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11/2/2006 2:30:00 PM
Tonga to NZ - Day 2 of 7
Our last passage for this cruising adventure

Day 2 of 7 - Getting in the rhythm

The rhythm on Lawur this time around is quite a bit more relaxed especially for Niki and I compared to all of our previous passage with Frank aboard.

Howdy Folks,

Welcome back aboard Lawur for its 'Final Countdown' voyage. In good old Lawur fashion similar to the trip across the Pacific, it was a rolly and rocky first day. Frank, our friend who came to visit us for over a month and this passage, says this is all normal and nothing out of the usual ... spoken like a true Santa Cruz sailor ... well TheSchmids are wimps and we are proud of it. Anyhow, we had strong winds for the first day of about 20-25 knots and the resulting choppy seas around it. In contrast to our sailing so far, this trip is at a different point of sail mostly beam reaching or close hauled (meaning rather then running along with the wind, we are having the wind on the side or from the front). The resulting motion is somewhat less comfortable ... enough whining, as you can tell, it takes us always a few days to get into the rhythm of a passage ... so far it is a par for the course.

On the positive side, we sailed a good distance of 171 miles in the last 24 hours and we put 21 miles into the bank compared to what we have to make per day for our weather routing to pan out ... we cannot get into NZ too early, but definitely coming in late would not be so good and cause some headwinds, sometimes strong.

The rhythm on Lawur this time around is quite a bit more relaxed especially for Niki and I compared to all of our previous passage with Frank aboard. You might remember Frank as one of our sailing instructors in our early sailing years ... man, 4 years ago feels much longer to me then it sounds. Frank also came with us on previous legs, especially from Santa Cruz to San Diego and when we left San Diego a year ago. With 3 people standing watch, rather then 3 hours sleeping, 3 hours watch, we are all getting a whooping 8 hours of a sleep a night and only have to get up once for 4 hours ... feels like a big luxury. For me personally, it isn't quite 8 hours of sleep since I still feel responsible for the boat and wake up quite frequently, no matter who is up ... must be the trait of a responsible captain or a captain who cannot let go ... you get to decide.

For foods, we start out typically with something pretty dry, maybe a butter sandwich or some butter noodles and this passage wasn't any different. For lunch, Niki upped the anti a bit and served us crab salad with cheese and crackers ... YUMMY and it stayed down ... sure you appreciate the glory details ... LOL

I have thought about resurfacing the old format of HIGH/LOW, FOOD, CATCH OF DAY, ... from the Pacific crossing but decided this wasn't a long enough trip and I rather pick a topic to write about starting out yesterday how we felt and today how the rhythm on a passage boat is ... hope you enjoy our little excursions and thanks for coming along for the 'Final Countdown' ... 6 more days to go.

Happy sailing,

Robert

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