S/V Encanto underway to Suvarov Reserve
(Cook Islands, New Zealand)
October 5th 2007, Friday
vessel still underway
Captain: It's almost 2000 local time, on Thursday. I've been on watch since five this morning however, I'm only being able to do so, as Judy did watch yesterday from 9 or 10 PM until five this morning. I slept like a log. She heard!
Today was a day of playing dodge squall. We got hit by a couple, but missed most. We still have the double reef in the Mainsail and I've been adjusting boat speed by rolling/unrolling the jib. It's worked pretty well.
I was plotting our position an hour or so ago, we had just come out from under a long line of cumulus clouds and we started going off at 9.5 kts. Caught me by surprise! Managed to get the jib rolled up and were still doing 4-5 kts. We were doing a steady 7-8 just before and we were moving smoothly, but no sense in stressing out the boat. Or me! Now, we're down to 3.5 and we're rolling a bit, so it's time to let out the jib again. That will help stabilize us.
It's another dark and starless night, not much fun. Rain too. I'll spend most time below, and pop out every 15-20 minutes.
It's now almost 7 AM, we had a slow and uneventful night. Had the boat reefed down, didn't want to get caught in a squall in the dark. The jib is now poled out to starboard and the double-reefed Mainsail to port. We're doing 6-7kts. I suspect today will be much like yesterday. I'll be so glad when this weather system finally passes. The problem with going slow last night is that it could put us at Suverov after dark. Not sure what we'll do if that happens. Entering an unfamiliar atoll at dusk is not an option. Too risky. If we keep at the current pace, we'll be there tomorrow at about 1 PM. If we slow down, it's a night approach in which case we need to slow down even more. Or, we blow by it, then we have 3-4 more days until we reach Pago Pago, American Samoa. Ahhhh, choices and options… our life as we try to go with what Mother Nature provides.
Gaby: I finished Calvert's Test 160! And I am now done with the 8th Grade; only took me ten months, with long trips to visit Ecuador, Peru, Galapagos, South Pacific, and the USA included; not a bad school year (over 50% of it in touring time). Will there be graduation ceremonies? I don't know. Mom is looking for an excuse to celebrate and BAKE something yummy!!!I do know that I get the weekend off and then; it is off to Encanto High School. Mom has been working on the refinements to my freshmen year of High School. Should be interesting… I'm reading Science Fiction, will she include more of that????