat rolls uncontrollably and uncomfortably. We could be going a little faster, but we’re choosing comfort over speed. It’s also easier on the boat.
(It just started raining. Not much – just a sprinkle, but nice.)
Even powered down as we are, it’s a rough ride. It wouldn’t be so bad if it was just a swell from behind but there’s also a big swell from the east as well. Sometimes these combine just right and we really get knocked around.
We usually count on having to run the engine an hour or two each day when the wind dies out as it often does at night. These conditions have been so consistent that we haven’t need to propulsion. We do need the electricity though so we’ve been running the engine in neutral. Running in gear would again over power the boat and make for a rough ride. We’re doing great on fuel as when we do run the engine, even when it’s in gear, we run it very slowly. It only uses about a half a gallon of diesel fuel an hour at those slow speeds. We’re trying to save most of our fuel in case have to motor through the ITCZ.
We should hit the ITCZ on Friday or so. It’s a moving target, sometimes at 2 degrees north latitude and sometimes as high as 10 degrees. Right now, it’s at about 3 degrees and we’re now at about 7-1/2 degrees north latitude. We’re hoping to be at the equator sometime Sunday. After that, it’s only 625 miles to Hiva Oa. So far, this has been a very fast passage.
Have I bored you to death? Sorry. Here’s the summary: Fast, sloppy, rolly, warm, noisy, long, fun, peaceful, rewarding.
Definitions: (If you’re a sailor, don’t bother with these)
Knot: about 1.1 miles per hour. Sailors use knots as a nautical mile goes into the earths circumference at the equator exactly 24000 times. A nautical mile is 6000 feet, again, about 10% more than a regular mile.
Broad Reach: sailing with the wind coming over the back of the boat at about a 30 degree angle. Sailing directly down wind (running) is difficult on a sail boat, especially when there’s a big swell coming from behind. The sails want to flap around and gybe (switch sides of the boat). A broad reach is both more comfortable and faster.
ITCZ: I think I described this before, but here it is again. It’s an area of unsettled weather between the prevailing northeast trade winds in the North Pacific and the southeast trades in the South Pacific. There are often thunder storms there that can get pretty violent. It can be a very narrow zone, maybe 100 miles, or 600 miles wide. Right now, it seems pretty narrow and we’re hoping that holds up. By the way, if you’re interested in seeing our weather, there’s a great web site called passage weather (www.passageweather.com) that will show it to you. We get similar weather reporting on our boat via email through the HAM radio. -Rich
