20 Years Ago Today -- May 5, 1996 -- Day 27

Sun. 96-05-05 - Day 27 - 8° 08' S  137° 34' W  Log: 2,569nm

Only 121 more miles to Hiva Oa. We're bombing along in mostly rambunctious conditions, with wind slightly ahead of the beam and making ~190° magnetic in 15 - 20 knots of wind. We dropped the yankee at the end of my first watch last night and put up the staysail, with one reef still in the main. We had a few gusts to 25 knots before the sail change, but things quieted down some afterwards, naturally.

The weather was more sunny today [crash, as we are pushed over by a steep wave] with some tradewind clouds, although there were still squalls around. I felt better -- better mood and more rested, although still easily pissed off. I need a shower, but am reluctant to wash without a fresh water rinse.

Woke this morning to find John running the small manual watermaker in the cockpit, having taken it out of the abandon-ship bag. The things some people will do for a cup of coffee! Earlier, he had tried making coffee with 7-Up (ugh) and sea water ("-10 on a scale of 1 - 10").

We should have landfall by sunrise tomorrow morning. We're both quite ready for a quiet(er) anchorage and a walk ashore. I guess we'll try to find a restaurant for dinner in Atuona.

John's French is coming along -- he's really done pretty well considering the short time he's been at it -- but he's not yet up to being able to converse. I'm looking forward to speaking French in the islands -- hope my vocabulary is up to it.

CDs:

• Miles Davis -- 7 Steps to Heaven
• Getz / Gilberto

This afternoon I spotted a sailboat crossing our bow about a mile ahead. Looked like they were headed for Nuku Hiva, perhaps from Panama. John tried to raise them on the radio -- "Sailboat, sailboat, sailboat, this is the sailing vessel Vahevala." No response.

Had a tuna or something on the fish hook this afternoon in a squall but it got off shortly after I started hauling in on the line. Too bad.

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 -- May 2, 1996 -- Day 24

Thurs. 96-05-02 - Day 24 - 3° 02' S  133° 38' W  Log: 2,190nm

Shitty weather. Hot, squally. Yanked the trolling generator off its mount in a squall; luckily there was a safety line on it, but we now can't use it again. Ran engine for a few hours to generate power.

Still very tired, but felt somewhat better after a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.

Finished my letter to my sister by moonlight on my first watch, although it clouded over. Virtually full moon made the night bright like a dark day, even with cloud cover.

Caught at 30" wahoo on my second watch, between rain squalls. Ugly sucker -- really skinny, with nasty pointed mouth and 3 big teeth (plus lots of razor-sharp small ones). Decided to keep this one and try to get a meal out of it. Stayed on watch a couple of hours extra to clean the fish after daylight. Bony down the outside of its body, just inside the skin. I cut a few steaks, as recommended, but they were too small. Cut some fillets from the rest of it, leaving the skin (and bones) on.

No CDs. Started reading Frederick Forsyth's The Fist of God, a novel about the Desert Shield/Desert Storm war in the Persian Gulf. No lottery.

20 Years Ago Today -- April 29, 1996 -- Day 21

Mon. 96-04-29 - Day 21 - 1° 02' N  129° 44' W  Log: 1,853nm

Another sunny day in paradise. Up at 1800Z, took sun sights for our contest and worked out my EP -- not good at all -- even my LOP was quite a bit off, and we had run WAY further than either John or I imagined using our WAG log record.

Lottery: John: 19 miles off, Dave: 44 -- John wins 5:2. With less than 150 miles left in leg 2, John obviously won. In addition, that's 2 out of 3 legs for him, so I owe him dinner.

I was feeling tired today, and grumpy/down. It kind of surprises me that I have mood swings out here when the weather is so consistent. I expect partly it's the increased boat motion, now that we've been reaching in 15 knots day and night. The doldrums were a refreshingly softer ride, although not nearly flat.

After working out my EP, I cooked myself up a great breakfast of French toast cheese sandwiches, using the bread I had baked. Although it wasn't a great bread alone, it made great French toast.

Had a nap in late PM (as I have most days) and slept hard -- had trouble waking up. Our great circle course to Hiva Oa is a beam reach so far -- I hope the trades get less South in them rather than more. Only about a week to go to the Marquesas. We'll be crossing the equator sometime in the middle of the night tonight. Making good time.

I'm quite frustrated at my lack of success fishing, despite changing lures every day or two. For supper, I heated a can of chili, and opened a can of peaches, and John cooked up a brownie mix for dessert.

Not in the mood to spend my watch in the cockpit, so I think I'll write a letter or two. It was cool today -- t-shirt required in the shade (with 15 knots of breeze), and a sweatshirt is likely not enough to spent my watch outside -- ironic as we're at the equator. All in all, sailing in the tropics is much cooler than I imagined.

The boat's CD player loading mechanism seems to be malfunctioning, so I played my cassette tape "Thalia -- In Ecstatis" at supper. Luckily, I've still got my portable CD player. CDs:

• Miles Davis -- Kinda Blue (dawn)
• Manteca -- Perfect Foot

Wrote a 4-page letter to my ex-wife on my 1st watch and a 2 page letter to my buddy Yves and his gang on the 2nd watch

20 Years Ago Today -- April 26, 1996 -- Day 18

Fri. 96-04-26 - Day 18 - 4° 56' N  126° 28' W  Log: 1,553nm

Up at 1730Z; had a bowl of granola with milk. Reading some more of Silent Treatment. We have a visitor this afternoon -- a white-tipped shark about 4' long, cruising lazily behind the boat.

Lottery: John: 10 miles off; Dave: 14 miles.  Day's run: 85 miles.  1:3.

John cooked up refried beans and some sausage we bought in Puerto Vallarta, but I really didn't like either. Unfortunately, there's some sausage left. Also coleslaw.

The shark left us after a couple of hours. We must have been going too slow for it. We motored about 4 hours this afternoon, as well as 2 this morning, and finally got a light breeze in late PM. Still squally, but the only rain we got today had no wind with it -- bummer.

On my second night watch, I caught a 34" long Wahoo on a small purple/white hoochie. It seemed so small, I eventually let it go, after having spent 15 minutes looking through the fish book to identify it. It's hard to recognize a fish in the dark. The moon had set and it was overcast, so it was hard to get a good look at him. Although quite long, it was so skinny, I couldn't believe we'd get a meal out of it -- ~2.5" in diameter, I think. Later I realized we could have had a nice meal of it, with pasta to fill us up if he wasn't big enough. I guess I just wasn't in a killing mood.

Finished reading Silent Treatment on my night watch, and read some more of the South Pacific Handbook. Silent Treatment was pretty good -- too bad he staged a climax chase scene in the boiler room, as the same was done in the other book of his I had read lately.