7/30/14 Wandering Dolphin POS
0900 Hawaiian Standard Time +2 / 1700 GMT
N43 25.76 W150 00.12
COG 050T
SOG 5kt
DMG 40 nautical miles (pretty sad huh?)
DTG 1181 nautical miles
Wind: SW 10-12 (just started blowing about an hour ago)
Pressure: 29.80
Temp: 66.6F
Seas: 1 ft
Sky: overcast
Sails: all sails set
We're moving!! Yay!
Yesterday was a no wind and glassy sea day. The sun did peek through the clouds on a couple of occasions but it was still mighty cold. It was one of those days where the calm is so calm that the boat doesn't even rock back and forth in a swell. We sat right there on our spot of the ocean just like we were anchored to the bottom. The water was so clear we could see all kinds of little floaty creatures. Occasional flocks of little sea birds flew by and the albatross swooped around the boat again.
We decided it was a good day to open the hatches, air out the boat and do some cleaning. We scrubbed the floors, shook out the cushions, and Becky and I fixed the stopped up galley sink drain. We dumped vinegar and baking soda down alternated with boiling sea water and pretty soon it started to flow. It's a constant battle to get the kids to scrape all of the food off the plates before they wash the dishes but after more than a week of doing dishes in buckets and dumping all the water over by hand I think maybe they will pay closer attention.
Our day would have been very relaxing if it wasn't for the fact that we were becalmed in what is pretty obviously the North Pacific shipping lane. There are always ships passing either east to west or west to east. It is just as busy as the Gulf Stream on the Atlantic coast of the USA. Right now there are eight ships showing on AIS. Even though we have a transponder AIS and all of the ships can theoretically see us, we have to keep a sharp look out at all times now just in case some yahoo at the helm of a big boat is watching a movie or something instead of his AIS screen. So far, they have all seen us and altered course to avoid us.
We ate leftovers for lunch yesterday and Becky made fried potatoes with spam for supper. She is going to bake bread this morning and we will finish off the eggs with open faced egg salad sandwiches on fresh bread for supper tonight.
The wind filled in this morning from the SW and we are once again underway. We are going more north than our destination for two reasons. Number one, our speed and comfort is better on a broad reach than it is sailing directly downwind and number two, we know the wind will be moving to the NW in a few days so we need to get north as soon as we can.
... (Three hours later... At noon.)
So as I was writing the report one of the boys used the head and came up to inform me that it was not flushing... For a history on our past head problems read a past blog from last summer...but not if you have a squeamish tummy... For those of you who want to know what it's REALLY like out here you MUST read this to understand that the head issues are boat issues and if you live on a boat you WILL deal with them. That being said, I prefer to deal with them near shore not bouncing around 1000 miles offshore.
I went below and determined that it was the macerator. Beck and I have done this before so she got up to help me and we took the head apart... Sure enough it was clogged with paper! We have a strict rule about no paper so no one was going to fess up so I didn't even try. I'm sure it was one of those accidental drop in situations and rather than try to fish it out the culprit just flushed with fingers crossed. Well three hours later the head is still clogged. Well the head itself and macerator are flowing free but the hose from the head to the through hull is clogged and that is not a task to try to fix offshore. (Think... Oops the through hull broke! *** boat sinks***)
So for the rest of the passage we are using a bucket... Enough said...
Hope your day is better than ours!
Captain Tofer
0900 Hawaiian Standard Time +2 / 1700 GMT
N43 25.76 W150 00.12
COG 050T
SOG 5kt
DMG 40 nautical miles (pretty sad huh?)
DTG 1181 nautical miles
Wind: SW 10-12 (just started blowing about an hour ago)
Pressure: 29.80
Temp: 66.6F
Seas: 1 ft
Sky: overcast
Sails: all sails set
We're moving!! Yay!
Yesterday was a no wind and glassy sea day. The sun did peek through the clouds on a couple of occasions but it was still mighty cold. It was one of those days where the calm is so calm that the boat doesn't even rock back and forth in a swell. We sat right there on our spot of the ocean just like we were anchored to the bottom. The water was so clear we could see all kinds of little floaty creatures. Occasional flocks of little sea birds flew by and the albatross swooped around the boat again.
We decided it was a good day to open the hatches, air out the boat and do some cleaning. We scrubbed the floors, shook out the cushions, and Becky and I fixed the stopped up galley sink drain. We dumped vinegar and baking soda down alternated with boiling sea water and pretty soon it started to flow. It's a constant battle to get the kids to scrape all of the food off the plates before they wash the dishes but after more than a week of doing dishes in buckets and dumping all the water over by hand I think maybe they will pay closer attention.
Our day would have been very relaxing if it wasn't for the fact that we were becalmed in what is pretty obviously the North Pacific shipping lane. There are always ships passing either east to west or west to east. It is just as busy as the Gulf Stream on the Atlantic coast of the USA. Right now there are eight ships showing on AIS. Even though we have a transponder AIS and all of the ships can theoretically see us, we have to keep a sharp look out at all times now just in case some yahoo at the helm of a big boat is watching a movie or something instead of his AIS screen. So far, they have all seen us and altered course to avoid us.
We ate leftovers for lunch yesterday and Becky made fried potatoes with spam for supper. She is going to bake bread this morning and we will finish off the eggs with open faced egg salad sandwiches on fresh bread for supper tonight.
The wind filled in this morning from the SW and we are once again underway. We are going more north than our destination for two reasons. Number one, our speed and comfort is better on a broad reach than it is sailing directly downwind and number two, we know the wind will be moving to the NW in a few days so we need to get north as soon as we can.
... (Three hours later... At noon.)
So as I was writing the report one of the boys used the head and came up to inform me that it was not flushing... For a history on our past head problems read a past blog from last summer...but not if you have a squeamish tummy... For those of you who want to know what it's REALLY like out here you MUST read this to understand that the head issues are boat issues and if you live on a boat you WILL deal with them. That being said, I prefer to deal with them near shore not bouncing around 1000 miles offshore.
I went below and determined that it was the macerator. Beck and I have done this before so she got up to help me and we took the head apart... Sure enough it was clogged with paper! We have a strict rule about no paper so no one was going to fess up so I didn't even try. I'm sure it was one of those accidental drop in situations and rather than try to fish it out the culprit just flushed with fingers crossed. Well three hours later the head is still clogged. Well the head itself and macerator are flowing free but the hose from the head to the through hull is clogged and that is not a task to try to fix offshore. (Think... Oops the through hull broke! *** boat sinks***)
So for the rest of the passage we are using a bucket... Enough said...
Hope your day is better than ours!
Captain Tofer
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