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 -- 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 -- May 1, 1996 -- Day 23

Wed. 96-05-01 - Day 23 - 1° 48' S  132° 14' W  Log: 2,078nm (617 to Hiva Oa)

Up at 1800Z. Feeling shitty -- tired, depressed, grumpy. Too lazy for sun sight, so I just ran out the DR for today's contest. John: 4 miles off; Dave: 14.  6:2.

Had a Spam and cheese sandwich for lunch. Later, a 2 hour nap helped a lot, but I was still damn grumpy working on supper. Some of the seas today were really big, although it's only been blowing 10 - 15 knots.

I cooked spaghetti for supper with garlic bread, and didn't even get scalded*. Between my second shift last night and the end of my first watch tonight, I read the classic To Kill a Mockingbird, which was quite enjoyable -- a bit like Stephen Leacock.

Started writing a letter to my sister, then was interrupted by a squall that occupied the remainder of my watch.

No CDs.

* A hard lesson for me on this trip was that you pretty much can't open the oven door on a gimballed stove if you have water boiling on the stovetop. The weight of the oven door tips the stove towards you, and pours boiling water on the cook.  This happened to me twice on this crossing, and I was very lucky not to be seriously hurt.

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.]