Moku pe'a Report

0600 position 10-09 N 157-17W. Day's run 150 miles.

Ever since we cleared the effects of the islands we've been heading five
to ten degrees above the rhumbline course to Christmas. The grib files
showed slightly stronger and more Easterly winds to the South and I wanted
to bank some Easting so we could fall off a little when the winds
increased and clocked. More recent weather files aren't showing quite as
much wind ahead and I think we have enough in the bank, so at 0600 we
turned right to the direct heading for Christmas, and we plan to head
straight in from here.

The wind slowly increased all morning to 15 knots at noon, so we put a
reef in the jib to go along with the one in the main and the boat stood up
straighter without slowing down any. Shortly thereafter the wind started
a decreasing trend so we shook the jib reef at 1300, main reef at 1600,
and the speed got down to near 4 knots at 2200 when the wind started to
come up again. Since then we've been zipping along at full speed under
full sail. No change in wind direction.

We passed the halfway point to Christmas at 1345. Should be a Monday or
Tuesday arrival at this rate.

The current is surprisingly variable out here. The autopilot is driving
to a compass course, but the boat's track over the ground slowly turns
left or right over the hours as the East/West current component changes.
I wouldn't have expected that kind of current variability out here in the
middle of the empty Pacific. If we had human helmsmen we would chalk up
the track changes to differences in driving style, but that variable is
removed with auto driving.

Our satphone email connection has worked perfectly for four days running.
I have been reluctant to say anything for fear of jinxing it, but this
aspect of the journey is remarkably different than my last trip South.
The connection is a team effort with Rocky in the cockpit aiming the phone
at a geostationary satellite over the equator and me at the computer
pushing buttons. When it goes smoothly, which it has so far, incoming and
outgoing emails all get transferred in about a minute and we are done for
the day. When it doesn't go smoothly, as was often the case for Kara
and me in 2011, we'd spend hours trying to make the connection. The
hardware and software on my end hasn't changed. I wonder if Inmarsat, who
operates the satellites, and/or Astrium, my service provider, have
improved things on their end? Or, maybe we have just been lucky so far…

I skipped the cribbage game yesterday to try to change my mojo after Rocky
skunked me the day before. It seems to have worked as I eked out a win
today. He remains one game up in the tally.

Alas, no fish again today and no fishing boats or birds sighted either.
We've got great lures and we are swapping them out to present a variety of
tantalizing tidbits to entice even the most finicky fish's pallet. Must
not be many big fish in this part of the ocean. We have seen some flying
fish though, and this morning at 0400 I saw what looked like a glow stick
lying on deck in the darkness. A flash light revealed a dead flying fish.
Must have been full of some kind of phosphorescence that was not pleased
about its host's untimely demise. He kept right on glowing until it got
light at 0500.

I could also see lightning flashes off to the South just before dawn.
Must be the Inter tropical Convergence Zone, or ITCZ. I am sure hoping we
don't have to deal with lightning.