sv evi

05/09/2007
Anchored at Ile Fatu Hiva, Marquesas

Twenty-four days, 7 hours is all it took to cross the pacific from the Galapagos to the first available landfall….the Marquesas Islands. Within almost 200nm between the first and last islands lie 6 major inhabited islands and as many uninhabited islets and rocks, all volcanic in origin. The largest is less than 15nm long and sparsely populated. Easily missed in the vast pacific but with GPS finding them was simple as plugging in the coordinates and pointing Guava in the correct direction. Of course the wind and wave direction do not always cooperate but more on that later.

A few more fun numbers concerning our passage….

• Guava traveled 2950nm non-stop between anchorages
• average nautical miles per day (24 hour period) approx. 121.6
• average speed total 5.07 nm/hr
• total nm sailing 2619
• total nm motorsailing 331
• best day in distance(all sailing) 154
• worst day (all sailing) 86
• diesel burned (mostly battery charging) less than 50 gallons
• water used (cooking and drinking) approx 40 gallons
• fresh loaves of bread baked 10
• cold beers consumed …as many as possible until the ice melted
• warm beers consumed….surprisingly few (we arrived with a case)
• # of other vessels spotted…. 5 (2 fish processors, 2 cargo ships, 1 sailboat)
• # fish caught 14 (released 12 and kept 2)
• # fish lost ….4 big ones and 2 lures
• # books read 7(rick) 5(cort)
• # times climbing mast…..1

The passage was relatively painless with Guava again earning MVP honors. Confined to a 30x10ft space with no options to stop, quit or get off the boat, the biggest challange of life at sea was how we dealt with it while Guava kept plugging along. After a couple of days out we settled into our routines of watches, Guava repairs, reading, fishing, cooking and trading off getting rest.

After a couple of days mixed with slow sailing and fast motorsailing the tradewinds settled in and we managed to rely on the sails alone for the next 19 days straight. We only used the motor for occasionally charging the batteries and the last day to make landfall before dark.

Boat issues were the standard with any long crossing with chafe requiring the most attention. One morning during chafe inspection we noticed the genoa sail had rubbed on a seam for days wearing away the stitching between two panels. With nothing but time i spent the next day hand sewing the heavy cloth back together and reinforced some other visibly worn seams. It has held and should for many seahours in the future. The spinniker received some sewing attention also but the fabric is light, weak and old and strains while always threatening to tear under too much wind but we managed to fly her some.

A week out to sea in good wind and confused seas the headsail had been hitting on the spinnaker line rigged in front of the forestay. Days of this caused the knot to come loose and the line (spinnaker halyard) went to the top of the mast. With the increasing winds, loosing the ability to fly the big kite was not a problem so i would simply pull the line down and re-rig it upon arrival in a calm, safe protected bay. Unfortunately it had wrapped itself around the top of the forestay and tied a knot so i couldnt use any head sail. This was a potentially dangerous situation so with a squall on the horizon and Guava rolling about Courtney hualed me up the mast while i bear-hugged it to keep from being swung about like a rag doll. If the mast is swaying frantically a few feet to either side on the deck the movement extrapolated out to the top of the forty foot stick makes for quite a ride but she had me up and down in minutes with the problem solved. We also managed to re-rig it so it was available to use as well as being a back-up forestay should that fail.

Speaking of failing forestays, we had no problem but did listen to the debacle of another sailboat (S/V Sailabout) and its broken forestay. Our morning routine was listening to the daily net on the SSB (ham radio) receiver. For a few pesos I had purchased a very used one in Mexico two seasons ago and before the crossing had managed to clean it up, re-solder some wires and get it working. I even jury-rigged a wire to connect it to the laptop and download current weather satellite images(grib files) while at sea…..amazing. It is similiar to a radio you may have had as a kid, listening to the baseball game on the local AM station……of course this is for you pre CD, MP3 folks. Anyway we have to tie the broken antenna to the wire backstay on Guava, turn off all electronics, hand steer, and finely tune it in while it makes sounds as if we are trying to contact Martians. Once it is tuned it works great and we would listen to the 20 or so boats during role daily roll call report their position, weather, miles to go until landfall and any other useful info. There was a medical situation on a boat and someone found a doctor to advise. There were motor problems and a mechanic would assess the symptoms and give advice. Very helpful. One morning we heard Sailabout report that they ripped their forestay from the deck and were taking on water. The closest other cruiser was over a hundred miles (a day) past them but altered their coarse to assist if needed. The next day Sailabout announced she was going down and fortunately a large merchant vessel aided in the rescue. Sailabout was abandoned at sea, slowly sinking while making 4knots under power on a northwesterly course. The crew was safe and we have no other information. 

Comfort Zone

Dorado Dinner

  

Maidenhead

Papillon

Land Ho!!!

Slime Note

Unlike many other cruisers crossing, our watch schedule was less than rigid. With only two of us to share the duties we basically fell into a schedule but the bottom line was that if you were tired you asked for relief. Fortunately both of us always let the other sleep long hours and this perpetuated into the person being well rested…..subsequently they were able to do a long shift. Basically we arrived very well rested.

The late shifts were pleasant with the star show playing nightly with a new cast of characters. Being in the southern hemisphere i have had to learn an entirely new sky with the southern cross replacing orion as the new point of reference to locate constellations. A special treat was the week-long meteor shower in the constellation Lyra offering dozens of streaks across the sky. We departed the Galapagos during a gibbous moon (more than quarter but less than full) and waxed full giving us good visibility at the start of the trip where we were likely to have the most traffic. Nearly completing a full lunar cycle (29.5 days) on our trip we also had a new moon which makes star viewing and finding deep space objets with the binoculars much easier. OK….enough space-geeking for now. The cockpit is so comfortable with exterior cushions, pillows and a rarely needed blanket that even rested it was easy to grab an occasional nap.

The fishing and wildlife was what you would expect crossing a desert……almost non-existant. We lost a couple of big ones the first few days but did land a nice dorado in the middle and released some smaller ones. Saw a couple of whales and some dolphins but mostly quiet. Surprisingly some type of bird was spotted everyday……even in the middle of nowhere 1500 miles from any land. Looking over the rail into the eerie deep ocean you could occasionally see schools of fish and jellies.

So the majority of our time was spent eating, talking about eating, preparing food and the cleanup process. WE ATE WELL!! Plentiful provisioning and care of fresh fruit and veggies kept us from opening cans daily. Lotsa eggs and fresh bread (cort baked twice weekly) and delicious veggie dinners with leftovers there was always grub. We celebrated a couple of milestones with nice wine also. All this was done with no fridge and a cooler with ice that lasted a measley 4 days.

The morning of the 24th day we spotted land. Sailing into Fatu Hiva at sunset was incredible. We were greeted with towering spires, lush green valleys and a rainbow in the aquamarine waters of a protected anchorage. Fortunately the caravan of boats that arrived before us had already left and only a few dotted the small bay. With the hook set we had a ceremonial baptismal in the 86 degree water. Noticing the side of Guava surprising slimey i began scrubbing and was inspired to clean WE MADE IT! into the gunk. The cruisers who were watching from the neighboring boat, celebrating their arrival, hooted and whooped when the message was clear. We swam over and were greeted by S/V Sisu and the Bellingham boat S/V Irie with a shot of tequila while treading water. Noice touch!!