Journal Entry November 2, 2005 New Zealand or the South Pole?

Author: Pam

After spending the last year in Mexico and the tropics this sudden change in temperature we are experiencing is causing quite a shock to the system. The cabin thermometer reads in the low seventies during the day, I just don’t believe it. The air has a bite that feels like fall in Maine. I have never had very thick blood (even when I lived in Maine), but after this past year I am sure I have turned into the ultimate wimp. I thought I was going to melt in Tonga on a daily basis, you couldn’t get any relief from the blazing sun, apparently gone are those days and out comes the fleece to be dusted off and hot chocolate or tea for breakfast. I am sure I am going to get some grief from my east coast family and friends as winter descends upon them, I best keep my whining to a minimum. Except for the chilliness it was one of the most beautiful and clear nights so far on this passage. Though we are not lucky enough to be graced by the moon, there are some stars or planets (I am not sure which) that are bright enough to cast light on the water.

Frank and Rachel on Starship left Fiji two days after we left Tonga and with the combination of the proximity (Fiji is closer to NZ) and their boat speed they have managed to practically catch up. We talked to them this morning on the SSB radio, they were 45 miles behind us. We figure we will be able to talk via VHF within the next 24 hours. As always it is nice to know there is someone close by. We checked in three times today and will talk to them again tomorrow morning. We checked in on “The Rag of the Air” net as usual, we were actually first. There are fewer boats checking in right now, most of the boats that were checking in when we left Tonga have already arrived in NZ. Again a combination of when they left and most boats motor more than we do.

In the morning I read two articles out loud from the August Latitude 38 sailing publication. The first one was an article on diesel maintenance written for the engine mechanical idiot. We left on this trip knowing this was one of our weakest areas. I think with all of our trials and tribulations we are perhaps out of the idiot category, but only marginally. We are planning to take a diesel engine class sometime in the next six months. My how my life has changed. The second article was an interview with William Peterson a veteran sailor who has been sailing for half his life. It was interesting to read how he has survived as a gypsy, he has also been sailing long enough that his odds seem to be against him and he lost both of the boats. One was dismasted on his way back to the Bay Area at the end of a nine year circumnavigation and the other he put on a reef in the South Pacific. The article left us wondering what he would do next.

It was a good food day, we had rice and beans with cheese (again) for lunch and my all time passage favorite pasta with red clam sauce. The seas picked up and we were playing leap frog again in the afternoon and we thought we might have to heave to to make the pasta, but they laid down again around dinner time.

As the wind is decreasing our hope for a 12 day passage is growing thin. We have made slower progress the past two days and as always you just don’t know what is around the corner. We are settled into our routine and not in a big rush, it’s a good thing I think you would go out of your mind. I don’t mind the slowness during a passage, but it can hard as you get into the last 100 miles, then it really does seem to be all about getting there and if the miles are ticking off slowly it can make the days much longer. We will get there when we get there, because unlike most other sailboats out here we will not be motoring. A small victory for the underdog: Five Crowns Scott 5, Pam 2.