We are in a race for sure, whatever will keep the sails trimmed and us moving as fast as possible. We also have the Winters betting on days of travel.
A word about our net. There are a few PanPacific nets out there. We didn't really fit into any of the categories. One you have to check in daily. They plot your course and look out for you. If you don't check in, after 2-3 days they put out a "missing persons" report. We don't want that at all! We don't guarantee regular check in. We may be asleep, busy, crying in the background, or just forget to check in. We enjoy the interaction and help if needed, but don't want to be obligated to check in.
So our single hander, Harry on Maulua, reported this morning that his water-maker was broke. He said he had plenty of beer and wine to drink, so not to worry. He thinks he has the part if he can find it and get it done while underway. He suggested not coming near him since he's cut out bathing as his way to save what water he does have. Fortunately he has a boat 7 miles from him, which has been pacing him for the past day or more. So if he needs water or help, it's not far.
We heard from another kid boat this morning. It's an Aussie 58-foot cat with an 8-year-old girl onboard. They left about a week ahead of us. They gave coordinates and we plotted them. They are further north, but well west of us, had some great winds to start their trip. They are about 1200 miles west of us, but 120 miles north of us. His quote, "It's a bloody long way!" Someone should have told him! See how we're feeling another week from now.
So my bet was 19 days, Courage can't recall, he was either 21 or 23 days officially for this passage. Despite our slow start, I was looking OK. Today at the end of day 6 (10 am), we were 800 miles into the trip. Leaving the Galapagos it was 2900 miles. That's almost 1/3 of the way in 1/3 of the time (18 days is 3 times what we've done). So as long as we kept a 7-knot average from here on out, I would win (and we hit land sooner). 7-knot average is definitely possible, so I was feeling good, but today we averaged closer to 6 knots with lighter winds, flatter seas, rare rain and a beautiful sky. So it was a lovely day, but not really keeping with my plan. Hard to make plans out here!!
On net check-ins, we had surpassed our 52-foot boat, Jean Marie, who's been out here now 32 days from Panama. We are 60 miles west of them despite being 60 miles east of them yesterday! They are also about 120 miles north of us, so have to come both south and west to get to the islands we're all aiming on.
We hear we may have calm seas for a few days, and then renewed wind. Guess we should enjoy the calm, do a couple of projects to be ready for the wind and waves with the fresh winds in a few days. It is hard to do tasks when you are rocking and bouncing (again nothing like a mono-hull, but still sometimes hard to do things underway). I cleared out some rotting fruits/veggies and other housekeeping things so that we are good to go for another week or so. Still have tons of watermelons to go, had a nice ripe pineapple today, about 2-3 bananas each, which we are going to have to finish in the next day or two. Still with fresh tomatoes and bell peppers with our fish tacos for dinner too, feeling pretty lucky overall for all the fresh stuff we have in this tropical environment.
Intrepid is coming along nicely with some basic French, each of the kids know some words and to count to ten. I was reviewing a French book after lunch when Cassidy came up and pointed out Valiant. We made bread for lunch and left the flour on the counter. Valiant apparently had been playing in the flour and putting it on the bread that was left and all over the counter and finger painting. He was REALLY happy! All I could do was take a picture at this point; the damage was done.
So life here isn't so different than on land, especially if you bring kids. You make them meals, teach them stuff, wonder why they cut their hair and finger paint in flour, etc. It's not exactly sun tanning on the decks with the wind blowing gently in your hair and the waves lapping on the bow. Matter of fact, we finally got to open our hatches a little today, even our bedroom ones which we've had closed for 2 days because we were taking on waves over the bow and into our room. And the dinner table was actually dry at dinnertime due to less rain today. Nothing broke and had to be Mickey-Moused (well, the rope holding our hydro-generator in place was getting frayed. Fortunately Courage noticed it and tied it on with another line also so we don't just drop it into the water and lose it.) For some reason our Delorme (satellite tracker) turned off today, which it does periodically, maybe interrupted power? We turned it back on. Not to worry if it's not tracking for a bit. It does that. If there were an issue, we have an EPIRB, which would send off a signal, we would not be depending on the satellite tracker.
Good night all from somewhere in the South Pacific.
7 degrees south, 104 degrees west specifically, 2050 miles to go . . .
Shannon
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