We started the day with an early morning swim to our expansive private beach. Large rocks trapped pools of water that 20 small fish used as a home as they waited for the tide to return. In a few hours our private beach was back underwater and the green water prevented further fish sightings.
After a hearty breakfast, the kind captain announced that a dinghy trip to the village of Canas was departing shortly. All aboard! The downwind trip was delightful. There is no sign of humans in most of these islands. After a couple of miles we neared the village and realized their beach was protected by a confusing mess of rocks. I raised the motor to low water mode, but the breeze was strong and I began to lose control of the dinghy. Both women jumped over board to guide One Fish into the anchorage.
The town of Canas is a bit sad. There is trash lying on their streets. After a short friendly encounter with the locals we left. I felt a bit like Captain Cook: clueless of what I had just seen. I am reading Captain Cook’s journals, a must read for Pacific sailors.
By the time we returned to One Fish, the tide had filled in most of the bay. I volunteered to drag the dinghy to safe waters but the cost was my flip flop strap got separated from the sole. It is my only pair, so Gail repaired them when we returned to Two Fish. We also replaced a shackle holding the trampoline and added warning thread to the salon screen door. Final upgrade was a mount that holds the PC tablet near the helm, useful when navigating by Sea Clear or Google Earth.

Rebecca and Mike climbed to the summit of the nearby island. Without a path, they got a few cuts from the shrubs. All of this action before cocktail hour. I have really enjoyed paddleboarding the shores of the islands. I sighted species of bird that sounds like a barking dog. I barked back but got no reaction.

At cocktail hour we decided to fly a kite. Really fly a kite. It got airborne with little fanfare, but five minutes into the maiden flight, the line parted. A quick launch of the paddleboard was required to retrieve the kite. Now I am shopping for stronger kite string.

The next day we motored into the wind and current to get closer to the rally rendez-vous. We are going to an island called Mogo Mogo where the TV show Survivor was filmed. When we arrive, it will be boat cleaning day. Mike and Rebecca are doing the deck. I am going to scrub the hull while in Scuba gear. This is very important as the Galapagos authority will send you fifty miles offshore if they find a barnacle. That would really stink. Gail will clean up the inside of the boat.

jason
www.twofishcat.com

This one is for those of our readers who prefer boat fix-it adventures rather than sunsets and hikes.

DST (Depth, Speed via paddle wheel, and Sea temp transducer)

Shortly before our departure from Mogo Mogo to Isla Contadora, I noticed that the chart plotter was not showing depth data. I consulted the emergency protocol with anything running Windows. The protocol instructed me to reboot. This had fixed this problem a few days earlier but was not the cure this morning. After a bit of messing about, we weighed anchor since Two Fish has a back-up depth sounding device, a fish finder. The network that transmits data throughout Two Fish is mostly NMEA 2000. Each device can contribute data (PGN’s) and/or listen to data. The fish finder is not on the NMEA network so the depth data was only appearing on the chart plotter. A quick click and the chartplotter was told to publish the depth data and the whole boat system knew our depth. But the primary depth sounder and paddle wheel log still needed to be fixed. Once in our new anchorage we called Furuno for advice before prying parts open. I wanted to open up the top of the transducer but Gail slowed me down. The delay was worth it, as Furuno told us the top is weather-sealed. Instead, they instructed us to check the junction box. This box accepts data from various NMEA-speaking devices such as the wind instruments, GPS antenna, and many others. So many others that the junction box is crowded. On closer examination, Gail discoverd a couple of wires were touching, possibly creating a short and preventing the DST from working properly. Problem fixed for the short run, but in the long run we should clean up the wiring in the junction box to make it bulletproof. We also learned that the cable from the DST has a connecting point near the port water heater. This mightcome in handy in the future, if we need to swap out the unit.
Dyneema Soft Shackle Replaces Mantus for attaching bridle to anchor

The boat came with a Wichard hook to attach the bridle to the anchor. The Wichard’s pin is very easy to bend and a bent pin in the closed position can create some annoyance when weighing anchor. Early on we tossed the Wichard in the waste bin. Instead we have been using the bullet proof Mantus chain hook. The Mantus’ lack of moving parts and solid construction reduces concerns that this would be a point of failure. The shortcoming of the hook is that it requires that I (Jason) must come forward and hang over the water to attach it to and remove it from the chain. This concerns me if I had to weigh anchor quickly at night in big seas. The soft shackle can exit and enter the boat with the chain and does not require any bow ballet moves. Some argue that it also pulls on the chain in a more natural position and thus gives a higher breaking strength for the system. Early days but we like it so far. Thanks to Mike and Rebecca for bringing this along for testing and for constructing it themselves.

Water pump spinning like mad

The water pump was pumping furiously without any intention of stopping. Moment for head scratching. Kristal, our sister ship, had a similar problem. He diagnosed the problem as a bad water pump. He planned to do a pump rebuild but lacked the kit. However, in the interim he realized his problem was only a loose pipe, causing air to enter the system. So using another man’s hard-earned lesson we checked the system for air leaks. The issue only occurred when drawing from the port tank. I announced how smart we were for narrowing down the problem. It must be a poor fitting between the tank and the pump. Starting at the tank, I reset the hose into the quick connect fitting. Then Gail climbed into the battery locker and other remote parts of the boat looking for leaky connections. Finally Mike and Rebecca swapped out a half-inch isolator valve on 15 mm pipe for the correct 15mm part. I thought that this could be the air leak. We then turned the system on and I was ready to celebrate our victory, but the pumping kept sprinting along. Gail then asked a question: “Is the tank empty?”. I requested a mallet and a soft touch to the water tank sensor caused the gauge to drop from full to empty. Next time I will remember the fundamental rule, start with the easiest fix first.

SSB DSC

What an alphabet sandwich for a section heading? It reminds me of some work acronyms. In this case, it refers to our long range radio’s ability to place a call to another long range radio. The SSB radio is misunderstood and ignored by most of our cruising friends. Gail has tried to learn a bit about the operation. We now can send email via SSB and tune in a particular station. Recently, Kristal installed a DSC (distress call) antenna for us. Kind of shocked me that the SSB needs a second antenna. We initially tried to call each other using this feature but failed. But Gail tried again with another sailboat, Zoom. She figured out that you have to hold down the call key for 2 seconds at the final step and voila another mystery solved.

Diving for Barnacles

Galapagos immigration is very harsh if you have marine life attached to your hull. If you fail the marine inspection you are sent away from the harbor to an area 50 miles offshore. There you will await hull cleaning. This would be uncomfortable and very annoying. I have worked very hard to avoid this outcome. I have spent over 4 hours diving a freshly painted hull to remove anything from the animal kingdom. My focus has been barnacles which led to much research about their lonely life. They only travel for their first ten days and thereafter are attached head first to Two Fish’s hull. Is that why they are born without a heart?
While cleaning the hull, I was stung many times by some type of jelly fish. The red welts have not retreated yet. I was also swept away by a current exceeding two knots. At one point I had my legs wrapped around the rudder as if riding a pony. I was upside down trying to clean the dynaplate (a ground for the SSB radio). I also received a few hulls to the head as the waves moved the boat. To add to the fun, visibility in Las Perlas is about 2 feet since the water is very green. I did not lose a limb, and now we have a good chance for a clean bill of health for our Galapagos entry.

Anchor Lights

Near sunset a game broke out of which boat would turn their anchor light on last. The game had a slightly judgmental tone since the goal was to choose the boat who might forget to turn it on at all. As the sun was about to dip under the horizon we realized that Two Fish’s anchor light was not turned on. Next time we will spend less time captaining other boats and try to manage ours better.

Hash

We have enjoyed hashing (running club) in several countries. Now we can add Panama to the list as the rlly led a hash run on Las Perlas Islands. I was thankful to have such a great way to start the day.

Jason
www.twofishcat.com

At 11 am Panama time the Rally committee the starting gun to begin the leg to the Galapagos. It was a downwind start with a half knot of current pushing us across the line. A racing mono hull was early and luffed us up at the start to avoid crossing the line early. Cruising cats can not respond with equally nimble behavior to a racing mono hull. I turned the helm hard to starboard and the Two Fish crew luffed our jib. We slowed the boat and avoided the racing boat. A little too much excitement for a start of a rally.

Shortly after the gun went off we navigated by a few reefs. Gail was hard at work on the tablet to ensure we avoided any rocks. Twenty minutes later we were in deep water and it was time for the chute. Two Fish accelerated doing a solid 8 knots. We slowly started picking off the faster rated boats and the loved the large pink chute. It was not without effort as we had to jibe multiple times to keep clear of the big boats wind blanketing rigs.

The breeze filled in to over 25 knots and Mike snuffed the chute will Rebecca rolled out the genoa. We now had to weave through the busy shipping lanes. We chose our spot with the help of the AIS. I never cross a large ship’s bow but at the panama canal approach you have to find a spot and go for it. One large mono hull chose a novel and illegal technique. She was sailing up the middle of the inbound lane with 3 large ships heading toward her. Sailboats are required to pass across these canal approach lanes at 180 degree angle. This boat skipped this rule. A distraught captain of a container ship hailed him and asked “what was your intention”. I think the captain wanted to ask him what was his problem. The sailboat then replied that he was sailing and could only turn to starboard. That must have gotten a response on the container ship! A guy driving the wrong way on a one way starts dictating terms. The three ships adjusted their speed and course. No darwin award was given today despite the sailboat’s best efforts.

We have the screecher and full main flying in 20 knots which is fine but I have my eyes open as reefing will be required later tonight. The forecast is for more breeze and some uncomfortable waves over 2 meters. The forecast goes on to predict that after two days of good breeze we may be forced to motor in light airs.

Happy now, I love it at sea. Passages are a place I feel comfortable and relish the time.

Jason and the great crew of two fish
www.twofishcat.com

New crew and Two Fish forge an understanding during their first full night at sea. Last night our crew Mike and Rebecca met Two Fish in an ocean breeze of 20 knots with squalls going over 30. Both crew and boat are unscathed and happy. Before buying a boat one might think passages are a test of your ability to fill empty time. You research workouts, download books and possibly pick up a crochet kit.
A night passage in a good breeze keeps the crew busy. Fishing sometimes takes second position to frequent sail changes, course adjustments, tracking other rally boats and avoiding ships. In the past 24 hours we have had the mainsail in FULL, 1 Reef, 2 Reef, 1 reef, Full. The headsail changes are a blur but as far as I can remember they were screecher, chute, genoa, genoa 1 reef, genoa 2 reef, screecher, genoa, genoa 1 reef, genoa 2 reef, genoa 1 reef, genoa 2 reef, genoa 1 reef, full genoa, and screecher. This does not include many jibes and other maneuvers. With all this work comes a peace that you have earned your place among the sea. That you belong out in the biggest ocean on earth. The word gets out and dolphins and whales come by the boat to greet the boat. The stars are told that you are a serious sailor and they twinkle a bit brighter. The sea bubbles with phosphorescence in concert with the stars. The wind gives you a hair style that proves you live at sea. Can life be any better?

We are officially in offshore passage rhythm. 2 hours of “on watch” followed by six hours “off watch” is the plan. Reality works out to something different. Mike and Rebecca often share their watches while I will often do the bulk of Gail’s night watches and she does the bulk of my day watches. Our bodies are used to being jiggled, we walk naturally like penguins and hold on to the boat at all times. We enjoying chatting when a crowd forms in the cockpit but also appreciate the silence of standing a solo watch. The boat and the sea set the tempo. Sometimes life is very slow and patience is required. We spent a night coasting in light air with twin head sails pulling us along. While other times one is very busy. My heart rate races with the physical effort of a full sail change. Chute down. Boat head to wind. Full Main up. Screecher deployed. Clean up lines. Head back to the bunk. Did I reef too early? Is the wind light enough for the chute? Will there be a large wind shift? Books are read, music listened to and radio chats with other rally boats.

I enjoy watching the birds coasting inches above the water as they hunt for fish. Mike and Rebecca are also keen fishermen and they caught 4 yellow fin tuna in 24 hours. The fishing rods are stowed and we will gorge on fresh fish for the next two days. Galapagos customs will not allow us to bring in caught fish so the choices are eat it or loose it. I choose eat it. How is tuna on cereal?

The bigger boats are thinking about arriving in the Galapagos but we still have 2 more nights at sea. Rally boats are asked to use a stern anchor to fit the large quantity of participant boats. Nicely the water taxis will help deploy your stern anchor, what a deluxe service. I think the rally organizers oversold the rally. A smaller number of boats would make the rendez vous anchorages less complicated. However, the pacific ocean is huge so there is plenty of room for all 32 boats.

I will watch a Galapagos related documentary tonight unless Two Fish needs a bunch of sail changes. I write this while the water maker is producing 25 gallons per hour. With 4 people aboard we use about 20 gallons a day. Our batteries also need charging so it is two tanks with one generator?

Here is an example of one of the many sailing puzzles we had to solve now we are going downwind. Downwind was a rarity in the eastern Caribbean.
True wind speed of 10 knots and true wind angle of 180 (dead down wind). We had twin heads sails of chute (pink stink) and screecher(black fish). This rig works well in 12 knots or more but as the breeze dropped to 8 to 10 knots both sails shook on every wave and the boat was frustrating to steer and slow. Our solution was to drop screecher and steered TWA (true wind angle) of 135-140. Boat moved very well under only the chute. We were much faster with just one sail that with two. This faster speed takes into account the fact we were sailing off course. We were able to sail the whole night while many near by boats were motoring. We actually kept pace with them.

Jason
www.twofishcat.com

I have been reading a couple of books on Captain Cook. Short version: he explored the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pole and was eaten by cannibals in Hawaii. As we are sailing in his wake I thought it would be enjoyable to read his adventures, but now I am convinced he is cursing us from the grave (actually from the belly of the Hawaiian who ate him).

The evidence of this curse is that every time I read a chapter where something afflicts Cook’s ship something similar occurs on Two Fish. I have wisely suspended reading anymore pages until we are safely in Australia.

#1
Shortly after reading about a series of painful illness striking the Endeavor, I was set back with a flu. I am sure this came from the pages of the book.

#2
We had the amazing crew of Mike and Rebecca from Zero To Cruising aboard. They made the canal passage easy and we are thankful they came aboard. However, the curse of Cook did not escape them. In the book Cook has an issue with his anchor. Later, on Two Fish I noticed our stern anchor did not seem too effective. I pulled on the line and it came to the boat with little effort. At the end of the line was only half of a shackle. Mike had forgotten to tighten the shackle properly and my stern anchor had escaped. A well studied sailor had been done in by the curse of Cook. After one and a half hours of diving, the search was given up as the visibility was poor. Two Fish is fine as we still have two anchors and Into the Blue, another rally boat, was quick to offer their spare anchor. What a nice bunch of folks. Cook did not have friends like us!

#3
Cook hit the barrier reef and two days after reading of his crash, Two Fish bumped bottom. We dropped anchor in 5 meters of water. The tide went out a bit more than the tables predicted and the depth sounder was reading 3.2 meters. Gail took the handheld sensor and measured the depth from the stern because the built in sensor is near the bow. Our stern depth was 1.9 but we only need 1.2 meters. A wave came and stole some of our water. We touched bottom. Gail was great and was working the anchor chain in a flash. We moved forward 5 meters and had plenty of water. We learned to afford some room for waves in our depth calculations. We were smart to stay onboard during the tide change as it would have been much worse had we been ashore.

#4
Captain Cook complains that his crew was too slow with the lead line used for sounding the depth. Instead of a depth sounder issue, Two Fish’s anemometer (wind meter) is starting to fail. The Cook curse was noticed at anchor yesterday. The computer was displaying zero knots of wind during a zephyr of over 5 knots. I shook the mast and the anemometer cups began to spin and the computer showed 5 knots. The problem was not electrical but mechanical at the top of the mast. Gail “volunteered” to go to the top of the mast and investigate. Despite two trips to the top she was unable to change the performance of the misbehaving machine. It seems the bearing has seized up and the unit is not serviceable. A call to Furuno support confirmed our fears but we were told there is a near by service center in Singapore (9,000 miles away). We do carry a spare hand held wind meter and our next crew (Jim and Theresa) will come with a replacement for the broken part (thanks guys!). Any volunteers for installing the devil?

#5
Cook had many issues when meeting the natives of the South Pacific Islands. Spears being tossed at his crew, insults yelled in unknown languages and natives with scary face paint barking guttural noises were some of Cook’s negative negative encounters. Two Fish was attacked by paperwork. At one point we had 12 representatives from the Galapagos aboard Two Fish. They were all polite and only asked for water.

As the first day of our long voyage drifts into the record books, I see in sharp relief life onshore versus passage mode. We had our last ice cream, our last laundry, bought as many carrots as we thought might last, weighed anchor and cut our final tether to land, cell service. We are now in the big blue ocean. The earth’s largest ocean. Our 3,000 mile crossing has begun.

El Nino has reduced the trade winds and the weather files encouraged us to fill up every jar with extra diesel. We can motor at 6 knots for 1,100 miles yet still have enough reserve fuel to run the genset to produce drinking water. Like on all passages, the Captain’s job is never formulaic. Sometimes we are fighting current, sometimes dodging weather. But this leg is about conserving resources. Diesel and food are finite. As I write this, I am eating a freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Gail, who usually stops all galley work while under way, has announced that tomorrow night will be chicken stir fry assuming the weather stays calm. Dishes with fresh vegetables will only be offered during the first week of the voyage.

We are using WRI as the weather router for this leg. Their emails are very colorful but only time will tell how they rank versus Commander’s Weather, Chris Parker and Jennifer “Gulf Stream” Clark. WRI respond quickly to emails but their detailed PDFs take forever to download via Iridium. The file is only 230 kb but this can take an hour to receive.

The rally fleet has broken into three parts. The “long haul truckers” are staying close to the rhumbline in hopes of saving miles and enjoying a more favorable current. My view is they will run out of diesel, never see wind and eventually be eaten by sea birds. The second group are the “dreamers”. They are heading very far south. South of the Society Islands and south of New Zealand. They are going to the South Pole. I trust they will find breeze in the roaring 40s but they will eventually be eaten by a polar bears. The third group are a reasonable, humble and erudite collection of boats. They have perfectly weighed the pros and cons of the potential route and are heading south to find the breeze, knowing the cost is giving up the favorable current. I refer to this group as the “winners”. We are in this third pack.

In my previous life, I flew Singapore to New York in the longest commercial flight, non-stop for 19 hours. In the same seat without touching ground for almost a day. My body clock would slow down, I would read, watch movies and sleep. So far I am employing the same strategy on this three week trip. Make sure to visit our facebook page and place your prediction on our arrival time.

You may be having trouble reading this over the noise of a huge party on Two Fish. We have now sailed 15,000 miles since she was splashed. In those early days, 15,000 miles seemed impossible. Heck, just making it out of the River Plate seemed a major effort. Over time, skills increase and perceptions change. We now look forward to short four night passages. The vastness of the Pacific can be understood when traveling at 6 knots for 3,000 miles.

We enjoyed the wildlife in the Galapagos and upon our exit from Eden we have seen little. We had a wasp in the cockpit and I swatted it; instead of dying it transformed into a moth. It was amazing. At one moment my eye is tracking the wasp while the rolled up paper came crashing on him and the next moment the moth was dancing about. It turns out that the moth had been hiding in a crevice and woke up at the wasp’s death. Optical illusion or a new species? Our other wildlife highlight were birds that spent the evening circling our steaming light. Their bird droppings are bright green. A color so vibrant I would have thought food coloring was involved.

Where are we now? You can check our tracker, but here is another way to track our progress. Imagine we are doing a road trip from NYC to Miami and across to LA. This works out to the same distance as our sail from the Galapagos to the Marquesas, 3,000 nautical miles. Now, imagine that our car is slow. Very slow. Yesterday we averaged 6.9 nautical miles per hour for a total of 166 miles. However, we are only 112 miles closer to Miami because we headed off course to look for wind. What town did we reach on the US East Coast after 24 hours of driving? Cape May, NJ. We visited Cape May on Two Fish and cursed the strong current. This is going to be a long trip.

We press on to the Marquesas and spirits are high aboard Two Fish.

Jason
www.twofishcat.com

In our car trip analogy, (NYC to Miami to LA) we have made it to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. After driving for 3 continuous days, we are about 400 miles into our 3,000 mile journey. El Nino has slowed our progress as large patches have been windless. And unlike our theoretical car, we can not get out for a BBQ in North Carolina. Instead, we had fresh corn bread with chili last night for dinner. We also baked two loaves of banana bread. This morning we caught a 26 pound (measured with our luggage scale) wahoo. We sent the photo to our fishing guru, who is currently skiing, and he replied a few minutes later with the fish ID. I love technology. Tim opened up the wahoo’s stomach for no particular reason and found the head of a smaller fish. Food chain. Just hope no one opens my stomach or they will discover that I had cookies for breakfast.

How to eat an elephant? One bite at a time. However, this elephant trip is so big I can not see the tail. I am concerned about fuel. Do we have enough to propel us before the trade winds arrive? We have used 20% of our diesel but only traveled 13% of the trip. We are pushing South to find the trade winds and are excited when we get messages from the lead boat that she is in 15-20 knots of breeze. We are trying to go fast because the wind has started to move west. This means the lead boats will get the wind while the trailing boats may have to get mid-ocean passports.

We had the most unusual guests on board for almost 24 hours. Two rare red-footed boobies. They seemed like a couple. One with a much more blue coloring in the beak. They preened, went fishing, slept and allowed close examination. They chose to perch on a perilous rod of metal at the bow. At one point one of the boobies fell but broke its fall by grabbing the rail with a beak. We called(VHF) a nearby rally boat with avid birders for advice. I thought the birds might die, but they are true sea birds and were only grabbing a rest. The next day we turned 10 more degrees south and they flew away. I suppose they thought we might be going to New Zealand.

Marquesan lessons have started on board. We are setting our sights low and just learning hello (kaona). Many of the words are mostly vowels. Kind of the opposite of Eastern Europe.

A big thank you to s/v Field Trip, another Antares. This trip without the new screecher would be hell. We were doing record breaking speed in light air. 70% of windspeed is now possible. If you are buying a new boat get this screecher instead of the standard. The extra surface area and flatter belly really help in our current conditions. I have been flying it straight to my second outboard jib track.

We have heard of a few boats with issues. Widago is back in the Galapagos waiting for a new clark pump for the water maker. We were there 2 years ago. Another had a gooseneck bolt fail but created a temporary fix. And a third can not run their water maker while the engine is running. The cause of that is still a mystery.

We are at the front of the fleet, but the order will shake out based on who gets the trade winds first.

Jason
www.twofishcat.com

Great Friends solve Two Fish problem from afar

Sailboats have little black cups spinning at the top of the mast which calculate the wind speed. Our unit started to die the day before we left on this 3,000 mile passage. Gail tried a few times to fix it but Furuno advised us that the only solution is to mail it in for service or buy a new one (see previous posts).

So we set sail with the thought that many an ocean have been crossed without a wind speed indicator and we should be fine. I had anticipated this contingency back in Florida and had bought a hand-held wind speed detector. This is not ideal but can at least give us a rough idea of when the breeze peaks and when to reef. Here are the shortfalls:

1) The unit only displays apparent wind, not true wind. In other words, the unit is not smart enough to know the boat is moving. It is like a dog putting his head out of the car window on a highway and thinking “It is really windy on this highway”
2) The existing broken unit shows apparent wind direction but not true wind direction. Again the dog thinks “Wow every time I drive this road the wind is always coming from the hood of the car.”
3) The unit measures wind at deck level. We are used to looking at wind numbers from the top of the mast. The difference in these two numbers can be large due to wind shear. We had observed this wind shear effect while the main unit was still working.

So in short, I needed a formula to convert the data from the handheld into the data that I used to receive from the unit. I sent a note to my friends and was blown away with their kindness. They jumped into action and solved my problem in no time. Thanks guys. You are the best. Here is the solution.

How to convert from deck wind to mast wind:
There is no fixed formula for the wind shear; it depends on wind speed and the contour of the surface. v/v_r = (z/z_r)^alpha.
Where v_r is the speed at reference height z_r.
Alpha varies.
unstable air or stormy alpha is very low 0.06.
Neutral air = 0.1
Stable air = 0.27. (this is for open water.. )
But the effect is strongest in light wind and when it is really blowing, there is not much of an effect.

Next up was some trigonometry. I must have been eating paste that day but Gail seems to remember much more of the class.

True Wind speed ^2 = Boat Speed^2 + Apparent Wind Speed ^2 – 2*BS*AWS*cos(Apparent wind angle) and
TWA = sin^-1(sin(AWA)*AWS/TWS)

I am amazed with the cleverness of my friends. So I built a spreadsheet and then I was back in business with all my important sailing numbers. Nothing beats feeling the wind on deck for approximating wind speed, but the computers can keep you honest. Gail then improved the spreadsheet. First, she made it run on Numbers on my iPhone so I could use it at the helm. Second, she made a cool polar card for easy reference. I am better off than before, but still looking for the new part to arrive in the Marquesas.

Thanks so much friends!!

Rally or Race?

Fueled by my own ego and a bit of encouragement from crew and land friends I can become focused on our rally results. So far we were 3rd on the first leg, left Colombia early on leg 2 to explore the San Blas islands and won leg 3. The credit goes to the speed of the boat and the hard working crew. On this three week leg, we avoided the start so we could just cruise across the Pacific. But after 1,000 miles, we are now in a boat to boat race with another Antares. It has been back and forth and exciting. However, I become obsessed and it reduces my fun factor. So I will try to make this more of a rally and less of a race. I do not want to be tweaking the sails for the next 2,000 miles to Hiva Oa. Last night I hand steered with the chute up for 4 hours; that is not a cruiser’s way of life. I think the ARC could play down the race aspect and increase the fun factor. They have excessively formal starts that seem prone to crashes.

SSB Net

Twice a day the rally fleet is on the radio sharing their position. The process is a bit antiquated but I typically enjoy hearing the familiar voices. I was net controller one day and tried to spice up the format. I read a short bit of news and called people by puns of their boat name. A few boats enjoyed the new format but a European boat said he preferred the traditional format.
Because of the wide mileage separation, our SSB radio reception does not reach across the fleet. This forces boats to relay messages. This is tedious but can also provide some amusement for me as I count down the miles until Hiva Oa. When we reach shore I will discuss with other boats how to make these calls more productive.

Landfall in Fatu Hiva or Hiva Oa

Our friends fly out on the 25th of March. At the start it looked like they would have to use their back up reservation on the 27th. The boat has accelerated and there is a chance that we might arrive on the 20th. (18 days for those who placed bets) This opens up the possibility to visit Fatu Hiva. I am enjoying reading Thor Heyerdahl’s book about his time living with his new wife in a hut in Fatu Hiva. I do wish to return to my Captain Cook books, but I took the curse seriously and have suspended further pages until firmly on land.

Diesel update

During the first few days, I was very stressed that we may not have enough diesel. Our thirteen jerry cans seem to be more than enough but who knows what will come over the horizon. Over 1,880 miles a bunch of things could happen. We are forecast to have 15-17 knots for a day and then the breeze will lessen, but might still be good sailing weather. Actually, Gail would prefer it if the boat speed drops to 8 knots. We are currently stuck in a lumpy, boat-slowing current. I was told by my weather router that we should be helped by the ocean current but instead it is slowing us down. Do you bring your umbrella when the weather man says it will be sunny? Weather routers are no less prone to error than their land-based compatriots.

Hydro generator update- Watt & Sea

After a few installation issues this technology has been great. If you are on a passage, this device adds a bunch of amps to your electrical plan. Last night a large portion of the boat’s load was being covered by the hydrogenerator. This means less noise, less smell and more reserve diesel for light air motoring. The device hangs off the stern like a rudder on a dinghy. It has a pin that holds the unit in position. The pin is designed to break, instead of the unit, if the unit hits a submerged object. However, the pin backs out over time until Gail designed a hair tie to keep the pin in place. The unit has been producing 20 amps when the boat speed is 8 knots.

Navionics

I feel very remote when the most popular iPhone navigation app does not have data for the next 1,000 miles. I realize it would be impossible to run aground in 4,000 meters of water but it is insulting for the app to show this entire region as grey.

Head on Collision

I thought this part of the ocean was empty of boats, but I was wrong. We have seen many Japanese long-line fishing boats. In the past 6 hours we have seen 1 foot floating balls that are missing from Japanese long line fishing equipment. It was not easy communicating with them to confirm the location of their deployed tackle and our intention to cross their bow. Last night, Gail noticed a target on the radar with no AIS beacon. She summoned me on deck and we quickly realized this boat was heading at 15 knost towards our friends on Blue Summit. Blue Summit was in the middle of a watch change which added to the excitement. They had assumed the lights were another rally boat but instead it was a fishing boat at ramming speed. Their radar was in sleep mode to conserve power so we were able to give them advice to turn to starboard. We had a great view of the situation since Gail had engaged the ARPA feature on our radar. ARPA looks at the change in position of a radar target and then places a “boat” on the chart plotter. This boat has an arrow indicating direction and speed. The boat was speedily going to run over our friends. But all was sorted out quickly as both boats adjusted course. I am sure that without our call impact would have been avoided but maybe with more stress.

Screecher

Our friends on Field Trip advised us that their new Screecher was a great addition to the head sail inventory. After recovering from the sticker shock, we bought Black Fish. This sail is hugely versatile. I would recommend all new Antares owners to buy this type of sail rather than the traditional screecher. We have found the sail helpful from 70 degrees AWA to 130 AWA. The sail works in winds from 8 to 24 knots. We tend to put the sail away early as the Genoa’s performance starts to converge with the Screecher in higher winds with less stress.

Car Trip Analogy

1,000 miles completed of our passage at sea. Where is our theoretical road trip from NYC to Miami to LA? We just pulled out of Miami- hopefully after some Cuban food – and are 50 miles north of downtown. We are in bumper to bumper traffic traveling at 8 miles an hour. 2,000 miles until LA!

Cooking

We are not great at preserving fresh food. Our bananas died an early death due to two problems. Excessive sun and blunt force trauma. The hammock full of apples was bashing into the banana hammock. Ouch. Two nights ago, team Kozyboat made an Italian feast with Gail’s home made bread. Big winner. Last night the home team took back the galley and served chili dogs. I would not recommend the canned chili or the hot dogs. But the homemade guacamole and fresh tortilla chips were winners. We try to keep the galley water usage down by using paper plates and individually assigned glasses. Our water budget will fall apart today when I turn on the washing machine. We had some success with water capture during a few rain squalls. Much of that water was used to remove stains left by suicidal squid and flying fish. During the night they board, die and then stain the deck. Robin saved two flying fish last night. Another rally boat ate a the flying fish. I would rather eat the canned chili again.

This trip is an absolute joy. Not always comfortable, but never painful. I want it to go faster but also want it to last longer. I am spared the idiocy of the recent news cycle. I still get a daily email from Reuters and the Economist but can avoid hearing certain candidates speak/lie.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

jason
www.twofiscat.com