20 Years Ago Today -- April 24, 1996 -- Day 16

Wed. 96-04-24 - Day 16 - 7° 21' N  125° 45' W  Log: 1,430nm

We're now past 1/2 way to the Marquesas and deep into the horror of the doldrums. Our strong NE trades faded into unpredictable SE winds for most of the day. Drizzle a lot of the time, with a few downpours in squalls.

I spent the day in the cockpit and now have dishpan body. My hands and feet are especially shriveled. Basically, a downer of a day. Decided to try 2 hour watches tonight -- afterward we both agreed it didn't work for us. I couldn't keep my eyes open for one hour at a time, so we'll be going back to our usual 4 + 3 + 3 + 4 system again. [We didn't run formal watches during the day, as we were both up much of the time and alternated cooking and chores as needed.]

John baked a couple more loaves of white (Booby) bread which were ready in early evening -- yummy, with more sugar than the recipe called for.

For supper, John sauteed some weiners and served them with mashed potatoes (from a box) -- a welcome warm meal for me, as I had been soggy in the cockpit for many hours, and was chilled. The cabin -- closed up against the rain -- is very warm and humid, so John was hot when he relieved cold Dave.

Night watch was actually pleasant, as we didn't get hit by any squalls. Slow going between squalls, though, and we're probably only averaging 2 - 3 knots.

Lottery: New rules: guess our 1900Z position (lat/long). Closest to the GPS position wins. My guess: 7° 25.5' N, 125° 37.9'W, was derived solely from the DR log + 5 miles guesstimated West setting current. I was 8 miles out, and much closer than John, who was 32 miles off.  1:1

No CDs.

20 Years Ago Today -- April 23, 1996 -- Day 15

Tues. 96-04-23 - Day 15 - 8° 56' N  124° 53' W  Log: 1,334nm

Up at 1700Z. John ran the engine for 1.5 hours early this morning to charge batteries -- it wouldn't be at all necessary if we could get the trolling generator to behave. John put it out using an old halyard instead of his special rope this morning. It's slowly kinking up as well. The only solution I can think of is trying wire rope.

Great sailing in NE trades until late afternoon, when we met our first rain squall. Maybe 25 knots of wind, tops, where we had been sailing in high teens to 20 already. Night gave us distant lightning and a number of squalls -- all on John's watch.

No CDs. This is the edge of the doldrums. We're grumpy so no contest today.

20 Years Ago Today -- April 22, 1996 -- Day 14

Mon. 96-04-22 - Day 14 - 11° 03' N  124° 06' W  Log: 1,228nm

Up at 1700Z. Romping sail! Still handsteering, but John has put another repair attempt into motion. Vane back in commission by mid-afternoon, and working fine.

An exciting and momentous day today... cleaned up the decks in mid-afternoon - 3 large (8") flying fish, 6 small (1-2") flying fish and a 7" squid, all dead on deck. Caught our first fish today, a 20" female Mahi Mahi (called Dorado in the Caribbean). She was bright yellow/gold as she dragged behind us. I filleted her not too badly and John cooked her up in the frying pan for supper -- yummy!

We decided we were close enough to our planned turning point at 10° N 125° W, so turned the boat South at 2100... oh, yeah, I forgot to mention the dorado was caught on a white lead-head/feathered lure... the only one I have like it.

We tried the trolling generator again but the rope gets hopelessly kinked up, so had to give it up -- John's [rightfully] pissed off because Downwind Marine sold him this very expensive rope for the purpose and it's useless.

Lottery (round 2): Dave: 130; John: 135.5; Log: 129; GPS: 142. John takes it 1:0. Now that we've turned South, though, we have a dilemma about what to measure.

Each of my night watches was entertained by dolphins -- one to two dozen at a time, for 10 - 20 minutes. Great company.

I'm now reading Michael Palmer's "Silent Treatment".

The waves were big and tossed us around a lot today. Not quite as relaxing as I had pictured the trades. Still running with reefed main and poled-out yankee, but gybed the main over today when we turned South, on a broad port reach.

20 Years Ago Today -- April 21, 1996 -- Day 13

Sun. 96-04-21 - Day 13 - [@2100Z] 12° 03' N  122° 03' W  Log: 1,093nm

Up at 1700Z. Sunnier and warmer today. Day was quickly ruined when I pointed out that the wind vane wasn't deflecting all the way and identification of a broken axle. John dismantled the vane and attempted a fix, but broke a thread tap off in the piece and we spent the rest of the day trying to get it fixed. At the end of the day, the new axle doesn't fit through the bearing. Onto the backburner for the night...

I cooked ravioli and a salad (we're on the last lettuce) and served it with biscuits I baked (very unsweet, but fine otherwise).

Sunset again brought us dolphins -- this time 50 - 100 small dark ones that occasionally jumped out of a wave, but were not aerobatic. About 5' max length, and pointy saber-shaped dorsal fins [presumably porpoises of some sort].

Hand-steered much of the day and all night, but the night was a bit warmer and the sailing was fun. We're making good time and doing lots of surfing (up to 8 knots).

No CDs. No lottery, as we were busy with the vane and not in the mood. We're over 1,000 miles, so John takes leg one of the lottery 5:4. Hopefully I'll do better on leg 2.

Doing lots of thinking lately on night watch, about people I've known, and what to do with the rest of my life (unfortunately no conclusions on the latter). People include Mr. George Cummin, Emily Carr Middle School science teacher -- a truly great teacher; and Winsome Johnson, a Jamaican girl who sat near me in Grade 13 English class and said I must visit Jamaica. [I hadn't seen either of these people in well over 15 years, so it's interesting to dwell on them at this point.]

Brought in the fish line after dusk -- no leader, no green hoochie. Just the swivel left. Hope a dolphin didn't get caught on it.

20 Years Ago Today -- April 20, 1996 -- Day 12

Sat. 96-04-20 - Day 12 - 13° 31' N  120° 06' W  Log: 951nm

Up at 1700Z. Mostly overcast. Seas ~9', wind NE 17 - 20 knots all day and all night.

Dinnertime was today's highlight. John cooked up some canned chicken with rice for supper, along with a salad. Between courses in the cockpit, I looked aft and saw a freighter crossing our stern (westbound) about 5 miles off. First one of these we've seen since the Revelling Gigalos. Then, as I started to clean up, I saw a dolphin jump past the starboard portholes. Rushing on deck, we were entertained by a pair of high jumping Pacific White-sided Dolphins for about 20 minutes as the sun set and the soundtrack of the Phantom of the Opera played on the cockpit speakers. Great!

I had a lot of trouble with the windvane unable to keep us on course during the more boisterous part of the night, although it was OK when things quieted down. I was damn angry by the end of my first watch, as I was tired, cold, and couldn't even write the log without the boat rounding up.

The highlight of the night watch was another visit by 5+ dolphins for at least 20 minutes, playing around our bow. The night was dark and they were hard to see, but excited enough bioluminescence to see they were there.

No CDs.

Lottery: Dave: 141; John: 140.5; Log: 135; GPS: 137. John wins. 4:5