< Back to Overview << Prev | Next >>

4/11/2006 8:32:00 AM
1090 miles outside of Hiva Oa
Getting close to the equator

Day 13 of 25 - A very pleasant and quiet day for a

DAY 13 of 25 - A day to recuperate from 12 days of hard sailing and seas that beat us up pretty good.

So it seems last nights report was sent but got stuck on some server and didn't make it to you . hence I attached it below until the server gets unstuck . sorry for the delay. Today has been a great day because it allowed us to recuperate and relax a bit, though the night didn't start out that way.

SAILING UPDATE

This is the ITCZ for sure . we had one squall after the other hit us, with its strong rains and gusts which weren't always as promised from the right direction. Also, they aren't as much fun when it is dark outside . no hand steering this time . LOL. To support each other during the squalls we slept in the main saloon on the settee rather then in the aft cabin where we usually sleep. That meant we were available at a moments notice but it also meant we didn't get as much sleep as usual and any less sleep brings the sleep deficit way up right away into the reds. As you can imagine, we were pretty tired this morning but Neptun had mercy with us and gave us the long awaited calm seas and we finally had a day to recharge our batteries.

Progress wise, we didn't do by far as good as we did the previous days and only recorded 132 mile day which is due to the fact that we sailed all night long with a double reefed main in anticipation of a big storm Ohana Kai went through with winds up to 40 knots. Well it never hit us but due to the smaller sail area and our determination to do this with a safety margin, we now are really separated from the rest of the 4 boat fleet . Capaz and Long Tall Sally are to my NW and Ohana Kai is in the meantime some 40 miles ahead of us directly on our course . they had more wind today and they are just willing to sail their boat a lot harder then we comfortable want and can . C'EST LA VIE . as the French Polynesian would say.

During the day, the seas really flattened out and we motored a bit more then usual with a few hours of sailing in-between . it seems this will be the pattern for the next few days, motoring on and off with some sailing sprinkled in . it is funny but it still feels a little bit like sailing Mexico where we would motor and not sail unless we were making 4 knots of speed . well we are still sort of following this approach as long as the fuel reserves allow us to do so . we got another 3 days of motoring in us without counting any battery charging time . which compares to about 1090 miles to go to Hiva Oa . we can almost motor half way there if we wanted to by now.

BOAT UPDATE

Some more minor things to fix, still haven't looked at my jib but now that the pressure of keeping up with the surrounding boats is off, I am not too concerned about going a half a knot slower due to the smaller jib rather then big 150% one. Niki did do some boat chores today when we ran the motor . she got the vacuum out, aired our beds, . it is nice to see in what great shape Lawur still is down below despite being out at sea now for almost 2 weeks . makes living on the boat so much nicer . and she is pretty shiny outside too with all the rains we got. On a side note, we found some new leaks we never noticed before but all in all the deck is holding rather nicely.

FISHING UPDATE

Sorry but this category starts to become a bit boring . first they don't fish because they have too much food . then they fish once, catch enough and now the are not fishing again!!!! Having said that I might use this category to report a boat sighting today . the first boat we have seen in probably a week up-close . let me tell you, it is scary when you are out here in the middle of nowhere, no more radio contact to the other boats except outside the scheduled meeting points and this big rusty fishing boat look alike comes by you not further away then a mile . I gotta stop reading these thriller books . or maybe I should start writing one . does that make a story? But as to be expected nothing happened, they just cruised by in their rusty pot, probably happy to see another human being out here on the big seas . who knows how long they have been out here!?

FOOD PLAN OF THE DAY

Breakfast - Toasted croissant with . yeah yeah you know it .well at least we didn't have any tuna for breakfast

Lunch - Tuna salad with grilled cheese sandwiches

Dinner - Tuna Mornay . yam yam . a casserole with noodles, cheese, tuna . all baked in the oven

HIGH OF THE DAY

This has to be the calmer seas . we finally found time to do some needed clean-up and got a few hours of good rest . actually for the first time in probably a week, I was able to sleep my whole 3 hours before I got on this watch . what a luxury for us . you must be just laughing you're a.. off. Also, this turning left business I talked about yesterday, turned out to be a more of delayed high then anticipated . rather then just flopping over the sails after staying on a starboard tack for 12 days, the wind shifted on us so we actually didn't change tack until much later today but now we are officially on a port side tack . weird, the boat is heeling the wrong way and all the little corners to be notched in and footholds we found over the last 12 days don't work anymore.

LOW OF THE DAY

I really don't remember a low of the day . maybe the fact that we were a bit more tired this morning due to the changed sleeping arrangements but given the day, this is a small price to pay. Sprits are up and no need to dig too deep for a low of the day.

That's it for today. Thanks for chucking along with us . if I would have to guess, we have another 8 - 9 days to go which means we have also passed the half way point in terms of time. Keep those emails coming . we just received the dearest email from a friend a longtime ago and it totally made our day . thanks KD.

Happy voyaging,

Robert and crew

TheSchmids Family Sailing on Lawur

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

!!! PLEASE DON'T INCLUDE ORIGINAL WHEN REPLYING TO REDUCE DOWNLOAD TIME !!!

DAY 12 of 25 - All is different as of today

-----------------------------------------------------------

Today was a day of transitions . the weather changed, my mood changed, the food changed, the time changed, soon the course will change too . not sure I can handle so much change in one day . can someone send me a Change Management consultant please . yes yes they do exist or at least that's what they were called in my days.

SAILING UPDATE

Well today was a  big day and a day full of new things, which was much appreciated after pretty much 11 days of pretty much the same with some little variation here and there. First the day started with some never before seen radar signatures at around 8am and since it was still dark in the morning (we decided to turn the clock back an hour later today), Niki saw what seemed to be a pretty big ship on the radar . actually more like a blob about 1 mile all around . too big for a ship and soon it became apparent that this is our first squall. We didn't know what to expect but we had already earlier on rolled up the jib and so all we had was our full main. The winds started picking up and when they started to hit high 20s, I decided to go up top and hand steer at first only in my swimming trunks and life vest . then I also put on my rash guard . shortly after the wind picked up, the rain started coming in and it was raining HARD . what a nice shower both for the boat but also for myself, the first rain we have seen in 4 months. You might think this is weird . well even I think this is weird, but I had one of my best moments of the trip. The wind piped up to 35 knots once or twice, I sailed with the main totally spilling the wind and was still making over 8 knots, because of all the rain and the early morning time, the sky was almost pink . what a sight . and I was standing at the helm of Lawur, who showed her true self . steady as a rock . and it was all over in 15 minutes . welcome to the ITCZ I came down soaked, stripped and toweled off to these funny faces on the rest of my family . they could just NOT understand what was going on with me . well it must have been an adrenaline high and I had the time of my life.

The biggest change of today though will be that we are reaching 127 degrees and we are planning to take a left turn . if we have wind we will sail straight for the Marquesas, if not we will motor south to get through the ITCZ as fast as possible since typically the ITCZ has very light winds and squalls . we are starting to see less and less wind already.

BOAT UPDATE

We had our first breakage on the boat today . as if I would have jinxed it with writing about the jib yesterday, the same area that had just superficial damage yesterday, today the sail material itself ripped and the foot of the sail has a 3-5 foot tear right along the rope that is sewn into the foot . repairable on the passage . questionable I have enough material with me . repairable in Hiva Oa . most likely. That means that we are probably without a big jib for the rest of the trip but I will make a closer assessment within the next few days, when the winds are light and I can drop the sail to the deck. Interestingly enough, when I saw it I wasn't even that shocked . it seems these days out at sea are playing mayor games with my psyche and alter my emotions quite dramatically . what is still to come!?

FISHING UPDATE

Start the count, we are up to 1 fish and about 6 pounds of filleted meat from a Skipjack we believe it is. People say the meat is too dark but we really enjoyed it today and it tasted great . but this thing put up a good fight . sure sailing along at 6 - 7 knots didn't help the effort but still. This wasn't a HUGE fish, maybe 3 ft long max and I didn't measure but probably no more then 20lbs heavy, but I was still working it for almost an hour until I had that sucker on deck . thank good for the washdown pump and the filet table on the back, a last minute addition, because cutting the fish up was a bloody mess . literally.

FOOD PLAN OF THE DAY

Breakfast - English muffin with you guessed it . Nutella . and no we are not sponsored by them yet . any ideas!?

Lunch - Ham and eggs

Dinner - Broiled Tuna seasoned / blackened in garlic and olive oil with a cucumber salad . you will see a variety of tuna on the menu for the next few days . we gotta eat ourselves through 6 pounds of it

HIGH OF THE DAY

Hard to believe but it has to be sailing in the squall . I just had such a blast and it was a great change of pace. More objectively, it has to be the fact that we are finally making our turn for the Marquesas . too early you might ask, well only time will tell. At this point, the 4 boats who are still in close proximity of 40 miles are splitting into 2 groups, Capaz and Long Tall Sally are staying on more westerly course taking advantage of the northern trades as much as the can at the risk of being to far west and having to beat to the Marquesas. Ohana Kai and Lawur are taking an earlier turn, the more direct route but at the risk of spending more time in the ITCZ or having to motor more . we will know in 3 or 4 days, which strategy paid off but then again half a day slower or faster makes no real difference in a 25 day voyage.

LOW OF THE DAY

Despite the fact that I was unusually calm about it, it was a big bummer that the big jib ripped . all the banging when getting sloshed around in the waves took its toll and now we need to asses how to deal with it . maybe we go for a simple duck-tape repair first . ;-)

Enough for today . it was a big day and we are looking forward to some probably less settled nights with squalls forming all around us right now . Niki and I decided when a squall hits us we both need to be up to make sure things stay tied down which will most likely mean less sleep for both of us . keep your fingers crossed for a fast passing thru the ITCZ.

Happy voyaging,

Robert and crew

PS: I am having a harder time everyday to connect to email so please excuse the slight delays and I am sorry to take away your morning edition of Lawur.

---------- LIST MANAGEMENT ---------- DIGEST - To get a digest version of our postings on a bi-weekly basis, send an email to STServ@TheSchmids.org with the following text in the message body:

Set mode digest EnglishLogbook

UNSUBSCRIBE - Send an email to STServ@TheSchmids.org with the following text in the message body:

Unsubscribe EnglishLogbook

< Back to Overview << Prev | Next >>