LTY UPDATE:
Day #8 - Nov. 13, 2016
LTY DAILY STATS: (I’ll use this same list each day for those of you who like to keep track and experience the sail a bit more this way)
** Note:
• If you’d like to see our position and track on a live map go to http://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Learnativity
• If you’d like to send us an Email, TEXT ONLY Please, send these to [email protected] and we’ll get these via our satphone setup.
LTY (local Fiji) time: 17:32 Nov 13th, 2016 (LTY time/NZ time = UTC +12)
LOCATION: about 983nm south of west end of Fiji
POSITION: 32 01.222 S 174 21.961 E (can cut & paste into Google Earth)
SOG: 5.9 kts
COG: 175
WIND: 12 kts @ 50 degrees over Stbd bow out of SE
SEAS/Swell: 1.5m, much calmer out of the SE
WEATHER: Another beautiful sunny day of sailing. Getting colder and colder for us warm weather wimps with nightly lows down under 60F now! Brrrrrrrrrrr Who’s idea was it go to New Zealand for the summer?? Oh yea, mine so never mind!
SAILS: Main and Genoa both up full
AIR TEMP: 63F 17C
SEA TEMP: 73F 22.7C
HUMIDITY 40%
BAROMETER: 1010
DISTANCE TRAVELED last 24 hrs: 114nm
APROXIMATE DISTANCE to go to OPUA: about 217nm
DAY #8 PASSAGE PARADISE
Today reminded us how much we love to be out on longer passages, although this one is only going to be 9-10 days and is already nearing the end. Typically, we get into full passage mode by the 3rd day out for us, as we adjust to this very different and lovely new rhythm to our lives. It is much more of a continuum of time where time flows like the water sliding under our hull in a gentle contiguous stream. We remain very aware and tuned into day and night of course as the sun and the moon rise and set, so much so though that there is no hard day/night change and rather this gradual transition of light and dark that feels more like a sine wave on an oscilloscope as we go from first light to bright sunny days and then gradually dimming towards sunset as Mother Nature slowly turns the dimmer switch down into inky black nights with diamonds of lights showing through like someone has punched billions of little holes into a black velvet cloth stretched out up above. We live full 24 hour days without the land based break into awake “days” and asleep “nights” and so time seems to flow at this gentle constant rhythm with no real natural breaks. We take watches of various lengths throughout these 24 hours and we do lots of napping rather than “a full night’s sleep” so these too seem to flow with the soft ticking of time. We read, write and talk a lot throughout all this time and have both times of being very intimately connected as well as times of wonderful solitude being lost in our own thoughts and tasks. Not something that would suit most people we understand but fits us to a T and is one of our “Goldilocks” states as everything is so “just right, just for us”.
Today, as with most days, also saw us busy with various “chores” onboard with everything from meals to boat repairs. We were able to get pretty much all the collateral damage from that nasty little blast the other night and now have that runaway forestay all back reattached to the foredeck and fully tensioned. We remounted the set of 3 big solar panels on the cockpit roof, replaced some fuel filters and did more “polishing” of the fuel in the keel tank to filter out the last bits of crud and water that has gotten in there during the steel work and hull renovations over the past 15 months. I noticed yesterday that the sea water pump on the main engine that pumps water into the exhaust hoses after they exit the engine, known as a “wet exhaust” system, has started to leak but this is relatively minor and experience has taught that this simply means the outer bearing and seal are reaching their end of life and need to be replaced. I’ve got new ones and a whole new raw water pump onboard, of course, so I’ll just keep an eye on the rate of this leak for now and most likely not need to remove and fix it till we get to Opua.
And so another 24-hour day since writing you last night has flowed by every so beautifully and I’m sitting here up in our little mini solarium of a cockpit when we put the side “clears” down (think convertible top window material) and stay both completely dry and out of the wind. The sun is setting later and later now as the Southern Summer approaches and we also just had the Daylight Savings change the day before we left Fiji so it is setting much later than we were used to in Fiji, almost 20:15 here vs 18:15 in Fiji so we’re enjoying these later and longer daylight hours out here as well.
I’ll leave it at that for today and get back to enjoying the warmth of the sun while it lasts a few more hours before we need to get all bundled up for what feels to us to be freezing weather at nights. Imagine, we have even had to start wearing lots of clothes again, even SOCKS if you can believe it and we need to have a good comforter wrapped around us for our naps and night watches.
Oh and BTW Skyler, yes we are still using your “Mexicali blankie” that you had when you and I were sailing together back in 2008 so we think of you every night as we snuggle in with that.
Hope all of you are also staying warm and dry and enjoying your days and nights wherever they might be. We sure to appreciate your Emails (sent to [email protected]) and smile all the time thinking about each of you coming along with us on this latest adventure.
Thanks!
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