5/21/14 Wandering Dolphin POS
10 53.83N 110 59.86W
COG 226T
SOG 1.5 - 2 kts
NTN 60 nautical miles
DTG 2863 nautical miles
Wind: becalmed drifting in favorable +1-2 current
Temp: 89 F
Pressure: 29.6
Sky: mostly clear, clouds all around horizon
Seas: calm and glassy with 1-2 ft SW swell
Well yesterday marks the lowest milage day so far. Today should be about the same. We all did a little better yesterday though. We just chose to have fun instead of bitch about our windless existence. The fact that the sea was not so rolling helped a lot. When you can get around without being catapulted across the cabin it makes living easier. I will probably go for a swim today. It freaks me out to my core but it cools off the body and helps with getting really clean. We haven't collected any rain to speak of for almost a week so today we will make water. The lift pump that was sent to us in Panama is way too powerful so it runs hot and has to be turned on and off all the time, it also changes the watermaker from a 4amp draw to almost 10amps! 10 amps to make a gallon an hour? For that draw I could make 15-20 with a different watermaker. At any rate we can't sustain that kind of draw on the batteries so what we do is this: Benny mans the sea water foot pump at the Galley every 15 minutes he pumps seawater through the foot pump, into a hose that runs down to a jerry jug which has another hose that goes to the water maker. So we bypass the new lift pump and because the jerry jug is at the same level as the watermaker it has no troubles. What a pain huh? Too bad we can't get a watermaker company to sponsor us and put a better one in in Hawaii before we set sail for Alaska. Everything else on the boat has worked very well. I guess we are having some frustration with the Delorme but most of that is our fault for deleting the wrong thing.
Today I am thinking about putting up our big drifter genoa. I'm a little hesitant to do that because it is so light that I don't think it can take the flogging and it doesn't have a foam luff so when it is rolled in to reef it has a big fat blob in the middle of the luff and looses all shape as an upwind sail. But just maybe we can get a little more light air speed out of it.
As much as I hate being becalmed like this I am bedazzled by the view right now. The sun is rising on the glassy ocean and the pastel pinks and light blues of the sky are reflected on the water in a 360 degree horizon around our floating home.
This morning, on my watch, while it was still dark, I was gazing up at the stars and I got to thinking about the plan to send a married couple to Mars for a flyby of the planet. Apparently they won't land just orbit the planet a few times and come home. The voyage is six months there and six months back. The living space will be smaller than our boat, and the exposure of course makes ours out here downright laughable. I still think they should be looking for a cruising couple for that trip because offshore Bluewater sailors are the closest thing our planet has to professional, long distance voyagers. Can you imagine how fun it would be to read what Captain Fatty Goodlander would write about on a voyage to Mars? Or think about our friends Beth Leonard and Evans Starzinger, those guys would be perfect for a trip like that. They once sailed the "wrong" way from South America to Australia, 9000 miles in one voyage! They have the "right stuff" for a trip of that magnitude.
Beck is going to make bread this morning, the kids will do school, I will look for stuff to fix. Just another day becalmed on the Pacific Ocean.
Thanks for your messages! Oh and hey Jared, "I'll just bounce back!" Is a better answer to your riddle than, "Oh snap!"
Captain Tofer, Becca, EmilyAnne, Kanyon, Kaleb, and Benny
10 53.83N 110 59.86W
COG 226T
SOG 1.5 - 2 kts
NTN 60 nautical miles
DTG 2863 nautical miles
Wind: becalmed drifting in favorable +1-2 current
Temp: 89 F
Pressure: 29.6
Sky: mostly clear, clouds all around horizon
Seas: calm and glassy with 1-2 ft SW swell
Well yesterday marks the lowest milage day so far. Today should be about the same. We all did a little better yesterday though. We just chose to have fun instead of bitch about our windless existence. The fact that the sea was not so rolling helped a lot. When you can get around without being catapulted across the cabin it makes living easier. I will probably go for a swim today. It freaks me out to my core but it cools off the body and helps with getting really clean. We haven't collected any rain to speak of for almost a week so today we will make water. The lift pump that was sent to us in Panama is way too powerful so it runs hot and has to be turned on and off all the time, it also changes the watermaker from a 4amp draw to almost 10amps! 10 amps to make a gallon an hour? For that draw I could make 15-20 with a different watermaker. At any rate we can't sustain that kind of draw on the batteries so what we do is this: Benny mans the sea water foot pump at the Galley every 15 minutes he pumps seawater through the foot pump, into a hose that runs down to a jerry jug which has another hose that goes to the water maker. So we bypass the new lift pump and because the jerry jug is at the same level as the watermaker it has no troubles. What a pain huh? Too bad we can't get a watermaker company to sponsor us and put a better one in in Hawaii before we set sail for Alaska. Everything else on the boat has worked very well. I guess we are having some frustration with the Delorme but most of that is our fault for deleting the wrong thing.
Today I am thinking about putting up our big drifter genoa. I'm a little hesitant to do that because it is so light that I don't think it can take the flogging and it doesn't have a foam luff so when it is rolled in to reef it has a big fat blob in the middle of the luff and looses all shape as an upwind sail. But just maybe we can get a little more light air speed out of it.
As much as I hate being becalmed like this I am bedazzled by the view right now. The sun is rising on the glassy ocean and the pastel pinks and light blues of the sky are reflected on the water in a 360 degree horizon around our floating home.
This morning, on my watch, while it was still dark, I was gazing up at the stars and I got to thinking about the plan to send a married couple to Mars for a flyby of the planet. Apparently they won't land just orbit the planet a few times and come home. The voyage is six months there and six months back. The living space will be smaller than our boat, and the exposure of course makes ours out here downright laughable. I still think they should be looking for a cruising couple for that trip because offshore Bluewater sailors are the closest thing our planet has to professional, long distance voyagers. Can you imagine how fun it would be to read what Captain Fatty Goodlander would write about on a voyage to Mars? Or think about our friends Beth Leonard and Evans Starzinger, those guys would be perfect for a trip like that. They once sailed the "wrong" way from South America to Australia, 9000 miles in one voyage! They have the "right stuff" for a trip of that magnitude.
Beck is going to make bread this morning, the kids will do school, I will look for stuff to fix. Just another day becalmed on the Pacific Ocean.
Thanks for your messages! Oh and hey Jared, "I'll just bounce back!" Is a better answer to your riddle than, "Oh snap!"
Captain Tofer, Becca, EmilyAnne, Kanyon, Kaleb, and Benny
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