Evening and night of day 4! Male Red Footed Boobie stayed on the solar panel all night while female Boobie flew around the boat on and off all night. He was sound asleep in the howling wind with his head tucked into his body. Since they mate for life she was probably wondering what he was up to!
Stars are amazing tonight and winds are building! I’m pretty sure I have to reef the mainsail more during this evening. I’ve already furled in the Genoa sail and staysail is up. Feels like it could be an entertaining night! Sarantium is doing 6.5 kn and getting bounced around a bit. I could point her down a bit and sail her on a beam reach but then we will go more south than planned. It’s ideal to sail as westerly as possible so when it comes to crossing the equator there are more choice in where to cross. You don’t want to get there “too east” as more likely to run into the doldrums too early. According the PredictWind there is more wind around the equator the closer we are to French Polynesia.
Waves are building tonight and it seems sea floor is shallow here. Typically, when the depth-sounder says 34-40 meters depth I can expect larger breaking waves. But there is no way around it. We have another island coming up on our port side and after that depths should increase. I’m so glad I bought a boat that can handle these conditions well.
I can’t wait to crack open my first coconut!
Looks like 180 days was all this flag could handle! Today, I’m illegally here in Mexican waters!
01.00 it is and my shift has started! I laid down for 4 hours, however slept zero minutes. Can’t say I’m excited about my shift tonight! As soon as I took over the helm, female red footed Boobie joined her partner on the solar panel, 4 feet away from the helm! They have been saying hello to each other by squeaking back and forth! They must be happy to be rejoined!
Pretty quickly winds diminished and I had to unfurl mainsail and get Sarantium up to 6 kn in order to stabilize and have a smoother sail. After an uneventful night I fell asleep.
At 11.18, N18*21.54. W113*53.20
COG:223T SOG: 6.2 kn
Plan: keep this course until W130* and N9* and then start turning south through the equator to avoid doldrums. 😉
Sailaway Sarantium 
Hi Rika, I’m following along, hoping to learn how long it takes to get used to shifts and start getting some real sleep! I’m also interested in the details you’re posting about which sails in which conditions. Appreciative audience, here! : )
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey! The sleeping is a problem but I am getting enough. My boat is noisy inside so the cockpit is where I sleep! We decided to heave to early this morning as winds were weak and I needed to sleep. Hope you figured out the standing rigging!
LikeLike