09:12.947S 106:11.799W
Pat Bon and her valiant crew are just over a week into the BIG leg 4 of our World ARC adventure, the 3,000+ nautical mile crossing of the Pacific Ocean from the Galapagos to the Marquesas islands. We’ve managed to do over 1,100NM so far and today our GPS system told us we’ve got under 2,000NM to travel until we reach the island of Hiva Oa in the Marquesas. So a third of the passage completed - yay!
The crew have all guessed our arrival time at the finish line in Hiva Oa. This based on the distance we’ve travelled so far, the predicted weather, bearing in mind we only have sufficient fuel to motor a total of 7 or so days and we have to use the winds to sail for over 80% of the time and our planned course, which takes us quite far south of the rhumb line to try to stay in the trade winds. So the crews finishing time estimates are:
Val: Monday 24th March 09:00
Rich: Monday 24th March 09:30
Nathan: Tuesday 25th March 10:00
Peter: Tuesday 25th March 12:00
All the times were independently arrived at too, so a 27 hour spread and times are local Marquesan time (-9.5 hours GMT). Bottle of fizz for the winner!
Even though we’re over 1,000NM from land, the bloody boobies are still flying around and landing on the boat. They are ducking and diving around us, catching flying fish that are disturbed by us going through the water. Then when a bit knackered and with a full fishy tummy, they fearlessly land on our guardrails, bow sprit or outboard engine to rest and deposit a huge amount of guano on our decks! Their fearless and curious, almost cat-like ‘yeah, what you gonna do about it’ nature however does endear them to us - even though they do crap everywhere!
Two days out from Galapagos, we were treated to an amazing spectacle of a pod of sperm whales swimming near the boat. There must have been about 6 animals just cruising past us, taking in deep breaths of air to re-oxygenate before diving to the depths again - they’ve been known to reach depths of 3,000 meters. Puffs of spray from their air hole at a 45 degree angle forward and their big angular bluff noses, give them away as sperm whales. They were with us for about 10 minutes before they headed off to wherever they were going. A real treat to see them at such close quarters.
Sadly the fishing department has been a big disappointment! On this leg - zero fish caught, 2 of our best lures lost, along with half of our 130kg breaking strain line! It really is sad when some fish takes the lure and any of the line, as you know it will probably get caught up in it eventually, even though the hook is designed to rust out in a few days. We have had a few bites since the lure losses, but the fish have managed to get off the hook before we get a chance to start to reel them in. We continue in the hope we finally catch a lovely Wahoo to supplement our diminishing fresh food supplies, since our freezer has decided it now wishes to identify as a fridge and probably at it’s current pace of warming, a funky airfryer soon!
Our first few days were spent motoring, as there was very little wind and we decided we wanted to get through the ITCZ (doldrums) band where the fickle wind and heavy rains were quickly, so we took a more southerly route to try to get to the trade winds, thought to be about 8 degrees south. When it rains, we have to shut all the ventilation hatches and windows in the cabins, so it becomes unbearably hot below deck. With no wind in the sails, the boat rolls around too, which does cause frayed nerves at times, as it is just so relentless! On the 3rd day, Saturday, we finally broke through this doldrums band and found some wind from the east - not a lot, but enough to get the sails up and start sailing properly with the engine off. I mentioned in an earlier post that we found a major crack in the mast bracket casting that secures the vang. It is a pretty critical item to be able to set the mainsail properly, especially when sailing downwind! Our first fix lasted less than 24 hours before chafe got the better of the dyneema rope and it snapped with a loud bang. Version 2.0 however was much more promising and that has just been updated to V2.1, which we think will work well when we use the mainsail next. I say that, as we’ve had over 24 hours of champagne sailing with our huge yellow gennaker, so we don’t need the mainsail with that set and flying well. However sadly earlier this afternoon, the wind died again and our progress was pitiful, so the engine is now on again and we’re rocking and rolling once more - but at least there is no rain, just sunshine and bright moonlight for most of their night. Hopefully the wind will pick up again tomorrow, so we can get those sails up again, as we’re using up valuable fuel!
Sailing through the night and day is a magical experience with the most wonderful sunsets, moon rises and sets and stars when the moon disappears. We are also blessed with the company of the Southern Cross star constellation now we are in the southern hemisphere, along with my old friend Orion and the Plough too. With the Southern Cross visible and the Alpha and Beta Centauri stars, it is possible to find south on the horizon. Draw an imaginary line perpendicular to a line between the Alpha and Beta Centauri stars and extend a line from the head and foot of the Southern Cross, and where those two lines meet, drop vertically to the horizon - and that is due south! It works too!
So into our 7th night we head and tomorrow we’re hoping for wind - the Mediterranean veggie bake we had for supper, has certainly got the crews wind up however! The latest forecast we’re getting is now saying we should continue heading more south to about the 10 degree South latitude to get the trade winds and avoid a wind hole forming to the north. But that means more miles added to our route, but will the wind materialise if we go there? Questions. Questions. And I want that bottle of fizz!