That was Paje on the horizon yesterday and we blew past them with our main and Genoa up. Then last night we had a huge squall come through which whited (OK it was green) out most of our radar. Winds hit up to almost 40 knots. The main sail was reefed with 2 reefs in it and had been holding up nicely throughout the day with the modified pulley system that Courage had put up that morning. Well, these gusty winds in the squall finished it off. Another couple of cars jumped the track at about 1:00 or 2:00 am. So, the mainsail stowed itself again. We continued to sail on with our Genoa, doing nicely and it seemed smoother (but slower). So we got some better sleep anyway, but I think Paje is going to beat now.
Today the winds continued to be 20-25 knots of wind with waves about 8-10 foot waves, and the occasional 12-foot wave. These aren't huge, we've seen bigger seas, but Courage indicated that the period was short which was why we were noticing it so much. We kept the hatches closed because waves would come and hit the side of the boat and splash up over. A couple big waves splashed over our salon roof and over our metal cockpit roof. We're going to need a squall now to wash off all this salt we have everywhere! Today has been sunny and clear without any rain, so that part's been nice. We've been shaken around a fair amount though. We are spoiled on a catamaran, so we have things sitting on shelves, etc. Quite a few of those things have been thrown to the ground. The few things I picked up just got thrown right back down, so I'm done. I'll do it when we're anchored. It's unusual for us to get jostled like this. But we haven't had much "pounding" like we had in the middle of our Pacific crossing where the waves slap into the bottom of the boat with a loud bang and jumping of the salon floor and furniture.
Courage was ambitious today, continuously talking about getting the mainsail back up. But we are rocking too much to go up the mast and put the cars back in the track. He's saying how we aren't moving fast enough, but we've had 18-25 knots of wind all day, so even with only our Genoa we've been moving from 5-7 knots most of the day. I remember people talking on the net about how they were motoring the last part of the Puddle Jump and Courage saying we're moving at 3-4 knots, the motor would only slightly increase our speed, so we were moving fine at that point. Funny how perception changes. Here, he wants to get in during daylight so we can see all of the reefs. And, I think since we're rocking so much, he doesn't want to spend another night heaving to. So he's in a race against daylight to arrive tomorrow. And don't get me wrong, I'd like to arrive tomorrow, but I'm also good sailing with only our Genoa at a slightly gentler pace.
Since it was windy with water coming over our bow and side, and it was a relatively nauseating day, and Integrity and Innocence are a little sick with a cough, the kids spent much of their day indoors watching a "Magic School Bus" marathon. They sure didn't mind it. I spoke to my friend on the catamaran Field Trip and it sounded like they were having much the same day. She was surviving, kids were playing on iPod, and they were "just bumping along" as she perfectly described it. She was saying they were at a second reef due to the cars of their mainsail jumping the track, but I think they would be there anyway in this weather. They are moving a bit faster than us since they have a mainsail and Genoa, but they are going to a farther island. Hopefully they make it in also. They have 2 windows of opportunity tomorrow to enter at slack tides, 11:00am and 6:00pm, so they need to be there ready to go at one of those times. Hope they make it. If you try to go during incoming or outgoing tides, the water from the center of the atoll rushes strongly through the narrow entrance/exit and you can have up to an 8-knot current pushing/pulling you, which is not ideal. We are going to one of the closest islands with an easy entrance to start. Then we can island hop at slack tide and time our arrival from a much shorter passage.
There is a reef out here that is partially in and partially out of the water. It's charted and known, but along our path. Courage has it marked on our GPS and is giving it a wide berth. Unfortunately it appears we'll be passing it tonight, but since it's marked and known, it's not really as much of a hazard as those not marked on charts. But this area is pretty well traveled, so I think we are OK. We just passed "Disappointment Islands". Bummer of a name! I don't know much about them, but sure doesn't inspire tourism now does it?
We've been great for power - solar, wind and hydro generators all producing nicely, so I ran the fridge for at least half of today. We haven't even been trying to fish; we're just trying to stand upright (or find a seat quickly). One wave hit this evening while I was sitting in a folding chair in the cockpit and I almost fell right over out of it. I grabbed the table, but it's a folding table with plywood on it, so it was on the go also. Wild ride!! Probably as we approach the island we'll put our lines out. But apparently they have the highest rate of ciguatera here in French Polynesia, making fishing a more selective game. When we left, we had 4 bundles of bananas hanging in the cockpit. The ripe ones fell all over the floor in the squall last night as well as an entire green bundle fell down. Nothing like ripe bananas on the cockpit floor in wavy seas to expedite hitting the deck!!
Shannon
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