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 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 -- April 30, 1996 -- Day 22

Tues. 96-04-30 - Day 22 - 0° 28' S  130° 58' W  Log: 1,968nm

We took the main down before I went off watch this morning in order to try to reduce the heeling so that watermaker would run, as its water intake is too close to the waterline on the port side. Still sucked air occasionally. We turned and ran off the wind for a few hours, but the occasional hard roll would still introduce air into the system -- so it's essentially useless. After I got up at 1800Z, we decided to hell with it, got the main back up and back on course. As neither of us was in the mood, we skipped the contest today.

Beautiful day, but I was still feeling tired. John too, and he's having trouble sleeping. I've been sweating a lot in bed, not from the heat. Finally I had a two-hour nap this afternoon (without getting sweaty) and felt a bit better afterwards. I'm aware that I'm dreaming a lot, although I don't remember them.

Still fishing 'round the clock and catching nothing -- it's bugging me. 

Finished reading Dark Channel -- I didn't much like it, although John had enjoyed it. Thinking of writing another letter tonight, but not sure to whom. Maybe my brother or sister.

Ropework: a couple of night watches lately, I've practiced some rope work, and have become proficient at the Monkey Fist and Turk's Head knots, as well as a couple of less decorative ones.

John baked bread today and made chicken and rice with green beans for supper. The meals are getting boring.

CDs:

• Various -- Really Free sample disk
• Miles Davis -- Bitches Brew (disk 2) -- I don't much like this album!
• Miles Davis -- Seven Steps to Heaven -- sooo nice!

Wrote a 2-page letter to my brother and his wife.

[Ed.: I find it really odd that we crossed the equator and I didn't even comment on it in the log. It was the first time for both John and me by boat, and should have been a pretty big deal.]

20 Years Ago Today -- April 28, 1996 -- Day 20

Sun. 96-04-28 - Day 20 - 2° 31' N  128° 00' W  Log: 1,716nm

Had the most gorgeous dawn before I went off-watch. The colours were pastels -- pink, blue, yellow, such as I've never seen in nature before. Sunrise was partly obscured by clouds, which were lit up around their edges and dark (silhouetted) in the middle. Took some photos. We've had lots of good sunrises and sunsets, especially near the doldrums, but there's been so much cloud that they wouldn't photograph well.

Slept and got up at 1800Z, causing concern about the rules of the lottery, as I needed to get a sun sight and reduce it, as well as my DR before 1900. Since the watch schedule was pushed out, it's too challenging. We agreed that I could take more time, to work out my calculations, as long as the sight was done before 1900.

I took a sun sight just before 1900 (5, actually, to ensure accuracy), as well as having noted the time of the appearance of the sun's top limb over the horizon at sunrise. Together, I applied a running fix, which probably would have been great if we had a decent log, but it's not working and the distance run I used was inadequate.

Lottery: John: 5 miles off; Dave: 12 miles -- 4:2. My sun sight was perfect, though, with the LOP running right through the GPS position.

For supper, John cooked up rice with (canned) vienna sausage [weiners] and (canned) spinach. Not bad, except for the spinach. We're really looking forward to catching a fish, though.

Ran out of water on port tank (45 gal.) despite having run the watermaker for quite a few hours. Unfortunately, it sucks air when we're on port tack, as we will be all the way to the Marquesas.

CDs:

• Stanley Clarke -- East River Drive
• Miles Davis -- Amandla