Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Journal Entry – May 10, 2005 Pacific Puddle Jump Days 5 & 6

Author: Scott

The last two days have given us a good sampling of life at sea. On May 9th (day five) we were reeducated to the fact that when sailing you get and live with what you are dealt from the sea. Most of the entire day was spent bashing into waves off of our starboard bow. It is amazing just how much power the ocean wields, we would be sailing along rolling all over and bam a big wave would hit and you could feel the force throughout the entire hull. These wave strikes make some of our bumps while parking at the dock seem like nothing at all. The reality at sea, is once you have taken all precautions for the conditions you are the captured audience for what the ocean plans out for you, and there is no stop button. If the sea gets angry then you just have to hold on and live with the tirade. The winds kicked up to 25 kts and just as we were moving to a very conservative sail plan the winds came back down to a reasonable twelve kts. To top it all off we started the day sailing under hazy and dreary skies, which is often the case when sailing in the trades. The waves were not yet giving us too much of a pounding so I revitalized our breakfast plan we aborted on Sunday and made a big egg and bacon breakfast, complete with fried potatoes and pineapple juice. However, as the waves grew in size and intensity cooking breakfast became more like a circus act; “ hello ladies and gentlemen watch as Scott balances on one foot while holding a sizzling pan of bacon grease…” It took over an hour and a half just to make breakfast and an hour for Pam to do dishes in our turbulent conditions. The remainder of the day was spent inspecting the boat for any potential problems, and then we got focused on trying to deal with a leak that has mysteriously reappeared in a starboard storage area. Dinner gave way to the sailing conditions, and we kept cooking to a minimum by heating some really good canned clam chowder. It almost felt like we were eating chowder on the wharf in San Francisco on a blustery and foggy Bay Area day. After dinner we settled in to watch a movie on the computer, “The Fires of Kuwait”, nothing like a cheery movie to top of our bumpy day.

The seas continued to pound us through the night, but the morning of day six brought calmer seas, with 100% cloud cover. We made our daily check in on the Amigo Net on frequency 8122 and we are thrilled with how well our SSB radio has been working at sea. Our connections have been very good, with some yachts sounding like they are talking to us so clearly they sound as if they are sitting on the boat with us. After the net we lounged around for a bit. The next project on the agenda was to engage our wind vane rather than sailing with our electric auto pilot. On Tournesol we have a Monitor Wind Vane. A wind vane is a non electrical self steering device that detects shifts in the wind with a vane off the aft of the boat, the vane sends these wind signals to a small rudder or paddle that when moved pulls on control lines that turns the wheel to compensate for the wind shift. It is an ingenious device that steers for us across the thousands of ocean miles. Well, our wind vane went right to work and has been steering right on course all day. The wind vane will allow us to save nearly 60 amp hours of energy each day.
I then had the chance to wow Pam with my famous Spam Sandwiches, yes that’s right Pam ate Spam Sandwiches. Pam was the girl who said there would be no Spam on the boat, and yet she relented and I quote “I think they are really good”. Spam Sandwiches are broiled open faced sandwiches topped with a spread of diced Spam, cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, onions, and green peppers. Yummy! If this sounds gross to you, then don’t pass judgment until you have had the pleasure of trying one for yourself. When the feast was complete we set in on the task of attempting to conquer our illusive leak. Tethered to the boat, I worked for quite some time sealing the edge of the starboard side deck hardware with marine silicone sealant. This will only be a temporary Band-Aid until I can rebed the suspected leaky stanchion or other trouble maker in Austailia/New Zealand. Pam acted as surgical nurse handing me towels, silicone, calking gun, and so on. At the end of the project my hands were covered in silicone, and I had to scratch clumps of silicone off my hands and arms for the rest of the day. I even found a glob of silicone in my hair.

We finished off the day hanging for our “chill hours” in the cockpit listening to music and then eating dinner. Dinner was a chef salad.

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