Cosmos
S 02o22', W 094.19
Left Galapagos on SE Trade Winds
We left the Galapagos at 15:45 local time on 31 July and motored a short distance out of Academy bay. We raised main and unfurled our Genoa and set of on a port to clear the other islands. We were sailing slightly into the wind until we cleared Isla Isabella and a couple of small stone islands and then turned to port to about 240 degrees. We have maintained that track for the last two days.
We are now the benefactors of the Southeast Trade Winds. The SE Trades are amazingly steady. Even though we expected a good ride for this part of the trip, the crew has nothing but smiles for the actual experience. The wind direction has been almost totally consistent at about 150 degrees. The wind speed ranges from about 10 knots to about 16 knots. Since we are sailing on a course of 240, we have a nearly perfect beam reach. The consistent winds have produced some very consistent waves, all coming from one direction. We are rocking port to starboard, about to the same degree as we rocked bow to stern on anchor in Academy Bay.
We are making very good time, averaging six knots since we left Academy Bay. If we are able to maintain this rate of progress, we should get to Hiva Oa in the Marquises on about the 21st. That would be a 21-day passage, which would delight us.
How We Spend Our Time
Since we are faced with three to four weeks at sea without even seeing land, I thought it might be of some interest to record about how we manage our time. One person has watch duty at all times, we take turns preparing meals, and other than that, we find some useful thing to do, read, or we relax.
We have maintained the same watch schedule with a three-man crew as we had with a four-man crew. We stand four-hour watches from 0700 to 1900 and three-hour watches from 1900 to 0700. We find it easier on the watch stander with the shorter watches at night. Under the conditions we have now, standing watch is mostly keeping the log and a lookout. At other, rougher, more challenging times, the watch stander can be very busy keeping the boat safe and on course and sometimes has to wake another person to complete certain tasks. The watch stander records information into the log on each hour. Here is a sample from the log.
Date 8/1/01
Initials |
Time |
Sky |
Speed |
Wind Direct. |
Temp. |
Barometer |
Latitude |
Longitude |
Heading |
Speed |
GH |
0400 |
clr |
10 |
150 |
69 |
28.80 |
01o16' |
91o15' |
245 |
6.9 |
We use only the sails, unless we need the engines to maneuver in port or we have insufficient wind to sail. If we don't have enough wind to sail, we run only one engine to move us along at 3 to 5 knots, depending on sea conditions. The only other reason we run an engine is to charge the batteries. When we are running an engine, we record the following additional information:
Engine |
RPM |
Volts |
Temp |
Oil |
Fuel |
Port |
2000 |
14.35 |
180 |
30 |
10.0 |
Although we don't keep a perfect log, we keep a pretty good one. The log is important for three major reasons: 1) It provides a checklist for the watch stander to monitor the status of critical weather and engine elements; 2) It creates a legal reference document for any authority or interested party to trust as the facts of our passage; 3) It keeps the watch stander alert to the duties of the watch, including lookout.
We keep a meal's duty schedule also. One person is responsible for feeding the crew each day. It is completely up to the cook to decide what to prepare. We had lots of choices when we left Key West, we had fewer choices when we left Panama and the Galapagos, and now it is only a decision of which cans or bags of dried food to open. As I write this, we are all out of fresh meat and vegetables (except a couple of tomatoes, onions and potatoes). We understand that vegetables are not part of the Polynesian diet so we will be eating our canned vegetables and canned meat for a long time. We hope we can get some fresh meat and bread when we get to Hiva Oa.
We can always find some work that the boat needs. We still have a long list of projects that we bought the materials for, but those will most likely wait until we are on anchor in a calm bay. Even under way though, lots of small things come up such as eliminating an unwanted odor, cleaning, making rigging adjustments, and solving and correcting an electrical puzzle. Here are some examples from just this morning. My cabin smelled of diesel whenever the engines were not running. I traced it down to a hole in an electrical conduit, plugged the hole, and hope that eliminates the odor. Don just discovered that our Link monitor is not properly monitoring our wind/water generator and our solar panels and therefore the Link was indicating that our batteries were discharging much faster than they actually were. He moved the location where the wires from the wind/water generator and the solar panels attach to the batteries, and now we will get a correct reading. The link indicates that the water generator is generating more electricity than we are using, most of the time. George just improved the way our new "Lazy Cradle" sail cover is stowed to reduce chafing, and improved the genoa halyard. And of course, there is always cleaning to be done.
We have a pretty good library of books on board so reading is a favorite pass time. In many ports, there are places to trade books. I expect that we will be doing that before this trip is over.
And when we aren't standing watch and we aren't motivated to do anything, we sleep. And the rocking of the boat makes that easy.
Wide awake and on the way to the Marquises,
Best regards,
Captain Joe
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