Subject: 27 April Update
Sent: Apr 27, 2011 5:42 AM
We had a nice sail last night. Our position is 32.5N 146.1W and our course is 045M. Speed is 7.5 to 8 knots. We still have a SE wind. No sign of the westerly trades, but we are working our way north as the winds permit. Will probably go to 34.5N. Everyone is doing well and Chasch Mer is fine. Will download weather charts and forecasts now to see what's in store for us.
Bill
Sent: Apr 27, 2011 5:42 AM
We had a nice sail last night. Our position is 32.5N 146.1W and our course is 045M. Speed is 7.5 to 8 knots. We still have a SE wind. No sign of the westerly trades, but we are working our way north as the winds permit. Will probably go to 34.5N. Everyone is doing well and Chasch Mer is fine. Will download weather charts and forecasts now to see what's in store for us.
Bill
Subject: April 27 PM Update
Sent: Apr 27, 2011 1:08 PM
Good wind the past 24 hours. Now a lull, but still doing 5 knots on a close reach. Did 7-8 most of the day. Our position is 32.8N 145.2W.
We have turned toward Long Beach as we see no advantage of going further north. Nothing in the weather forecasts predicts westerly winds further north. We have had a pair of albatrosses following us much of the day. I took video of them circling and landing nearby. They are looking for a handout, but did not touch the moldy bagels we through to them. Topped off the fuel tanks using four jugs of fuel and keeping two in reserve for the end of the trip.
Bill
Adding fuel (YouTube link)
I did a great job of tying the jugs to the stanchions and lifelines adjacent to the cockpit with nary a regard for having to access them. It turns out we think we left shore with an inboard gas tank that was half full. We had motored several times and figured it was best to transfer diesel when the conditions were calm. After having done this I see no way of accurately (meaning, without spilling) re-fueling while in any rough sea-state.
The gas cap was literally at the base of the pedestal where the driver stands. There is no way to turn the gas can over in order to get the spout in the hole so a funnel is needed. This was definitely a two-person job and needless to say we still spilled fuel.
It was during this re-fueling process that we sailed through some flotsam. The junk really is out there and this time we watched several tangles of ropes and lines float by. I was keeping a close eye on anything we found floating in the water as I was looking for a certain item and the other guys were helping. I let them know that I had heard about floating glass balls that were used with fishing nets and some are found in the open ocean. One can only dream of finding one.
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(Note: sat e/m from Bill to his friend)
Carolyn, I emailed my neighbor about tornado damage in Murfreesboro, but have not heard back. Please let me know if you have more details. Thanks.
Sent: Apr 27, 2011 1:08 PM
Good wind the past 24 hours. Now a lull, but still doing 5 knots on a close reach. Did 7-8 most of the day. Our position is 32.8N 145.2W.
We have turned toward Long Beach as we see no advantage of going further north. Nothing in the weather forecasts predicts westerly winds further north. We have had a pair of albatrosses following us much of the day. I took video of them circling and landing nearby. They are looking for a handout, but did not touch the moldy bagels we through to them. Topped off the fuel tanks using four jugs of fuel and keeping two in reserve for the end of the trip.
Bill
 |
| Notice, Jack, eyes up front. |
Adding fuel (YouTube link)
I did a great job of tying the jugs to the stanchions and lifelines adjacent to the cockpit with nary a regard for having to access them. It turns out we think we left shore with an inboard gas tank that was half full. We had motored several times and figured it was best to transfer diesel when the conditions were calm. After having done this I see no way of accurately (meaning, without spilling) re-fueling while in any rough sea-state.
The gas cap was literally at the base of the pedestal where the driver stands. There is no way to turn the gas can over in order to get the spout in the hole so a funnel is needed. This was definitely a two-person job and needless to say we still spilled fuel.
It was during this re-fueling process that we sailed through some flotsam. The junk really is out there and this time we watched several tangles of ropes and lines float by. I was keeping a close eye on anything we found floating in the water as I was looking for a certain item and the other guys were helping. I let them know that I had heard about floating glass balls that were used with fishing nets and some are found in the open ocean. One can only dream of finding one.
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(Note: sat e/m from Bill to his friend)
Carolyn, I emailed my neighbor about tornado damage in Murfreesboro, but have not heard back. Please let me know if you have more details. Thanks.
Subject: update from s/v chasch mer
Sent: Apr 27, 2011 4:06 PM
Greetings from N32.57.717 W144.54.326
Things go missing on boats. For instance, the bag of dried fruit. How can it possibly disappear from the cockpit? I found it in the refer and I was most likely the one who put it there as it said refrigerate after opening.
We left Oahu with 7 or 8 bags of ice and now we have none. I admit I was eating the ice cubes but seriously I cannot eat that much. So, it's gone and I don't know where it is. And, to make matters worse the cooler and refer have a foot of standing water in them. We had to plow through the frozen food too fast to rescue it from drowning.
When we get to Long Beach I am going to do a more thorough inspection of the boat and try to find the ice. We did not expect it to vanish within 2-3 days.
Sometime tomorrow afternoon we will cross the halfway point around 1,215 kt miles. My quick calculations puts this passage to be about 2,430 miles. We have stopped going north and have made the turn to head directly to the Long Beach Shoreline Marina. All the wx charts favor this action. OK, gotta go the boat is rolling and so is my head.
dammitDave
Sent: Apr 27, 2011 4:06 PM
Greetings from N32.57.717 W144.54.326
Things go missing on boats. For instance, the bag of dried fruit. How can it possibly disappear from the cockpit? I found it in the refer and I was most likely the one who put it there as it said refrigerate after opening.
We left Oahu with 7 or 8 bags of ice and now we have none. I admit I was eating the ice cubes but seriously I cannot eat that much. So, it's gone and I don't know where it is. And, to make matters worse the cooler and refer have a foot of standing water in them. We had to plow through the frozen food too fast to rescue it from drowning.
When we get to Long Beach I am going to do a more thorough inspection of the boat and try to find the ice. We did not expect it to vanish within 2-3 days.
Sometime tomorrow afternoon we will cross the halfway point around 1,215 kt miles. My quick calculations puts this passage to be about 2,430 miles. We have stopped going north and have made the turn to head directly to the Long Beach Shoreline Marina. All the wx charts favor this action. OK, gotta go the boat is rolling and so is my head.
dammitDave
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| Untying the cans. |
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| Flotsam |
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| More flotsam. |
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| There really was no way to secure the big cooler except to the post. It slid back and forth. Mark claimed the port berth in the salon and decorated it with his brightly colored sheets and blankets he found on one of our shopping sprees on Oahu. The lee-cloths turned out to be a big problem. They only had light-lines and no pulleys or locks and we were forced to use some kind of removable knot. But, the good news is that they tended to only unexpectedly come undone in rough seas while your body weight was against them while you were asleep allowing you to halfway fall off the berth. Kind of like, it only leaks when it rains. Clive and I sometimes shared the salon berth on starboard and he sometimes used a rathole. I used the storage area above the berths for my gear as that was supposed to be a dry area. |
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| It's official; the layers of clothes have been piling on. Let's see, what can I tell about in this picture. Well, for one, the gaff is vertical in a fishing pole holder on the transom because we are trailing a fishing line that can just be seen off the yellow horseshoe float. The yellow horseshoe float has a line attached to it which is then attached to the orange strobe next to it and then these are attached to a pole with a flag on it with a float/weight at its base. It is intended to be thrown over in a man-overboard situation and it is independent of the boat and will provide a float for the person, a strobe for darkness and a flag to be seen over the swells. The white bag next to the orange strobe is a retrieval float. It is another horseshoe type float with a line attached to it and the boat. This is used to retrieve someone from the water very much the way you would bring a water-ski handle to a skier in the water. Off the back is a horizontal tan canvas bag tied to the lifelines that held shampoo, soap, notepaper.... I am not appreciative of the forward head and tended to go commando in the great outdoors...off the transom. It took a while to figure out that big following seas would soak the roll of notepaper. Good to know. The ambient temperature was decreasing enough to wear foulies and sweatshirts and the wind added a little to the chill sometimes. With the cold air comes cold water. We were now in water temperatures in the 60s and very much in everybody's best interest to stay out of it. |
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| 1,000+- miles from land. |
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| 12am 4/27/11 to 12am 4/28/11 (169nm/1,107nm) |
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