Blog 4.6 Sat
STATUS REPORT:
Latitude: 10.3 deg south, 137.1 deg west (S of Alaska)
COG 268 deg; SOG 6.3 kts, mainsail & spinnaker. 2,900 miles from Galapagos, 3,900 mi from Panama Canal start, 100 mi to Fatu Hiva, Marquesas.
Beautiful, crystal clear day with a few puffy clouds, sailing as close to downwind as we can on the 10-12 kt winds from the east. This is what is described as the milk run -- downwind in very smooth seas going fast with the chute which we put up at 0700 and haven't touched since. All we've had to do is watch the wind direction and push the + or - button on the autopilot from time to time. Fantastic.
But we paid our dues for this day.
Yesterday was rainy, cloudy and had little wind. We made slow, painstaking progress all day and then the wind died and we had to motor downwind all night with the diesel fumes filling the boat. Hot, humid, muggy, sticky and smelly. What fun!
OK, now we're close enough to our destination that we can count on being in a beautiful harbor tomorrow afternoon. We're actually beginning to feel excited and starting to look forward to the rest of our cruise which will be filled with different landfalls, places to explore, restaurants and wifi!!!!
Our Fatu Hiva landfall should come tomorrow at sunrise. We will see a 3,000 foot volcanic peak rising above the Pacific. It is very remote with few people living on the island and is supposed to be breathtakingly beautiful. Can't wait. We'll drop the chute shortly and sail downwind on a poled out jib, and possibly mainsail. But we don't have to go very fast to make it, and don't want to arrive at night. So hopefully our last night watch (for this leg) will be pleasant. The Southern Cross constellation is out. Looks like a Theta pin for all you Ladies out there.
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