Saturday, June 23, 2012
Cabo-Hawaii Arrival
We entered the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor at Honolulu at 10:05 Hawaiian time (2005 UTC), June 23, 2012. We proceeded to the fuel dock and then to the Hawaii Yacht Club. We will be staying at HYC four days, before leaving for Kauai. The people at HYC have been extremely helpful and kind to us. We are, of course, thrilled to be back on terra firma and looking forward to our stay.
Noon Report -- Cabo Hawaii Day 20
A couple of very large porpoises welcomed us to Hawaii an hour ago. For awhile they amused themselves simply by diving under the bow wave, but then one flipped totally out of the water over the starboard bow wave, completing its arc at deck level. The other porpoise repeated this friendly gesture on the port side.
10 miles to go! We are off Oahu and can see Diamond Head in the distance.
Our day's run was 151 miles.
We caught another mahi-mahi yesterday about noon. The lure had been in the water about four hours. The fish weighed about fifteen pounds.
This voyage has been marked by good luck. Good luck in obtaining the paper work to leave Mexico just a few hours after the crew arrived. Good luck in terms of wind. Good luck in terms of fishing, with two tuna caught, one caught and released and two mahi-mahi. Only once did we have to bring in the lure before we had a strike. Good luck in that no one was injured and NS and her equipment suffered no major damage or break-down.
At 1800 UTC, June 22, 2012, we are at 21 13.301 N, 157 39.980 W, with 10 miles to go.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 19
Catch and release! Pete and Gay caught a 20 pound blue fin tuna but released it, because they were hoping for another mahi-mahi and we already have fish in the freezer.
132 miles for the days run, mostly under poled-out yankee and full main. The wind was good and our distance over the ground was certainly greater that the 132 miles made good, but we find that the boat runs more quickly and smoothly if we tack downwind, even with this wing-on-wing configuration.
At 1800 UTC, June 22, 2012, we are at 21 59.718 N, 155 12.315 W, with only 161 miles to go.
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132 miles for the days run, mostly under poled-out yankee and full main. The wind was good and our distance over the ground was certainly greater that the 132 miles made good, but we find that the boat runs more quickly and smoothly if we tack downwind, even with this wing-on-wing configuration.
At 1800 UTC, June 22, 2012, we are at 21 59.718 N, 155 12.315 W, with only 161 miles to go.
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Thursday, June 21, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 18
The lure had been dancing in our wake for four hours when, just before local noon, a fish struck. It soon revealed itself to be mahi-mahi by its blue and yellow coloring and that it could be a big one by the way it fought. After having lost a smaller mahi-mahi yesterday by being too aggressive in reeling it in, Pete played this one with admirable patience. Gay gaffed the fish perfectly, Pete dispatched it, and there it lay on the small cleaning table affixed to the stern pulpit. Maybe 15 pounds. About as big as we would want to handle. We ate half the meat last night and froze the other half. Great eating! The two tunas we caught earlier in the voyage were excellent but this fish was superb!
152 miles for the day's run. The winds have been lighter but we have been making good time under single-reef main and yankee.
At 1800 UTC, June 21, 2012, we are at 21 34.066 N, 152 45.799 W, 293 miles from our destination.
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152 miles for the day's run. The winds have been lighter but we have been making good time under single-reef main and yankee.
At 1800 UTC, June 21, 2012, we are at 21 34.066 N, 152 45.799 W, 293 miles from our destination.
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Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 17
Fourteen minutes! Given the success of NS as a fishing platform, I had started to believe that offshore trolling was really easy. But fourteen minutes? The lure had gone into the water a little after noon, local time, and fourteen minutes later, a strike. Pete and Gay had been hoping for a mahi-mahi (dorado), had changed lures, and there it was. Joy! and then heartbreak! The fish got away. Why? I am guessing that Pete was a bit too eager to reel the fish up to the boat. Unlike the two tunas previously caught, this mahi-mahi had some fight.
The day's run was 137 miles. After a brisk start, the winds weakened, especially during the night. At day break, we increased our sail area, returning to the single-reefed main, poled-out yankee configuration. Since we did that we have been exceeding six knots, on average. If we can make 140 miles per day, we will reach Honolulu mid-day on Saturday.
At 1800 UTC, June 20, 2012, we are at 21 27.317 N, 150 01.896 W, with 445 miles to go.
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The day's run was 137 miles. After a brisk start, the winds weakened, especially during the night. At day break, we increased our sail area, returning to the single-reefed main, poled-out yankee configuration. Since we did that we have been exceeding six knots, on average. If we can make 140 miles per day, we will reach Honolulu mid-day on Saturday.
At 1800 UTC, June 20, 2012, we are at 21 27.317 N, 150 01.896 W, with 445 miles to go.
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Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 16
Today was quite a bit slower than yesterday. Our day's run was 132 miles. We sailed most of the 24 hour period with full main and poled out staysail. Very comfortable, at least.
It rained a lot in the night and in the morning. Lots of wet tradewind clouds around. Gay and Pete took advantage of the fresh water falling from the sky to clean themselves up a bit without depleting the water in our tanks.
For a second time, we have adjusted the clock by which we are living. We are now on UTC minus 10 hours.
At 1800 UTC, June 19, 2012, we are at 21 28.691 N, 147 35.482 W, with 582 miles to go.
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It rained a lot in the night and in the morning. Lots of wet tradewind clouds around. Gay and Pete took advantage of the fresh water falling from the sky to clean themselves up a bit without depleting the water in our tanks.
For a second time, we have adjusted the clock by which we are living. We are now on UTC minus 10 hours.
At 1800 UTC, June 19, 2012, we are at 21 28.691 N, 147 35.482 W, with 582 miles to go.
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Monday, June 18, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 15
Yesterday afternoon, running in very brisk tradewinds with lots of waves, we were surround by hundreds and hundreds of porpoises. They were having a great old time surfing in the waves, just as we were, on top of the waves. They stayed with us for at least 15 minutes.
Another fast day. We had shortened sail, but still set another personal day's best for Norwegian Steam at 161 miles made good. We have the staysail hoisted not on its own stay but on the headstay, with a six foot pendant at the tack and a spinnaker pole at the clew. The main is double-reefed.
At 1800 UTC, June 18, 2012, we are at 21 53.651 N, 145 13.813 W, with 714 miles to go.
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Another fast day. We had shortened sail, but still set another personal day's best for Norwegian Steam at 161 miles made good. We have the staysail hoisted not on its own stay but on the headstay, with a six foot pendant at the tack and a spinnaker pole at the clew. The main is double-reefed.
At 1800 UTC, June 18, 2012, we are at 21 53.651 N, 145 13.813 W, with 714 miles to go.
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Sunday, June 17, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 14
158 miles made good! Another personal best day's run for Norwegian Steam. We are flying, perhaps a little too fast. We have been running under double-reefed main and poled-out yankee, but are getting ready to reduce sail area by replacing yankee with staysail. The wind is blowing 20 to 25 knots.
During the night we passed the 2/3 of the way mark.
At 1800 UTC, June 17, 2012, we are at 22 31.132 N, 142 20.974 W, with 875 miles to go.
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During the night we passed the 2/3 of the way mark.
At 1800 UTC, June 17, 2012, we are at 22 31.132 N, 142 20.974 W, with 875 miles to go.
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Saturday, June 16, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 13
Another fish! We dropped the lure into the sea just after lunch and 15 minutes later we had a fish -- a seven pound skipjack tuna. Same lure, same handline. This time it was Pete hauling in the line and Gay working the gaff. From the time the gear was deployed until the fish was in the fridge and the cockpit cleaned, less than an hour had passed. Quicker than a trip to Whole Foods!
Our day's run was 144 miles, a new personal best for Norwegian steam. We have been running in 15 to 20 knot winds, under double reefed main and poled-out yankee. A bit stronger winds are forecast for tomorrow, so we will probably replace the yankee with the staysail, which is only 70% its size.
It's sunny again today, but still a bit chilly on deck, due to the wind. Right now, the temperature inside the boat is 74 degrees.
At 1800 UTC, June 16, 2012, our location is 23 07.786 N, 139 31.360 W, 1033 miles from Honolulu.
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Our day's run was 144 miles, a new personal best for Norwegian steam. We have been running in 15 to 20 knot winds, under double reefed main and poled-out yankee. A bit stronger winds are forecast for tomorrow, so we will probably replace the yankee with the staysail, which is only 70% its size.
It's sunny again today, but still a bit chilly on deck, due to the wind. Right now, the temperature inside the boat is 74 degrees.
At 1800 UTC, June 16, 2012, our location is 23 07.786 N, 139 31.360 W, 1033 miles from Honolulu.
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Friday, June 15, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 12
Our day's run was 143 miles. For Norwegian Steam, that is a new personal best!
Today is mostly sunny. We have the ever-present trade wind clouds, but in smaller proportion. We are running with double reefed main and poled-out yankee. The wind speed jumps around a lot, from 10 knots to 25 knots, which makes the course Rangval steers weave a bit, since he follows the apparent wind and the apparent wind swings aft on gusts and forward on lulls.
At 1800 UTC, on June 15, 2012, our location is 23 08.720 N, 136 54.595 W. We are 1177 miles from Honolulu.
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Today is mostly sunny. We have the ever-present trade wind clouds, but in smaller proportion. We are running with double reefed main and poled-out yankee. The wind speed jumps around a lot, from 10 knots to 25 knots, which makes the course Rangval steers weave a bit, since he follows the apparent wind and the apparent wind swings aft on gusts and forward on lulls.
At 1800 UTC, on June 15, 2012, our location is 23 08.720 N, 136 54.595 W. We are 1177 miles from Honolulu.
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Thursday, June 14, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 11
During the night we passed the halfway point. We are moving along briskly under reefed main and pole-out yankee. Rangval (our Monitor wind-vane self-steering) is doing an admirable job at the tiller, making life a lot easier for the person on watch.
In the middle of the night we had some excitement. I was awakened by a whole lot of clattering of sails and rigging and saw that Gay was already headed up the companionway ladder. Rangval's vane had come loose and without access to the wind's direction, the device had initiated a jibe. The boom was actually prevented from jibing by the preventer line which leads forward from the end of the boom through a block near the bow and thence back to a cockpit winch. Controlling the line with the winch, Gay let the boom jibe and then was able to steer back towards our course and jibe again. The vane was not lost overboard because I always secure it with an extra safety line. Pete reattached the vane, reset its direction and Gay turned the steering chore back to the Rangval.
This really looks like trade wind country now. On all sides we see the small puffy low-flying clouds so characteristic of this region. Once in a while, the sun shines down between clouds.
Although our day's run is the same as yesterday's, we are traveling faster. The yankee poled out to windward limits how close to the wind we can sail and this has forced us to sail below our course, diminishing the distance made good in the direction of Hawaii somewhat less.
I may have mentioned that every morning I download a weather data (grib) file as an attachment to an email that the saildocs server sends me. The file is slightly larger than the size of the maximum file that sailmail will allow, hence I use a compatible amateur radio based system called winlink instead. Once the email message has arrived and the attached grib has been saved, we examine the data as a geographical image using zygrib, an open-source grib viewer.
The gribs are showing us that as we travel westward, the wind will be more and more from the east, so we will be able to regain our northing without having to abandon the wing-on-wing sail plan which we like a lot because it is very stable and balanced.
Today the AIS receiver showed us a freighter 80 miles away. That is far beyond the normal range, because AIS is based on VHF marine radio, which is line-of-sight. The ship is a freighter. From its course, it seems to be headed for Hawaii and is projected to overtake us and pass 10 miles to starboard in approximately seven hours.
At 1800 UTC, June 14, 2012, we are located at 23 16.624 N, 134 20.084 W, 1320 miles from Honolulu. Our day's run was 129 miles.
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In the middle of the night we had some excitement. I was awakened by a whole lot of clattering of sails and rigging and saw that Gay was already headed up the companionway ladder. Rangval's vane had come loose and without access to the wind's direction, the device had initiated a jibe. The boom was actually prevented from jibing by the preventer line which leads forward from the end of the boom through a block near the bow and thence back to a cockpit winch. Controlling the line with the winch, Gay let the boom jibe and then was able to steer back towards our course and jibe again. The vane was not lost overboard because I always secure it with an extra safety line. Pete reattached the vane, reset its direction and Gay turned the steering chore back to the Rangval.
This really looks like trade wind country now. On all sides we see the small puffy low-flying clouds so characteristic of this region. Once in a while, the sun shines down between clouds.
Although our day's run is the same as yesterday's, we are traveling faster. The yankee poled out to windward limits how close to the wind we can sail and this has forced us to sail below our course, diminishing the distance made good in the direction of Hawaii somewhat less.
I may have mentioned that every morning I download a weather data (grib) file as an attachment to an email that the saildocs server sends me. The file is slightly larger than the size of the maximum file that sailmail will allow, hence I use a compatible amateur radio based system called winlink instead. Once the email message has arrived and the attached grib has been saved, we examine the data as a geographical image using zygrib, an open-source grib viewer.
The gribs are showing us that as we travel westward, the wind will be more and more from the east, so we will be able to regain our northing without having to abandon the wing-on-wing sail plan which we like a lot because it is very stable and balanced.
Today the AIS receiver showed us a freighter 80 miles away. That is far beyond the normal range, because AIS is based on VHF marine radio, which is line-of-sight. The ship is a freighter. From its course, it seems to be headed for Hawaii and is projected to overtake us and pass 10 miles to starboard in approximately seven hours.
At 1800 UTC, June 14, 2012, we are located at 23 16.624 N, 134 20.084 W, 1320 miles from Honolulu. Our day's run was 129 miles.
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Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 10
We have reached the trades! The wind has pulled around so that it is now on the starboard quarter.
During the night one of the mainsheet blocks came loose from its attachment point under the boom, so we just lowered the main and have been getting along without it ever since. We are sailing with just the yankee (a high-clewed jib with an area about the same as that of the fore-triangle). It is hard for Rangval (that's the name of our Monitor wind vane self-steering) to keep us on course because there is a lot of weather helm. I had a spare block and was able to use it to repair the mainsheet. We will try a wing-on-wing sail configuration this afternoon, with the main hoisted with a single reef and the yankee poled out to windward.
This morning I got to test the repair that I made yesterday to the charging system. The alternator worked fine and we were able to put a good charge into the battery bank. While this was happening, I ran the watermaker and our fresh water tanks are now full again.
Our day's run was 129 miles. At 1800 UTC, June 13, 2012, our location is 23 44.037 N, 132 00.698 W.
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During the night one of the mainsheet blocks came loose from its attachment point under the boom, so we just lowered the main and have been getting along without it ever since. We are sailing with just the yankee (a high-clewed jib with an area about the same as that of the fore-triangle). It is hard for Rangval (that's the name of our Monitor wind vane self-steering) to keep us on course because there is a lot of weather helm. I had a spare block and was able to use it to repair the mainsheet. We will try a wing-on-wing sail configuration this afternoon, with the main hoisted with a single reef and the yankee poled out to windward.
This morning I got to test the repair that I made yesterday to the charging system. The alternator worked fine and we were able to put a good charge into the battery bank. While this was happening, I ran the watermaker and our fresh water tanks are now full again.
Our day's run was 129 miles. At 1800 UTC, June 13, 2012, our location is 23 44.037 N, 132 00.698 W.
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Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 9
We caught a tuna! Mid afternoon we rigged up the hand line and a couple of hours later Gay reeled in a small tuna on the yoyo. We ate most of it for lunch today. Delicious and much appreciated. When caught, the fish was a silvery blue and weighed about five pounds. I think that is just right. I don't know how we would handle anything a lot bigger. Incidentally, Gay used a green and orange artificial squid bait.
Our day's run was 131 miles and we are 1578 miles from Honolulu. The wind is in the ten to fifteen knot range and is about 20 degrees abaft the beam.
I had been worrying the last two days about our ability to recharge the batteries which supply us with electricity to make water, run the refrigerator/freezer, the HF radio email system, the Garmin 4212 chart plotter and our navigation lights. Keeping them charged is absolutely critical. I ran the engine two days ago and brought the charge from about 53% capacity up to close to 80%. I intended to let it run a little bit longer, but then Pete accidentally sped the engine up by bumping the throttle handle with his shin. I turned it back down almost immediately, but noticed that the display on the alternator regulator had gone crazy. I stopped the engine, restarted it and saw that now the regulator was not even turning on, it's display dark. Why? Sudden spike in voltage due to increased speed? Just another regulator gone bad at random? No answers but a lot to worry about.
This morning the battery bank was down to 60% capacity and I needed to make a decision. Either I could fix the problem, or we would have to cut back radically on our already frugal use of electricity. I got out all my electrical tools, ready to trace the whole charging system. I opened the engine compartment, stared at the alternator and saw immediately that a wire had broken. Stroke of luck! I swaged a terminal to the wire, reconnected it, and now the regulator lit up. I will run the engine tomorrow, because that is when I project that the batteries will be at 50% capacity.
At 1800 UTC, June 12, 2012, our location is 23 42.252 N, 129 38.778 W.
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Our day's run was 131 miles and we are 1578 miles from Honolulu. The wind is in the ten to fifteen knot range and is about 20 degrees abaft the beam.
I had been worrying the last two days about our ability to recharge the batteries which supply us with electricity to make water, run the refrigerator/freezer, the HF radio email system, the Garmin 4212 chart plotter and our navigation lights. Keeping them charged is absolutely critical. I ran the engine two days ago and brought the charge from about 53% capacity up to close to 80%. I intended to let it run a little bit longer, but then Pete accidentally sped the engine up by bumping the throttle handle with his shin. I turned it back down almost immediately, but noticed that the display on the alternator regulator had gone crazy. I stopped the engine, restarted it and saw that now the regulator was not even turning on, it's display dark. Why? Sudden spike in voltage due to increased speed? Just another regulator gone bad at random? No answers but a lot to worry about.
This morning the battery bank was down to 60% capacity and I needed to make a decision. Either I could fix the problem, or we would have to cut back radically on our already frugal use of electricity. I got out all my electrical tools, ready to trace the whole charging system. I opened the engine compartment, stared at the alternator and saw immediately that a wire had broken. Stroke of luck! I swaged a terminal to the wire, reconnected it, and now the regulator lit up. I will run the engine tomorrow, because that is when I project that the batteries will be at 50% capacity.
At 1800 UTC, June 12, 2012, our location is 23 42.252 N, 129 38.778 W.
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Monday, June 11, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 8
Today was very much like yesterday, except that the wind was a bit weaker. Our day's run was 122 miles. Near the end of the morning the sun peaked out through the clouds. We hope that is the start of a trend, because it has been completely overcast these past few days.
We have not seen a boat or ship of any kind for at least three days. Naively, we had been thinking that as we approached Hawaii we would be crossing shipping lanes between the far east and the Panama canal. We were wondering exactly where we might encounter this traffic so that we could be especially vigilant. This morning I used a software package called "Visual Passage Planner" to design a route from Japan to Panama and saw immediately that the great circle routes from the far east go way north, very close to the Aleutian islands, and then run down along the west coast of Canada, the USA, and Mexico. We passed the locations where these routes would cross our path many days ago, so that explains, in part, why we see no boats where we are now.
We saw large porpoises yesterday evening. The way they were jumping around it seemed they were feeding. There must be fish here. This afternoon we are going to rig our fishing gear and try to catch a tuna or a mahi-mahi.
At 1800 UTC, June 11, 2012, we are at 23 33.577 N, 127 16.071 W
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We have not seen a boat or ship of any kind for at least three days. Naively, we had been thinking that as we approached Hawaii we would be crossing shipping lanes between the far east and the Panama canal. We were wondering exactly where we might encounter this traffic so that we could be especially vigilant. This morning I used a software package called "Visual Passage Planner" to design a route from Japan to Panama and saw immediately that the great circle routes from the far east go way north, very close to the Aleutian islands, and then run down along the west coast of Canada, the USA, and Mexico. We passed the locations where these routes would cross our path many days ago, so that explains, in part, why we see no boats where we are now.
We saw large porpoises yesterday evening. The way they were jumping around it seemed they were feeding. There must be fish here. This afternoon we are going to rig our fishing gear and try to catch a tuna or a mahi-mahi.
At 1800 UTC, June 11, 2012, we are at 23 33.577 N, 127 16.071 W
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Sunday, June 10, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 7
We have been at this a week. In less than six hours we will be a third of the way to Honolulu. Our day's run was 135 miles, the best yet! We have 1831 miles to go.
The apparent wind is now abaft the beam. Even though the winds are weaker, we are able to keep up our speed because of the favorable angle.
Now for a change of pace. Many of you out there in the great NS Blog reading public are probably wondering, "What does Alan do all day long? After all, he has three other people to help sail the boat and he doesn't even stand watch. When will he succumb to boredom?" I want you all to know that I very much appreciate your concern and for that reason I have decided to describe my morning.
I arose a few minutes before 7am, at watch-change time. Gay had just completed the "dog" watch and was being replaced on deck by Pete, whose turn it was to do the "morning" watch. Amy was still asleep.
During the night, the charge in the battery bank had fallen to 53% of capacity. 50% is the lowest you can take deep-discharge batteries such as those found on NS and most other cruising boats, without damaging them. The solar panels alone would not suffice to raise the charge level so that it would remain at safe levels for more than a few hours.
I would need to run the engine so that its alternator output could be added to the output of the panels. But first, I filled a half-gallon bottle with water and poured it into the engine's cooling system, which has been losing water. As long as I pour in this water every time I run it, the engine does not seem to over-heat. After checking that there was also sufficient diesel oil in the fuel tank, I started the engine and then checked the electronic charge monitoring system to ascertain that the battery was indeed being charged at a goodly rate.
In the night, Pete had noticed that one of the control lines for the Monitor self-steering was chafing where it ran through a block on the Monitor itself. In daylight, it was clear that something would have to be done. I took some wrenches from my tool bag, donned my harness, tethered myself to a strong point and leaned out over the stern of the boat so that I could reach the block. After several tries, I repositioned the block so that now the line leads fair.
Since I was on deck, Gay asked me to help him shake a reef out of the mainsail. That only took a couple of minutes.
After that, I got our Spectra 150 MPC watermaker going. When the 150 MPC starts up, it automatically tests the salinity of the water it is producing and starts flowing it to the tanks when the salinity is at an acceptable level. I don't trust this, because if the automatic test malfunctions, bad water will be added to the good water already in the tank, possibly making the entire tank undrinkable. Instead, I diverted the product water to a small tap at the sink and tested its salinity with a manual probe. After I satisfied myself that the salinity was in the safe range and that the smell and taste of the water were acceptable, I diverted the flow to a tank.
Since I had not attended to our "black water" holding tank for a week, I added a gallon of freshwater and a packet of Odorlos biological treatment powder to the toilet and flushed it all into the holding tank. That should eliminate smells for another week.
The high frequency radio communications which provide us with personal email, and with weather reports and data, works best within a couple of hours after sunrise or before sunset, due to the nature of the propagation of radio waves in the upper atmosphere. Since the end of the morning "window" was fast approaching, I first connected to the nonprofit sailmail system to send and receive personal email and a textual weather report, then to the amateur radio winlink system to download a weather data (grib) file. This only took about 20 minutes.
After that I noticed that the alternator was no longer charging at the rate that I would have expected. Initially the battery bank had been at 53%. It was now a little over 60%, but the mode of charge had changed from bulk (fast) to float (very slow). Why, when there was still so much to do? I found the manual for our Balmar Max Charge MIC-614 alternator regulator, which told me that the length of time that the regulator is willing to drive the alternator in bulk mode is determined by a factor called "field threshhold-bulk to absorption" (fba) which is given a default value at the factory but can be changed by the owner in a process called "advanced programming". The manual does not explain what this fba means or why it is even necessary (the MIC-614 is a "smart" regulator, after all). I "programmed" the MIC-614 to reduce fba, stopped and restarted the engine, and the system was back to charging in bulk mode.
Amy had been up for a while, so I asked her and Gay if they would like some scrambled eggs. They were in favor of this idea, so I cooked up onions and medium-hot green peppers with eggs. The aroma awakened Pete, so we were all able to eat breakfast at the same time at NS's gimballed saloon table.
While eating, it occurred to me that there might be some grated cheddar in the fridge. I went to our top-opening freezer/fridge, opened the fridge door and searched the interior. Finding nothing, I was just withdrawing my head from the area when the door swung down, giving me a small cut in the forehead and the beginnings of a "goose egg". Why was I so careless? No excuse, but we had been heeled over 15 to 20 degrees on the starboard tack for a week, and it had not been necessary to be as diligent as usual in securing that fridge door with shock cord. Now that the wind is abaft the beam we are heeling much less. I hope I have learned a lesson from this.
Anyway, I got a paper towel for the blood and an ice pack for the goose egg and rested on the settee while Amy washed the dishes. The wound was not serious at all. I did not need a band-aid and the ice made the swelling disappear.
Before noon, I needed to start and stop the engine two more times in order to reset the Balmar MIC-614. Something is not right there!
At 1800 UTC, June 10, 2012, we are at 23 24.633 N, 125 03.327 W
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The apparent wind is now abaft the beam. Even though the winds are weaker, we are able to keep up our speed because of the favorable angle.
Now for a change of pace. Many of you out there in the great NS Blog reading public are probably wondering, "What does Alan do all day long? After all, he has three other people to help sail the boat and he doesn't even stand watch. When will he succumb to boredom?" I want you all to know that I very much appreciate your concern and for that reason I have decided to describe my morning.
I arose a few minutes before 7am, at watch-change time. Gay had just completed the "dog" watch and was being replaced on deck by Pete, whose turn it was to do the "morning" watch. Amy was still asleep.
During the night, the charge in the battery bank had fallen to 53% of capacity. 50% is the lowest you can take deep-discharge batteries such as those found on NS and most other cruising boats, without damaging them. The solar panels alone would not suffice to raise the charge level so that it would remain at safe levels for more than a few hours.
I would need to run the engine so that its alternator output could be added to the output of the panels. But first, I filled a half-gallon bottle with water and poured it into the engine's cooling system, which has been losing water. As long as I pour in this water every time I run it, the engine does not seem to over-heat. After checking that there was also sufficient diesel oil in the fuel tank, I started the engine and then checked the electronic charge monitoring system to ascertain that the battery was indeed being charged at a goodly rate.
In the night, Pete had noticed that one of the control lines for the Monitor self-steering was chafing where it ran through a block on the Monitor itself. In daylight, it was clear that something would have to be done. I took some wrenches from my tool bag, donned my harness, tethered myself to a strong point and leaned out over the stern of the boat so that I could reach the block. After several tries, I repositioned the block so that now the line leads fair.
Since I was on deck, Gay asked me to help him shake a reef out of the mainsail. That only took a couple of minutes.
After that, I got our Spectra 150 MPC watermaker going. When the 150 MPC starts up, it automatically tests the salinity of the water it is producing and starts flowing it to the tanks when the salinity is at an acceptable level. I don't trust this, because if the automatic test malfunctions, bad water will be added to the good water already in the tank, possibly making the entire tank undrinkable. Instead, I diverted the product water to a small tap at the sink and tested its salinity with a manual probe. After I satisfied myself that the salinity was in the safe range and that the smell and taste of the water were acceptable, I diverted the flow to a tank.
Since I had not attended to our "black water" holding tank for a week, I added a gallon of freshwater and a packet of Odorlos biological treatment powder to the toilet and flushed it all into the holding tank. That should eliminate smells for another week.
The high frequency radio communications which provide us with personal email, and with weather reports and data, works best within a couple of hours after sunrise or before sunset, due to the nature of the propagation of radio waves in the upper atmosphere. Since the end of the morning "window" was fast approaching, I first connected to the nonprofit sailmail system to send and receive personal email and a textual weather report, then to the amateur radio winlink system to download a weather data (grib) file. This only took about 20 minutes.
After that I noticed that the alternator was no longer charging at the rate that I would have expected. Initially the battery bank had been at 53%. It was now a little over 60%, but the mode of charge had changed from bulk (fast) to float (very slow). Why, when there was still so much to do? I found the manual for our Balmar Max Charge MIC-614 alternator regulator, which told me that the length of time that the regulator is willing to drive the alternator in bulk mode is determined by a factor called "field threshhold-bulk to absorption" (fba) which is given a default value at the factory but can be changed by the owner in a process called "advanced programming". The manual does not explain what this fba means or why it is even necessary (the MIC-614 is a "smart" regulator, after all). I "programmed" the MIC-614 to reduce fba, stopped and restarted the engine, and the system was back to charging in bulk mode.
Amy had been up for a while, so I asked her and Gay if they would like some scrambled eggs. They were in favor of this idea, so I cooked up onions and medium-hot green peppers with eggs. The aroma awakened Pete, so we were all able to eat breakfast at the same time at NS's gimballed saloon table.
While eating, it occurred to me that there might be some grated cheddar in the fridge. I went to our top-opening freezer/fridge, opened the fridge door and searched the interior. Finding nothing, I was just withdrawing my head from the area when the door swung down, giving me a small cut in the forehead and the beginnings of a "goose egg". Why was I so careless? No excuse, but we had been heeled over 15 to 20 degrees on the starboard tack for a week, and it had not been necessary to be as diligent as usual in securing that fridge door with shock cord. Now that the wind is abaft the beam we are heeling much less. I hope I have learned a lesson from this.
Anyway, I got a paper towel for the blood and an ice pack for the goose egg and rested on the settee while Amy washed the dishes. The wound was not serious at all. I did not need a band-aid and the ice made the swelling disappear.
Before noon, I needed to start and stop the engine two more times in order to reset the Balmar MIC-614. Something is not right there!
At 1800 UTC, June 10, 2012, we are at 23 24.633 N, 125 03.327 W
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Saturday, June 9, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 6
Last night we passed the quarter-way marker. Our day's run was 131 miles. We are now 1966 miles from Honolulu.
We are all alone out here, at least as far as we can tell. We have seen no other vessels in the past 24 hours, either by AIS or with the naked eye. When you consider that the AIS is working to 20 or 30 miles out here, the isolation is rather awesome.
The last few days have been overcast much of the time. The solar panels, consequently, have not been producing as much electricity as I had hoped. I have now had to run the engine twice to charge the battery banks and it appears I will have to continue to do this every other day. Fortunately, we have plenty of diesel fuel for this and while charging batteries but not propelling the vessel at the same time, the engine runs cool.
I bought a lot of very delicious tomatoes in Cabo San Jose. They are, unfortunately, all gone now, mostly spoiled. I wish there had been a convenient source of green tomatoes. I have also lost a couple of carrots and a couple of grapefruit, but the apples, cabbages and oranges are doing well. We will not starve, however, even if all the fresh produce goes bad because we have lots of dried and canned goods.
At 1800 UTC on June 9, 2012, our location is 23 05.908 N, 122 38.282 W
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We are all alone out here, at least as far as we can tell. We have seen no other vessels in the past 24 hours, either by AIS or with the naked eye. When you consider that the AIS is working to 20 or 30 miles out here, the isolation is rather awesome.
The last few days have been overcast much of the time. The solar panels, consequently, have not been producing as much electricity as I had hoped. I have now had to run the engine twice to charge the battery banks and it appears I will have to continue to do this every other day. Fortunately, we have plenty of diesel fuel for this and while charging batteries but not propelling the vessel at the same time, the engine runs cool.
I bought a lot of very delicious tomatoes in Cabo San Jose. They are, unfortunately, all gone now, mostly spoiled. I wish there had been a convenient source of green tomatoes. I have also lost a couple of carrots and a couple of grapefruit, but the apples, cabbages and oranges are doing well. We will not starve, however, even if all the fresh produce goes bad because we have lots of dried and canned goods.
At 1800 UTC on June 9, 2012, our location is 23 05.908 N, 122 38.282 W
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Friday, June 8, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-reHawaii Day 5
We crossed the 120th Meridian this morning and finally the wind is coming from east of north. Little by little we move into the trades. Our day's run was 130 miles, the best yet.
The morning was overcast, but now there are a few hints of blue. Maybe there will be some clearing this afternoon. We are traveling across a true oceanscape, with the wavetops of the swell being separated by several hundred feet. With the true wind on the beam, it is rare now that we hit a wave so hard that it causes the boat to shudder.
It had seemed to me that our consumption of electricity was a bit more than expected. Gazing at the electrical switch panel last night, I noticed that the small bilge pump was going on and off quite regularly. Then I remembered the bow anchor which is installed in a roller right through the stem of the boat, inside a baffled ventilation box. If water enters around the roller, most of it is trapped in the ventilation box and flows out a drain hole at the bottom. When water is entering with a lot of force, as it would if the bow were plowing into a wave, some water might flow over the opening at the top of the back of the box, where the chain exits over a second roller. I crawled over sails, duffel bags and provisions to get right up into the bow of the boat, opened an access door, peered right at the back of the box and observed that about a pint of water was pouring down every 15 seconds or so. I then cut a piece of foam and was able to force that up into the space under the roller. That cut the flow more or less in half. The boat is in no danger from this. The small automatic bilge pump is capable of 800 gallons per hour. A foot above it in the keel is the large automatic pump which can handle 2200 gallons per hour. That pump is 2.5 feet below the cabin sole and if it were to start up, a siren would sound. We are a long way from that happening. If the large pump ran, it would probably mean that the small pump had worn out. We carry a complete replacement on board. In a few more days we will be running and the bow will not be nearly so wet. If the problem does not go away, I will go to the bow and stuff foam all around the anchor opening. In Hawaii, I will make some sort of a plug so that we are ready for the Sitka leg.
Our current location, at 1800 UTC, June 8, 2012 is 22 36.223 N, 120 17.902 W
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The morning was overcast, but now there are a few hints of blue. Maybe there will be some clearing this afternoon. We are traveling across a true oceanscape, with the wavetops of the swell being separated by several hundred feet. With the true wind on the beam, it is rare now that we hit a wave so hard that it causes the boat to shudder.
It had seemed to me that our consumption of electricity was a bit more than expected. Gazing at the electrical switch panel last night, I noticed that the small bilge pump was going on and off quite regularly. Then I remembered the bow anchor which is installed in a roller right through the stem of the boat, inside a baffled ventilation box. If water enters around the roller, most of it is trapped in the ventilation box and flows out a drain hole at the bottom. When water is entering with a lot of force, as it would if the bow were plowing into a wave, some water might flow over the opening at the top of the back of the box, where the chain exits over a second roller. I crawled over sails, duffel bags and provisions to get right up into the bow of the boat, opened an access door, peered right at the back of the box and observed that about a pint of water was pouring down every 15 seconds or so. I then cut a piece of foam and was able to force that up into the space under the roller. That cut the flow more or less in half. The boat is in no danger from this. The small automatic bilge pump is capable of 800 gallons per hour. A foot above it in the keel is the large automatic pump which can handle 2200 gallons per hour. That pump is 2.5 feet below the cabin sole and if it were to start up, a siren would sound. We are a long way from that happening. If the large pump ran, it would probably mean that the small pump had worn out. We carry a complete replacement on board. In a few more days we will be running and the bow will not be nearly so wet. If the problem does not go away, I will go to the bow and stuff foam all around the anchor opening. In Hawaii, I will make some sort of a plug so that we are ready for the Sitka leg.
Our current location, at 1800 UTC, June 8, 2012 is 22 36.223 N, 120 17.902 W
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Thursday, June 7, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 4
1800 UTC, June 7, 2012. Our day's run was 126 miles. After the first 10 hours, we were on track for a 150 mile day, but then the wind weakened. Earlier in the evening, the wind had increased into the 20 to 25 knot range and the boat was overpowered, so we took a second reef in the main and dropped the staysail. She was still going fast. Unfortunately, that did not last all night. We are still sailing with yankee and double-reefed main, but now we definitely need to make a change. The wind has dropped to an average of 15 knots and has veered to the north, so that we are finally on a beam reach. As we travel west, the weather charts tell us that we we will encounter winds that are progressively more and more from the east, until we are broad-reaching in the northeast trade winds. That might take three or more days.
In between trimming sails, keeping a lookout for dangers and steering (or tweeking the Monitor wind vane self steering), eating is one of the more important things we do. Not having been affected by queasiness on this voyage, one of my jobs is to get people to eat. When I woke up this morning, Pete was on watch in the cockpit, while Amy and Gay were asleep on the settees, port and starboard. Pete did not feel like breakfast yet, so I got him a granola bar and some orange juice. Following Pete's lead, I ate the same. When Amy woke up, after drinking lime gatorade she agreed that she could eat some orange slices, so we all enjoyed a couple of the very delicious oranges I bought in San Jose. I then decided that I personally needed more to eat, so I made a batch of oat meal, for myself of course, but twice as much as I would eat in the hope that I could induce others to partake. It worked. We all had oatmeal with apples and raisins. Later, when Gay woke up, he ate a bowl of granola. A little later, I made sandwiches for Amy, Pete and myself, but Gay declined, saying he had just had granola. But then, when he saw the rest of us eating our sandwiches, he asked me to make one for him too. Very simple fare, but its the only restaurant in these parts.
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In between trimming sails, keeping a lookout for dangers and steering (or tweeking the Monitor wind vane self steering), eating is one of the more important things we do. Not having been affected by queasiness on this voyage, one of my jobs is to get people to eat. When I woke up this morning, Pete was on watch in the cockpit, while Amy and Gay were asleep on the settees, port and starboard. Pete did not feel like breakfast yet, so I got him a granola bar and some orange juice. Following Pete's lead, I ate the same. When Amy woke up, after drinking lime gatorade she agreed that she could eat some orange slices, so we all enjoyed a couple of the very delicious oranges I bought in San Jose. I then decided that I personally needed more to eat, so I made a batch of oat meal, for myself of course, but twice as much as I would eat in the hope that I could induce others to partake. It worked. We all had oatmeal with apples and raisins. Later, when Gay woke up, he ate a bowl of granola. A little later, I made sandwiches for Amy, Pete and myself, but Gay declined, saying he had just had granola. But then, when he saw the rest of us eating our sandwiches, he asked me to make one for him too. Very simple fare, but its the only restaurant in these parts.
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Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 3
We are now 2353 miles from our destination, having sailed 108 miles in the past 24 hours. As predicted, tne wind has veered enough to let us ease the sheets a bit. With 15 knot winds, we are now averaging about six knots and are not pounding into the waves as often. Lighter winds, in the ten knot range, are predicted for tomorrow. If that happens, we will still be able to make good time, if the wind continues to veer.
The AIS receiver is a godsend. The range out here is at least 30 miles and every day we see half a dozen ships. None has come closer than four miles, but knowing what their speed and direction is has provided peace of mind. Night before last we did encounter a sizable fishing vessel that was not transmitting AIS. It was brilliantly lit up and we could see it from many miles off, but its running lights, if it had them lit, were simply overpowered by all the other lights, so that we were unable to determine what direction it was going. We measured its bearing with a hand compass many times and came to the conclusion that we were on a collision course. We then altered our course 30 degrees to leeward and only then did the bearing change. We concluded that the vessel was either moving slowly or not at all.
Today is beautiful and sunny. We are cracking along on the starboard tack, over brilliant blue seas, heeled 15 degrees with the leeward rail occasionally awash, making six knots.
Our current location, at 1800 UTC, is 21 58.808 N, 115 45.327 W
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The AIS receiver is a godsend. The range out here is at least 30 miles and every day we see half a dozen ships. None has come closer than four miles, but knowing what their speed and direction is has provided peace of mind. Night before last we did encounter a sizable fishing vessel that was not transmitting AIS. It was brilliantly lit up and we could see it from many miles off, but its running lights, if it had them lit, were simply overpowered by all the other lights, so that we were unable to determine what direction it was going. We measured its bearing with a hand compass many times and came to the conclusion that we were on a collision course. We then altered our course 30 degrees to leeward and only then did the bearing change. We concluded that the vessel was either moving slowly or not at all.
Today is beautiful and sunny. We are cracking along on the starboard tack, over brilliant blue seas, heeled 15 degrees with the leeward rail occasionally awash, making six knots.
Our current location, at 1800 UTC, is 21 58.808 N, 115 45.327 W
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Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 2
With 2461 miles to go, our day's run was 108 miles, with 106 of those miles "made good" (in the direction we wanted to go). We are still sailing close hauled in 15 to 20 knot breezes. The wind has shifted more to the north, but we are still sailing about 13 degrees south of the desired heading. We are hoping the wind will continued to veer as, in fact, the weather forecast indicates that it should.
The high point of this 24 hours was a visit by a blue footed boobie, a sea bird with long elegant wings but with a rather comical face. Our boobie landed on our solar panels and rode for a few minutes. I did not want the bird to stay very long, however, as boobies are notorious for fouling the decks and appendages of boats with their excrement and boobie poop all over the solar panels would definitely hinder their performance. Not wanting to have to climb up on the stern arch in a seaway to clean the panels, I asked Gay and Pete to shoo the bird away. The boobie was hard to get rid of, and it kept coming back, only to have every attempt met with waving arms and seat cushions. It even tried to land on the leech of the mainsail, but could not hold on and could not avoid bumping its wings into the backstay. Ouch!
Our current position, at 1800 UTC on June 5, 2012, is 21 44.524 N, 113 49.457 W.
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The high point of this 24 hours was a visit by a blue footed boobie, a sea bird with long elegant wings but with a rather comical face. Our boobie landed on our solar panels and rode for a few minutes. I did not want the bird to stay very long, however, as boobies are notorious for fouling the decks and appendages of boats with their excrement and boobie poop all over the solar panels would definitely hinder their performance. Not wanting to have to climb up on the stern arch in a seaway to clean the panels, I asked Gay and Pete to shoo the bird away. The boobie was hard to get rid of, and it kept coming back, only to have every attempt met with waving arms and seat cushions. It even tried to land on the leech of the mainsail, but could not hold on and could not avoid bumping its wings into the backstay. Ouch!
Our current position, at 1800 UTC on June 5, 2012, is 21 44.524 N, 113 49.457 W.
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Monday, June 4, 2012
Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 1
Noon, Day 1. 2567 nautical miles to go. When we started, the distance to go was 2690 miles. Since the start, we have only knocked 123 miles off the total we need to achieve.
Our noon-to-noon run over the ground was 104 miles, but the distance "made good" was only 90 miles, because a west-northwest wind is forcing us to sail to the south of the great circle route. We have been sailing close hauled under main, staysail and yankee for the entire 24 hour period. Slowly the wind has veered, lifting us closer and closer to the bearing of Hawaii. According the weather information (grib file) that I downloaded this morning, the wind will continue to veer and we will soon be sailing towards our destination and may even be able to ease the sheets a bit. We are not complaining, however. The weather charts that Gay was looking at for a number of weeks were indicating much lighter winds in this area.
The boat is just jogging along. Very comfortable except for the heeling. We are getting used to it. Everyone is eating and feeling pretty good. So far a turtle, a dolphin and an albatross have been sighted. Since we cleared Cabo Falso, the wind speed has continued to vary between 12 and 18 knots.
Our current location is 21 51.564 N, 111 53.286 W (GoogleEarth compatible format).
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Our noon-to-noon run over the ground was 104 miles, but the distance "made good" was only 90 miles, because a west-northwest wind is forcing us to sail to the south of the great circle route. We have been sailing close hauled under main, staysail and yankee for the entire 24 hour period. Slowly the wind has veered, lifting us closer and closer to the bearing of Hawaii. According the weather information (grib file) that I downloaded this morning, the wind will continue to veer and we will soon be sailing towards our destination and may even be able to ease the sheets a bit. We are not complaining, however. The weather charts that Gay was looking at for a number of weeks were indicating much lighter winds in this area.
The boat is just jogging along. Very comfortable except for the heeling. We are getting used to it. Everyone is eating and feeling pretty good. So far a turtle, a dolphin and an albatross have been sighted. Since we cleared Cabo Falso, the wind speed has continued to vary between 12 and 18 knots.
Our current location is 21 51.564 N, 111 53.286 W (GoogleEarth compatible format).
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Sunday, June 3, 2012
Hawaii Here We Come (half day zero)
Norwegian Steam left the dock at the Marina at Puerto Los Cabos very quietly at 1201 AM, June 3, 2012, bound for Hawaii. Amy, Pete Libbey, and Gay Morris had arrived by air and taxi a bit before five. After stowing most of their gear, we had a Mexican meal at the Container, a very good restaurant in the marina. Then the wait began. Our exit papers stated that we would leave on the third, so that is what we intended to do. Gay was able to get a bit of sleep. Pete took a walk. Amy read. I (Alan) did a little more stowing.
As we slipped away from the dock there was almost no wind and no other people could be seen. When we passed La Playita, the fishing village on the north side of the estuary that forms the marina, however, music and speech erupted from loudspeakers. I am sure it was not about us. Just a Mexican party scheduled to start at midnight. Very typical. For once, loud music late at night was welcome.
My reason for leaving around midnight was to give us time to get past Cabo Falso before the afternoon wind could build. Cabo Falso is notorious for turning back small boats attempting to round it.
There had been a strong sea breeze blowing into the marina during the afternoon, but it had died out by dinner time. I had hoped that the sea outside the marina would be calm too, but that was not be. Instead the water was very choppy which impeded our progress, and gradually, over a number of hours, a head wind built up. When we got to Cabo San Lucas, the wind really began to blow. We raised the main, double reefed, and by the time it was all the way up, the wind speed was 26 knots. A little later, we hoisted the staysail. We then had enough sail up to make about five knots without the engine running, but to do so we had to revise our course to the south. I was willing to do that because a more southerly course put distance between us and Cabo Falso.
In spite of sea conditions rougher than anticipated, none of us suffered from seasickness. Pete and Gay used the patch while Amy and I took Bonine. Both approaches seem to have worked.
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As we slipped away from the dock there was almost no wind and no other people could be seen. When we passed La Playita, the fishing village on the north side of the estuary that forms the marina, however, music and speech erupted from loudspeakers. I am sure it was not about us. Just a Mexican party scheduled to start at midnight. Very typical. For once, loud music late at night was welcome.
My reason for leaving around midnight was to give us time to get past Cabo Falso before the afternoon wind could build. Cabo Falso is notorious for turning back small boats attempting to round it.
There had been a strong sea breeze blowing into the marina during the afternoon, but it had died out by dinner time. I had hoped that the sea outside the marina would be calm too, but that was not be. Instead the water was very choppy which impeded our progress, and gradually, over a number of hours, a head wind built up. When we got to Cabo San Lucas, the wind really began to blow. We raised the main, double reefed, and by the time it was all the way up, the wind speed was 26 knots. A little later, we hoisted the staysail. We then had enough sail up to make about five knots without the engine running, but to do so we had to revise our course to the south. I was willing to do that because a more southerly course put distance between us and Cabo Falso.
In spite of sea conditions rougher than anticipated, none of us suffered from seasickness. Pete and Gay used the patch while Amy and I took Bonine. Both approaches seem to have worked.
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