A Dark and Stormy Night
Sunday April 6, 2008
Actually it was a dark and WET night. It rained steadily and incredibly hard most of the night. The wind associated with the cells that we went through however was, for the most part, light. We motored, we sailed, we drifted for awhile. At one point we got within a mile of our buddy boat Tokatie so we headed off west to put some distance between us. We got to the limits of VHF range before we turned due south to try and intercept them. Well, we did. It's actually kind of fun to try and track another vessel around the ocean based on projected course and speed. By morning, the winds started to drop and we ended up rifting slowly south at around 1.5 knots. By 10:45 local we started up the motor and stated the long motor through the doldrums to the equator. At our current rate, we should reach the equator mid afternoon today! With luck we will get some wind before then as well. I poured the last of the diesel from the jerry cans we carry on deck into the tank today and it raised the level to 7/8 of a tank. We figure that gives us about 90 hours before we are sucking fumes. We have set a limit of 50 hours to leave a reasonable margin. We will see how we go.
I have pretty much given up on the HF radio. I am certain that the antenna tuner is at fault. I made a direct connection from the tuner to the backstay antenna yesterday and everything worked for about 15 minutes then it quit. I have been unable to get it to "tune" again. Oh well, I will likely look into the tuner one more time before I finally quit. I am quite prepared to get a replacement but we will likely have to get to Papeete before I can arrange it. Oh well. It's a bit weird being cut off from email. It makes you wonder how we ever managed to communicate before. Perhaps this is god for us?
By 05:30, the wind came up and we were able to sail, an unexpected bonus. I was sure that we would be under power to the equator. This is the nice part of having a fin keel boat. We are close hauled and comfortable in 7-9 knots of wind, sailing at 4-5 knots. No diesel being used, and most of all it's QUIET. Our engine is actually quite quiet anyways but after a few hours, you do get pretty tired of it.
Actually it was a dark and WET night. It rained steadily and incredibly hard most of the night. The wind associated with the cells that we went through however was, for the most part, light. We motored, we sailed, we drifted for awhile. At one point we got within a mile of our buddy boat Tokatie so we headed off west to put some distance between us. We got to the limits of VHF range before we turned due south to try and intercept them. Well, we did. It's actually kind of fun to try and track another vessel around the ocean based on projected course and speed. By morning, the winds started to drop and we ended up rifting slowly south at around 1.5 knots. By 10:45 local we started up the motor and stated the long motor through the doldrums to the equator. At our current rate, we should reach the equator mid afternoon today! With luck we will get some wind before then as well. I poured the last of the diesel from the jerry cans we carry on deck into the tank today and it raised the level to 7/8 of a tank. We figure that gives us about 90 hours before we are sucking fumes. We have set a limit of 50 hours to leave a reasonable margin. We will see how we go.
I have pretty much given up on the HF radio. I am certain that the antenna tuner is at fault. I made a direct connection from the tuner to the backstay antenna yesterday and everything worked for about 15 minutes then it quit. I have been unable to get it to "tune" again. Oh well, I will likely look into the tuner one more time before I finally quit. I am quite prepared to get a replacement but we will likely have to get to Papeete before I can arrange it. Oh well. It's a bit weird being cut off from email. It makes you wonder how we ever managed to communicate before. Perhaps this is god for us?
By 05:30, the wind came up and we were able to sail, an unexpected bonus. I was sure that we would be under power to the equator. This is the nice part of having a fin keel boat. We are close hauled and comfortable in 7-9 knots of wind, sailing at 4-5 knots. No diesel being used, and most of all it's QUIET. Our engine is actually quite quiet anyways but after a few hours, you do get pretty tired of it.
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posted by Brian Ackles - S/V Cygnet at
15:27
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