March 21, 2014
Logbook – March 21, 2014 (Punta de Mita to Hiva Oa)
Passage Log Highlights
- 0201 – D–> T genniker
- 0809 genoa only
- 1021 genoa & genniker wing & wing
- 1340 double reefed genoa
- 1508 main (3 reef) + genoa
- 1136 main (3 reef) + genoa (2 reef)
- Min TWS 5.2 kts SE
- Max TWS 21.6 kts NE
Daily Notes
- Squalls
- Rain – cell passed over us max 28 kts eh!
- Electronics in Faraday bags
- Squall – Max 40 kts!
Email to family and friends dated March 21, 2014
Subject: PPJ Day 11
It seems we inadvertently entered the ITCZ. Or at least the fringes. Or something that seems a lot like what they say the ITCZ is like but surely can’t be the ITCZ since the NWS says it’s 3 deg of latitude south of us.
Anyway, last night we were moving along at 8 kts with the spinnaker flying. We left it up much later than usual, and Tim and I had agreed we would switch sails to the genniker at the first watch change, when I got up at 11. He woke me around 10:30 to change sails since he had seen lightening in the distance, and we REALLY didn’t want to get caught in a squall with the spinnaker up.
The rest of my 11:00 watch went just fine, well except for that crazy Lady Carolina who buzzed our stern about 1.5 miles away at 8 kts and kept lighting up our AIS proximity alarm.
When I got up for my 2nd watch at 5am, Tim told me there were “mini-squalls” all around us and you could see them on radar, and he went to bed. I talked to Steve (Lady Carolina) who said they passed within a couple miles of one and saw about 28 kts. So, I got Tim back up and we furled the genniker and put out just the genoa.
A little while later one of the pink blobs on radar passed right over us and we saw heavy, heavy rain, and a max of about 28 kts. No big deal.
Later in the morning after Tim was up and we had put the genniker back out, we got hit again, this time a bit bigger, with a max of about 40 kts. With the genniker up. The halyard actually slipped in the spinlock, but luckily we had it cleated as well, or that could have been a big issue. Once the wind died back down to the low 20s, we furled that big sail back up and put our the genoa, with 2 reefs.
After that the wind stayed constant at about 14 kts, and we moved along nicely at 5 kts with the main (at reef 3) and the genoa. We have the main at reef 3 instead of reef 2 because we chafed the second reefing line down to the core the last time we used it, and we didn’t want to see 40 kts again with just one reef.
Of course, after that the wind just kept dwindling and dwindling until we were slogging along at about 2 kts. And right now as I type this we have heavy rain and about 16 kts of wind and building, so it seems we may be getting hit again. 20 kts now.
We are just going to press on south. If we are stuck in these up/down conditions for couple days it will be quite tiring, but we’re committed at this point. In hindsight maybe we should have hung a right and headed due west at the first sign of lightening and waited for a better time to cross. But I’m not sure now how we would even know when a good time to cross would be. And it is what it is now.
We kept things light today by skipping school and making decorations for our equator crossing party.
Can’t wait.
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At 3/21/2014 9:12 PM (utc) our position was 08°07.17’N 121°55.47’W
Gresham Family Exodus 