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.