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4/5/2006 4:00:07 AM
950 miles outside Z town
South of waypoint 1008 ... ahead of schedule by a day and 40 miles south of course

Day 7 of 25 - 1/3 of the way

DAY 7 of 25 - 1/3 of the way there.

SAILING UPDATE

According to our day countdown we have passed about 28% of the time but when you look at distance, we are about a day ahead of schedule and therefore 1/3 of the way there . it is crazy how time flies when you are having fun. Niki and I just today sat down up on the deck and talked about how we cannot believe that we have been doing this crossing thing now for exactly a week . in a way it feels like an eternity but then again it feels like it was yesterday that we left Z town. In numbers we are currently 950 miles along our 2900 trek to the Marquesas and according to waypoints exactly one leg ahead. The legs where calculated in 120 mile day increments which means a 5 knot per hour average speed . so far we have had only one day around that . all other days have been 140 miles or more.

Yesterday, we did 143 miles, not a record breaker but considering the winds are still lighter then they have been early on, not bad at all. The winds have now really clocked around and are coming out of the NE so we decided to declare the arrival of the trade winds . maybe tomorrow I do a small bit on trade winds, what they are and so forth.

BOAT UPDATE

Nothing major to report. Slowly but surely, we are all starting to doctor along with little problems here and there . both Capaz and Ohana Kai had little auto-pilot problems . always a scary thought to hand steer the boat for another 17 days, but both were able to fix it; Long Tall Sally is having radio problems and cannot do any longrange communication and email anymore. I played around with our alternator and regulator setup and found that by changing a setting I can reduce the time it takes to charge the batteries significantly which is nice and saves diesel . all in all, things are OK . knock on wood . damn even I get superstitious on these sailing trips . who would have thought.

FISHING UPDATE

Nothing to report but instead I was told to write about our latest crew addition 'Matey' . yes she likes fish so this is a fitting place to write about her. For the ones who missed it, we added a cat to our boat family in Puerta Vallarta. A cat has been an ongoing discussion since San Diego but due to the stress of leaving and all the preps it was pushed off. Then a stray cat in Puerto Vallarta brought the topic straight back up and thanks to a great gentleman by the name of Ken Seeley, who takes care of 40 cats, we found our perfect crew cat called 'Matey' . a female 'mate'. Matey has really integrated well, she is super gentle with the boys and despite the fact that the boys carry her around everywhere she doesn't get angry with them or grouchy and she is a great boat cat. Actually cats are one of the few animals that do exceptionally well on boats (beside monkeys which Niki boycotted), they don't mind the space limitations, Matey does NOT get seasick (few cats do) and we love her company . she crawls around our beds and sort of sleeps at different places every night . it almost seems she spreads her attention or maybe with all the different schedules we have, she is having a hard time to find HER spot. Well, Matey has been a great add-on to Lawur and we are all enjoy her company; for pictures check out our picture section on www.lawur.com <http://www.lawur.com/>  .

FOOD PLAN OF THE DAY

Breakfast - Cereal

Lunch - Sandwiches

Dinner - Noodles in veggie cream sauce (veggies were still fresh and not canned)

HIGH OF THE DAY

Since everyone is already in bed, I guess it is my turn to pick the high of the day and I would have to say hitting the trade winds. So much talked about, finally they are here though a bit lighter the expected. The trade winds come with a promise of steady winds in the 15 - 25 knot range which makes for a fun downwind sail and should last us for another 7 days or so until we take a sharp left turn to cross what's often referred to as the doldrums or the ITCZ (intratropical convergence zone) . here is another word to look up on the internet . :-)

LOW OF THE DAY

I would have to say the fact that we hit the trades . well here is a contradiction but let me explain. The high is really reaching the 'promise land of trade winds' however the low is that they truly aren't yet what they are promised to be but much lighter in the 10 - 12 knot range which makes for a very uncomfortable downwind ride . in addition the trades meant the direction of the wind changed to NE from N and we had to change from a fast broad reaching point of sail to a slower downwind run and with the light winds that just isn't as much fun.

Thanks for hopping aboard Lawur for a few moments . your emails back make our day, get read out aloud during meals and is our way of staying in touch with the 'landlubbers'.

Happy voyaging,

Robert and Co

TheSchmids Family Sailing on Lawur

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