20 Years Ago Today -- May 4, 1996 -- Day 26

Sat. 96-05-04 - Day 26 - 6° 34' S  136° 28' W  Log: 2,451nm

Awoken for my pre-dawn watch by about a gallon of sea water landing in my bunk, via the leeward portholes after a near breach. Thoroughly unimpressed -- my bedding, which was already dirty and damp, is now wet with salt water. The weather is overcast, humid and the seas are splashy enough that nothing will dry.

Add to that the fact that we ran out of fresh water today. We decided that instead of heaving to on the required starboard tack in order to run the watermaker, we'll try to make it to Atuona without.

I had trouble sleeping in the morning and when I napped in the afternoon -- not at all comfortable with the damp sleeping bag. Totally gave up on the bed sheet.

The bread I baked yesterday turned out OK, although a bit crumbly. Maybe the extra sugar was a bad idea, but it was sooo unsweet the previous time.

With only a couple hundred miles to go, both John and I are very ready to arrive. This overcast, damp weather's really bugging us. Where are the gorgeous days and nights of the NE trades?

Sailing above beam reach now to try to make sure we don't end up downwind of Hiva Oa. Dodger side panel and centre section are up and the foreward part of the cockpit is quite comfortably protected from the spray.

We collected about 35 flying fish off the deck this morning, all but one small -- the other was about 4" long -- the first of that size that we've seen.

Somewhat slow this afternoon after John put a reef in, but we're hauling ass now (0500Z). Moon rose at 0430, full or full + 1 day, and it was very pretty. Quickly retreated behind clouds.

For supper, John heated some chili, served with bread or crackers, peach halves and cookies. I washed up using only salt water and drip dry.

Still reading The Fist of God, and quite enjoying it. 

I've made a few life decisions in the past couple of days. First, I plan to get a PHRF rating and start club racing Covivant [my C&C 32], at least some of the time. Second, I've decided to find a part-time Masters degree program, starting this fall. I'm leaning towards Engineering or Computer Science, although an MBA is also a possibility.

No CDs.

[Ed.: Regarding those decisions:

• I did get a handicap and started racing Covivant in the year after returning home. And we're still doing it 20 years later... same boat, same skipper, though the crew changes over time.
• I did look into graduate degree programs, but failed to find one that interested me enough. I did manage to teach a software engineering course at BC Institute of Technology in the year 2000, though. My real passion was software requirements management, but I couldn't find a course focused on that [where was Grady Booch when I needed him?] Years later, I realized that Agile software development methodologies bring a better model for requirements management than any I'd dealt with in the structured/OO analysis/design world.  I'm now a firm believer in User Stories and a prioritized backlog instead of more formal requirements documents, etc.  As for an MBA, I had a couple of friends who did MBA programs in 2001-2003 period, and my conclusions were that (a) they didn't seem to learn much that I hadn't already learned in 15 years of software industry experience; and (b) neither of them was able to (immediately, anyway) move into a non-engineering role by adding a MBA to their resume.

...end Ed.]

20 Years Ago Today -- May 3, 1996 -- Day 25

Fri. 96-05-03 - Day 25 - 4° 58' S  134° 56' W  Log: 2,325nm

Made good 139 nautical miles in the past 24 hours, our best day yet. Only 368 miles to Hiva Oa. Slept 'till 2000Z -- well, I just lay there awake after 1900, thinking about how to serve up the wahoo. Felt not bad today, especially considering I only slept about 5.5 - 6 hours.

Still crappy weather, with lighter winds and lots of rain around. I baked bread this afternoon -- 2 loaves + cinnamon rolls again. The buns were better this time, with lots more sugar in the layer with the cinnamon. The bread didn't come out as good looking this time, probably because it was real bumpy when they went into the oven. Haven't tried it yet. Used the Ardmachree white bread recipe again, but put ~ 1/3 cup of sugar instead of 1/4. I should copy that recipe!

I cooked up the wahoo by frying in margarine with seasoning, salt and served over spaghetti with a trim of Ardmachree's mango chutney. Excellent, except the fish was mostly bones and was a lot of work to eat.

CD: Stanley Clarke -- East River Drive (while baking)

Saw a dolphin or two tonight -- first time since the NE trades. [Actually, they may be pilot whales or false killer whales... about 10' long]

Still squally tonight. Mostly cloudy.

20 Years Ago Today -- April 27, 1996 -- Day 19

Sat. 96-04-27 - Day 19 - 3° 53' N  126° 48' W  Log: 1,609nm

Up at 1700Z. Fixed myself some eggs for breakfast. At mid-morning, it appears likely that we are truly in the SE trade winds, and through the doldrums -- hurray! Sunny, puffy cumulus clouds and steady 10 knots of wind from SE. Ah, paradise.

Daytime cabin temperature is still mid-eighties (~30°C). Nighttime watch is shorts and t-shirt mostly. Humidity down from the high values in the doldrums. John and I are both happpy.

Lottery: Dave: 12 miles off. John: 43! 3:2. I took a sun sight at 18:30 to help me -- it was close.

I baked bread today, using Ardmachree's white bread recipe, although I used 20% whole wheat flour in order to empty a container. Made two handsome loaves, plus I attempted cinnamon rolls, which weren't great -- not nearly enough sugar in the cinnamon layer. Hang on... let me sample the loaf... well, not that great. Looks good, and rose better than the Boobie bread, but not as nice a flavour. Maybe the whole wheat flour is to blame. Fun!

I also made supper -- tuna, mushroom and cheese pasta (re-run), and used the end of the cabbage for coleslaw. No more fresh veggies, except onion.

Great, peaceful sunset. We listened to Milestones together. CDs:

• Miles Davis: Milestones, Doo Bop, 7 Steps to Heaven
• Los Del Rio: Macarena
• Stanley Clarke: East River Drive
• Chick Corea: Elektric Band

Started reading a horror book: Dark Channel by Ray Garton. Long time since I've read a horror book.

We moved our watches, as we're getting west, and the sun is rising and setting much later. My watches: 0400 - 0800; 1100 - 1400Z. I took sun and moon sights in late PM, but the sun shot was off by 42 miles. Ouch!

Stats on our doldrum crossing:

• From April 23 @2100Z -- 8° 50' N to April 27 @ 1600Z -- 4° 07' N.
• Width: 4°40' = 280 nautical miles.
• Took us 91 hours = 3.07 knots average.
• We motored less than 10 hours, half solely or partly for electrical power requirements -- too slow for trolling generator at times.

My early pre-dawn watches on the last two nights had the same phenomenon: I could discern light in the SE from over the horizon. Nothing on RADAR, but I concluded there must be a fish boat there. This morning, John saw a 150' fish boat (tuna?) chug past in the distance from that direction, so I guess I wasn't hallucinating after all.

When it's clear, the night watches on this trip have been fascinating, as we learn some stars and constellations, and watch as the sky changes as we move further south and west. The Southern Cross was visible from Puerto Vallarta, but is now quite high in the sky, and the North Star is very low -- neither of us have seen it for about a week.

Still kicking myself for letting that wahoo go last night! I've really become quite interested in fishing for food, ever since sailing aboard Cabezon.

There are interesting bioluminescent flashes happening tonight, as the boat and trolling generator (the halyard is working out fine) disturb some sea life or other. The flashes seem to be about 8' across.

I'm feeling quite happy today, no doubt because we're back in the kinder, gentler trades -- sun, pretty fluffy clouds, stars, > 1/2 moon -- it's great. We're beam reaching on a course of 210° magnetic, starting a great circle course to Hiva Oa, Marquesas. I'm happy despite having nicked my finger, scalded my hand (fiddling with the oven while boiling water on the stove), and sweated through a hot day in the galley.

Next trip, bring: video camera, at least 2 35mm cameras/bodies, and a flash. I've love to shoot some 1000ASA colour or 1600ASA B&W in the moonlight. Neeed a lens that can focus <<6', unlike the 70-210mm zoom I brought (and nothing else). Also a camera mount and shutter release would be good. Mount is absolute necessity for good video.