S/V AEOLI: April 2014

30 April 2014

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Crossed halfway point this morning! Light air sail drawing in very light conditions. Light winds expected for next few days. Day 12: 78 nm. To go: 1286 nm. Lat+19.757016 Lon-132.310583 Alt +32 ft (11s ago) 30-Apr-2014 18:43:04 UTC http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=19.757016&l

29 April 2014

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Day 11: 101 nm. Lat+19.706600 Lon-130.932750 Alt +39 ft (5s ago) 29-Apr-2014 18:47:35 UTC http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=19.706600&lon=-130.932750

28 April 2014

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Ambling along downwind. Got through our first squall last night, with sudden increase in wind and rain showers. Day 10: 116 nm. Lat+19.744666 Lon-129.135233 Alt +6 ft (25s ago) 28-Apr-2014 18:44:23 UTC http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=19.744666&lon=-129.135233

27 April 2014

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Late night sail configuration change to accommodate wind shift. Running downwind in big, rolly seas. Day 9: 131 nm. Lat+19.785216 Lon-127.066116 Alt +42 ft (55s ago) 27-Apr-2014 18:38:22 UTC http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=19.785216&lon=-127.066116

26 April 2014

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First night of consistent winds. Broad reaching for a record day! Day 8: 140 nm. Lat+19.779550 Lon-124.752166 Alt +6 ft (15s ago) 26-Apr-2014 18:46:23 UTC http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=19.779550&lon=-124.752166

25 April 2014

Recap: Hawaii Passage, The First Week at Sea...

We have now been at sea for 7 days, which is longer than our previous biggest passage from Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas. We have covered 738 nm and are fairly pleased to be at 122° W. We are hoping to make a bit faster progress once we get into the trades and the winds start filling in.
We were pretty seasick for the first few days of the passage, with very little appetite and needing frequent rests in the bunk. We had prepared some meals beforehand (and a chocolate cake!), and these definitely helped us get through the adjustment period. By Day 4 we had our appetites back and were starting to function more normally. Matt was already able to read, but I was just happy to be able to do entries in the log book without needing to lie down. The motion bothers me less and less with each passing day, and it's pretty remarkable to experience how adaptable the human body is. Our muscles are definitely tired from continually bracing against the motion, so I expect us to be pretty trim by the time we get to Hawaii.
The morning of Day 4, we had a small equipment failure with the outhaul, which holds the clew of the sail to the boom. We used a length of Spectra line for a simple lashing repair. We had pretty light winds the night before, so it is likely that the sail slatting fatigued the part. The repair seems to be holding up fine, distributing the load better than the original design which had been intended for a footed mainsail (we switched to a loose-footed main when the current sails were made in 2012).
At 10pm on the night of Day 4, we had a worse issue when an actuator joint of the Monitor windvane (our self-steering device) failed. By inspection, a retaining ring broke and allowed a critical Teflon actuator shaft bearing (parts 54 and 55, if you have the manual) to fall off into the water. We spent about half of the night coming up with and implementing a repair using a modified wooden dowel rod and some seizing wire. This would have been next to impossible without having the right tools aboard (saw, drill, and the required diameter bits). We were then becalmed, and finally motored slowly for a few hours so that we could get some stable motion to rest. It was a pretty rough night, but in the morning we found that the repair was functioning well and able to handle the loads. The windvane has been steering since! The loss of the windvane would mean that we would have to hand steer (we have a small tiller pilot which can handle light conditions, but not heavy wind and waves) and with over 2200 nm to go at that point, we considered returning to Cabo if we couldn't fix it.
Since the excitement of Day 4, things have calmed down and we are now in a pretty good routine of taking care of the boat and ourselves. Now that we are far enough off the coast, the winds are pretty constant during the day, and we are able to cover some distance reaching or close reaching. The winds subside slowly through the night before picking up again in the morning. At night, we've been able to keep moving with the sails mostly full by running close-hauled or on a close reach, though we have been becalmed twice and typically have a couple of frustrating hours of slatting sails each night. The weather has been surprisingly cool at night, and we find ourselves wearing fleece pants, foulies, and our tuques. Daytime temperatures have been pleasant, with shorts and t-shirts the norm. Generally the temperature inside the boat is between 70 and 75°F. The sky is usually overcast in the morning and evening, with sunny breaks during the daytime. Even on the cloudiest days, the solar panels have been able to keep our batteries charged and cycling between 80 and 100%. Once clearing the busy coastal shipping route (Panama to West Coast ports), we have only seen two ships and one yacht. About five dolphins visited on Day 7, and other than the occasional birds and flying fish on deck, it is just us and the infinite sea.
We each do two 3 hour shifts of watch per night, which means we are also getting two 3 hour shifts of sleep per night. We try to supplement a couple hours of naps each wherever we can, and extend the morning sleep shift a bit. Keeping the boat moving, navigating, daily log entries, calling and interpreting the weather, and preparing and eating meals takes up most of our time. I will always take a nap if there is a spare moment. I'm not the most alert I have ever been, but it seems to be enough sleep to keep going without feeling rundown.
Our supply of fresh produce is holding up nicely, better than expected. The crates of separated fruits and vegetables are stowed in the v-berth, and we put tin-foil on the portlights to keep it dark. The cool temperatures and no light make it an ideal storage space, and I think we might even have fresh produce all the way until the end! We may have used an overly large factor of safety for the amount of food that we brought (for example, we brought 18 1L boxes of milk, and after one week have used only two), but you don't know until you get out here. We also checked our fresh water supply and have only used 10 gallons for drinking and cooking, and 2 gallons for showers. That means we still have 63 gallons of fresh water left. We use sea water for dishes, which keeps our overall consumption down.
Overall after one week, morale is still high aboard the good ship AEOLI!

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One week down! Still reaching under light conditions, though afternoons have been more lively. Day 7: 110 nm. Lat+19.902850 Lon-122.275033 Alt +62 ft (17s ago) 25-Apr-2014 18:46:25 UTC http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=19.902850&lon=-122.275033

24 April 2014

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Reaching under light conditions. Continued very light nights. Slow and steady... Day 6: 97 nm. Lat+19.932166 Lon-120.325266 Alt +59 ft (8s ago) 24-Apr-2014 18:48:23 UTC http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=19.932166&lon=-120.325266

21 April 2014

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Close reaching in continued light conditions. Slow night, fast days, comfortable motion. Appetites are back! Day 3: 104 nm. Lat+20.601966 Lon-114.919116 Alt +85 ft (8s ago) 21-Apr-2014 18:51:04 UTC http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=20.601966&lon=-114.919116

20 April 2014

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All is well aboard the good ship AEOLI. Reaching under light conditions. Day 2: 116 nm. Lat+21.292900 Lon-113.210550 Alt +3 ft (1m6s ago) 20-Apr-2014 18:46:53 UTC http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=21.292900&lon=-113.210550

19 April 2014

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Close hauled & close reaching in light but steady conditions. Slowly getting our sea legs. Already wearing foulies at night. Day 1: 100 nm (24 hr run). Lat+22.024650 Lon-111.280466 Alt +65 ft (6s ago) 19-Apr-2014 18:43:34 UTC http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=22.024650&lon=

18 April 2014

Day 1 Hawaii Passage

We are on our way! Excited and anxious for the passage but sad to be leaving Mexico...

17 April 2014

Recap: Passage Preparations in La Paz and Cabo San Lucas (w/pics!)

The past few weeks has been a push of boat projects, chores, provisioning, and preparations for our passage to Hawaii. We are expecting to be at sea for somewhere between 21 and 26 days to make the 2600nm voyage, so there has been much to get ready.

We did the bulk of our preparations in La Paz, since we are so familiar with the city and enjoy the laid back atmosphere. We bought our canned goods and dry provisions at the Mega, which has some great finds: shelf-stable tofu, TVP, canned roasted red peppers, canned pulled pork, and a wide selection of cheeses not requiring refrigeration. We also took care of a long list of little boat projects to get AEOLI ready for the passage. We were finally through with most of our preparations on 10 April and (sadly) departed the Costa Baja. No more infinity pool sunsets for us...

Cataloging all provisions in an Excel spreadsheet (yes, we are still engineers at heart)

Handwashing laundry every morning

Matt in the access hatch doing a fiberglass reinforcement

Being overwhelmed by the choice of canned vegetables (do we want peas/carrots, peas/carrots/corn, or peas/carrots/potatoes/green beans??)

Two full shopping carts leaving the Mega

Now how do we store all this food in the boat...?

Juice compartment

Saying our final goodbye to the Costa Baja...

... and its ridiculous mega-yachts

We took our time getting to Cabo San Lucas, taking day hops and anchoring in Caleta Lobos, Ensenada de los Muertos, and Bahia los Frailes. Our final cruising experiences in the Sea of Cortez...

We arrived to the craziness of Cabo on 13 April and couldn't believe that it was one of our first Mexico cruising experiences. The volume of tourists and boat traffic make it feel like a completely different Mexico. We were glad to have done most of our preparations in La Paz, since things are more expensive and less accessible in Cabo. We did our final freshies run at the Mega/Chedraui/Soriana trio and now have a ridiculous amount of produce aboard AEOLI. Being filled up with potable water, fuel, and 40 days of provisions, AEOLI is sitting heavy.

AEOLI looks like a produce stand

15 water garrafones of purified water delivered to the boat by the fuel dock market

40 gallons in our main tank plus 35 gallons in our auxiliary containers

Checking out of Mexico turned out to be more of an ordeal than we had originally thought, mostly because we are trying to leave during La Semana Santa (Easter) and the government offices have reduced hours. We had called the Port Captain in Cabo from La Paz and were told that we should go to the Port Captain before Immigration, and that the office would be open until 2:30PM. But when we actually went to the Port Captain in Cabo to check out, we found out that they were only open until 12:30PM and that we were supposed to go to Immigration first. By the time we were checked out of Immigration (a time-consuming procedure at the unhurried pace of a government office), the Port Captain was closed to the public, so we were forced to use a port agent (recommended by the marina) to process our checkout from the Port Captain. In the end it all worked out, other than that we had to pay a port agent for the checkout service (our total checkout cost was $120 USD, I think if we had done it ourselves it would have cost $50 USD). My advice for others checking out of Mexico: go to Immigration first and bring photocopies of all passports, tourist cards, and boat documentation; allocate an entire day of business hours to go back and forth between the different agencies; and make sure you have your checkout papers from the last port of call.