Well the wind has finally arrived! After a very slow and gentle motoring
start out of Galapagos we are now happy to report that the SE trade winds
are in full flow and whooshing us across the Pacific at a good rate of
knots. Passing through the remainder of the doldrums the other day gave us a
day of rain and overcast skies, but the boat certainly enjoyed the fresh
water rinse and it hasn't actually rained on us since Colon in Panama, so
can't really complain too much....
Speeds have been in the high 8s a lot of the time and a noon run today of
195 miles has been great. Now just reached a third of the way to the
Marquesas and we have been promised flap jacks tomorrow from Dan who is on
mother watch. It's great sailing out here with full sail including the
staysail and a couple of days ago before the wind got up we even had a big
scary spinnaker up again to make the most of the winds. There is a risk of
very light winds once we get close to the Marquesas, so it will once again
be all about how much diesel everyone has left before the wind runs off.
The daily radio chat has moved on from daily discussions about diesel to
daily discussions about the next boat to have a generator failure... There
have been at least 4 so far, but most have been able to sort the problems
out with or without some advice from other boats in the fleet. Whilst our
own lovable Genny had a few minor paddies whilst in Galapagos, we are
pleased to report that we haven't actually had to press her into service yet
on this leg, thanks to our wonderful Hydrogenerator Heidi. This wonderful
bit of kit has really revolutionised crossing oceans. Between that and the
wind generator we don't need to use any precious diesel to make power, and
of course it's nice not to have the noise too.
Having not been close to many other boats recently as we headed a lot more
south early on, we now find ourselves in the company of 3 other boats which
is a nice change, although I did have to alter course for one last night,
lest it ended up in our cockpit which looked like a possibility at one
point! Although we are starting to lose sight of them now, it's nice to know
other boats are close by.
Friends from another boat (who happen to be very close to us at the moment)
leant us the entire 6 series of Howard's Way before we left Galapagos. This
was my inspiration to take up sailing and I am now enjoying introducing Dan
to it as he never saw it at the time (claims he was too young...). It is
certainly keeping us entertained between watches!
Not doing so well on the fishing front unfortunatley, not even any nibbles
at the lure. On the other hand we have been inundated with flying fish. I
have never seen so many or had so many on deck every morning, there were at
least 25 the other day, and quite often they land at the back of the cockpit
when we are steering, which is rather disconcerting, one would have gone in
Dan's tea, had he not had a thermal mug with a lid on!
So we push on west, keep a watchful eye on the weather forecast and look
forward to some more great sailing.
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