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

After being at sea for two weeks, we have covered 1457 nm with 1133 nm left to go to Hilo, Hawaii. Our routine of life at sea is pretty well established, and we have been mostly responding to the different sailing conditions that we have been encountering.
The first several days of the second week, we had steady winds from the N or NE of about 15 kts. These were great sailing conditions for fast broad reaching and downwind sailing. Then around Day 12, a low pressure system pushed south through the developed North Pacific High, disrupting our established winds and leaving us with light (5-8 kt) NE and E winds. We put up the C-0 light air sail and did the best we could in the light conditions to continue making westward progress. We had one night of impossibly calm seas, with an almost imperceptible swell, where we were ghosting along at about 2 kts in what couldn't have been more than 5 kts of wind. On the one hand, light conditions gave us a bit of a break from all the motion and let us have a couple of restful days. On the other hand, it can be frustrating having to trim the sails frequently to keep up with the variable light conditions. Either way, you sail the wind that you get, and after the past two weeks of watches in shifting winds, I (Rachel) am much more of a sailor than I ever was.
We also had our first squall this week, and have encountered a couple more since. Since the skies are frequently overcast, I wasn't sure how we were supposed to be able to see the dark cloud formation that comes with a squall. Turns out that even if you can't see it (and sometimes you can and sometimes you can't), you can definitely feel it. The sails will begin to flutter heavily as the winds gust up, and the only consistent rain that we have had has been associated with a squall. So if there are increasing winds and any precipitation, we are on alert to prepare to take down the sails. We were actually travelling west downwind last night and I could feel a squall coming on, so diverted north towards the wind to move out of the way and let the squall pass south of us. This seemed to work pretty well and we didn't have to furl the light air sail to let it pass. After having dealt with a few of them and knowing that they always travel with the wind, I feel much less anxious about future inevitable squalls.
We crossed paths with three cargo ships, headed for New Zealand, Japan, and Peru. The only other signs of life have been some dolphins (really long unidentified species, possible whales), the occasional bird, and the possible UFO (or helicopter) nighttime sighting by Rachel.
Our freshies are still holding up well. We have finished our supply of avocados, tomatoes, peppers, and mandarin oranges, but still have plenty of jicamas, cucumbers, potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbages, green apples, grapefruits, and limes. We have barely gotten into our food stash, and in fact we are still eating out of the food allocated for the first 10 days. Since we are running without refrigeration, we brought 3 kilos of assorted wax covered and vacuum packed cheeses, including manchego, cheddar, gouda, provolone, and parmesan. They have all been keeping fine in their packaging and once we open one, we keep the cheese wrapped in a vinegar soaked paper towel to keep mold from growing on the surface. This has been working out well, and having assorted cheeses has helped to keep our meals interesting. We have had lots of fresh baked goods: breads, biscuits, and loaf cake. Our fresh water supply is at 50 gallons still, which means that in two weeks we have used about 5 gallons for showers and 20 gallons for cooking and drinking.
The other 'excitement' of Week 2 was a clogged head, requiring a full rebuild of the pump and disassembly of the joints in the system. A shitty job no matter what, made even more so by getting to do the work underway in a rolly boat. We are learning so much out here…
It's pretty crazy being over a 1000 miles from anything for the first time. I (Rachel) definitely experience some anxiety from time to time about what could go wrong while we are so far away from anything. But we are channeling the anxiety into being diligent and vigilant about taking care of the boat (preemptively checking over everything and looking for possible issues, being conservative about our sail configuration, and maintaining our systems) and ourselves (getting as much rest as possible, eating well, and recognizing when we are starting to get run down and need more sleep).
All is well aboard the good ship AEOLI as we chug along into our third week at sea…

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