The wind is now a very very light breeze and big shifts. Exactly as Skip had described in his writeup. I am thinking that I am probably too far North but for some reason, I just sail along. Mentally I am not racing. Mentally I am sailing, and I am freeing myself up from some emotional shackles.
I am also starting to see some debries, just like this piece of polyester floating on the surface of the ocean. Currents most likely as I hadn't seen anything up until then. It is still sunny and I plaster my face and arm with sunscreen.
The temperature rises quite quickly. I clean up to attack the day, hug the stuffed cats and go up on deck.
I had used the twin sail when going to sleep as the breeze was still up and quieted down in the morning. I rigged it wrong. The way it is rigged it will chafe against the forestay. Not a huge issue as I plan on taking it down during the day anyway.
Sunscreen and cleaning up while looking at the horizon and thinking of my cats. Clouds are starting to cover the sky which I am happy about as I won't have problems with sunburns that way. I remember to check in like every morning on the Yellowbrick tracker.
Getting dressed for the day - I still don't care much about position report or weather. I check the battery level and because things are light, I can pretty much run the AP all day/night with a gain of 1 or 2 and I can rest with a lot of sleep during these days.
I am getting ready for a kite but the wind lightens up even more to nearly nothing. In my experience, in these conditions, I would have to go on a tight reach when the boat is pointing nicely at Hawaii so I try to leave the twin sails up but I reset them in the right direction this time around. The kite would have been really droopy and tough to keep full.
Great face full of orange peel in that video!
Great face full of orange peel in that video!
I usually go around the deck in the morning to see if there is anything that I have missed, or around noon. I prefer this to checking the boat at night. That way if anything needs fixing I have plenty of hours of sunlight to do it. It usually is a little lighter in the morning too and less bouncy which is easier for repairs. This morning, I find a dead calamari. I learned that calamari could jump on decks of boat during my double handed Pac Cup.
The wind is now lighter and lighter. If I was racing, I would probably have gybed south, or at least checked the weather. I would have actively trimmed the sail. Instead, I prepare breakfast and I take out the sat phone to call Nathan and my family. Amazingly, speaking French has a wonderful effect on me, and it seems that it makes me walk on the return path, slowly emerging from the darkness of these emotional shackles. So I decide to speak French around the boat from now on.
I am starting to see a lot of these black balls. I will learn later that they are made of steel and are floating buoys from finish nets that have cut loose. Most of them have a lot of barnicles at the bottom. I have to change course once to avoid hitting one of them.
As the day advances, I take my foul weather gear out on deck to try to get it to dry. It isn't sunny but there is nothing washing on deck anymore. I also set up a light air kite, 'Doyle'. All of Elise's kites have names so the crew knows which one to pick and bring on deck when instructed to set up a kite. Doyle is called Doyle because it is made by Doyle. It is one of Elise's oldest kite but it still works.
The autopilot has trouble driving with the kite up. There are huge wind shifts, it is light air and the kite keeps collapsing. I have no apparent wind mode available since my wind instruments are down. I am not actively racing since I am not trying to figure out the best path to Hawaii but the sailor in me still wants the boat to be efficient and go fast. So I hand steer a lot.
Mentally I am drained but physically I am feeling fantastic. I can sleep as much as I want. I am dry, the temperature is warm. I say to myself 'I know I am a lousy light air sailor but the more I say to myself that I am lousy, the more likely I will stay lousy'. These are challenging conditions and I need to hand steer and trim (exactly as Skip had written) to take advantage of every shift. The boat is going at snail pace but it is movin forward.
By lunch I am exhausted and I need a break. I long for coffee but I have decided not to drink caffeine so it wouldn't mess up with my sleep schedule. I took some on board in case I couldn't keep that promise...I resist.
My lunch is a second avocado with lemon. I put some water in my face and neck and I dry out in the sun. It is a wonderful feeling.
I see a bird and envy its freedom - then I think, well, I am free here too. There is no set path, and like the bird, I can use the wind to my advantage.
The wind kind of drop even more so I decide to drop the kite and set the twin sail and put the AP on. it will be easier to drive with the AP so I can take care of that electrical stuff. I am not sure how to best diagnose the problem as I will need some kind of load to check current, Vs just voltage.
For some reason, my wire stripper is not on board so I use a boat knife to strip the wire. They are corroded for quite a ways. These are the wires that go through the deck.
I check voltage at the output of the 40W panel and I get over 17 volts so the panel is probably working just fine. I think again about Brian's advice - if you lack power, just connect the panel directly to the battery. 40W that's the same as Mr Fusion, so that would be a big push/recharging. It is cloudy now and since it is so light, Mr Fusion absolutely keeps up with the AP so I decide to do nothing for now and continue my investigation. I don't want to spend too much time doing this and enjoy some of the sailing.
My shoulder is still giving me grief and I ice it once a day. I took a lot of instant cold pack knowing that I might have to do that. All good now.
I spend the afternoon in a daze. I put the kite back up and I actively trim the main and the kite. I talk French to both of them saying 'you're like babies, you need constant attention.'
The sunset is amazing. I look at the sun die underneath the clouds - it reminds me of The Lord of the Rings. I am looking straight into the eye of Mordor.
Happy Independence Day Nat and Elise - you're on the road to recovery.
Happy Independence Day Nat and Elise - you're on the road to recovery.
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