5/29/14 Wandering Dolphin POS
GMT 1600
13 20.04N 129 02.75W
COG 290T
SOG 5kt
DTG 1551 nautical miles
Temp: 89.4 F
Pressure: 29.65
Wind: NE 10-12
Sky: overcast
Seas: 2-3 ft
Good Morning! (Well it is morning for us!)
Changes: Yesterday we decided to change our clocks all the way over to Hawaii time. What we have been doing so far is waiting until the appropriate longitude and switching over all of the clocks on the boat. This has the disadvantage that everyone has to change their internal clock as well and it messes with the rhythm of watch schedules. We had a three hour change between Pacific Time and Hawaii Time and yesterday we were at the point where we would have made a one hour correction. We just decided to make the change once so we can all get used to it. Well the sun will set a little early for us and rise a little early but only for a couple of days as we continue sailing west.
The other change that this will reflect is my position reports. I like to write early in the morning before everyone wakes up but AFTER the sun rises. I am inspired by the sunrise and I have always been one of those people who cannot sleep once the sun is up. My watch has been the 4:00am to 8:00am morning watch and I would do my POS during the watch. The farther west we went the earlier in my watch I had to write my blog and do the data. It got to the point where I would just take down the position at GMT1200 and write the blog a few hours later. Now the GMT 1200 data needs to be collected at 2:00am ships time, which is on EmilyAnne's watch and by the time I write a blog and send it off it is old info as far as our real time POS. I have decided to do a POS for the rest of the trip at GMT 1600 which is 0600 ships time. That way I can go back to the way I like to do it. It is strange to think that all of our friends in St. Thomas are six hours ahead of us having lunch while I am writing this at 6:00am! It really boggles my mind that this boat, our home, has sailed so far away from Honeymoon Bay!
Yesterday we spent some time talking about St. Thomas, laughing about all the fun times we had there and all of the things we will miss. That lead to talk of Charleston, SC, where we spent a year, and Oriental, NC where we spent six months, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Grenada, Trinidad. All of those places where WD spent serious living time in the past eight years or so. This is a crazy way to live, having a home that changes latitude and longitude every year or month or day in this case.
Someone asked me if I thought that the transient nature of our life was negatively affecting our children. The honest answer.... I have no idea. They have spent years away from extended family. Although the family that really actually wanted to be a part of their lives has made an effort to come see us and they are VERY close to our kids. What about a sense of community? People really don't understand that there is a community out here. It is far flung but it is as real as a neighborhood. We have friends we met in Trinidad years ago who are in Hawaii and sailing to Alaska about the time we are. Did any of us plan that? No, and we might not even run into them but that illustrates the way this works. And our kids certainly had a sense of community in Charleston, Oriental, Water Island and in Grenada and Trinidad. The other thing people don't understand is that although the view and the time zone changes our home itself stays the same. WD is the constant in our kids lives. We are as far from land right now as we will ever be but yesterday our kids actual daily life was pretty much the same as it was in Honeymoon Bay. It will be interesting to see what they all have to say when we get together in 25 years.
Yesterday turned into one of the prettiest offshore sailing days in my recollection. The waves moderated the wind was blowing fresh and from the starboard quarter. The water was what I like to refer to as "offshore blue." Emily and I went up to the bow pulpit where we watched schools of HUGE tuna chase flying fish. When the flying fish would break from the water in schools of fifty or more then the birds would set to work on them. There were three different types of birds out here all of them swooping in to catch flying fish as they would dodge from wave to wave. I put the meat lines back out. In the past four days something BIG has taken all my lures. We have 400 pound test line and steel leaders and nothing has ever broken it before. We pulled in that huge five foot Mahi with it so whatever has been biting through the steel has been bigger than that. I am going to rejigger the hand lines with light line and smaller lures to try for smaller fish.
Today we are sailing along gently with completely overcast sky, hoping for a little rain and even though we aren't going as fast as we'd like, we are really enjoying the reduced motion of the boat and the cooler weather.
Yesterday we had oatmeal for breakfast, ramen noodles for lunch and fried potatoes with onions and spam for supper. That marks the end of our fresh food... Oh wait we still have some cabbage left but no one can decide if they want to actually eat it or not. Oh and we had butterscotch pudding for dessert.
Thanks For Sticking With Us! Wow! 27 DAYS!
Captain Tofer, Becca, Ems, Kanyon, Kaleb, and Benny
GMT 1600
13 20.04N 129 02.75W
COG 290T
SOG 5kt
DTG 1551 nautical miles
Temp: 89.4 F
Pressure: 29.65
Wind: NE 10-12
Sky: overcast
Seas: 2-3 ft
Good Morning! (Well it is morning for us!)
Changes: Yesterday we decided to change our clocks all the way over to Hawaii time. What we have been doing so far is waiting until the appropriate longitude and switching over all of the clocks on the boat. This has the disadvantage that everyone has to change their internal clock as well and it messes with the rhythm of watch schedules. We had a three hour change between Pacific Time and Hawaii Time and yesterday we were at the point where we would have made a one hour correction. We just decided to make the change once so we can all get used to it. Well the sun will set a little early for us and rise a little early but only for a couple of days as we continue sailing west.
The other change that this will reflect is my position reports. I like to write early in the morning before everyone wakes up but AFTER the sun rises. I am inspired by the sunrise and I have always been one of those people who cannot sleep once the sun is up. My watch has been the 4:00am to 8:00am morning watch and I would do my POS during the watch. The farther west we went the earlier in my watch I had to write my blog and do the data. It got to the point where I would just take down the position at GMT1200 and write the blog a few hours later. Now the GMT 1200 data needs to be collected at 2:00am ships time, which is on EmilyAnne's watch and by the time I write a blog and send it off it is old info as far as our real time POS. I have decided to do a POS for the rest of the trip at GMT 1600 which is 0600 ships time. That way I can go back to the way I like to do it. It is strange to think that all of our friends in St. Thomas are six hours ahead of us having lunch while I am writing this at 6:00am! It really boggles my mind that this boat, our home, has sailed so far away from Honeymoon Bay!
Yesterday we spent some time talking about St. Thomas, laughing about all the fun times we had there and all of the things we will miss. That lead to talk of Charleston, SC, where we spent a year, and Oriental, NC where we spent six months, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Grenada, Trinidad. All of those places where WD spent serious living time in the past eight years or so. This is a crazy way to live, having a home that changes latitude and longitude every year or month or day in this case.
Someone asked me if I thought that the transient nature of our life was negatively affecting our children. The honest answer.... I have no idea. They have spent years away from extended family. Although the family that really actually wanted to be a part of their lives has made an effort to come see us and they are VERY close to our kids. What about a sense of community? People really don't understand that there is a community out here. It is far flung but it is as real as a neighborhood. We have friends we met in Trinidad years ago who are in Hawaii and sailing to Alaska about the time we are. Did any of us plan that? No, and we might not even run into them but that illustrates the way this works. And our kids certainly had a sense of community in Charleston, Oriental, Water Island and in Grenada and Trinidad. The other thing people don't understand is that although the view and the time zone changes our home itself stays the same. WD is the constant in our kids lives. We are as far from land right now as we will ever be but yesterday our kids actual daily life was pretty much the same as it was in Honeymoon Bay. It will be interesting to see what they all have to say when we get together in 25 years.
Yesterday turned into one of the prettiest offshore sailing days in my recollection. The waves moderated the wind was blowing fresh and from the starboard quarter. The water was what I like to refer to as "offshore blue." Emily and I went up to the bow pulpit where we watched schools of HUGE tuna chase flying fish. When the flying fish would break from the water in schools of fifty or more then the birds would set to work on them. There were three different types of birds out here all of them swooping in to catch flying fish as they would dodge from wave to wave. I put the meat lines back out. In the past four days something BIG has taken all my lures. We have 400 pound test line and steel leaders and nothing has ever broken it before. We pulled in that huge five foot Mahi with it so whatever has been biting through the steel has been bigger than that. I am going to rejigger the hand lines with light line and smaller lures to try for smaller fish.
Today we are sailing along gently with completely overcast sky, hoping for a little rain and even though we aren't going as fast as we'd like, we are really enjoying the reduced motion of the boat and the cooler weather.
Yesterday we had oatmeal for breakfast, ramen noodles for lunch and fried potatoes with onions and spam for supper. That marks the end of our fresh food... Oh wait we still have some cabbage left but no one can decide if they want to actually eat it or not. Oh and we had butterscotch pudding for dessert.
Thanks For Sticking With Us! Wow! 27 DAYS!
Captain Tofer, Becca, Ems, Kanyon, Kaleb, and Benny
Hey Kristofer,
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoy keeping up with your family's wanderings!
Wyoming and Montana seem like a lifetime ago!
Enjoy the journey! Jeff