15 May - 1600 hours - made it to N Minerva reef. What a crazy crossing so far. All upwind (close hauled) and motor sailing the whole way. Pretty much a first there. Oh well. We are here and after 3 attempts finally got the anchor to stick. Frustrating, but again we are here, we are stopped it is flat and quiet with a nice cool breeze coming thru the boat. AHHHHHH. the beer was good and so was the gin and tonic. Fajitas for dinner. Showers. Life is good.
So here we are anchored in the middle of the ocean. How cool is that? I will post pictures (eventually). There are 4 other boats here, at least 2 are leaving tomorrow. We plan to be here until Saturday and then only 250 miles to Tonga. It is warm here too. Of course we have one or two chores to do while we are here - forward toilet needs a new flapper valve and seat and the rudder is leaking - those are the main two. after that its just a lot of tidying up after 8 days of being at a 20 degree heel. Oh and we will all sleep in our own beds in the normal orientation. HAHA we have been taking turns sleeping on the settee and the floor in the main salon - I am short enough to be able to sleep sideways on our bed, but even my feet hang over the edge! Really it is the simple things....
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Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Monday, May 14, 2018
14 May
day 7 - definitely warming up. too hot to sit in the sun in the cockpit and still taking waves, so can't take down the rain flys. Nice problem to have. Still here, still bouncing along. We should be at Minerva reef north sometime tomorrow - its 80 miles as the crow flies. We still have to get some easting in - our plan is that south Minerva will be blocking some of the wave action and we will be able to head east more comfortably. Right now we are going as east as we can without a full on tack. So still close hauled.
Uneventful day. All well on board - looking forward to being flat and still for a few days.
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Uneventful day. All well on board - looking forward to being flat and still for a few days.
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Sunday, May 13, 2018
Sunday 13 May
Well Hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day. Uneventful and more of the same here. motorsailing, winds still from the north, bouncing along. Highlight of my Mother's day was having a shower. Or at least getting clean using running water haha. No hot water, but felt good. Did my 10-2 watch in shorts and a tee shirt - nice and warm. still have the enclosures up as still getting some pretty good wave action. Really nice to be dry. Trust me its the small things.
Its 5pm and overcast at the moment. time for me to start thinking about what to make with the defrosted chicken - I am thinking curry. pretty much our routine. light breakfast, snacks for lunch then dinner. Dennis does the checkin on the SSB at 6pm so we eat just after that. Our routine has been to turn off the engine for the checkin so Dennis can hear and then eat with it off and enjoy the quiet.
no other traffic seen - just us out in the middle of the great blue sea. Looking forward to Minerva, but not the day of heading east to get there. that will be a whole lot of not fun, but maybe not. Murphy's law says that the day we head east will be the day the east wind comes and we'll have more bashing.
Everyone seems to have overcome any seasickness and all is well.
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Its 5pm and overcast at the moment. time for me to start thinking about what to make with the defrosted chicken - I am thinking curry. pretty much our routine. light breakfast, snacks for lunch then dinner. Dennis does the checkin on the SSB at 6pm so we eat just after that. Our routine has been to turn off the engine for the checkin so Dennis can hear and then eat with it off and enjoy the quiet.
no other traffic seen - just us out in the middle of the great blue sea. Looking forward to Minerva, but not the day of heading east to get there. that will be a whole lot of not fun, but maybe not. Murphy's law says that the day we head east will be the day the east wind comes and we'll have more bashing.
Everyone seems to have overcome any seasickness and all is well.
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Saturday, May 12, 2018
saturday 23 May
Nothing exciting to report unless you consider a broken toilet (head) exciting. good thing we have two as the sea state and point of sail are not conducive to boat projects at the moment.
The sea is that beautiful blue color that blue water cruising gets its name from. it is still sunny and pretty warm. THe high that is currently beating us up is pulling up a little of the cool wind from the south. Dennis says we will know we have gotten thru the high when it warms up more.
So yeah, still motor-sailing trying to get to the east as much as possible, wind has gotten stronger 15- 20 kts, but straight from the N/ NE, sigh.... one day i will have a behind the beam crossing - it could happen. haha. Josh knows what I mean. I have to say though that the new side coverings I made for the cockpit are pretty awesome. definitely not pretty, but hey we are dry and that is a major plus. We've been having water over the bow since last night. so score one for me and my sailrite!!
For lots of different reasons - mostly the point of sail we are currently on, we are going to go to Minerva reef - look it up. a place to anchor in the middle of the ocean. Way cool I think. We hope to be there by Tuesday and will stay until Friday or Saturday.
ok, that's us for now. we are hunkered down and holding on for the ride. Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful moms out there. I hope you get lots of hugs and I love yous.
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The sea is that beautiful blue color that blue water cruising gets its name from. it is still sunny and pretty warm. THe high that is currently beating us up is pulling up a little of the cool wind from the south. Dennis says we will know we have gotten thru the high when it warms up more.
So yeah, still motor-sailing trying to get to the east as much as possible, wind has gotten stronger 15- 20 kts, but straight from the N/ NE, sigh.... one day i will have a behind the beam crossing - it could happen. haha. Josh knows what I mean. I have to say though that the new side coverings I made for the cockpit are pretty awesome. definitely not pretty, but hey we are dry and that is a major plus. We've been having water over the bow since last night. so score one for me and my sailrite!!
For lots of different reasons - mostly the point of sail we are currently on, we are going to go to Minerva reef - look it up. a place to anchor in the middle of the ocean. Way cool I think. We hope to be there by Tuesday and will stay until Friday or Saturday.
ok, that's us for now. we are hunkered down and holding on for the ride. Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful moms out there. I hope you get lots of hugs and I love yous.
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Friday, May 11, 2018
day 4 rockin and a rollin
yep I knew it was coming. lol my favourite point of sail - close haul. yah - nahh. at least we reefed the main today - we are way overpowered with it fully deployed - better now. on a positive note it is warming up. Was cloudy early today, but sun is out again now. We are doing okay, Dennis and Paul back on anti seasick medication. I'm doing okay so far. hope all is well out there.
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Thursday, May 10, 2018
Day 3 10 May
Still motoring with the main up. winds still very light. Another beautiful sunny day. Checked the fuel situation -still good only used 1/4 tank in 43 hours of motor sailing. We are all well, catching up on sleep. Dennis actually had coffee today, must mean seasickness is not a worry. I finally caved and had a diet coke - yay bye bye headache. Don't feel like I drink enough caffeine to have withdrawals, but there you are.
Feels a little warmer, must be the north aspect of the wind.? Last night was pretty comfortable on the midnight to 0300 watch. Everyone is in shirt sleeves today.
Crew is being fed well which is probably the only real upside to no wind. I made fried chicken with salad last night and huevos rancheros for brunch today. Thinking I should have brought more fruit - oh well we definitely are not going to starve. Tonight's menu is shepherds pie.
Another positive of flat motor sailing (and did I say it looks like a lake out there?) is that i was easily able to wash my hair - no hot water but still felt good. haha its the small things right?
oh the glamorous life of crossings. Some people have deep thoughts, but not me - I think about what to cook and when to sleep. Kind of refreshing to be forced to not worry about anything but those things. Trying to live in the now and enjoy what we have no way of changing.
yep off for a nap before starting dinner.
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Feels a little warmer, must be the north aspect of the wind.? Last night was pretty comfortable on the midnight to 0300 watch. Everyone is in shirt sleeves today.
Crew is being fed well which is probably the only real upside to no wind. I made fried chicken with salad last night and huevos rancheros for brunch today. Thinking I should have brought more fruit - oh well we definitely are not going to starve. Tonight's menu is shepherds pie.
Another positive of flat motor sailing (and did I say it looks like a lake out there?) is that i was easily able to wash my hair - no hot water but still felt good. haha its the small things right?
oh the glamorous life of crossings. Some people have deep thoughts, but not me - I think about what to cook and when to sleep. Kind of refreshing to be forced to not worry about anything but those things. Trying to live in the now and enjoy what we have no way of changing.
yep off for a nap before starting dinner.
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Wednesday, May 9, 2018
end of day 2
position 33.31.82s, 176.59.57e, course 55T
sunny day and we are settling in, not too much wind so lots of motoring. good way to start, but wishing for about 5 more knots of wind. I know, I know, I want it all. Everyone caught up on sleep today, I finally feel human - just in time for night watch.
It's still a bit cool, we are all in long sleeves and long trousers during the day and bundled up at night. The moon came up last night and looked like a big ship on the horizon. Was pretty bright when it finally decided to come out from behind the clouds.
Not too much traffic out here, saw a freighter yesterday afternoon, and a sailboat passed behind us this afternoon. had a swallow hanging out today - way too far out for him. Paul said he was able to pick him up out of the cockpit. Finally flew off.
Boat systems functioning properly at the moment. the part for the refrigerator and freezer didn't come in time, so a boat coming to Tonga behind us will bring it. So, they are functioning, just have to turn them on and off as they are either on or off - lol.
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sunny day and we are settling in, not too much wind so lots of motoring. good way to start, but wishing for about 5 more knots of wind. I know, I know, I want it all. Everyone caught up on sleep today, I finally feel human - just in time for night watch.
It's still a bit cool, we are all in long sleeves and long trousers during the day and bundled up at night. The moon came up last night and looked like a big ship on the horizon. Was pretty bright when it finally decided to come out from behind the clouds.
Not too much traffic out here, saw a freighter yesterday afternoon, and a sailboat passed behind us this afternoon. had a swallow hanging out today - way too far out for him. Paul said he was able to pick him up out of the cockpit. Finally flew off.
Boat systems functioning properly at the moment. the part for the refrigerator and freezer didn't come in time, so a boat coming to Tonga behind us will bring it. So, they are functioning, just have to turn them on and off as they are either on or off - lol.
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