AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2016/04/30 18:17
LATITUDE: 04-43.26S
LONGITUDE: 100-52.58W
COURSE: 258T
SPEED: 5.5
MARINE: YES
WIND_SPEED: 7
WIND_DIR: S
WAVE_HT: 0.0M
WAVE_PER: 0
SWELL_DIR: S
SWELL_HT: 3.0M
SWELL_PER: 8
CLOUDS: 35%
VISIBILITY: 20
BARO: 1012.6
AIR_TEMP: 31.7C
COMMENT: Beach House – En Route – Marquesas Islands – Day 4 – 155 nm – 2265 miles to go.
As exhilarating at our 194 mile day was, the last one has been physically beautiful, but \”ugly\” slow.
We\’re \”at the lay line\” which no sailor wants to be as it limits our directional options. This issue with being at the lay line is that we are against one side of an imaginary and dynamically changing triangle.
We like to be able to not be near the sides of the triangle (whose apex is our destination) until we have to be or want to be – quite close to that destination. Now, with 2265 miles to go, we\’re up against one side of the triangle and our only option is to stay as close inside it as we can or hopefully not have to sail far outside it as it just adds miles to the trip.
So now you know what being on the \”lay line\” is all about in our daily planning.
The good news is, the wind will change which moves the sides of the triangle, but the bad news is…it may get worse before it gets better.
We\’re \”close hauled\” (as close to the wind as we can sail) and fortunately, in very flat seas. The seas themselves are flat, but the predominant swell from the South at 12 feet (3 meters more or less) is like sailing over a slow moving carpet that someone is undulating up and down across a room.
This isn\’t dangerous or even uncomfortable – it\’s just a bit strange.
The day is lovely, the company fabulous and the engines (which we used for 5.5 of the last 24 hours) seem to be ok, despite their obvious crankcase pressure issues which we\’ll resolve in Tahiti. (Again – Thank You Ken Dickinson for your \”vent tube\” idea). Of course, the \”issues\” this season just don\’t seem to stop, so in line with that, our port engine \”house battery\” alternator isn\’t charging the batteries. It\’s why of course we have redundant systems.
The starboard one is working fine and charging as well as the solar panels and the (thank heaven) generator.
Nikki\’s found several ways to use the plethora of excess bananas we have from the \”farm\” at Isla Isabela. Banana Bread and much more. Mostly she\’s using them for throwing practice over the side. There\’s an old British superstition about how it\’s not good to have banana\’s onboard. We\’ve knocked wood and for the most part, they\’re all gone.
So drop us a note and thanks for all your support out there!
More tomorrow from the slow sail, but gorgeous South Pacific. You can almost hear Crosby, Stills and Nash singing \”Southern Cross\”….Google it!
Scott and Nikki