S/V SN-E Cetacea Log Day 6 – 47 NM
7/2
James’ 12:30-1 pm watch
When noon came around, a tanker was passing us less than a mile away. Safe enough but what’s up with all the traffic? Worlds away from seeing only 4 vessels in 20 days on our way to Hawaii.
…but, they do seem to be thinning out a bit.
Dena’s 3-4 pm watch
3:55 pm: The water is sapphire quicksilver, undappled by the slightest breeze. Has been since before noon. We’re barely motoring a knot to conserve power, just making enough way to have helm. The beauty around us is outsized, our empty horizon implying the whole rest of the World Ocean. Our slow-rolling propeller and whale-family hull barely change the epic wrinkles passing through the water, through us. We leave behind a pacifist’s roil and ripples that disappear as though glad to become part of the larger energy.
We made water for an hour today to keep the membranes fresh. We’re a bit low in both house banks, so we can cross-connected the propulsion pack as well. Boom! It ate 2% of the propulsion pack but boosted the house banks several.
James’ 4-5 pm watch: The Free Ride…motorsailing on glass making enough power to motorsail on glass…
Waiting for the Earth to forgive us with her winds.
4:05 pm: She came through once again.
Dena’s 7-8 pm watch
7:55 pm: Sailing! James got the beginning of it on his 6-7 shift. I shook the first reef and put the staysail out. I want to leverage the wind a little more thoroughly if we’re only going to have it between 7 pm and 5 am!
For most of the time the motor was engaged, we offset the power draw with solar to one degree or another. A solid 4 hours, it was a wash because of how slow we were running it, about 450-500 rpm.
Now, time to rest my eyes before my first long watch starts at 9 pm.
Dena’s 9-midnight watch
9:14 pm: It’s so rare to get a reasonable picture of the moon with a cell phone from a moving sailboat, but this cloud helped.
10:59 pm: The seas are starting to respond to the wind, so the ride is bit more exciting than it has been. We’re only making 3.5-4.0, but it feels like 4.5-5.0. That sounds about right considering the doldrum motoring has been at least 1 knot slower than we expect at those revs.
Sure would be nice to have access to updated weather forecasts and current patterns. With all the dead daytime air, we discussed whether we should head north and try to find the wind line we had been aiming for. The upshot of that discussion was basically a shrug, since we don’t have any information to help us figure it out.
Dena’s 3-6 am watch
5:33 am: Morning.
