Miles sailed last 3-days= 474nm.
Total miles sailed so far=3315 nm.
Aprox. Miles left to go =1676 nm.
Top speed so far 12.2 Kts.
Day-22
Pos 14*56′ N. Long.150*27′ W.
24hr.Run=176 nm.
Weather: Wind 15-20kts.NE. Seas NE at 6-8ft. Bar.=1009mb. Cabin Temp.= 80*-84*
New top speed = 12.2 kts.
The Rest of The Story.
Wow! the days have become much more exciting as the waves are much larger now, enabling Sailors Run to surf the face of some of them and we are cooking along.
This evening I climbed out into the cockpit to have a look around before dark and was pleasantly surprised to see a beautiful gold and green Dorado surfing along behind the boat with our lure in his mouth. He looked small at about 30″ but I needed fish so I recklessly pulled him in and up out of the water not using the gaff. I figured it would give him a chance to shake the hook, that didn’t happen and now I have 5 nice Dorado dinners to look forward to.
By the end of today we should be within 360 nm. of the Big Island of Hawaii.
You know, I must conserve water, and I do some of that by only doing dishes every three days, and I think I just figured something out here. If I put the dishes in the shower with me I can multitask and wouldn’t that just be so “politically correct.” Hmmmmm.
On An “E” ticket ride to the Marshall’s the Jefe’
Day-23.
Pos. Lat.15*31 N. Long. 153*00’W.
24hr.Run=164nm.
Weather: Wind NE-E. 14-16kts. Seas NE. at 5-7ft. Bar.= 1011mb. Cabin Temp 80*-82*.
The Rest of the Story:
Today starts out rather strange as it is 100% overcast and there are smattering’s of rain falling here and there. Not enough rain to rinse the rig or sails, let alone think of collecting any.
By mid-afternoon the sky’s have turned blue and it’s another sunny day on the Pacific.
My shoulder that I pulled real good has returned almost to normal making it so much easier to hang on with two hands.
I was rattled out of my bunk about 5:30 am by the sails popping around up on deck. I realized the winds are shifting, and it is time once again to gybe to the SW. Now we were just 230 nm. from the big island of Hawaii and need to make some progress to the SW. once again. I thought of Debbie and my friends in the Hawaiian Islands and gave a little wave as we peeled off on to the new course.
I enjoyed a real nice Dorado dinner last night. Now I’m already starting to feel that I’m closing in on my destination, I mean it is only 2000 NM. away.
A quote from my son Dan “The only way to have a good life is to live one”.
Leaning the other way now, the Jefe’
Day-24.
Pos. Lat. 14*01′ N. Long. 154* 31′ W.
24hr.Run=134nm.
Weather: Wind E. at 7-14kts. Seas E. 4-5ft. Bar.=1004mb. Cabin Temp= 80*-84*.
The Rest of the Story:
We slowed down today as the winds have dropped significantly.
I was out on deck peering off over the horizon when a large flock of small birds appeared circling above the wave tops. There had to be a hundred of them and then as rapidly as they had appeared they disappeared right back into the ocean where they came from. Yep faked out again, more flying fish.
Last evening there was panic aboard the Sailors Run and yep, you guessed it, I was freaking out just a bit. The problem was it was my favorite time of the day as I was pulling my emails and communicating with friends and family. Well I was trying but the computer would hook up to the land based station and sounded like it was communicating yet nothing showed on my computer screen. It was a half hour after hooking up with several different stations, and getting all the same results that I gave up.
Now this is a really big problem as everybody including my wife, Debbie are going to wonder what happened to the Jefe’. I climbed into my bunk knowing there would be no way my mind would let go of this and sleep would come.
As I lay there I devised a plan of action, if the SSB radio still functioned properly in the morning I would contact someone on there and have them email Debbie that I was OK and will call her in 2-weeks or so from The Marshall Islands. If that did not work I would try calling the Coast Guard on VHF channel-16, if no luck there then watch for a ship to appear on the AIS and call them asking to send an email.
I laid there mulling all of this over when I remembered twice before over the past 19-years that the cord from the Pactor Modem and the computer had failed. I wondered if possibly I had an old cord that was still good. It was then that I realized I just put a new cord from the computer to the old cord that goes into the modem and this new cord was quite long and possibly might plug directly into the modem there by removing the suspect cord out of the circuit.
It was 3am when I tried this, and ‘bingo” the cord plugged in fine, and low and be hold I had communication once again. The other thing that I would have lost is my weather info that I pull from Sailmail and that would have had me flying blind out here.
Something to remember systems can and do fail. if you quite hearing from me and become concerned write Debbie at <sailorsrun01@yahoo.com>
In the event of tragic mishap I hope to be able to set off my “Epirb” locating device. If the Epirb has not gone off you can be easily assured I’m still sailing along or swimming for an Island somewhere.
Very early in the morning before it was light I went on deck for a look around, and discovered what looked like a quite severe electrical storm happening astern of Sailors Run. The strikes were happening every second and this went on for as long as I wanted to watch it. The good thing was I could not hear it and it was moving north away from us.
Plodding along in the Pacific, the jefe’