Day 18 – Pacific Crossing

20 May 2022 (Day 18) 0100

2460 nautical miles sailed
1368 nm to go
Current position: 6°S, 116°W
Speed: 7kt (Our max speed is 12.8 kt)
Sail plan: double reefed main and jib
Wind: 19 kt from the SW
Temp: 75°F
Waves: 3 ft swell from the SE with a period of about 6 seconds. (Too short for our liking.) Clouds: cumulus covering 10% of sky

We’re now beyond the half way point. The Marquesas is the closest point of land now. At this rate we should be there in under 10 days – nice to be in the single digits! As before the days fly on by.

New activities have included bracelet making (my first in probably 30 years), electronics and ukulele playing. After Lucy retaught me how to make friendship bracelets, I gave her an LED circle for her 13th birthday that happened last week, saying it was like an electronic friendship bracelet, telling her I’d explain how to use it if she wanted.

Now, days later, she spends hours at my computer, writing new code, experimenting, wiring up new components. She’s hooked and she’s got skills! Amie said this afternoon, “What have you done to our daughter?!” I just smiled and laughed.
I now spend a few hours after my morning watch with her teaching her all I can. Glad I brought an electronics kit with me! Nice to be teaching again – and to an eager student – that’s one of the best things in the world.

I spent part of my afternoon watch playing ukulele with 10 year old Scout. She is surprisingly good and after teaching her some chord progressions we sat and jammed! She gets the chords easily and can match any strumming patterns that I play. We sat together on the helm chair, playing away, nodding at each other as of to say, yep, we’re in the groove, and we like it. I hope it becomes a daily occuramce.

In other news we caught a big spearfish that must have been 60 – 70 lbs or so. The freezer is now packed and we have fish for days.

The hull splap continues in the short period seas. It’s often like a concussive blast under the hull and can reverberate through the boat like a shock wave. It’s a byproduct of being on a cat. In exchange we have speeds of 10 knots or so, which is pretty awesome.

I often feel like I’m in space. We’re surrounded by a hostile environment. We tether ourselves to the ship when we have to go on deck – just like a spacewalk, we exercise with elastic bands and other things so we’ll be ready for action when we arrive at our destination. We don’t have easy communications and take turns looking after the ship and doing other duties.

It will take us around 25 days to get to our destination while or only took 3 days to get to the moon. But while we cruise at an average of around 7 nautical miles an hour, the Apollo spacecraft covered the same distance not in an hour but in a second. With 3600 seconds in an hour, they’re going 3600 times faster than us: 25,000 mph in fact! Mind boggling speeds.

Often we all sit on the cockpit and Ted reads his daily post (posted on the tracking website) and reads the incoming text and email messages that come through the satellite system. It’s a nice way to recount our days and to hear from folks back home following our journey.

The weather remains steady. Good SE trade winds, the clouds come and go – sometimes overcast, sometimes just a few cumulus clouds. The seas are still shorter period than I imagined – it’s kind of a confused mess, not one long period swell but I figure that’s because we’re in the middle of a huge ocean with many potential influences including the southern ocean which is always kicking up storm and is not that far away.

The moon has been amazing. What a difference it makes to have a big moon. During the full moon, it felt like it was twilight the whole night. Such a welcome change to be able to see the horizon during a night watch.

Otherwise we’re looking forward to our arrival next week! We can’t wait to swim, walk, hike, explore and hopefully some other water activities. All the best to you all and thanks for reading!

Send any question or things you want to hear more about:
786-776-2388 (text)
noonsun@myiridium.net

3 thoughts on “Day 18 – Pacific Crossing”

  1. Sounds incredible, Benny! Loving these updates 🙂 Sending love and gratitude your way.

  2. Emailed you and crew two days ago. Congratulations on reaching the Marquesas island. Can’t wait to learn of adventures on land – and pictures too.
    Tom

Comments are closed.

Scroll to Top