TIME: 2021/05/30 03:32
LATITUDE: 02-41.87N
LONGITUDE: 152-03.18W
NEXT WAYPOINT: 05N-152W
COURSE (COG): 348T
BOAT SPEED (SOG): 3.1 kn
WIND SPEED (AWS): 13 kn
WIND ANGLE (AWA): 80 degrees
SEA STATE: 0.5m E Swell, confused and choppy
How spoiled are we?! One day we have showers and the next day we have a chance to go swimming. Nothing like swimming with 4000m of water below you. The wind died out yesterday afternoon, there was still perhaps around a 0.5m swell so the boat was rocking around a bit, but we dropped the sails and threw a line in for everyone to hold onto. The girls felt we had to take this opportunity as we just don't know if it was our last chance and eventually we will be in water too cold to enjoy.
The first time we swam on a passage was back in the Med when sailing from Greece to Malta. I remember how it was glassy calm with no wind and for some reason we felt compelled to jump in. Since then we always are looking for the opportunity. Unfortunately we did not have the chance on the Atlantic crossing as the wind and seas never cooperated for us. But we were able to swim a couple of times between Panama and Galapagos. Once at the equator for our initiation ceremony as Shellbacks. Then again to clean the bottom of the boat before entering Galapagos.
The girls are already daring each other to jump into the water when we eventually arrive in Alaska. Who knows, perhaps they will come to enjoy being cold water swimmers in the end. I can assure you, this member of the crew, will not. We still have a long way to go before we reach Alaska so who knows, maybe we will have another opportunity for a swim.
Last night was one of those nights where we just had one squall after another, but Maple was well trimmed with her usual three reefs in the main and two and at times three reefs in the head sail. Still would fly along at upwards of 7 knots downwind. I drew the lucky shift with the squall which brought an absolute torrential downpour to accompany the strong winds. But I was a cosy girl in my foul weather gear, especially since I have now had to break out the thermal underwear at night.
About my foul weather gear, I have had to really piece it together. Just days before leaving Tahiti, I discovered the hard way my jacket was very much no longer waterproof...not one bit of it. Fortunately we recently acquired the girls used gear from another kid boat and by a stroke of luck I can squeeze into Ella's jacket despite being a junior size. Now let's be clear, the sleeves are too short and it very much does not come close to fitting over my hips, but hey, it is better than the alternative...nothing!!! This same boat also generously gave me rubber boots. So I figured, brilliant, I am all set. However, with the last two wears of my foul weather pants, I have discovered the seams all leak and so as such do not keep me dry. However, they do keep me warm by wearing thermals underneath even though everything gets soaked. So I will say I am feeling slightly under-prepared for colder weather sailing...perhaps this is the year Alaska will have an unseasonably warm and dry summer. ;)
As for our current conditions, we are enjoying sunny skies. We are still trying to go slow so have now had to drop the main sail entirely. We have just a small scrap of a headsail out and we are stilling sailing between 3 and 4 knots. The seas are small but choppy. Any day the rain gives us a break is a good day.
Sunday 30 May 2021
Friday 28 May 2021
A Big Day!!!
TIME: 2021/05/28 02:46
LATITUDE: 00-12.54N
LONGITUDE: 151-47.38W
NEXT WAYPOINT: 05N-152W
COURSE (COG): 003T
BOAT SPEED (SOG): 3.3 kn
WIND SPEED (AWS): 15 kn
WIND ANGLE (AWA): 70 degrees
SEA STATE: 0.5m E Swell
So much news to report on...don't worry, all good news!!! First we are enjoying our second day in a row of gorgeous, calm sailing. We are intentionally sailing slowly as our friend, Shaun, helping provide us with forecasting (No, we didn't fire him after the recent weather debacle!) has warned us of a band of rather unpleasant conditions further north of us. It is supposed to theoretically pass by June 3rd so we are going to bob slowly north between just 2 to 3 knots in calm conditions to hopefully avoid the worst of the winds. Although apparently we won't be able to avoid a deluge of rain that we will likely run into around June 2nd, but hopefully we avoid the worst of the wind with our current sailing strategy.
Now moving on from the whole sailing thing...the big news is that today everyone had showers!!! Yay, no more smelly people on Maple...at least for a day. Love how the little things bring me so much happiness when there is not much to break up the monotony of crossing an ocean! We cleverly showered on deck standing in buckets. Then used the water collected from our showers to do laundry by hand. Wait, does this sound like camping?? We are still trying to be very frugal with our water usage since we are down 400L of water. So far the repair on the port tank is holding but you just never know when it might let go without warning.
The other bit of big news is we are officially back in the Northern Hemisphere!! As of 12:10pm local time (22:10 UTC), we crossed the equator. We paid homage to a variety of sea gods with a shot that was a mixture of two parts Abuelo Panamanian rum (Thank you to Harry on SV Tanooki for the generous gift!!), one part maple syrup (We had to have something Canadian mixed in there, eh!), and a teaspoon of French Polynesian honey. Iris suggested adding the honey and I figured good idea to represent our two years in the South Pacific, but apparently I was wrong. The honey is to honour Aegir, the Norse deity of the ocean whose nine daughters are the nine waves. Aegir apparently in his day enjoyed brewing mead, which often included honey. So there you go. I figured I knew about Poseidon and Neptune but didn't realize this whole time we were missing honouring Aegir too. So sailors out there, don't forget Aegir the next time you need to honour the sea gods.
The conditions were finally calm enough for D to get into the port engine. Yup, the alternator is dead. We are feeling good though about our situation. Now that we are in the Northern Hemisphere the sun will pass more behind us than in front of us which it was doing in the south causing the sails to shade the solar. So this means the solar panels should actually prove to be more helpful with charging the batteries. We are also being very cautious in our use of the starboard engine when charging with it. We are optimistic we will be okay without stopping in Hawaii. Christine, please tell Mike we are sorry we will miss him in Hilo, but instead I think he should get Easy ready over the next couple of weeks and when we pass HI, he can join us and sail along side us to Alaska!! I am sure there is surfing or snowboarding or something adventurous for him to do in Alaska!! And Jollydogs, you should come too!! I am receiving optimistic news from friends and family in Canada that by September there might be some degree of normalcy which who knows might mean Canada will let you Americans back in!!!
We always love the emails we receive from those who have written, thank you!! The radio propagation with our awesome NZ station is slowly getting harder to connect to and we have not had any luck connecting with any of the stations in Hawaii with any kind of reliability yet. So I continue to not send many individual replies to minimize the volume of transmissions that need to happen when we do connect. Please know how much I love hearing your news!!!
Bradley, the Maple crew wants to send you the happiest of birthday wishes for you tomorrow!!! We are excited about your new home and look forward to hearing of you getting settled in the next month. Happy Birthday!! We love you!
LATITUDE: 00-12.54N
LONGITUDE: 151-47.38W
NEXT WAYPOINT: 05N-152W
COURSE (COG): 003T
BOAT SPEED (SOG): 3.3 kn
WIND SPEED (AWS): 15 kn
WIND ANGLE (AWA): 70 degrees
SEA STATE: 0.5m E Swell
So much news to report on...don't worry, all good news!!! First we are enjoying our second day in a row of gorgeous, calm sailing. We are intentionally sailing slowly as our friend, Shaun, helping provide us with forecasting (No, we didn't fire him after the recent weather debacle!) has warned us of a band of rather unpleasant conditions further north of us. It is supposed to theoretically pass by June 3rd so we are going to bob slowly north between just 2 to 3 knots in calm conditions to hopefully avoid the worst of the winds. Although apparently we won't be able to avoid a deluge of rain that we will likely run into around June 2nd, but hopefully we avoid the worst of the wind with our current sailing strategy.
Now moving on from the whole sailing thing...the big news is that today everyone had showers!!! Yay, no more smelly people on Maple...at least for a day. Love how the little things bring me so much happiness when there is not much to break up the monotony of crossing an ocean! We cleverly showered on deck standing in buckets. Then used the water collected from our showers to do laundry by hand. Wait, does this sound like camping?? We are still trying to be very frugal with our water usage since we are down 400L of water. So far the repair on the port tank is holding but you just never know when it might let go without warning.
The other bit of big news is we are officially back in the Northern Hemisphere!! As of 12:10pm local time (22:10 UTC), we crossed the equator. We paid homage to a variety of sea gods with a shot that was a mixture of two parts Abuelo Panamanian rum (Thank you to Harry on SV Tanooki for the generous gift!!), one part maple syrup (We had to have something Canadian mixed in there, eh!), and a teaspoon of French Polynesian honey. Iris suggested adding the honey and I figured good idea to represent our two years in the South Pacific, but apparently I was wrong. The honey is to honour Aegir, the Norse deity of the ocean whose nine daughters are the nine waves. Aegir apparently in his day enjoyed brewing mead, which often included honey. So there you go. I figured I knew about Poseidon and Neptune but didn't realize this whole time we were missing honouring Aegir too. So sailors out there, don't forget Aegir the next time you need to honour the sea gods.
The conditions were finally calm enough for D to get into the port engine. Yup, the alternator is dead. We are feeling good though about our situation. Now that we are in the Northern Hemisphere the sun will pass more behind us than in front of us which it was doing in the south causing the sails to shade the solar. So this means the solar panels should actually prove to be more helpful with charging the batteries. We are also being very cautious in our use of the starboard engine when charging with it. We are optimistic we will be okay without stopping in Hawaii. Christine, please tell Mike we are sorry we will miss him in Hilo, but instead I think he should get Easy ready over the next couple of weeks and when we pass HI, he can join us and sail along side us to Alaska!! I am sure there is surfing or snowboarding or something adventurous for him to do in Alaska!! And Jollydogs, you should come too!! I am receiving optimistic news from friends and family in Canada that by September there might be some degree of normalcy which who knows might mean Canada will let you Americans back in!!!
We always love the emails we receive from those who have written, thank you!! The radio propagation with our awesome NZ station is slowly getting harder to connect to and we have not had any luck connecting with any of the stations in Hawaii with any kind of reliability yet. So I continue to not send many individual replies to minimize the volume of transmissions that need to happen when we do connect. Please know how much I love hearing your news!!!
Bradley, the Maple crew wants to send you the happiest of birthday wishes for you tomorrow!!! We are excited about your new home and look forward to hearing of you getting settled in the next month. Happy Birthday!! We love you!
Thursday 27 May 2021
Sleepless in the Pacific
TIME: 2021/05/26 02:36
LATITUDE: 01-04.46S
LONGITUDE: 151-49.68W
AIMING FOR WAYPOINT: 05N-152W
COURSE (COG): 358T
BOAT SPEED (SOG): 3.7 kn
WIND SPEED (AWS): 13 kn
WIND ANGLE (AWA): 60 degrees
SEA STATE: 1.5m E Swell
COMMENTS: After a night of thick clouds, high wind, huge swells, pouring rain, and running downwind heavily reefed we emerged into sunlight this morning and confused seas with a 2.5M E swell on a short period punctuated by 1M NE and 1M S swell on a longer period. That has settled and we are sailing slowly N. We are managing our speed to avoid weather N of the equator which is expected to improve around June 3.
One of our cruising friends sends us a daily "Thought to ponder" email, just a brief one sentence that generally makes us smile. The girls highly anticipate receiving these! Iris loved the recent one about sign language as she has been teaching herself ASL and in fact knew how to sign that phrase!!
So in being inspired by Sarah's daily thoughts, I had one of my own last night. How accurate does a meteorologist need to be to stay employed?? The times we have set out on a passage anticipating certain weather conditions based on forecast and have been surprised by at times completely opposing reality have been plentiful. And we hear similar stories from fellow cruisers time and again so it is not just our bad luck. Well last night can be added to our list of inaccurate forecasts. We have two other cruisers sending us forecasts plus the grib files we download using the GFS model, so it is not like we didn't have multiple sources. (Yes, Nat, I know you will not be surprised that the GFS was off!!!) All the forecasts we received appeared fairly in line showing us having 14 to 18 knots of wind for the 26th and into the 27th. I would have given up an opportunity at that Turkish bath to have seen that forecast come to fruition. Instead we saw for nearly a 24 hour period with sustained winds of 25 to 35 knots, which combined with 2.5M seas to make for a, shall we say, unpleasant? night. We were averaging 6kn of boat speed with two reefs in the head sail and three reefs in the main. Sure the winds fluctuated a little lower at times, but honestly my nerves were so frayed that those brief respites were not enough for me. I will give a small bit of credit to the meteorologists who worked on this forecast, they were accurate on the precipitation!! Rain it did in gusto for the same 24 hour period. The breaking news on Maple is that the foul weather gear officially made its debut in the Southern Hemisphere. Even D put on his foul weather gear after a freezing watch wearing just shorts and a light jacket. During some of the worst of the weather, we came within half a mile of a huge fishing vessel. To watch it motor upwind in 30kn of wind, I will never again assume that the large ships don't feel the sea state. Made me almost nauseous watching it.
However, since this morning the sun started shining and the winds subsided dramatically allowing us to dry out our clothes and gear. We are still not able to point north very well so have made a lot of westing with trying to run with the wind. A stop in Hawaii is looking highly unlikely without bashing ourselves east.
On a separate note, we are just now crossing our 1000nm completed mark. So we celebrate again with more candy!! We will have our equator crossing tomorrow. I have to admit I am less enthused about making a huge effort for this equator crossing than our first, but we will be sure to pay some homage to Poseidon and perhaps he will go easy on us for the rest of the trip.
LATITUDE: 01-04.46S
LONGITUDE: 151-49.68W
AIMING FOR WAYPOINT: 05N-152W
COURSE (COG): 358T
BOAT SPEED (SOG): 3.7 kn
WIND SPEED (AWS): 13 kn
WIND ANGLE (AWA): 60 degrees
SEA STATE: 1.5m E Swell
COMMENTS: After a night of thick clouds, high wind, huge swells, pouring rain, and running downwind heavily reefed we emerged into sunlight this morning and confused seas with a 2.5M E swell on a short period punctuated by 1M NE and 1M S swell on a longer period. That has settled and we are sailing slowly N. We are managing our speed to avoid weather N of the equator which is expected to improve around June 3.
One of our cruising friends sends us a daily "Thought to ponder" email, just a brief one sentence that generally makes us smile. The girls highly anticipate receiving these! Iris loved the recent one about sign language as she has been teaching herself ASL and in fact knew how to sign that phrase!!
So in being inspired by Sarah's daily thoughts, I had one of my own last night. How accurate does a meteorologist need to be to stay employed?? The times we have set out on a passage anticipating certain weather conditions based on forecast and have been surprised by at times completely opposing reality have been plentiful. And we hear similar stories from fellow cruisers time and again so it is not just our bad luck. Well last night can be added to our list of inaccurate forecasts. We have two other cruisers sending us forecasts plus the grib files we download using the GFS model, so it is not like we didn't have multiple sources. (Yes, Nat, I know you will not be surprised that the GFS was off!!!) All the forecasts we received appeared fairly in line showing us having 14 to 18 knots of wind for the 26th and into the 27th. I would have given up an opportunity at that Turkish bath to have seen that forecast come to fruition. Instead we saw for nearly a 24 hour period with sustained winds of 25 to 35 knots, which combined with 2.5M seas to make for a, shall we say, unpleasant? night. We were averaging 6kn of boat speed with two reefs in the head sail and three reefs in the main. Sure the winds fluctuated a little lower at times, but honestly my nerves were so frayed that those brief respites were not enough for me. I will give a small bit of credit to the meteorologists who worked on this forecast, they were accurate on the precipitation!! Rain it did in gusto for the same 24 hour period. The breaking news on Maple is that the foul weather gear officially made its debut in the Southern Hemisphere. Even D put on his foul weather gear after a freezing watch wearing just shorts and a light jacket. During some of the worst of the weather, we came within half a mile of a huge fishing vessel. To watch it motor upwind in 30kn of wind, I will never again assume that the large ships don't feel the sea state. Made me almost nauseous watching it.
However, since this morning the sun started shining and the winds subsided dramatically allowing us to dry out our clothes and gear. We are still not able to point north very well so have made a lot of westing with trying to run with the wind. A stop in Hawaii is looking highly unlikely without bashing ourselves east.
On a separate note, we are just now crossing our 1000nm completed mark. So we celebrate again with more candy!! We will have our equator crossing tomorrow. I have to admit I am less enthused about making a huge effort for this equator crossing than our first, but we will be sure to pay some homage to Poseidon and perhaps he will go easy on us for the rest of the trip.
Wednesday 26 May 2021
Rain, rain go away...
TIME: 2021/05/26 02:30
LATITUDE: 02-37.49S
LONGITUDE: 151-03.61W
AIMING FOR WAYPOINT: 05N-52W
COURSE (COG): 339T (Currently running away from squall)
BOAT SPEED (SOG): 5.1 kn
WIND SPEED (AWS): 14 kn
WIND ANGLE (AWA): 120 degrees
SEA STATE: 1.5m from E
COMMENTS: It has been a day of overcast skies with lots and lots of rain, alternating between light (10 kn) and strong (25+ kn) winds. Generally have still been able to point north-ish even with a lot of time spent running from squalls.
It has been eight days now since we last got to swim in the clear waters of Tahiti. Eight days since I last felt shampoo in my hair. Eight days since I smelled clean. So in light of this, I have spent much of my time at the helm recently dreaming about the Turkish bath in Finike, Turkey, where we were fortunate to spend four months in 2015/16. The local bath there is incredible. I start my time in the bath by spending as much time as I like lounging in a steamy room just relaxing and chatting with other women. Then when it is my turn, I lie down on a wet, marble surface and a Turkish woman proceeds to remove layers and layers of my skin. The whole time she is tsk-tsking about what a disgrace it is how much dead skin she is sloughing off my body, making a point of showing me the sheer volume of dead skin accumulating. The highlight for me is when she has finished exfoliating every inch of my body, she leaves my face for last...yup, using the very same scrub she used everywhere else. Now that I am 10 lbs lighter, pink as a newborn baby, I sit up where she proceeds to get a tremendous amount of pleasure in shocking me by dousing me with freezing cold water. If anything else, the last six years has helped remove some of the princess qualities of the I-don't-like-camping-girl, but I would give anything right now to be sitting in that bath feeling clean again.
All is well on board, just a little soggy. The temperature which has consistently been 28 degrees celsius since we left Tahiti, today plummeted to 26C!!! No wonder why I was getting goosebumps during the first squall that ran us over this morning. Every day is bringing me closer to having to pull out my foul weather pants. The pants that I believe I only ever wore in Vancouver during sailing lessons back in 2014. We only have another day or two in the Southern Hemisphere and based on this weather, we are receiving an unkind farewell like we did when leaving Tahiti. Here's hoping the sunny skies return once we cross the equator.
LATITUDE: 02-37.49S
LONGITUDE: 151-03.61W
AIMING FOR WAYPOINT: 05N-52W
COURSE (COG): 339T (Currently running away from squall)
BOAT SPEED (SOG): 5.1 kn
WIND SPEED (AWS): 14 kn
WIND ANGLE (AWA): 120 degrees
SEA STATE: 1.5m from E
COMMENTS: It has been a day of overcast skies with lots and lots of rain, alternating between light (10 kn) and strong (25+ kn) winds. Generally have still been able to point north-ish even with a lot of time spent running from squalls.
It has been eight days now since we last got to swim in the clear waters of Tahiti. Eight days since I last felt shampoo in my hair. Eight days since I smelled clean. So in light of this, I have spent much of my time at the helm recently dreaming about the Turkish bath in Finike, Turkey, where we were fortunate to spend four months in 2015/16. The local bath there is incredible. I start my time in the bath by spending as much time as I like lounging in a steamy room just relaxing and chatting with other women. Then when it is my turn, I lie down on a wet, marble surface and a Turkish woman proceeds to remove layers and layers of my skin. The whole time she is tsk-tsking about what a disgrace it is how much dead skin she is sloughing off my body, making a point of showing me the sheer volume of dead skin accumulating. The highlight for me is when she has finished exfoliating every inch of my body, she leaves my face for last...yup, using the very same scrub she used everywhere else. Now that I am 10 lbs lighter, pink as a newborn baby, I sit up where she proceeds to get a tremendous amount of pleasure in shocking me by dousing me with freezing cold water. If anything else, the last six years has helped remove some of the princess qualities of the I-don't-like-camping-girl, but I would give anything right now to be sitting in that bath feeling clean again.
All is well on board, just a little soggy. The temperature which has consistently been 28 degrees celsius since we left Tahiti, today plummeted to 26C!!! No wonder why I was getting goosebumps during the first squall that ran us over this morning. Every day is bringing me closer to having to pull out my foul weather pants. The pants that I believe I only ever wore in Vancouver during sailing lessons back in 2014. We only have another day or two in the Southern Hemisphere and based on this weather, we are receiving an unkind farewell like we did when leaving Tahiti. Here's hoping the sunny skies return once we cross the equator.
Monday 24 May 2021
Good times, good times
TIME: 2021/05/25 01:57
LATITUDE: 06-14.36S
LONGITUDE: 150-32.85W
COURSE: 000T
SPEED: 4.0
I am trying to figure out where to start with this update. Do I start with the new broken thing or with the squalls that have been running us over since 4:30 this morning?! Which piece of good news do I start with?! Such a dilemma. If D wrote this update, all you would get is "We are stopping in Hawaii where we will live as illegal aliens, come visit us when you can!" But luckily for you I am writing this update and as most people know I am not brief in my storytelling.
Let me take you back to a couple of days before we left Tahiti. D was mucking about with the engines and noticed that the starboard engine was charging at too high of a voltage...which I am told is not ideal. Anyway, the end result was the alternator was busted and quite fortuitously we had a spare on board. Switched out...life is good again. Now let's go to yesterday as the sun was setting. As I have previously mentioned we apparently are not sailing in the correct direction to suit our solar panels in keeping our batteries charged so D turned on the port engine for a bit of juice for the batteries. What's that you say?! It is not charging??? Seriously, what are the chances that in a matter of a week, both alternators call it quits!? I know, all our monohull sailor friends are chuckling "Hahaha, double the expense and work those catamarans!". Anyway, we don't actually know for sure that the alternator has packed it in because it was getting dark when the problem was discovered and then as I have alluded to the weather and seas are making it impossible for D to get into the engine to troubleshoot. So here is hoping we get good news from our weather forecasting friends that we are in for some pleasant days of sailing in the next day or two.
We started out last night with two reefs in the main and a full head sail. But by 4:30am D is at the mast in 30+ knots of wind trying to fight the third reef in while I attempted to keep the boat downwind in constantly shifting wind direction. Needless to say, I managed to only have one accidental gybe. And basically neither D nor I have slept a minute since then. I believe that lovely Southern Ocean swell as reached us and it seems to be having a dance fight with the prevailing swell, which is making for a fun day on Maple. It is one of those days where you sit your butt down and do not think of moving unless you want to get tossed across the boat with a sudden shift of Maple up or down a 3 meter wave in conflicting directions. I reflect on how I always took pride that I am not a camping girl. Who wants to sleep on the ground with the stench of campfire permeating everything?! Well I must say right now at this point in time, what I wouldn't give to have a stable ground to sleep on, on an uncomfortable air mattress trying to will my bladder that I don't have to get out of the warm sleeping bag to stagger to the nearest outhouse, which never seems to be near our campsite. That sounds like a dream experience for me right now. As I write this, the sun is finally shining and there are presently no squalls on the horizon, I will take that while it lasts. If we can just get these slamming waves to stop then it will be perfect.
Funny enough though after all that reading, D's brief summary above has a bit of truth in it. We are now seriously considering a brief stop in Hawaii. Depending on what we determine is wrong with the port engine, we now have a list of items that could use some fixing. To be in an anchorage to attend to these issues would be likely the most prudent choice for us. So I will continue to keep you updated. Mark and Isabel, I will be in touch as my resident Hawaiian experts. I am sure you would love nothing more than to source some Yanmar parts for us, yes?! Isabel makes it sound like shopping is quite good there in Honolulu!! ;)
To end on a fun note, Iris lost a tooth last night at dinner. At this point in time, I think we only have Croatian change on board, so the tooth fairy will have to pay a visit once we have some more useful currency for our future points of landfall.
LATITUDE: 06-14.36S
LONGITUDE: 150-32.85W
COURSE: 000T
SPEED: 4.0
I am trying to figure out where to start with this update. Do I start with the new broken thing or with the squalls that have been running us over since 4:30 this morning?! Which piece of good news do I start with?! Such a dilemma. If D wrote this update, all you would get is "We are stopping in Hawaii where we will live as illegal aliens, come visit us when you can!" But luckily for you I am writing this update and as most people know I am not brief in my storytelling.
Let me take you back to a couple of days before we left Tahiti. D was mucking about with the engines and noticed that the starboard engine was charging at too high of a voltage...which I am told is not ideal. Anyway, the end result was the alternator was busted and quite fortuitously we had a spare on board. Switched out...life is good again. Now let's go to yesterday as the sun was setting. As I have previously mentioned we apparently are not sailing in the correct direction to suit our solar panels in keeping our batteries charged so D turned on the port engine for a bit of juice for the batteries. What's that you say?! It is not charging??? Seriously, what are the chances that in a matter of a week, both alternators call it quits!? I know, all our monohull sailor friends are chuckling "Hahaha, double the expense and work those catamarans!". Anyway, we don't actually know for sure that the alternator has packed it in because it was getting dark when the problem was discovered and then as I have alluded to the weather and seas are making it impossible for D to get into the engine to troubleshoot. So here is hoping we get good news from our weather forecasting friends that we are in for some pleasant days of sailing in the next day or two.
We started out last night with two reefs in the main and a full head sail. But by 4:30am D is at the mast in 30+ knots of wind trying to fight the third reef in while I attempted to keep the boat downwind in constantly shifting wind direction. Needless to say, I managed to only have one accidental gybe. And basically neither D nor I have slept a minute since then. I believe that lovely Southern Ocean swell as reached us and it seems to be having a dance fight with the prevailing swell, which is making for a fun day on Maple. It is one of those days where you sit your butt down and do not think of moving unless you want to get tossed across the boat with a sudden shift of Maple up or down a 3 meter wave in conflicting directions. I reflect on how I always took pride that I am not a camping girl. Who wants to sleep on the ground with the stench of campfire permeating everything?! Well I must say right now at this point in time, what I wouldn't give to have a stable ground to sleep on, on an uncomfortable air mattress trying to will my bladder that I don't have to get out of the warm sleeping bag to stagger to the nearest outhouse, which never seems to be near our campsite. That sounds like a dream experience for me right now. As I write this, the sun is finally shining and there are presently no squalls on the horizon, I will take that while it lasts. If we can just get these slamming waves to stop then it will be perfect.
Funny enough though after all that reading, D's brief summary above has a bit of truth in it. We are now seriously considering a brief stop in Hawaii. Depending on what we determine is wrong with the port engine, we now have a list of items that could use some fixing. To be in an anchorage to attend to these issues would be likely the most prudent choice for us. So I will continue to keep you updated. Mark and Isabel, I will be in touch as my resident Hawaiian experts. I am sure you would love nothing more than to source some Yanmar parts for us, yes?! Isabel makes it sound like shopping is quite good there in Honolulu!! ;)
To end on a fun note, Iris lost a tooth last night at dinner. At this point in time, I think we only have Croatian change on board, so the tooth fairy will have to pay a visit once we have some more useful currency for our future points of landfall.
Sunday 23 May 2021
500 miles down
TIME: 2021/05/24 02:59
LATITUDE: 08-02.44S
LONGITUDE: 150-30.77W
COURSE: 348T
SPEED: 4.0
The scenery does not change much out here, except yesterday when we passed an atoll by a couple of miles. So crazy to see nothing but ocean and sky for days then suddenly there are palm trees just above the waves. We believe Kariorina is an uninhabited island, part of the Line Island chain, we opted not to stop and explore.
We are just carrying along, not much to report. The weather has been cooperating for the most part, sailing along beautifully with lumpy seas. No thunderstorms materialized so that was a positive. Yesterday and today the waves are a little less organized. We are anticipating a building of wave height as a result of a storm in the Southern Ocean. As one of my friends in NZ reported they saw upwards of 10 meter waves, thankfully they are well protected in harbour. Well I guess those ocean swells are working their way north thousands of miles to come greet us, but gratefully will be much reduced by the time they reach us.
I could give a recap of stuff that has broken on the boat, that is always a fun update. We have had an ongoing saga with our port side water tank. It first started leaking back in 2019. D managed to plastic weld it successfully and that repair lasted for a year. However, since then the repair has not held and D has pulled out the nearly 400L tank to repair it again and again. In fact the last time he repaired it was two days before we left. I had suggested, forget it, we still have another nearly 400L tank and a smaller 250L one. Plus a functioning watermaker. But no, D could not let the tank win. He pulled off all the previous repairs and basically started over. The good news, the repair is still holding!!! The bad news...we discovered this morning that our starboard water tank is empty!!! There is no way we have gone through 400L of water in four days. We had noticed a similar crack at the bottom of the starboard tank but chose not to fix it as it was not showing signs of leaking and it is not as easy to remove as the 250L tank would have be removed first to get the larger tank out. Well needless to say, I am very grateful that D persisted in trying to repair the port side tank. Here is hoping the repair continues to hold. We have changed our water usage by using a bucket of salt water to rinse all dishes prior to a quick fresh water wash. We are already very light water users, no showers or laundry, just for drinking, cooking and dishes. So I don't anticipate this being an issue for us. I figure we aren't truly sailing if stuff is not breaking.
Thank you so much for all of your emails filled with news!! Always exciting to hear what people are up to while our days are on the mundane side. Around midnight we hit the 500 miles traveled mark. Before we left, the girls put together goodie bags of treats to celebrate each 500 miles sailed so this morning they got to break into the first bag. Here is hoping we continue to progress at a similar pace to the next 500 miles. Maple and her crew are all happy and doing well. Definitely have our sea legs now. Iris has started her watches now too and Ella has started to knit a shawl since she finished up her blanket just before we left Tahiti.
If I don't send out a group email, you can always check here https://followingsea.net/blog/Maple to see our track. Assuming we can get the radio to connect, we will always send a daily update to this site so the map can be updated to show our progress for anyone who may be interested.
LATITUDE: 08-02.44S
LONGITUDE: 150-30.77W
COURSE: 348T
SPEED: 4.0
The scenery does not change much out here, except yesterday when we passed an atoll by a couple of miles. So crazy to see nothing but ocean and sky for days then suddenly there are palm trees just above the waves. We believe Kariorina is an uninhabited island, part of the Line Island chain, we opted not to stop and explore.
We are just carrying along, not much to report. The weather has been cooperating for the most part, sailing along beautifully with lumpy seas. No thunderstorms materialized so that was a positive. Yesterday and today the waves are a little less organized. We are anticipating a building of wave height as a result of a storm in the Southern Ocean. As one of my friends in NZ reported they saw upwards of 10 meter waves, thankfully they are well protected in harbour. Well I guess those ocean swells are working their way north thousands of miles to come greet us, but gratefully will be much reduced by the time they reach us.
I could give a recap of stuff that has broken on the boat, that is always a fun update. We have had an ongoing saga with our port side water tank. It first started leaking back in 2019. D managed to plastic weld it successfully and that repair lasted for a year. However, since then the repair has not held and D has pulled out the nearly 400L tank to repair it again and again. In fact the last time he repaired it was two days before we left. I had suggested, forget it, we still have another nearly 400L tank and a smaller 250L one. Plus a functioning watermaker. But no, D could not let the tank win. He pulled off all the previous repairs and basically started over. The good news, the repair is still holding!!! The bad news...we discovered this morning that our starboard water tank is empty!!! There is no way we have gone through 400L of water in four days. We had noticed a similar crack at the bottom of the starboard tank but chose not to fix it as it was not showing signs of leaking and it is not as easy to remove as the 250L tank would have be removed first to get the larger tank out. Well needless to say, I am very grateful that D persisted in trying to repair the port side tank. Here is hoping the repair continues to hold. We have changed our water usage by using a bucket of salt water to rinse all dishes prior to a quick fresh water wash. We are already very light water users, no showers or laundry, just for drinking, cooking and dishes. So I don't anticipate this being an issue for us. I figure we aren't truly sailing if stuff is not breaking.
Thank you so much for all of your emails filled with news!! Always exciting to hear what people are up to while our days are on the mundane side. Around midnight we hit the 500 miles traveled mark. Before we left, the girls put together goodie bags of treats to celebrate each 500 miles sailed so this morning they got to break into the first bag. Here is hoping we continue to progress at a similar pace to the next 500 miles. Maple and her crew are all happy and doing well. Definitely have our sea legs now. Iris has started her watches now too and Ella has started to knit a shawl since she finished up her blanket just before we left Tahiti.
If I don't send out a group email, you can always check here https://followingsea.net/blog/Maple to see our track. Assuming we can get the radio to connect, we will always send a daily update to this site so the map can be updated to show our progress for anyone who may be interested.
Friday 21 May 2021
Day three perfection
TIME: 2021/05/22 03:17
LATITUDE: 11-46.41S
LONGITUDE: 150-23.53W
COURSE: 006T
SPEED: 4.9
Today was an incredible sailing day. The only way it could have been more perfect is if we were downwind, but for an upwind sail, today was perfect. We finally shook out a couple of reefs in the main and made some better progress today. We have gentle seas on the beam which is making for a comfortable sail for us. The wind is closer hauled than we would prefer, resulting in us sailing more NW than we want. However, it will all work out in the end when we eventually reach the westerly winds to take us towards Alaska. And the sun didn't stop shining today. Unfortunately our sailing angle is not conducive for good charging with the solar panels. The little tow generator can only do so much so sadly we are running one engine in neutral on low RPMs on occasion to keep the batteries happy.
I would be quite thrilled if every day was as good as this one, but I know that is not the reality for us. We have friends who are generously sending us their takes on the forecast, which shows some approaching thunderstorm activity and a big southerly swell. So we will take it as it comes. I know it is still early in the passage but we are getting into a rhythm. Ella has started to pick up an afternoon watch and she even started up her evening yoga/plank routine again after only missing one day with the super sloppy conditions. It is too bad I don't have her motivation to join her. My win is I have graduated from the canned chili dinner and pulled off some decent meals so far.
Maple and her crew are all doing well!! Thank you again for those who have emailed. I will try to respond to individual emails soon.
LATITUDE: 11-46.41S
LONGITUDE: 150-23.53W
COURSE: 006T
SPEED: 4.9
Today was an incredible sailing day. The only way it could have been more perfect is if we were downwind, but for an upwind sail, today was perfect. We finally shook out a couple of reefs in the main and made some better progress today. We have gentle seas on the beam which is making for a comfortable sail for us. The wind is closer hauled than we would prefer, resulting in us sailing more NW than we want. However, it will all work out in the end when we eventually reach the westerly winds to take us towards Alaska. And the sun didn't stop shining today. Unfortunately our sailing angle is not conducive for good charging with the solar panels. The little tow generator can only do so much so sadly we are running one engine in neutral on low RPMs on occasion to keep the batteries happy.
I would be quite thrilled if every day was as good as this one, but I know that is not the reality for us. We have friends who are generously sending us their takes on the forecast, which shows some approaching thunderstorm activity and a big southerly swell. So we will take it as it comes. I know it is still early in the passage but we are getting into a rhythm. Ella has started to pick up an afternoon watch and she even started up her evening yoga/plank routine again after only missing one day with the super sloppy conditions. It is too bad I don't have her motivation to join her. My win is I have graduated from the canned chili dinner and pulled off some decent meals so far.
Maple and her crew are all doing well!! Thank you again for those who have emailed. I will try to respond to individual emails soon.
Thursday 20 May 2021
A kinder second day
TIME: 2021/05/21 03:23
LATITUDE: 13-32.64S
LONGITUDE: 150-09.40W
COURSE: 006T
SPEED: 4.2
I loved hearing from so many of you, thank you for sending all your good wishes. I love hearing news from you and what you are all up to. Thank you! I would love to send individual replies to everyone but for now, I am sticking with the less personal group email.
Like so many of you predicted, day two was much kinder. The morning started off very wet. D's favourite line whenever there is a squall on the horizon is "It is going to miss us!". Well the squall this morning did not miss us and on top of that timed itself perfectly for D's nap. However, I fully appreciated as I sat at the helm sopping wet in just shorts and a windbreaker that I better enjoy this while it lasts. I imagine in a couple thousand miles when a squall is approaching, regardless of D's hopeful predictions, I will need to be racing to get my foul weather gear on to avoid hypothermia. After the slowest moving squall ever eventually past, the sun came out, the seas calmed and the wind came to a more respectable level. We have just enjoyed the more settled conditions that we haven't even bothered to shake a reef or two out of the main. Clearly you can tell neither of us are racers at heart and so we have just bobbed along at 4 knots and enjoyed the day.
To answer some of you who asked whether we were fishing yet, the answer is no. Again just further confirming we are the world's laziest cruisers. As Iris said as we set out on this passage, "I wish Jeff was with us. He would catch us some fish in no time." Jeff and Sandra are cruiser friends who joined us on the Atlantic crossing. And what can I say, they made that crossing the amazing passage it was with Jeff polishing stainless and reeling in the fish, while Sandra was the far better cook than me and patiently sat with Iris teaching her to read and with Ella teaching her to knit. I am sure one of these days, we will eventually cast out a lure but for now we are still just trying to get into a routine. After all we have plenty of time for fishing between now and arrival. What I am craving for most is the best fish on the planet...the Pacific Salmon!!! However, I suppose I could suffer through another tuna or mahi until we get further north.
We still are able to reach a rock solid shore station out of NZ which means we have excellent download speeds...not taking 5G or anything but still a respectable speed for an old school radio, so please keep those replies coming!! Those who already replied were all so awesome in starting a new email, thank you so much!!!
LATITUDE: 13-32.64S
LONGITUDE: 150-09.40W
COURSE: 006T
SPEED: 4.2
I loved hearing from so many of you, thank you for sending all your good wishes. I love hearing news from you and what you are all up to. Thank you! I would love to send individual replies to everyone but for now, I am sticking with the less personal group email.
Like so many of you predicted, day two was much kinder. The morning started off very wet. D's favourite line whenever there is a squall on the horizon is "It is going to miss us!". Well the squall this morning did not miss us and on top of that timed itself perfectly for D's nap. However, I fully appreciated as I sat at the helm sopping wet in just shorts and a windbreaker that I better enjoy this while it lasts. I imagine in a couple thousand miles when a squall is approaching, regardless of D's hopeful predictions, I will need to be racing to get my foul weather gear on to avoid hypothermia. After the slowest moving squall ever eventually past, the sun came out, the seas calmed and the wind came to a more respectable level. We have just enjoyed the more settled conditions that we haven't even bothered to shake a reef or two out of the main. Clearly you can tell neither of us are racers at heart and so we have just bobbed along at 4 knots and enjoyed the day.
To answer some of you who asked whether we were fishing yet, the answer is no. Again just further confirming we are the world's laziest cruisers. As Iris said as we set out on this passage, "I wish Jeff was with us. He would catch us some fish in no time." Jeff and Sandra are cruiser friends who joined us on the Atlantic crossing. And what can I say, they made that crossing the amazing passage it was with Jeff polishing stainless and reeling in the fish, while Sandra was the far better cook than me and patiently sat with Iris teaching her to read and with Ella teaching her to knit. I am sure one of these days, we will eventually cast out a lure but for now we are still just trying to get into a routine. After all we have plenty of time for fishing between now and arrival. What I am craving for most is the best fish on the planet...the Pacific Salmon!!! However, I suppose I could suffer through another tuna or mahi until we get further north.
We still are able to reach a rock solid shore station out of NZ which means we have excellent download speeds...not taking 5G or anything but still a respectable speed for an old school radio, so please keep those replies coming!! Those who already replied were all so awesome in starting a new email, thank you so much!!!
Wednesday 19 May 2021
Are we there yet?
Current Position at 0448 UTC
15 11.513S
149 51.792w
French Polynesia did not let us leave quietly. The first 24 hours have been let's say...brisk. We left Tahiti after fueling up at 3:30pm local time yesterday (Tuesday, May 18). We motored in gentle conditions after leaving the south pass while we remained in Tahiti's wind shadow. But I tell you, once we left that wind shadow, all gentleness ceased. We immediately had 20 to 25 knots of wind and upwards of 2 meter seas. It was not pretty and has continued to be unpleasant since then. It did not take long for Maple and her crew to be thoroughly encrusted in salt.
Darkness seemed to fall quickly and I had no inclination to cook in such horrendous conditions. So canned chili it was for our first dinner on what I anticipate will feel like the never-ending passage north. I will try to redeem myself for dinner tonight as I slowly get my sea legs.
Overnight, not much sleep was had by D and I. We did not stick to our typical watch schedule at all as the winds started to peak at 40 knots. With 3 reefs in the main and a heavily reefed head sail, the boat speed was reaching nearly 8 knots with waves crashing on our starboard beam. We basically spent the night picking up one fallen item after another from books to produce to ceiling fans to a computer with now a freshly broken screen. The fun just didn't want to end there. The highlight was when a bird crash landed into our cockpit. I am not kidding, D at the helm was startled by a loud thud behind him as a completely disoriented boobie wandered around in circles, squawking not understanding at all what just happened to it. I had to rush to close the sliding door as he started to stumble towards the open door. It took him a long time to get oriented. He eventually shook off the stars that had clearly been circling his head and eventually took flight again leaving behind his squid dinner which I assume he had caught behind Maple when he collided with us.
I try not to get too demoralized by these conditions when I think about the thousands of miles we have left to cover before we can gratefully set the anchor once again. The crew are all doing well and Maple is doing what she does best, dancing over the waves and keeping us all safe to our next, very distant destination.
REMINDER: If you email us back, please please please do not just hit reply!! We download at a snail's pace so please remove all unnecessary text such as my original email. Keep emails relatively brief please and do not send any pictures or attachments.
15 11.513S
149 51.792w
French Polynesia did not let us leave quietly. The first 24 hours have been let's say...brisk. We left Tahiti after fueling up at 3:30pm local time yesterday (Tuesday, May 18). We motored in gentle conditions after leaving the south pass while we remained in Tahiti's wind shadow. But I tell you, once we left that wind shadow, all gentleness ceased. We immediately had 20 to 25 knots of wind and upwards of 2 meter seas. It was not pretty and has continued to be unpleasant since then. It did not take long for Maple and her crew to be thoroughly encrusted in salt.
Darkness seemed to fall quickly and I had no inclination to cook in such horrendous conditions. So canned chili it was for our first dinner on what I anticipate will feel like the never-ending passage north. I will try to redeem myself for dinner tonight as I slowly get my sea legs.
Overnight, not much sleep was had by D and I. We did not stick to our typical watch schedule at all as the winds started to peak at 40 knots. With 3 reefs in the main and a heavily reefed head sail, the boat speed was reaching nearly 8 knots with waves crashing on our starboard beam. We basically spent the night picking up one fallen item after another from books to produce to ceiling fans to a computer with now a freshly broken screen. The fun just didn't want to end there. The highlight was when a bird crash landed into our cockpit. I am not kidding, D at the helm was startled by a loud thud behind him as a completely disoriented boobie wandered around in circles, squawking not understanding at all what just happened to it. I had to rush to close the sliding door as he started to stumble towards the open door. It took him a long time to get oriented. He eventually shook off the stars that had clearly been circling his head and eventually took flight again leaving behind his squid dinner which I assume he had caught behind Maple when he collided with us.
I try not to get too demoralized by these conditions when I think about the thousands of miles we have left to cover before we can gratefully set the anchor once again. The crew are all doing well and Maple is doing what she does best, dancing over the waves and keeping us all safe to our next, very distant destination.
REMINDER: If you email us back, please please please do not just hit reply!! We download at a snail's pace so please remove all unnecessary text such as my original email. Keep emails relatively brief please and do not send any pictures or attachments.
Tuesday 4 May 2021
A bit of a test
Well our time here in French Polynesia is sadly nearing an end. It is hard to believe we have spent two years floating in this South Pacific paradise. I remember when D and I had a two week vacation here in 2012 on Moorea and Bora, which set this whole crazy plan in motion. Now we have been so fortunate to explore 18 islands and atolls in three of the five archipelagoes. We still barely scraped the surface of what this incredible country has to offer.
Anyway, I digress. The purpose of this email is to test whether this posts on our blog (https://svmaple.blogspot.com/), Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SailingMaple) and Following Sea track (https://followingsea.net/blog/Maple). Also, this is your opportunity to tell me to take you off our email list. If you would prefer to not receive these emails or want us to use a different address, please just let me know.
In two weeks time, we will be setting off for an epic non-stop passage from Tahiti to Alaska. We anticipate it taking us upwards of 5 to 6 weeks to sail the 4500 miles of the Pacific Ocean. Will it always be the most comfortable of rides? Mmmm, probably not. But it is going to transport us from palm trees, blue lagoons and sandy beaches to high mountain peaks, glaciers and grizzly bears. This is what motivates us to take on this adventure. And of course number one, this passage will bring us a lot closer to family and friends back in BC.
The only request I need to make is if you do want to send us an email and to be clear...I love receiving emails while on passage, please always start a new email rather than hitting reply and keep the messages text based only. Only those who receive this message via email will be able to email us in return, so if you read this on one of our blogs and want to be added to our email list, please just send me a message while we still have internet.
So here is hoping this test run actually works! Thank you for being my guinea pigs!
Anyway, I digress. The purpose of this email is to test whether this posts on our blog (https://svmaple.blogspot.com/), Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SailingMaple) and Following Sea track (https://followingsea.net/blog/Maple). Also, this is your opportunity to tell me to take you off our email list. If you would prefer to not receive these emails or want us to use a different address, please just let me know.
In two weeks time, we will be setting off for an epic non-stop passage from Tahiti to Alaska. We anticipate it taking us upwards of 5 to 6 weeks to sail the 4500 miles of the Pacific Ocean. Will it always be the most comfortable of rides? Mmmm, probably not. But it is going to transport us from palm trees, blue lagoons and sandy beaches to high mountain peaks, glaciers and grizzly bears. This is what motivates us to take on this adventure. And of course number one, this passage will bring us a lot closer to family and friends back in BC.
The only request I need to make is if you do want to send us an email and to be clear...I love receiving emails while on passage, please always start a new email rather than hitting reply and keep the messages text based only. Only those who receive this message via email will be able to email us in return, so if you read this on one of our blogs and want to be added to our email list, please just send me a message while we still have internet.
So here is hoping this test run actually works! Thank you for being my guinea pigs!
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