Author: sailawaysarantium

Wind is settling and is becoming more even, however it is still on the nose. I keep waiting for it to change angle so we can atleast be on a beam reach. It’s slow going and equator is soooo close! Another couple of days and we should be there!

Our sleeping schedule is better as I get 5 hours of sleep, 03-08! We kept 3-4 knots all night. During my quick dip yesterday I noticed that the button of boat is covered with some kind of mollusk. What a drag, literally! I’m surprised as it was spic and span 2.5 weeks ago while I inspected it. I guess we will have to scrape the bottom next calm day at sea!

At 8.30: N03*59 W128*35

COG: 230* SOG: 4kn

We had the wind deliver gently all day on the nose. By the afternoon the wind slowly shifted to a beam reach.

Today, was a good day to clean and organize below deck, as waves are gentle although still quite massive. I also needed to rescue the sourdough starter and kombucha. Since baking has been sporadic lately, as well because of the increasing room temperature the sourdough starter is struggling. The sea water temperature is 29.8 degrees Celsius.

We re-wired the running light as it’s been out because of corroded wires. The boat is fairly clean from the squalls, so no need to wash deck fittings etc with our precious fresh water.

I organized my stateroom and had a short nap in my own ”actual” bed!

Our speed is getting slow, and cleaning the bottom needs to take place soon! Maybe tomorrow!

Goodnight World!

Ps. Another shark was spotted today! They seem small though, maybe 5 feet. My guess is that they’re not reef sharks…and they do not look like Great Whites 😳

Although we didn’t make much progress in regards to latitude last night, we sure set us up beautifully for today’s sail!

Last night I was at the Helm until 04.00. During my shift I must have tacked 4 times as neither the east tack or the west tack was bringing us closer to the Marquesses. Sometimes it’s just about setting up for the future sail leg. Sailing west seemed favorable over sailing east, however dark clouds filled the western side and I wasn’t in the mood for endless dodging lightening and thunder (Sandis would agree)! I chose to go east and unfortunately slightly north loosing gain we had just achieved. Around 03.00, I couldn’t stand looking at our boat heading north east so I tacked… Sarantium had deposited enough ”money in the bank” so she now pointed straight to the islands of Marqueses! I went to bed at 04.00 and woke up at 09.00.

I opened my eyes and immediately knew, as I felt the boat flying, that last night’s patients (and frustration) had paid off and we were in the south trade winds!!!

Rolling along!

At 09.05: N04*57.29 W127*.37.06

COG: 214* SOG: 5.2 knots

Ps. Jag sov som en gris!

I wish I understood the behavior of clouds 😳 Last night I sat and watched for hours the clouds move around and their sparatic light show. I was tracking them on the radar to see how they were moving. Towards us or away from us???

I wonder how they will perform tonight!

Mid day fun!!!

We have officially dropped into the ITCZ! And of course, NO Wind! And it’s pouring like mad!!! But coffee is outstanding! Stay tune for more …

At 08.20: N05*21 W127*46

COG: 190* SOG: 4.5kn

Well, after an exciting squall , wind slowly died. We sailed until we no longer could. Do we motor, heave to or drop all sails and go to sleep? Hmm, let’s motor sail for twenty minutes which is all it takes the alternator to fully charge my 3 x 160 v batteries. Btw this is the first time motor has been on since motoring out of Bahia los Frailles, 14 days ago. We motored for half an hour, shut down the motor, tied off the wheel and looked around. Lightening! Ok, I guess electronics needs to be off too! Leaving them on can cause major damage if hit by lightening, so they say… It is hard to imagine getting hit by lightening in the middle of the ocean, but a possibility, as we are the only mast out here for probably 200 miles…sleep tight!

Goodnigh🌘✨

We saw it coming! Decreased the mainsail, furled in the Genoa, hoisted the staysail, and said ”bring it on”!!!

We have a clean boat!!!

💙💙💙Sky is littered tonight. Stars are covering the sky while low-lying black clouds frame the outskirts. Water sparkles from bioluminescence while the sound of wind mixed with wave crashing around Sarantium. I must have just gazed for hours. Time stops, mind and heart is full of gratitude. How did I get here? Constellations I’ve never seen before. Things feel different! These images, sounds and feelings will be forever with me. ❤️❤️Goodnight World🧡

…we lay eyes on Hiva OA🌴🥥❣️

At 10.00: N06* 7 W127*57

COG: 200* SOG: 5.5 kn

I’ve switched from good coffee to instant! Not happy, but less mess!

It’s a lovely morning💙… 12 kn of wind on broad reach, aiming for crossing the equator at 128 degrees west. Waves are diminishing and are rolling a bit less tall, not as steep and further apart! Temperature in the air is rising and water temperature is 28.9 Celsius.

We have a pot of tomato based lentil, cabbage and wild-rise ”stew” on the stove! No bread!

It will be another lovely day!

Last night was interesting! We didn’t make a lot of distance last night but we had some good learning again. As we are approaching the ITCZone, squalls are beginning to show up around us. So far they have been mild and quite refreshing😂. Adrian went to sleep at 20.00 and we were rolling along nicely making our way south west towards the equator. Around 2100 I checked the rador; clear! I checked again at 2200 and I noticed big clouds on the screen however 2 nmiles east of us. I returned into standby mode and kept my eye on the sky around me. All of a sudden rain started and I thought hear we go! The rain turned into terential rainfall and wind picked up! Our first squall at 8degrees North!! A milestone! I already had minimal sail up so I didn’t bother taking it down. The squall lasted 5-10 minutes and then NO wind. Sails started slapping and boom moving out of control as a result of large wave action and zero wind. I have a furling boom so it’s quite heavy, and needs to be cinched down. I decided to take sails down as the banging and slapping was driving me crazy. With all the aggressive slapping of the main sail, the batten plastic track lead (?) must have broke off. Getting the main sail down was no problem but when trying to raise it, it won’t feed into the track. Another thing to fix on a calm day. Whenever that may be??? The furling boom is wonderful 99% of the time. I do have to be super careful when raising and dropping it. Many people wouldn’t have one for offshore sailing and I understand why. The furling boom has advantages but can be a concern. They are easy to operate from the cockpit on your own. In the event sail gets stuck, one can pull it down fully by hand and tied off around the boom. Things to ponder for future boats!

I slept between 0300 and 0600!

For now, I’ll be using Genoa and 25% of the mainsail. Come to think of it, that’s mostly what I have been doing.

Sun is getting warmer, waves should be decreasing in size, and we are getting closer to equator!

I believe we are halfway to French Polynesia!

Loads of potatoes, lots of apples and 1 cabbage, three grapefruits, six rock hard oranges is left of our fresh fruit and veggie supply.

At 08.30: N 08* 45 W 126* 38

COG: 200T SOG: 6 kn

Approaching the conversion zone..

At 09.00: N09*58.19 W125*28.54

Cog: 225* Speed on ground: 6.5 kn

BIG monster waves this morning! But the friendly types! We are just rolling with them! It’s exciting as we are now approaching the lower latitudes of the northern hemisphere.

I keep an eye on Predict Winds calculations on where to drop into the ITCZone.

I believe we are keeping a good course of 220 degrees to drop in position but maybe do one more alteration west. I will wait and see as we may “get lifted” more🤞🏼…meaning the wind will increase and tweak the boat west without us altering anything!!