Letters from the PACIFIC, par SATPHONE

CONTINUING WITH TORN MAIN AT GOOD SPEED

Hi Folk,

             We have hardly missed a beat, considering that we are having to sail with 3 reefs in the main, in NO reef winds! We managed 149 miles by the end of Day 11, having done 1666, with1326 to go. On rhum line course is 252Degs, but the winds got lighter and lighter, and more East than anything else, with the swells still coming up from the SE. It forced us to harden up on the wind to keep moving, and we ended up this morning quite a long way South of our preferred course. At dawn this morning we resumed our wing on wing down wind set up, with the triple reefed main to Stb and poled out Genoa to port. Well it worked.....sort of, in that we were making 4.5 knots through the water, with a 90 deg roll to each side , about twice a minute!! It was horrible, so we decided to fly the Asymetric again. Now when I first bought this sail from Quantum, a certain sailmaker there, referred to it as the Flying Jockstrap, as the design was the RSA flag. Last time we flew it , in its recut form in the company of Scott Free, I made the mistake of referring to it as My "Flying Jockstrap", much to the hilarity of Chris and Steve, who promptly took photo of us, and posted them on their blog, titled...."The Flying Jockstrap".

           Well, as soon as we had it up and well set, on our ideal course, the speed jumped to between 6 and 7, and the ride was smooth , comfortable and effortless! Mary has totally fallen in love with "Jocko", as she now calls it, and is so happy with our new quick release system, that she is even entertaining the idea of letting me  fly it during the night again!! You see what love can do? No, not for me... for "Jocko!"

          I am just about to download gribs, to see what we can expect for the next couple of days. What we have accepted, as have most other cruisers , is that the Gribs generally under report the predicted winds by one full Force ( (about 5knots). When they predict 10-15, we will more than likely get 14-19. When they predict 20knots, expect 25/26, and also that the changes predicted usually start a little earlier than the file indicate. Once one understands this, it is still a fantastic aid to sail planning, and I would never choose to sail with out access to the Grib files. Having said all that, I notice that the wind right now is 9-10 knots ( exactly what the Gribs predicted yesterday!), and that "Jocko" is still pulling us along at 5.8  to 6.5 knots, while Mary is catching up on some extra sleep!

                                        Go you good thing , "Jocko'!

MAINSAIL TEARS IN HALF

Hi Folk,

          Today represents a big milestone in our Puddle Jump!  Another 162 mile day takes us to the half way mark today. We have now done 1517 miles in 10 days,with 1469 to go. Scott free and ourselves have decided to to throw a "Half way in the Middle of no-where Party"  . All cruisers invited ! Just as I was sitting in the cockpit dreaming up the plans for the day, I heard a loud .. SHE,E,E,I.I.I.T !!!!  With a perfect bit of timing, our 20 year old" Bullet proof" Hood Mainsail decided to add to the days drama, by tearing right in half  from the leach to the Luff!  I immediately echoed the sails heart felt sentiment, then called up Mary to help me sort things out, and take in the 3rd reef, which was thankfully above the split. She took one look at the sail, and repeated the same sentiment all over again! Mary and I set about the task, and assessing our chances of effecting a workable repair, then Radio'd Scott Free, to warn them that we would be slowing down somewhat, explaining the situation to Chris and Steve, who once again repeated the sound of the mainsail ripping!

What are our options, with so far still to sail? Prize one, will be to do Nothing! Leave the main with the 3rd reef in place, and carry on sailing on a broad reach to the Marquesis, playing with varying amounts of genoa and Staysail as we go. Quite frankly, there is a very good chance that this is exactly what we will do, as we are now well into the trades, and the direction and wind strenghths should be settled.

Option 2. If the wind drops below 10 knots, we will head up to wind, drop the main, remove the batterns, and haul the sail into the cockpit to try and repair. The fabric is torn for about a meter from the leach, and the rest of the3 meter rip is just the seam stitching having let go. We have enough heavy duty sticky back to repair the tear, and overstitch a sail cloth panel to re inforce the weak leach point. The rest of the split seam we will use our spinaker sticky back tol hold the seam together, while we hand stitch entire split. Could take 2 to 3 days to do, Hopefully there will be enough wind to sail under headsails alone, and Asymetric if necesary, while we do this. At the very worst, we will take a couple of extra days to get there! So whats the rush??

Whether we take the 21 days we planned, or a couple more... no problem!

          In the meantime, I have sent an email to Craig and Jannie at Quantum, thanking them for the great job they did on the cruising chute, and asking for a quote fo a new mainsail shipped to Papeete , Tahiti,  Even after we have repaired this old baby, I'm not sure I coul feel happy going down to NZ, or back accross the Indian with it now!!!

                                                                                                                              Back to the middle of No-Where party!

                                                                                                                                                                                         Regards , Rod & Mary

FLYING ALONG! 

Hi Guys,

             What a ride!! We've still got 2 reefs in the main,  a staysail, and halfa genoa in around 20  knots of wind. Have just done 169 miles for day 9, and were doing 9 knots a moment ago in a 25knot gust! All great, except for the bumpy ride, which makes sleeping very difficult, cooking, washing, and every thing else too! Have now done 1355 miles with 1623 to go. Tomorrow should mark the half way mark, which would be worth a celebration, if we could summon up the energy!

           This boat is just such a cruising machine! For the last 48 hours, Scott Free and ourselves have been no more than a mile or two apart. Because of our slightly different sail configurations, we sometimes need slightly different points of sail, which has resulted on us cutting backwards and forwards behind each other, in what Chris describes as a "Pacific Passe Doble". They have posted a couple of pics of this criss crossing on their blog.( Google Scott-Free blog, and you should find it)        I have photographed the no 2 battern slide and eyelet damage, and we are pretty confident that we will be able to repair it well enough to get us to a sailmaker somewhere. We are missing the right SS eyelet, so will use a small rope thimble, with leather re inforcement around the luff, and on each side of the sail. We will just have to wait for a suitable moment to drop the main and be able to work on it on deck, while sailing under genoa ,as we do the repair Have just put in a request for a grib file, which might give us our best opportunity. If it shows the same 15-23 knot wind, we will just keep trucking as we are, as I dont think there is any risk of the sail deteriorating in the current set up.

 We were too far away from Galavanter, to catch up with the news on their steering problem. I will try and find out via sailamail/iridium emails.

                                Cheers for now! Guess whats for lunch? More Dorado!

                                                          Love and regards to all,                                                                                 Rod & Mary

GOOD WIND AND TWO DORADO!

Hi Guys,

              Guess we got lucky on three counts! Firstly the wind filled in a little earlier than expected, and we got a move on, again. When I woke up this morning to start my watch at 07.00hr, it was still dark.....ting a ling... we crossed over 105Degs W on Tuesday, and should have changed the clock one hour earlier. No problem..do it today, and have a 25 hour day, that can only help our day's run!! It sure did, as we clocked another 146mile day , despite the slow start.

            Thirdly, in the middle of a big sail change , from full sails, from poled out Genoa, and full main on preventer, we were putting a reef in the main, and gybing the Genoa, and had a double Dorado strike, which caused a bit of chaos! I pulled in the first on the handline ( a 6kg Female), and then set about trying to bring in the one one the rod. This guy only wanted to go on the wrong side of the boat, so Mary was steering the boat, fetching Cheap Vodka (fish tranqualiser),getting the gaff ready all at the same time!The second one was a male of about a meter.             We finished the sail changes , just in time, as the wind got up, had lunch, and then set about filleting and packing away about 15 full meals into the fridges and freezer. Just made it! No more fishing for three weeks now!

The gribs indicated 15 knots for this afternoon. Its still pomping 22knots now having calmed down quite a bit! When putting in the second reef, I noticed that the 2nd batton slide & eyelet was tearing out quite badly, so we will have to wait for a drop in the wind, take the main down, and effect a repair somehow. Just another challenge to keep us on our toes! Winds beginning to wind up again, so I'd better see whats going on!  Cheers! Rod

WIND DIES, HALFWAY MARK CELEBRATIONS

Hi Guys,

               The wind has died on us, just as we have reached the area where the trades are supposed to be reliable! Never mind, it can't last too long, and gives us time to relax a little. Also lost 2 Dorado today, one during morning coffee, and another a moment ago... their luck can't last either! We managed 134miles on day 6, and have now done over 1000 miles, with 1898 still to go, so are 1/3 of the way there. We heard this morning, that another of our cruising mates, Galivant, with whom we left Panama, and who decided to head for Gambier , instead of Marquesis, are hove to, in 35knots, having lost their steering. Another of our cruising friends(Salliander, with whom we transitted the canal) are quite close by, and on their way to help them, when the wind subsides. Gambier is a lot further south,(23S,134W), below the bottom of the Tuamotos, and prone to stronger winds.    So perhaps we should just be grateful that we are bobbling along at 4-5 knots, in a 10-12 knot breeze.. At the rate we are going now, we will be lucky to do 100miles for day 7, but whats the rush anyway! The gribs I downloaded yesterday showed a bit of an increase by tomorrow lunch time, so we will just have to wait and see!

 Scott Free are about 1 mile away on our starboard, and we share a lot of VHF banter on Ch 16.....as  there is no-one else with 100miles of us!              We had Dorado (surprise!) for lunch, and are planning a cheese platter (sans the wine),biscuits and salami for our light supper. We have got into the routine of having our main meal at lunch time, and a light snack between 5 and 6 for supper, so that the off watch person does not have to try and sleep after a full meal. We tend to do our own thing for breakfast, in keeping with our watches. Seems to be working well for oth of us.

 Cheer for now, love and regards to all,                                                                Us  PS Decided to splash out and have a glass of wine with supper , to celebrate our 1000 mile mark!