LTY UPDATE: Day#6&7 Saturday & Sunday May 28th, 2011 - Majuro to Fiji Sunday May 28th, 2011
LTY time: 17:30 (UTC +12) = 05:30 UTC
Location: About 720nm NNW of Funafuti, Tuvalu
Position: 02 19.607 N, 174 16.117 E (cut & past this into Google Earth to see on map)
SOG: (Speed Over Ground) 4-4.5 knots (sailing with Main, Jib & Stay sails))
COG: (Course Over Ground) 157 degrees True
Wind: 12-15 knots NE Apparent (wind as felt by sails)
Seas/Swell: 3m @ 6 seconds out of NE
Air temp: 96F 35.6C
Sea temp: 89.1 F 31.7 C
Humidity: 59%
Barometer: 1013mm
Distance to Funafuti: 712nm
Distance last 24 hours: 132nm DAY #6:
My oh my, what a difference a day makes! Yesterday was rather gray day aboard Learnativity both literally in terms of the skies continuing to be completely overcast, gray and stormy and Linda was suffering badly from a cold. Weather was more of the same we’ve been having since Mili with lots of small squalls and some larger storms that we’ve passed through and pretty much grey skies throughout. Yesterday afternoon the wind moved a bit more NE and gave us a great ride with speeds over 6 knots in winds that were only 12-16. Later that night though we rode out a large storm with winds over 30 knots and lots of changes of wind direction and torrential rains as we passed through it. Then once out of it in the wee hours of the morning the wind all but disappeared and so I motored through the night. Linda probably didn’t experience much of it at all as she spent most of the day laying down and sleeping off the nasty cold, headache and sinus that seemed to follow on from the tooth infection she had the last few days we were in Majuro. She was able to get in to see the dentist there and get some antibiotics and pain meds which worked well but seemed to lead to it going into her sinuses and then a full blown cold. Fortunately Ruby was VERY happy to spend the entire day and night snuggling with her and I didn’t see much of them until this morning. About 5am this morning (Sunday here now) I was jolted out of my calm evening watch by the VERY large and loud fire alarm bell that I have on board for all my emergency alarms such as loss of oil pressure, engine overheating, fire, etc. It would wake the dead but I like to have it so that no matter how loud it gets on board I’ll be sure to hear it and boy does it ever do that job well!! Turns out it was the fire alarm sensor going off because the temperature in the engine room had gone too high because I had closed down all the usual venting it gets from the aft cabin where Linda and Ruby were sleeping. It all worked out well as we were now also completely becalmed with not a breath of wind so I was able to shut things down, open up all the hatches and take down all the sails while the engine room cooled off. Normally I might have just sat there drifting and got some sleep myself but the swell was still quite large, running about 2-3 meters so the boat really rolls over a lot as we ride up each one so it isn’t very comfortable to sit in it for long. By now the engine room was cooled enough and the alarm sensors reset so I motored off into the first light of day and headed us SSE again towards Funafuti. As the light was coming up so did Linda, with her smile returning as she had successfully fought off the cold, headaches and sinus and had her smile back. And what a day it turned out to be! More and more blue started poking through the sky to the south and as the morning progressed the sun started to burn off more and more of the overhead clouds and gave us a gorgeous day that is still with us (6pm now) with all blue overhead and smaller white fluffy clouds on all points of the 360 degree horizon surrounding us. For some this is apparently quite disconcerting to be completely out of sight of land but for me, and fortunately Linda too, it is exhilarating. You are simultaneously humbled by just how small a speck you are on this vast sea scape and it becomes very obvious that we are perched on the surface of a huge sphere as you see the curve of the earth in 3D all around you. About 2pm the wind finally came up enough to sail and so I hoisted all three sails, shut down our trusty motor and we were soon sailing into more blue sky at over four knots, gently rising up and over each of the huge swells that were now over four meters at times but spaced over 8 seconds apart and with us travelling parallel to their crests and troughs the motion is absolutely soothing as the lift Learnativity gently up and over each curved crest and down into the next trough. This is about as good as it gets for open ocean sailing and we’ve spent the whole day like this, relishing in the serenity and peacefulness of it all. Linda has been busy down in the galley putting together yet another amazing meal for us, though I’m not quite sure just what it is yet as I’ve been catching up on some sleep from doing all the watches the past two nights but we’ll soon be enjoying it as we watch the sun set off to our starboard aft quarter. Position wise we are now sailing past the many islands that make up the country of Kiribati. If you are checking out our location on the maps we are now sailing about 60nm to the east of Marakei Island. It is too far away for us to see visually but the clouds off to the west of us give away the existence of land below them. Everything is going very well with us onboard and so we are not going to stop in Kiribati and will continue towards Funafuti in Tuvalu, the next large archipelago SSE of here and see if we want to stop there or continue to sail on. Today is day seven since we left Majuro and we likely have about another week till we get to Funafuti. I know it isn’t for everyone, very few really I guess, but both Linda and really enjoy these longer passages and time out at sea. After the first few days you settle into the new rhythm of each day as they flow seamlessly together with the slow natural progressions as each day dawns and makes the progression and transition into night with its own progression as the moon and stars come and go and first light starts the cycle all over again. Weather changes, sail changes, meals, showering and just life on board continue throughout all this and you experience this wonderfully weird new way of living where time takes on a whole new dimension. One of those things you can only learn and understand by experiencing it so I won’t go on any further, just wanted to share a bit of it all with you and try to help explain why we are in no hurry to make landfall just yet. If this weather continues we could end up in Antarctica! And with that I’ll end for today so I can go see what Linda has in store for us for dinner tonight and we can enjoy the sun which is about to set off in the west and just behind us. Hope your day and evening goes equally well and will be back to you with more updates and details tomorrow. Linda, Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog
LTY time: 17:30 (UTC +12) = 05:30 UTC
Location: About 720nm NNW of Funafuti, Tuvalu
Position: 02 19.607 N, 174 16.117 E (cut & past this into Google Earth to see on map)
SOG: (Speed Over Ground) 4-4.5 knots (sailing with Main, Jib & Stay sails))
COG: (Course Over Ground) 157 degrees True
Wind: 12-15 knots NE Apparent (wind as felt by sails)
Seas/Swell: 3m @ 6 seconds out of NE
Air temp: 96F 35.6C
Sea temp: 89.1 F 31.7 C
Humidity: 59%
Barometer: 1013mm
Distance to Funafuti: 712nm
Distance last 24 hours: 132nm DAY #6:
My oh my, what a difference a day makes! Yesterday was rather gray day aboard Learnativity both literally in terms of the skies continuing to be completely overcast, gray and stormy and Linda was suffering badly from a cold. Weather was more of the same we’ve been having since Mili with lots of small squalls and some larger storms that we’ve passed through and pretty much grey skies throughout. Yesterday afternoon the wind moved a bit more NE and gave us a great ride with speeds over 6 knots in winds that were only 12-16. Later that night though we rode out a large storm with winds over 30 knots and lots of changes of wind direction and torrential rains as we passed through it. Then once out of it in the wee hours of the morning the wind all but disappeared and so I motored through the night. Linda probably didn’t experience much of it at all as she spent most of the day laying down and sleeping off the nasty cold, headache and sinus that seemed to follow on from the tooth infection she had the last few days we were in Majuro. She was able to get in to see the dentist there and get some antibiotics and pain meds which worked well but seemed to lead to it going into her sinuses and then a full blown cold. Fortunately Ruby was VERY happy to spend the entire day and night snuggling with her and I didn’t see much of them until this morning. About 5am this morning (Sunday here now) I was jolted out of my calm evening watch by the VERY large and loud fire alarm bell that I have on board for all my emergency alarms such as loss of oil pressure, engine overheating, fire, etc. It would wake the dead but I like to have it so that no matter how loud it gets on board I’ll be sure to hear it and boy does it ever do that job well!! Turns out it was the fire alarm sensor going off because the temperature in the engine room had gone too high because I had closed down all the usual venting it gets from the aft cabin where Linda and Ruby were sleeping. It all worked out well as we were now also completely becalmed with not a breath of wind so I was able to shut things down, open up all the hatches and take down all the sails while the engine room cooled off. Normally I might have just sat there drifting and got some sleep myself but the swell was still quite large, running about 2-3 meters so the boat really rolls over a lot as we ride up each one so it isn’t very comfortable to sit in it for long. By now the engine room was cooled enough and the alarm sensors reset so I motored off into the first light of day and headed us SSE again towards Funafuti. As the light was coming up so did Linda, with her smile returning as she had successfully fought off the cold, headaches and sinus and had her smile back. And what a day it turned out to be! More and more blue started poking through the sky to the south and as the morning progressed the sun started to burn off more and more of the overhead clouds and gave us a gorgeous day that is still with us (6pm now) with all blue overhead and smaller white fluffy clouds on all points of the 360 degree horizon surrounding us. For some this is apparently quite disconcerting to be completely out of sight of land but for me, and fortunately Linda too, it is exhilarating. You are simultaneously humbled by just how small a speck you are on this vast sea scape and it becomes very obvious that we are perched on the surface of a huge sphere as you see the curve of the earth in 3D all around you. About 2pm the wind finally came up enough to sail and so I hoisted all three sails, shut down our trusty motor and we were soon sailing into more blue sky at over four knots, gently rising up and over each of the huge swells that were now over four meters at times but spaced over 8 seconds apart and with us travelling parallel to their crests and troughs the motion is absolutely soothing as the lift Learnativity gently up and over each curved crest and down into the next trough. This is about as good as it gets for open ocean sailing and we’ve spent the whole day like this, relishing in the serenity and peacefulness of it all. Linda has been busy down in the galley putting together yet another amazing meal for us, though I’m not quite sure just what it is yet as I’ve been catching up on some sleep from doing all the watches the past two nights but we’ll soon be enjoying it as we watch the sun set off to our starboard aft quarter. Position wise we are now sailing past the many islands that make up the country of Kiribati. If you are checking out our location on the maps we are now sailing about 60nm to the east of Marakei Island. It is too far away for us to see visually but the clouds off to the west of us give away the existence of land below them. Everything is going very well with us onboard and so we are not going to stop in Kiribati and will continue towards Funafuti in Tuvalu, the next large archipelago SSE of here and see if we want to stop there or continue to sail on. Today is day seven since we left Majuro and we likely have about another week till we get to Funafuti. I know it isn’t for everyone, very few really I guess, but both Linda and really enjoy these longer passages and time out at sea. After the first few days you settle into the new rhythm of each day as they flow seamlessly together with the slow natural progressions as each day dawns and makes the progression and transition into night with its own progression as the moon and stars come and go and first light starts the cycle all over again. Weather changes, sail changes, meals, showering and just life on board continue throughout all this and you experience this wonderfully weird new way of living where time takes on a whole new dimension. One of those things you can only learn and understand by experiencing it so I won’t go on any further, just wanted to share a bit of it all with you and try to help explain why we are in no hurry to make landfall just yet. If this weather continues we could end up in Antarctica! And with that I’ll end for today so I can go see what Linda has in store for us for dinner tonight and we can enjoy the sun which is about to set off in the west and just behind us. Hope your day and evening goes equally well and will be back to you with more updates and details tomorrow. Linda, Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog
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