Sailing!

0800 Position 17-13N 128-20W. Days run 162 miles.

We had a great day yesterday. The wind finally filled in enough so we could turn the engine off at 1030AM. It is still pretty light though and blowing directly toward our destination which forces us to sail forty degrees off course to keep the boat moving. It is beautiful sailing in flat water. The boat is silently slipping along at seven knots, a little slower but a vast improvement over the drone of the diesel engine.

The remaining job list was mostly in the engine compartment and couldn't be accomplished with the engine running, so the afternoon was spent working there. Longy and Rob completed a number of projects. It took a lot of head scratching and trial and error, but the engine heated water heater got fixed. The heater supply and return lines were connected to the wrong ports on the newly installed engine. It was difficult to solve the problem without a proper engine service manual. Longy also installed an auxiliary fuel pump for the generator and Rob got the barbeque working.

Bill Barsz made a fantastic chicken stir fry for dinner. He has been saying all along that he didn't know how to cook but that was clearly BS. His was the best meal yet. Bill is a retired airline pilot who loves to cruise and has sailed all over the world mostly crewing for others. He and Rob are members of the Cruising Club of America and have sailed together before on Van Diemen.

Last night was magical. You could hardly tell the boat was moving, but the knot meter confirmed that we were sliding along at seven to eight knots. A periodic glance at the windex and an occasional autopilot course adjustment up or down a couple of degrees to keep the apparent wind on the beam was all the attention it took. The moon is getting bigger every night now, and the half moon seems to put out as much light out here as the full moon at home. Perhaps it is the lack of background light at sea that makes it seem brighter. Rob stayed up and extra hour after his watch ended at 10PM, and I didn't even bother waking Longy for his midnight watch and stood it for him. He worked hard yesterday and deserved the extra rest. Besides, I was in no hurry to see it end.