Easting to the mark

 

Lat 16 27 N Long 159 35 W Course 16 T Speed 4 knots Wind E 15 knots Waves 2 M Cloud 35% Baro 1016
Miles in last 24hr 105 NM Honolulu 306 nm Easting to lay the mark 45.01 NM

Wednesday, January 11, 2017
01:45 am

A new day. Driven from my sleep with an overwhelming desire to go faster and a vision of you waiting on the dock. I have eased another foot of roller furling line to increase the size of the jib by 30 square feet, another knot faster from 3.5 to 4.5. Motion is still under the limit of pump over recycling. The wind has definitely come round more from the east. In the last 3 hrs, we have decreased our easterly deficit by one nautical mile. We are laying the mark to Honolulu which is now 352 nm. Our full moon has been denied its guiding light to us by heavy cloud. Back to my bunk.

03:40 am 
Winds are lightening up a bit and the sea has come down, let a few more feet of jib out to try keep us around 4-5 knots

Next move is to move the jib sheet block further aft so I can let more jib out and have the right sheet angle, and more sail area. Still hard on the wind to try to make more easting. Eight hours till noon and hope to make more than 100 nm for last 24 hrs. All’s well so back for some more sleep.

07:35 am

Sun is about to come out from behind a large black cloud on the steel grey horizon.  Two meter waves christen another warm windy day. The wind has swung around to the south east and our heading now is 030 T. Boat speed just under around 5 knots and distance to Honolulu is 326 nm. This wind shift is good for us and allows WW II to sail higher than the mark (Honolulu) and make up for the miles we lost to the west in the last few weeks, ( about 50.87 nautical miles). All very good for us at the moment. The pump is recycling a bit too much so may have to slow things down a bit.

Ah there’s the sun filling the cabin with warm pastel light. The 2+ meter swell is still giving us a rough ride. I will ease the sheets and take some of the herky jerky motion out of  it. 

And so begins another day at sea.

Not long now, only three or four days.

I was carving late into the night last night and I accidentally broke the chain link I was just freeing from the block. Bugger! I have glued it back together and we will see if it can be salvaged. Wind very gusty here this morning just trying to find a good combination of sail area, bilge pump strokes and a course to keep us going forward and afloat.

Lots of water over the boat with the occasional full boat deluge that fills the cockpit and seems to drive right through the hatches and on to everything. Loud hull punches that scare me out of my skin with panic. Feels like we have just been blind sided by a truck. It’s like a war zone out here sometimes come to think of it.

Oh my goodness don’t get me started! My reality is rather skewed way off to one side out here, and maybe even right off the chart.

I can hear a lot of people reading this and saying out loud “YOU GOT THAT RIGHT”. I think I’ll make a big pancake and have a cup of tea.

Have a wonderful day and keep warm.