Day 6 - so this is normal, is it?

Our position as at 21.00 GMT, Thursday 16th May:

05 degrees 37 minutes south, 102 degrees 01 minutes west

Distance run in last 24 hours: 175 nm

 

Another cracking 24 hour run and life aboard has settled into a steady routine. We're now acclimatised to the sea conditions and the weird sleep patterns so are able to tackle a few more things than the basic eat-sleep-read routine of the first few days. However, what has become normal us is still a pretty different experience from 'normal' sailing so if you were teleported aboard right now, even as the most experienced coastal sailor, you would find it quite a shock and would probably comment along the lines of:

1. Wow, it's hot
2. The sea's really pretty rough
3. The boat's really rolling
4. I can't see anything but waves and sky (no,wait, there's Stormvogel a mile away)
5. The boat's flying along
6. Why isn't anyone steering?

Yes, we'd say, it's a bit warm but shorts and no shirt is a comfy rig and there's at least a breeze across the boat. We daren't open any hatches for fear of rogue waves so our cabin is a bit stifling at times unless we run a fan. The sea is quite scary at first sight, big waves and lots of white caps where the wind tears the crests off them. On the south coast we'd describe this as rough but actually here the waves are regular and Maunie just lifts over them so the deck is mostly dry; the rolling isn't so bad when you get used to it but we move around her with one hand holding on at all times. The horizon is pretty vast (and wait till you see the night sky) but, apart from a procession of white cumulus clouds, the reassuring sight of Stormvogel's sails, bright and white in the sunshine, is the only thing to break up the view. Keep your eyes peeled, though, Dianne saw a whale only 50m away this morning. And, yes, we're sailing at nearly 7 knots with full main and yankee on a broad reach with Winnie doing the driving, effortlessly, so we only look up when a rogue wave knocks her off course – most of the time she recovers but very occasionally needs a helping hand on the wheel.

 

So, while you are taking stock of your new temporary home, holding on tight, you'll see us move relatively easily around the boat, accustomed to the motion and oblivious to the rolling which would probably have you feeling a bit nauseous. You'll notice us getting on with things – Dianne has just finished cleaning out the hanging locker where the life jackets and (currently unused) waterproofs hang (there was a bit of mildew forming in the warm, tropical air) and is now weighing out the ingredients for flapjack, though 'weighing' is more like guesswork as the scales don't work in a moving boat. Graham is at the laptop, checking the weather files and writing the blog, and is about to set up the fishing line after making up some new lures and traces. The short run of the generator during the night, just to give the batteries a boost before the solar panels took over in daylight, means that there's hot water from the immersion heater so showers in the cockpit are also on the agenda. Once she's finished baking, Di will go and get some sleep this afternoon before supper (the second portion of our sausage casserole from 2 nights ago) and then get ready the first of her two night watches. You'd be welcome to stay for supper, of course, but you'd probably want to be teleporting back to somewhere where the floor doesn't move and the smaller horizon has a few more things in it to see and do. It was lovely to have you aboard – do drop us an email to let us know what you thought of the experience.

Day 5- eating up those miles

Our position as at 23.00 GMT, Wednesday 15th May:

 

05 degrees 27 minutes south, 99 degrees 24 minutes west

 

Distance run in last 24 hours: 174 nm

 

A quick update to report that all's well on board Maunie with fantastic progress westwards. We're unsure how to celebrate reaching 100 degrees west but we'll come up with something as the milestones are important on this passage. We certainly won't be looking how far we have ahead of us but will enjoy ticking off the 1000, 2000 and 3000 markers!

 

Winnie remained in full control last night, allowing us both to get to know the amazing night sky packed with stars. Hoping for more of the same tonight.

 

Heidi and Peter on Stormvogel are just behind us and they're doing fine. It's great to sail with them but we'd better check that they haven't secretly rigged a towing line!

Day 4, after a rather trying night

Our position as at 22.00 GMT, Tuesday 14th May:

 

05 degrees 09 minutes south, 96 degrees 21 minutes west

 

Distance run in last 24 hours: 168nm

 

Last night was a bit tough, particularly for Dianne on the midnight to 04.00 watch. The wind dropped a little but the waves had built up so Winnie wasn't coping at all well – Dianne tried the HR head-to-one side, sympathetic-voice-and-tissues routine but couldn't coax Winnie out of her malaise so she had to resort to hand-steering for most of the watch. This morning Stormvogel reported similar issues with their Hydrovane self-steering (which, as far as we know, doesn't have a pet name – in German it's probably something like a windstoffensterspilenvanegevichenmachin but we think she should be Helga) so everyone sounded pretty tired when we chatted on the VHF.

 

As dawn broke, the wind improved and we've had an excellent morning's sail. At 6.00am we crossed the 5 degrees south line and turned right a bit, heading pretty much due west after 3 days of sailing south-west. The theory is that we are far enough south to be into the SE trade winds, which should increase over the next few days, but remain in the wonderfully helpful west-going Equatorial Current so we'll continue at 5 degrees south for a few days before working our way further south towards the Marquesas. On this point of sailing (a beam reach) Maunie and Stormvogel are back to being completely evens on boat speed so it's nice to have them a mile to windward in an otherwise empty seascape.

 

As I write, Dianne is preparing supper – sausage casserole using 'Italian Style' Panamanian sausages (can't wait to see what they are like!). We have a wonderful cooking pot called a Mr D which is a tall stainless steel saucepan which fits into a thermally-insulated outer pot. So the meal is started on the cooker top and, once it's simmering nicely, is transferred into the outer pot to slow-cook for up to 5 hours. This saves a lot of gas and makes it very easy to prepare meals in advance. We're running low on fresh meat (just one portion of minced beef from San Cristobal left) so a job for this afternoon is to rig the fishing line. Our friends Sally & Mike on Jacaranda caught a 26lb Wahoo on this leg a month ago – we're not quite sure what we'd do with such a monster so we'll settle for a serves-two tuna, preferably ready-gutted and filleted.

 

Many thanks for all the emails – it's been lovely to hear news.

 

 

 

 

Day 3 - steady progress

Our position at 18.00 GMT, Monday 13th May:

 

3 degrees, 42 minutes south, 93 degrees 28 minutes west

 

We are happy to report that all is well aboard Maunie after an uneventful night – uneventful is good! We reefed down as the light faded so that we could enjoy Di's excellent Lemon and Honey Chicken at a not-unreasonable angle of heel and also to stay within sight of Stormvogel (who are still slightly slower than us in these conditions) through the night. The wind was a nice Force 4, the waves relatively gentle, the current helping us along at nearly 2 knots and the was sky full of stars – the Plough is only just visible (upside down) on the horizon and so we are now getting to know the new southern hemisphere sky.

 

Graham woke in his off watch and describes the feeling of Maunie underway as 'reassuringly composed'. Hearing the noise of the water rush past the hull was the only real indication of progress – it was a bit like being on an express coach at night (with comfy bunks rather than the normally cramped seats) where the noise of wind, tyres and engine merge into a comfortable hum and the suspension converts bumps in the road into gently, swaying undulations. The waves were at an angle that didn't impeded Maunie's movement but you could feel her rise and fall gently as each one approached from the side and she just felt, well, solid and secure. Very reassuring.

 

Today has dawned bright and sunny again and we continue to sail a south-westerly course. A New Zealand boat on the radio net relayed weather information from their Pacific weather guru back home. He advised sailing to 5 degrees south, 110 degrees west then to head west, using the maximum current, to 5 degrees south, 124 degrees west before turning further sw towards the Marquesas (around 10 degrees south, 135 degrees west). This was good to hear as it is pretty much what we are planning to do based on the weather Grib files that we have.

 

As I write, Dianne is asleep in the bunk after her two night watches and the generator is humming away, providing subdued engine noise to complete the express-coach-at-night analogy if she's awake to hear it (I suspect not). More importantly it's powering the breadmaker and watermaker as well as producing hot water for showers later and recharging the batteries.

Towards the Marquesas - Days 1 & 2

Our position as at 17.00 GMT, Sunday 12th April:

 

02 degrees 2 minutes south, 91 degrees 10 minutes west

 

We left, as planned, yesterday lunchtime after a quick run around the veg market. We've really enjoyed being in based in Baquerizo Moreno and have been fortunate that the anchorage has been pretty calm the whole time (a wind from the north would make it very rolly). Tourism is obviously a key activity on the island but it's very strictly controlled by the National Park authorities so there seems to be a reasonable balance at work. That's not to say there isn't a row of souvenir shops selling mementos of varying taste and quality; the t-shirts featuring the Blue Footed Booby and the phrase 'I love boobies' seem popular but we laughed out loud in one shop when we saw a pile of cloth badges with the phrase misspelled as 'I love bobbies' - one for fans of the British police there!

 

We set off, with Stormvogel, in a steady Force 4 SE so were on a close reach heading south west in the hunt for stronger winds to the south, a group of large dolphins under our bow. The forecast for the first few days is for light breezes and sure enough the wind died in the night and we had to motor for 4 hours but we're making reasonable progress now, helped by the Equatorial Current which is pushing us along at almost a knot. The sun is shining and the sea's calm so we both slept ok on our off-watches, particularly for a first night at sea. This morning we joined a new SSB radio net and it sounds as though there'll be a group of about 10 yachts in our vicinity (most leaving Galapagos in a couple of days' time) so it'll be good to compare notes on weather and sea conditions.

 

We'll keep you informed of our progress! Do email any questions or comments but we can't open attachments at sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another video - wildlife on land

Our last day in Galapagos

Today (Friday) is our full last day in San Cristobal so we're doing a final day ashore, with a run to the laundry and some final shopping; we'll have a final meal ashore here tonight then come back in the morning to go to the surprisingly good veg market t stock up on perishables.

 

We aim to weigh anchor (another nautical term for you) at midday tomorrow and then we're off on a 3,000 mile passage to the Marquesas where the working language will change from Spanish to French and the currency from US Dollars to Central Pacific Francs (we think!). The voyage is actually longer than our Atlantic crossing but, we hope, we should get steadier winds and a very helpful Equatorial Current pushing us along at around one knot. So it'll probably take us around 20 days.

 

We'll post quick updates on the blog with our position but store up photos for our next wifi opportunity in the islands.

 

We're sad to be leaving Galapagos but our friends on Jacaranda, a month ahead of us, tell us that the Marquesas are beautiful and the people very friendly so we have something to look forward to!