Following Alan Stewart and Will Summers

Alan and Will bought a small car with camping gear in Cairns, Australia, and are driving to Sidney via places of interest.   You can follow their adventures this month at  http://sailnaway.blogspot.com/

Changes Onboard

Quite a few changes happening on the EYE while in Cairns Australia, with all the crew changes. Alan and Will are cleaning up and packing up, as they leave the EYE. Alan Witt will be coming on in a few days to replace them.

Alan and Will have bought a car ($700) complete with tent, stove, cooking utensils etc… They have till the 18th to tour around before their flight home when they hope to sell the car. This a much cheaper alternative then staying at a youth hostel and lets them really play tourist.

I’m not exactly sure when Adam, Amanda, and the new Alan plan to sail. Paul and I will naturally continue to follow the EYE as always, but we will not be able to continue this blog.  Please send me an email if you are interested in taking it over.  Thanks.

Land Ho

7/28/2010
We are about 15 miles from Carins harbor yayayayay! We have BB coverage now. Its still very windy and actually quite rough still even inside the reef but we see land LAND HO!!!


On sunday evening on Will's watch a boobie bird committed suicide by trying to land on our wind generator and in so doing broke two of its blades. We have been trying to conserve power since then so as not to have to run the motor hence no emails yesterday. Will said the bird landed in the water right next to him like a big wet rag hitting the water and wasn't moving.

Anyway, we should be anchored in Carins hopefully before sunset tonight
 
7/29/2010
We are cleared in now customs and quarantine done. Shower (much needed) and laundry doing soon and eating of course. Australia is so beautiful and everyone is interesting or quirky and all have been very nice. The customs lady that cleared us in was a hasher (what are the odds) and offered us a ride to the next hash. Pretty cool I thought.

Swells on the Ocean

Alan sent the following update:

Saturday 7/24, Day 6
Later yesterday evening we swapped the #3 for the storm jib for the night. We had some squalls come through and rain that brought some stronger winds (25knots steady with higher gusts). We averaged 5.1 knots through the night and this morning, after one last squall and the wind settled a little bit we decided to put the #3 back up for the day if the wind doesn't pipe up again.


Overall the seas have been very impressive lately. Large rolling swells from multiple directions, wind trails across the water, cresting waves at the top of the biggest water mountains (that occasionally turn the cockpit in to a bath tub), but our little boat just keeps bobbing over it all.

230Nm to the great barrier reef as of 1pm today. Then another couple days and we're there!
 
Then in another email he mentioned the swells:

Ssome of the swells i have seen on this crossing and the sustained winds have been the biggest and strongest that i have ever seen. :) I've taken some good videos to show you. But they never seem to do the swells justice.


They say that once you've seen them (big swells or wind) once your immune from the "OH MY GOD!" initial reaction until you see something BIGGER. So some people are not surprised by any of it. It seems universally accepted however that the swells and wind down in the "roaring 40's" latitudes trump all and make a trade wind crossing of the pacific look like a lazy river. I imagine that our "storm" doesn't amount to much in comparison. When i think it looks rough out here, i just remind myself of that.

Onward to Australia

Well they weathered their first big storm,  and much has happened since. The EYE posts provide some information on their visit to Vanuata. While there, Alan told us they managed to get the motor working right, the head repaired, but the main sheet which tore during the storm will have to wait repair till they get to Australia, it can be used in a reefed position.

I apologize for being so busy that I haven’t kept this updates.  We still enjoy daily emails and updates from Alan and I’ve tried to do some catch up below with his emails since they sailed from Vanuata.

Monday July 19 - Day 1
We had a great time exploring Vanuatu with highlights including seeing a volcano as we entered the island group, Snorkeling at Million Dollar Point, and enjoying some new and interesting foods. We left Luganville yesterday at 2 in the afternoon headed for Carins, Australia.

We have been sailing under Mizzen and Storm Jib with no need for our main so far due to strong trades that should continue for the rest of this week we hope. We are making around 6 knots average on a broad reach almost due west. The swells are around 3-4 meters (about 12 feet) from the SE and we have roughly 950Nm before we reach the great barrier reef with a further 200 after that to Carins.

It's a little rolly onboard and the cockpit is a little wet but were all up for it and happy to be on the move. Australia here we come.

Tuesday July 20, Day 2
The wind had subsided enough that we put the #1 headsail up around noon and the cockpit is drying out nicely. It's still a little rolly below but were all getting our sea legs by now. We've knocked out about 125Nm in the last noon to noon run.

We bought some fresh provisions in Vanuatu including about six short baguette breads, 2 bread loafs, 8 grapefruit, 2 cucumbers, a bunch of onions, and potatoes. Having fresh foods is so nice but they won't last forever. One of our breads is already getting a little fuzzy. We also expect that we will have to turn over all of our foreign canned meats when we get to Carins due to Australia's strict policies so we'd better start eating all that spam and luncheon meat. Yum Yum.

Wednesday July 21, day 3
Today has been a lazy day. Everyone is going through the phase of a crossing where mostly you just sleep or lay in your bunk, eat, or sit in the cockpit at your watch. The days are starting to mush together as we lock into our rotation schedule.

Before leaving, I thought it would be a good idea to clean up a little so I stowed everything below my bunk and made quite a bit of room for myself by organizing some things. Unfortunately, after our first night I realized that all my stuff that had been piled in my bunk with me was actually what was keeping me from rolling back and forth in the night. It took me a long time to find a sufficiently body constraining position that allowed me to get to sleep. What a weird problem to have. "Not enough stuff with you in the bed to fall asleep". Oh well.

The wind has been fluctuating between around 10 and 15knots from the SE and although the swells have settled down considerably, it has been pretty choppy today with about equal 2-3ft swell from the S, SE, and E. We still have the #1 headsail up and making good speed. We have been getting a lot of dew lately at night and today has felt very hazy and muggy. During the day, the sun is hot hot hot and with the hatches closed the cabin can get a little gross. Thankfully we were able to open the boat up a little in a lull and get some fresh air through the boat.

Were about 630Nm from the great barrier reef. About 230 miles from being halfway there, and about 180 miles from our next time zone change which will put us in Eastern Australia time. 14 hours ahead of Eastern US time.

Thursday Day 4, July 22
Winds have picked up steadily today and shifted slightly to the south. Just before sundown we swapped the #1 headsail for the #3 and the mainsail. The swells have been building also and are around 8ft or so now from the ESE.

For dinner Will had dreams of a cheeseburger. What resulted was a slice of fried SPAM with hunks of our "last a long time" cheese that comes in a box all rolled up in a pancake bun! It's the closest thing I've had to a cheeseburger in 4 days and very inventive. 2 thumbs up from this cheeseburger critic.

Friday Day 5, July 23 
We dropped the main sometime in the night and the wind has kept building all morning from the ESE to around 20 knots now with larger swells back up around 10-12 feet like we had seen at the beginning of the crossing. We're (konck on wood) about 3 days from the great barrier reef. Not sure how much umph the reef will take out of this trade wind swell but with any luck it will calm down a little.

All is well, counting down the miles.

Their First Big Storm

Woke up this morning to this very long email from Alan dated July 11th, describing the storm they had just passed through.  Possibly it is the storm Paul mentioned in yesterdays post; he could see by comparing uGRIB with SPOT that the EYE and that big storm were headed away from each other.  But he  had no idea where the storm was relative to their position the previous day.  We were not sure how bad their encounter with it might have been. uGrib indicated plenty of 40 mph winds.


Alan's Report:

That's what I would call it. We've been through smaller squalls and heavy downpours before but nothing that I would call a "real storm" until now. It was around 3pm on July 10th, 2010 and we were 2 days out from Fiji headed for the island of Tanna in Vanuatu with about 300 Nm to go when...

We were watching a movie in the cockpit with a light wind from behind and making around 4 knots with the main and #1 headsail wing on wing. We could see a rain shower approaching from the East and soon it was drizzling and down went the computer into the cabin. Will and I also retreated into the cabin and Adam and Amanda were left on deck for their watch. The drizzle turned into a downpour and the wind built to a little over 10 knots accompanied by a sudden shift to the North. We were used to this by now since the smaller rain squalls we had encountered had all come with shifts usually to the north. We were now blasting along at 8knots and up with full sails boring down on a course of SSW. Will and I shut and dogged down all the hatches and pretty soon came the call from on deck, "Lets drop the jib." Will and I donned our foul weather gear and harnesses and came up on deck. Almost instantly we were soaked.

The Jib was set out with the whisker pole to starboard which meant that we couldn't turn from a course of dead down wind until it was dropped. Usually we would do this by jibing the mainsail (which was on port) over to "blanket" the jib and relieve the pressure of the wind so that the pole could be removed and then the sail lowered or jibed or whatever was called for. In this case we were hesitant to jibe the main due to the strength of the wind as this can be a hairy maneuver. The real problem was that we assumed this would be a passing shower like we had experienced before and we waited too long to shorten sail. We could see the back end of the squall on radar and decided to wait a little longer and see if the wind shifted or died down a little. It didn't so we enacted plan B which was to drop the headsail without removing the spinnaker pole first. We'd never tried this before but it seemed do-able so with Will at the bow ready to bunch up the sail and I at the mast lowering the halyard we gave it a go. Will managed to pull the sail in as it was lowered and kept it out of the water and as soon as most of it was under control, I unpinned the whisker pole and secured it on deck. Mission accomplished. With the jib down, we were able to turn to starboard and get back on a westward course. About 30 min later, the wind and rain subsided and we continued along this way for the next hour or so.

It was now my watch and it was raining. We were on course with just a full mainsail up making 7 knots or better. (In hindsight we waited too long to reef here too) Another rain line came up from behind accompanied with another shift, more rain, and more wind. It was like nothing I had ever seen before (and no, this isn't the storm yet). Screaming along doing 8 knots or better with rain so thick you couldn't see in any direction for more than a couple of boat lengths. There was so much rain it seemed to beat the choppy waves down into smooth rollers. It was getting darker by the minute and I called down for a reef in the main. Will and Adam clamored up from below and 10 minutes later the boat felt much better with the first reef point in the mainsail. The wind subsided gradually during my watch but the rain was more or less a constant. By the time I passed the watch off to Will at 8pm the sky had mostly broken and some start were even visible. Little did we know that the real test was yet to come.

It was now around 8:30pm and although Will had just started his watch, everyone down below was as close to being fast asleep as you can get in a rolling boat. I was awoken by the sound of the wind generator first. It's usual whirring and typical vibration that we have all become accustomed to was stronger than ever and out of curiosity I leaned over to check the amperage output on our power meter. The highest I saw it hit was 32amps. If you don't have experience with small wind generators then just trust me that that was a lot. The boat was vibrating in an odd way and having lived on the boat for almost 8 months it was easy to be aware of any "abnormal sounds" and they usually wake you right up from a dead sleep. Our wind generator is designed to "brake" itself when the wind is too strong (50knots or more according to the manual) or when the battery voltage indicates that the batteries are full. I could hear the wind gen braking which was normal but the sound that came next wasn't. A loud screeching sort of noise like a cross between a blender and a dying helicopter could be heard from up top and within moments Will called down for us. Adam roused me out of bed, "Were gonna drop the main and put up the storm jib, and by the way what is that noise?" We threw on our jackets and harnesses and Adam was first out of the hatch. He called down to me, "It's the wind gen, just turn it off." The wind gen has a manual brake feature which I engaged with the flip of a switch but it was obviously not working as the noise just continued as loud as ever. The entire time we worked on deck the sound of the screeching wind generator was with us. At times I was afraid the blades would shatter and be thrown down onto us but there was little we could do about it at the time.

Once on deck the realness of the situation was upon us. There was more wind and more rain than I have ever before seen from a boat. With the single reefed main, we had too much canvas up and a quick inspection of the main revealed that it had already blown out. There was now a two and a half foot vertical tear just forward of the second reef pennant that had probably happened just moments ago. Will was fighting the helm and Adam clipped in and started pulling the rest of the mainsail down from the mast. I clipped in and followed on the port side wrestling the main around the boom and strapping it down. I continued to get the boat "right" by helping Will to lower the bimini and coil and unfoul sheets and halyards and stowing unnecessary items from the cockpit. Adam came up with the storm jib and began hanking it on. I was tempted to go below for the anemometer to measure the wind speed but I was obviously needed on deck and anyway, I'm not sure it would have survived the rain. Everything takes an exponentially longer amount of time in higher wind and the rain felt like we were being shot with tiny bb gun pellets. Every step and movement on the slippery deck is one that could end in a slip over the rail or into a sharp cleat or the corner of a winch drum. Of course you don't think about that in the moment, you just do whatever needs doing. Adam called that he was ready from the bow but voice communication was pretty much useless unless you were talking into the person's ear. The wind drowned out everything but the whistling of the rigging and the spray onto the deck. We hoisted the storm jib and hardened the sheets. The boats motion calmed, the apparent wind was reduced, and we were "running" with the storm.

We regrouped back in the cockpit with the boat now under control and hauling butt downwind on a port tack. Will took a look at the chart plotter. We were headed EAST! We got set to jibe and after a quick WHOMP of the storm jib we were on course again making good speed. Just then the chart plotter took a turn for the worst. Our best guess is that it decided that it was tired so it shut itself off. We could awaken it but only for a few minutes at a time. We unplugged it and sent it down below to dry off.

The wind was beginning to subside a little and with Will steering by compass alone Adam and I, soaked to the bone, retreated to the cabin leaving Will to finish out his watch. I had a restless night listening to the wind and battling the books and cloths that I shared my bunk with. A leaky window right above the quarter berth certainly didn't help. I was already awake at 5am when my watch started and I came on deck to find that most of the wind had subsided and the mizzen sail had been set in the night. We were making little progress and mostly just rolling at the mercy of the confused chop. At sunrise, I traded out the storm jib for the #3 headsail and by 8am when Will came up on deck, we had blue skies and a light southerly wind. We set the double reefed main and #1 headsail and started drying out. We had survived our first "real storm."

In daylight, the casualties of the night were reviewed: The mainsail, torn below the second reef point is still usable in the double reefed configuration. Adam opened up the chart plotter and discovered that it leaked through a small hatch where the electronic chart chip is inserted. Efforts to repair it have failed so far. With no chartplotter, our radar and AIS capability is down too. Our next best piece of gear is Will's iphone which he equipped with detailed charts of the pacific before coming on the trip. Without the iphone we would be without charts for the island of Tanna and forced to change our destination to Port Vila further North which we have paper charts for. The wind generator seems to be working normally this morning so far which is a relief. We suspect that the terrible noise we heard could have been the emergency brake feature but I doubt that we saw 50knots at any point but who knows. After getting the storm jib up we turned on our steaming light to help illuminate the sail for the helmsman and to make us more visible but that too died in the night possibly due to all the rain.

All in all, we were very lucky that wind and rain and not giant waves were all that we faced. The swell and chop was relatively flat through it all. No one was injured and we made it through unscathed and in good spirits. Today we are making good progress under #1 headsail, double reefed main, and mizzen and with the wind dying, we turned on the motor around 2pm to keep up our pace. We have mostly blue skies with scattered clouds, the sun has dried our all of our soggy gear and a large pot of pasta has restored our energy. Nothing worth having ever comes easily and we hope the island of Tanna is good as they say it is.

Alan

Moving away from a storm

On Sunday morning (Saturday, 10 July 2010 at 10:41pm Eastern Time),  Alan Stewart sent the following storm email message by radio:  "We are doing fine. We have a strong safe boat and it is taking good care of us."

At that time the SPOT position data and weather data from uGrib indicated that they are headed NW away from the storm.  The storm was to the south of them and was at that time headed away from them towards the SE.

Image of SPOT position data

 

Image of Weather data from uGrib: 

a storm south of Fiji packing 40 mph winds

on Sunday morning (Saturday night June 10, 2010 eastern time)

Update:  (Sunday July 11 10:30am eastern time)

Here is a weather forecast from the Fiji Meterological Service which is an agency of the Fijian government:

Marine Weather Bulletin Issued from the National Weather Forecasting Centre Nadi at 1:30am on Monday the 12th of July 2010

A STRONG WIND WARNING REMAINS IN FORCE FOR NORTHERN VANUA LEVU, NORTHERN LAU, YASAWA AND MAMANUCA WATERS, KORO SEA, VATU-I-RA PASSAGE AND SOUTHERN LAU WATERS.


Situation:
An active trough of low pressure with associated rain and thunderstorms over Vanua Levu is gradually moving eastwards.

Forecast to midnight tonight for Fiji waters:  For Yasawa and Mamanuca, northern Vanua Levu, Northern Lau waters,  Koro Sea, Vatu-i-ra passage and Southern Lau:       West to southwest winds 20 to 25 knots, easing to 15 to 20 knots later today.  Moderate to rough seas, rough in squalls . Moderate southwest swells.  Poor visibility in areas of heavy rain and thunderastorms.    Further outlook: Southwest winds 15 to 20 knots.


For the rest of Fiji waters:   West to southwest winds 15 to 20 knots.  Moderate seas,rough in squalls. Moderate southwest swells. Poor visibility in areas of heavy rain and thunderastorms.  Further outlook: Southwest winds 15 to 20 knots.


And latest weather data from uGrib....

Fijian Islands

Update from Alan...
Wednesday July 7th

Bula! Bula! (hello or welcome in Fijian) We arrived in Lautoka today after a 24 hour sail from Savusavu on the north island of Fiji. Most of the sailing was through passes of calm water with coral reefs all around. We tried to time the trip so that most of the passes were done in daylight. I have been pretty surprised at what Fiji is like. I guess I thought it was a tropical island paradise like Bora Bora. If you had told me it was lots of mountains, Indian food, hot springs, pine forest and sugar plantations I guess I might have been surprised. It has a little bit of everything. Including some of the best reefs and scuba diving in the world (which we didn’t get close enough to take advantage of) and like almost every place we have been, I am continually seeing things that I wish we could do but don’t have enough time and know that I could spend a month here and not be bored or see it all. We have met many many cruisers who HAVE seen it all sailing the pretty much the same route as us and left Canada or other east coast ports 3-5 years ago and have only gotten as far as we are now. One couple who we met upon our arrival here said it best, ”Man you guys need to drop out of warp speed!” Our mantra seems to be “darn, I wish we could do that but were leaving in the morning.”

Lautoka, also known as the sugar city for its big sugar exportation industry is the 2nd largest city in Fiji and has a much different feel than Savusavu. It is much more “city like” with literally hundreds of busy shops mostly run by Indians who are decedants of the migrant labor brought here in the early 20th century to work the sugar plantations. There is a bus station and a train, a mall, large produce and handicraft market and a large shipping port. Similar in many ways to Papeete, Tahiti.
 
We anchored around noon and cleared into customs and spent the day on the town. We found a place to get some cheap food, and saw the produce market. I bought a small bag of ground Waka which we will use to try and make Kava later. Kava is the ceremonial drink of the western pacific islands. It has a mild grassy flavor and gives a feeling of relaxation and somewhat of a buzz but very mildly so. It is mostly similar to tea I suppose but very traditional and ceremonial. Later, Will and I went off on our own and Adam and Amanda went exploring on their own. We have done this so far it works well since they walk very fast and Will and I like to stop and smell the roses a lot usually without a plan just breathing it all in and going with the flow. It works really well and I have yet to regret this way of exploring.


We stopped at a barber shop because Will wanted a hair/beard cut. Almost every Indian shop here advertises as a barber and a tailor for the matter, so that wasn’t hard to find. I was even asked if I would like a haircut while walking down the street. Will got a very nice haircut for 3 fijian dollars and is very clean cut looking now with a trimmed beard even. I opted to stay a spectator. Afterwards, we wandered into some random shops and looked at everything from second hand cloths to DVD’s to handicrafts. We enjoyed just walking around and reading the random advertizing signs like, “Meat Bird for sale, Inquire inside”, or “Cloths for sale, 5 dollars each.” Many eateries offer “takeway” food and almost every single shop has fried food that has been sitting under a hot lamp which is usually cheap and delicious. We also found some ice cream OF COURSE.

We were also in search of a place to maybe watch the world cup tomorrow Will is a big follower. Another game is tomorrow at 630am local time so that may be difficult but that didn’t deter us from at least checking out a couple of places that were recommended by the cruising couple we met on the way in. The Sea View Hotel was an unlikely looking place on the water and we asked the lady at the desk where we could find a place to get a beer. “You can get one here of course, have a seat!” was her reply. So we did. They had a TV but she looked confused when we tried to ask if she would be able to get the game in the morning at 630. The second place we checked out was across the street from “The most exclusive night club in Lautoka” (that was the name of the place) but we didn’t see a TV so we moved on.
 
We kept wandering, wondering if Adam and Amanda would be headed back to the dinghy dock since it was already around 630pm. We decided to head that direction and made a detour to check out one last place “The Northern Club” a country club type place with some tennis courts, a pool and large dance floor area with snooker tables, a big bar and a deck. We just had to sign our names and they let us in. There we saw Adam and Amanda just sitting down at a table. We were surprised but glad we didn’t have to keep guessing if they were waiting on us back at the boat. We hadn’t made a plan to meet up anywhere. Oops. Anyway we all had a few beers there and asked about the world cup in the morning but it didn’t sound like they were that excited about it and Will didn’t seem too worried. Personally I’ll be surprised if we are out of bed before 730 tomorrow morning.


We walked back to the dock through the container ship port and rowed the dinghy back to the boat which is where I now sit, recalling our days adventuring.

Plans:
We plan to spend today here exploring some other areas, maybe bussing over to a new town. Unfortunately, the Fiji water bottling company does not offer tours of their facility which we were kind of hoping to see. Then on Friday, we will move the boat about 12 miles further south to a proper yacht marina to fill up on diesel fuel before leaving directly for Vanuatu. We are planning to make landfall there at, Tana or Tona, not sure how you spell it but there is apparently an active volcano on the island that you can hike up which I hope will be a great highlight of our stop there! It’s about 650 miles to Vanuatu and then another 1300 and change to Carins. Will and I are very much looking forward to spending time in AUS and travelling down the coast to Sydney exploring along the way.

No Bread?

I"ve posted an email we got from Alan below.  Seems more and more the emails are about food. By the looks of it above, they are getting their fill, just not what they might consider comfort foods.

June 30th:

4:15pm here onboard the WTP. We are underway to Fiji now have left in the wee hours of the morning last night. The wind has just picked up and we were able to turn the motor off. We have been motoring since we left Vavau and the wind has been very very light until this evening. We have 300 miles to go and hope the wind remains steady and calm for the rest of the crossing.

July1st:

We saw fish jumping earlier today and I threw the line in the water but no luck so far.Everything going fine today. Wish I had caught a fish. We managed to leave Vavau without buying any fresh fruit or veg or even bread. I don't know how we managed to do that but I think it has something to do with with our middle of the night departures. ( I guess we could have bought some bread but we all forgot really). At least we have propane (this they forgot last time)...and now some wind. We have plenty of wind now though so I would trade some it for some bread.

When I get home I cannot wait to hang out with you guys and show you all of my pictures over some great big Amante's Pizzas!!!! Amante's pizza may be the best pizza in the whole world. Certainly there is nothing even close out here. We had pizza when we landed in Vavau and it left much to be desired and it was expensive. I would kill for some Amante's pizza right now. Ok, i need to stop thinking about food I guess. If only I could stop dreaming about it. :)

Another Birthday

Happy Birthday Adam!

We've continued to get emails from Alan, as EYE crew seem to have good BlackBerry and internet access while in Samoa.  

Paul and I just completed our own little sailboat cruse, 8 days on our 20 ft Core Sound sailboat named "Dawn Patrol".  Trip reports and photos will be shown on my other blog http://sandybottomkayaker.blogspot.com/.

Sounds like the EYE crew is getting some land exercise these days.  Alan reported  a few days ago that "Were in Samoa on Apia island. Not in US any more. But the bb is working here. Yesterday we went hashing with the group here. It was a little different but the basics were there (running and beer) but they don't drink the beer until AFTER they run how weird! We were all very thirsty. But in the end it was great fun."

They have sinced move to another Island, "Vava-u Group" of Tonga, where we hear there could be some humpback whales.   We sure have enjoyed being able to locate them on the SPOT these days.

Happy Birthday Will

Yesterday was Will’s birthday. We know this because we were lucky to do a video chat with Alan at 6am this morning, 11pm their time and still Will’s Birthday. A fun chat with Alan, it seems Will and Alan had spent the day celebrating, quite a bit.

Alan reported that they arrived in Pago Pago in the wee hours of the morning and ended up tying alongside a barge at the dock as it was the only space available. They cleared customs etc… in the morning with no problems and Adam and Amanda went to go get the propane tank filled and on the way see about a tour of the starkist tuna factory. Pago Pago is the hub for all the Tuna canneries. Starkist and Chicken of the Sea...well at least it was. The Chicken plant is already closed and the Starkist plant is due to close very soon. No luck on a tour.

In the meantime, Will and Alan went exploring the town of Fagatogo with a hardware store, library, news paper office, post office, and eventually to a car parts store to look for a new solenoid for the engine. Thiers stopped working again in Bora Bora, no luck on that so far though.

After that, they all met at a grocery store and Alan bought cookies and a large toothpaste (evidently much needed). Then they found a big Cost-Co/Sams Club type store and bought a bunch of food for the boat, including the propane. Adam also bought a small 12 volt cooler thing that can hold up to 9 soda cans, designed for use in a car for roadtrips but only $35, all are curious to see how it will work during their cruising.

There is a McDonald’s across from the dock, with internet available (so all should receive emails at least today). Alan says that being there seems very similar to being in Hawaii, and with English the primary language.

With necessities/chores out of the way, Will and Alan started celebrating with a day playing golf, a full course, rented clubs etc… all for $9 each, and then other lively imbibments.

Happy Birthday Will!

June 13th

It's 1:30am my time,  I'm on watch for another half hour and then I'll try to send this out.  We are about 60 miles from the island of Ofu where we plan to spend tomorrow afternoon and evening on a beach said to be one of the best in the world and then make the 50 or so mile jump to Pago Pago tomorrow night.

June 11 & 12

Day 7 - email from Alan:
Today was another hot one but with good steady wind.  We now have about 450Nm to go.

In the late afternoon, some scattered clouds started building around us and we could see numerous rain showers.   By about 10pm the rain hit in a big downpour that lasted about 20 minutes accompanied by a wind shift to the Notheast.  During the downpour I was able to fill all my water bottles and made some gatorade.  The downpour ended and so did my shift.

We have had to start the motor however to give the batteries some juice. They have not been benefiting from the wind generator at all in the light conditions and the solar panels are shaded for half the day and are not able to keep up with our power usage.

We checked in with the "Pac Sea" radio net this evening.  Loud and Clear!

Day 8  email:
This morning we sailed through a drenching rain shower accompanied by another wind shift.  I guess the rain likes me since I was again on watch just minding my own business watching the sunrise and here comes this rain shower to get me all wet.

I turned the tables though and got a great freshwater shower from it. When Will came to relive me of the watch, naturally the rain subsided and there was a rainbow.  Why do I get all the luck?

For dinner, a cold chili with beans and crackers with cheese and spinach dip!

We are motoring now due to the light wind that has settled over us in the late afternoon but hope to be under sail only soon. With just 250 miles to go, were all ready to feel dry land again.

Note:  The EYE has had good SPOT coverage the past few days providing a good picture of where they are and how fast they are moving towards American Samoa.

 

June 10th

Day 6th email from Alan (I really enjoy these emails and getting a feel for some of thier daily life aboard):

Today was a hot one. Staying cool under the shade of the bimini cover was a must. We had a little wind shift in the morning but it straightened back out after lunch and we have made good steady progress directly on course all afternoon at around 5.5 knots. Skies have been clear, sun had been hot, wind has been windy from the SE around 5-8 knots.

This evening we listened in on and joined the Pacific Seafarers Radio Net. This net covers the entire Pacific ocean and meets daily at 3:30 UTC. With the help of about a dozen relay stations from Minnesota to New Zealand to Australia, these ham radio enthusiasts (some with large and powerful antennas) volunteer their time to listen in for any emergencies out on the pacific ocean from any vessel and take position reports from cruising vessels and make sure they arrive safely in their destination. We will be checking in with them every evening until we reach American Samoa.

In other news, our supply of baguette bread was exhausted today and just in time too as the final piece was starting to look a little green. We are starting to get very creative with out meals and are looking forward to some restocking in American Samoa.
 
NOTE:  Here is the website for the Pacific Seafarers Network that Alan mentions above.  The net is in two parts, beginning with an informal 25 minute 'warm up' session to exchange news, answer questions and solve problems.  Next follows the Roll call, where boats are called in turn to give their position and weather observations.  These details are shared with other boats and forwarded to weather forecasters around the world where they are used to improve forecast accuracy. In return, they post back special forecasts for boats in their coverage area. 
 
They post the "Roll Call" on ther website.  The EYE is KJ4QYH.

June 8th & 9th

Day 4 & 5 Crossing - email from Alan:

Yesterday and today have kind of blended together. I had a late watch and we changed time zones again. We are now 7 hours behind Eastern Standard time and in the time zone of the Samoan Islands (GMT-11).

The trade winds have returned and we have been enjoying wispy scattered clouds with a beautiful blue background and some great sunsets. The wind has been relatively steady around 8-12 knots out of the SE and the seas have been calm making life onboard pleasant.

We made a soup last night in the rice cooker of peas, carrots, and canned chicken which was pretty good and today we made two pots of rice for lunch. We are running low on baguette bread but we have a surplus of cheese and onions.

Also, we may all be addicted to Nutella chocolate and I for one hope we don't run out!

600 miles to go!

Motor Sailing

Picture of the hammock Alan made (after leaving Panama) to sleep in when it's got too hot in the cabin.

Alans recent emails tell us they have started their long crossing to American Samoa with a bit of motoring while waiting for the winds.

June 6th - Day 1:

It is our first full day back at sea on our way to Samoa and we have been enjoying light wind and very calm seas which we hope will continue for the rest of our crossing.

Unfortunately, we ran out of propane in Bora Bora so we were forced to make this crossing without but we still have the electric rice cooker and have been doing pretty well and trying to be creative with meals. We have lots of fresh bread and today I made a Tuna salad for lunch. We also have coconuts gathered from Bora Bora that we have been munching on.

At our current rate of speed, we hope to arrive in about 8 or 9 days for now. Too bad for Will, that won't be soon enough to catch the World Cup match between the USA and England. We will however be looking to see if we can pick up the game on the radio.
 
Last night was cloudy and rainy. We had light and shifty wind and we were motoring on and off to keep moving. In the morning it was still mostly overcast but as the day progressed we sailed out of the clouds and the wind improved. By this evening we were sailing nicely and we haven't had to use the motor much today. With some luck we will see the trade winds fill back in for us and it will be easy sailing the rest of the way. We also had quite a few birds following us around today.

Note: In a previous email a few days ago Alan mentioned that Will had a bit of a cold.  Paul suggested they keep in mind what cold symptoms could represent in a tropical eenvironment and urged them to seek medical care if in doubt, or if Will feels worse.  Yesterday Alan reported that Will is still has a bit of congestion and now Alan has a little as well, though not nearly as bad.  Here's wishing the rest of the crew stays well.

June 7 - Day 3:
Everyone has been doing lots and lots of sleeping and reading while off watch. I think I probably slept for most of the day today. We are not sick of our baguette bread and cheese yet but we have plenty of time for that I suppose. The rice cooker has been doing a good job so far with meals and we even managed to cook eggs in it last night.

Nothing major to report really. No fish to speak of or freak waves but we'll keep our eyes peeled. All is pretty quiet really, maybe too quiet....knock on wood just in case.

Another Farewell

6/5/2010 Email from Alan:

So long French Polynesia. We have said adios to our last French Polynesian Island, Bora Bora, and are currently back at sea. With a light Easterly wind we slipped our mooring and sailed west under main and jib through the pass without even starting the motor. A very peaceful departure indeed. With light but steady winds expected for the next 5 days we hope for at least a smooth if not also quick crossing. Knock on wood of course.

I cannot really say that I will miss the aggravatingly slow internet or phone connection afforded to the French Polynesian islands or the relatively high cost of my favorite delicious treat, ice cream. But I will definitely miss yummy cheap baguette bread (which we loaded up on before leaving) and cheeses and I will of course never forget the kind and hospitable people that we met in the Marqueses, Tuamotus and Society Islands. What an incredible experience we all had.

I am also looking forward to the future. Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu and Australia are all places I have never been and surely they will bring new and exciting experiences in the months to come as we continue to ride the trade winds across the pacific.

Tahiti

WinLink Position Reports:  Tahiti Arrival

Marquesas Islands to Takaroa Atoll to Tahiti

WinLink Position Reports:

                                    from the Marquesas Islands (upper right) 

to  Takaroa Atoll                  

to Tahiti (lower left)                                                

Tops of Old Worn-Down Volcanos

Takaroa Atoll: 
with roads, buildings,
 and even an airport runway just north of the channel 

Takaroa Atoll  (upper right) 

and Three Other Atolls

Rising from the Sea Bed

Takaroa Atoll (upper left)

The three most recent position reports (WinLink)

WinLink position reports

The WinLink e-mail system provides for position reporting.  The EYE crew has recently transmitted two position reports.  The most recent report is coded blue.  Older reports are green.

Two WinLink Position Reports for the WPT ( call sign KJ4QYH )

WinLink position reporting system also shows other boats nearby.  In the image below, the WTP is highlighed in blue.

Recent position reports in the area

Where is SPOT?

SPOT Messenger onboard the WTP

Bonjour.  As the EYE moves through French Polynesia...   when will the SPOT tracking data return?  

Rearranging the SPOT coverage map so that the Pacific is in the center makes it easier to see that the William T. Piquette (WTP) is still in the middle of the mid-Pacific no-coverage zone (lightest gray). 

On the transit from the Galapagos Islands to Fatu Hiva Island in the Marquesas Archepeligo (shown in red),  the SPOT position reports from the WTP were sucessfully received well into the no-coverage area and up to within 200 miles from the Marquesas.   The WTP is now southwest of the Marguesas and entering the Tuamotu Islands

SPOT Satellite Coverage 

A reasonable guess is that the SPOT track will begin to re-appear as the WTP moves out of French Polynesia and towards Samoa and Australia.   Another week, another 600 miles to the west / southwest and we'll probably start seeing a some SPOT location data on the tracking map.   Meanwhile,  Alan reported that he is keeping the SPOT on in tracking mode (a signal sent every 10 minutes).  

Google Map for Comparison:  Gallapagos Islands to Marquesas Islands

Here is a copy of the unedited official SPOT coverage map which puts the mid-Pacific on the margins;  not as easy to read for EYE purposes.

Brief Reports on Way to the Tuamotu Islands

Nice School

Here is a brief e-mail from Alan at about 11:50pm (eastern) on May 14, 2010:
"Good News  -- WinLink* working great this evening. Faster speeds than usual.  Received lots of [email] messages. Very happy. Hope your doing GREAT!"

(* WinLink is the HF radio e-mail system he is using)




Also, a tweet from Alan for the crew at about 11:30pm (eastern) on May 14, 2010.
"On the way to the Tuamotus!  11 deg 14' S 141 deg 04' W"
 

    Position Plotted:  100+ miles southwest of the Marquesas Islands 

 

 

Where are the Tuamotu Islands?  Here is a schematic map...

 

  (not for navigational porpoises)

The Tuamotu Islands are low atolls, like this .....

 Nobikini  Atoll

Many other atolls.....

Tattoo?

How many of our guys do you think will come home with a Marquesan Tattoo?

Mother's Day Tweet from Our Manly Young Men

The crew of the EYE tweeted 'Happy Mother's Day' on the website yesterday. I also got an email from Alan this morning wishing me a belated Mother's Day (guess he's finally getting the Ham Radio antennae to work). He said that they tried to connect with the satellite phone yesterday but no success.

He also said "Yesterday we captured, killed, and barbecued a goat with 3 guys from another boat. It was very manly"  : )

From Hanamenu to Nuku Hiva

Approximate Path

"Anchored in Hanamenu on Hiva Oa.    Headed for Nuku Hiva Today"

-- 1:00pm (eastern)  May 10, 2010

"Anchored in Nuku Hiva.   All is well."

-- 1:00pm (eastern)   May 11, 2010

The town of Hanamenu on Hiva Oa Island

Twitter Update:  Hanamenu at about 11pm (eastern time) May 8, 2010

Where is Tuhuata? ...on Google Maps

The latest tweet gives approximate latitude and longitude in degrees and minutes at about 2:00pm on Friday May 7, 2010.  

(One degree of latitude (or longitude) comprises 60 minutes of latitude (or longitude) and in turn 1 minute comprises 60 seconds: 1° = 60' and 1' = 60".)

These coordinates typed into Google maps produces a map...

The tweet gave degrees and minutes but no seconds.  How accurate is that? 

A degree of latitude varies slightly in size depending on location; it ranges from about 68 to about 69 miles.  At the latitude given in the tweet, 1 degree of latitude is about 68.3 miles, so 1 minute is about 1.13 miles.  A second of latitude is about 100 feet.

A degree of longitude varies in size. Near the equator, it is about 69 miles,  and the size gradually decreases to zero as the meridians converge at the poles.  At the longitude given in the tweet, 1 minute is about 1.15 miles.   A second of longitude is about 100 feet.

If the longitude reported is in error by 1 minute, and the latitude reported is in error by 1 minute,  then the position given could be off by at most 1.6 miles.

     

Conversations among crews

From a post today on http://aboarddignity.com/blog/ we learn from the crew of the s/v Dignity that the EYE crew enjoyed visits with the crews of some of the 23 (+/-) boats anchored in the Bay of Virgins.

Alan said in his brief call home yesterday that he was looking forward to comparing notes with others about radio stations for e-mail.


It is worthwhile reading the entire post on http://aboarddignity.com/blog/. Here is an abrieviated version if you prefer:


"First full day in Fatu Hiva
by Steve Southwood on s/v Dignity
(radio call sign KC2RIY)
May 5th, 2010

"Waking up in Hanavave and taking in the surroundings makes all the effort of getting here worthwhile. The place is astounding. It has to be noted though that this is the first land for the wind which has crossed nearly 4,000 miles of sea from South America to the east. With 3,500 feet peaks the air is pushed up and the moisture condenses giving a lot of cloud and occasional rain.

When we woke it was quite overcast so we planned to go ashore in the afternoon after we’d done some boat work. John (and later Helen after she’d written her blog) set about the transom steps which had collected a lot of growth during the passage. As hinted at in my last blog I set about the failed components. It was a great relief to find the charger working. On first thought it would have been better the other way round as having abundant fresh water aboard makes a huge difference and we do have alternate ways to charge the house batteries. However, the water maker, being more componentized, will be simpler to fix than a solid state charger.

When I managed to connect and receive emails I received some instructions from Spectra to check a few things out.
...
John had started cleaning the sides of the boat. He was a bit embarrassed how scummy they were. We weren’t the only boat like that but it’s always nice to be seen clean. I joined him in this. It’s a slow process. ...
We were in the water until lunch time. I didn’t quite finish my part before being called in. While in the water a French Polynesian customs boat had arrived. The worry for a lot of boats here is that we’re here without clearing in at Hiva Oa. It’s a lot easier to sail from here to there than the other way round so for boats crossing the Pacific stopping off here is natural even though it breaks formalities.
...
... it was now after 2 O’Clock in the afternoon local time and we had yet to go ashore. We collected as many water bottles as we could and soon we were off ashore. We had decided to climb the nearby hill to reach a cross that overlooks the village. When I say ‘hill’ it has to be noted this was somewhere in the region of 2,000 feet high.
...
The walk back down was a lot easier.
...
Back at the dock we collected the water bottles and filled them from the free fresh water spigot at the dock. ...
On the way back to the boat we stopped off at Kamaya to say hello. When they’d seen the customs boat they’d scarpered ashore and used the time to visit the falls. We agreed to meet up in the morning and go ashore to see a tapa maker at work and arrange an evening meal with one of the locals together.
They’d bumped into the crew of William T Pickett who’d I’d talked to early on in the passage who’d mentioned us and wanted to see us.

I then dropped off Helen and John and went over to visit William T Pickett. The two crew were aboard and the captain ashore but I was invited aboard for a chat. They were a young crew doing a circumnavigation being followed by some schools back in Florida using their travels to stimulate course work and exercises.

Turned out they had been using our positions given on the net relative to theirs as some sort of class work and no doubt saw our abysmal performance towards the end as a result of our lack of appropriate sails for the winds we had (at least in one piece). Someone ashore had even found our blog and forwarded parts to their boat email so they already knew of some of our tales.

From an educational angle I hope there is an important lesson from our passage blog. We deliberately wrote separate blogs not looking at what each of us wrote until the end. What you got was three different peoples perspectives on the same events. Due to our individual natures you get to see what happened from three different angles.
...
I stayed aboard the William T Pickett for nearly an hour during which time the captain arrived and it got quite dark. We all had stories of the flying fish. One of their crew had been hit by them two or three times while on watch. That must have been nasty and is up there with waking up with one in bed with you.

Back on Dignity I retrieved my emails. I definitely need a new high pressure pump. I also received a response from our agent in Tahiti and we have a way of getting a new part through customs and out the Marquesas. I placed my order with Spectra and asked if we could still try and troubleshoot to identify cause based on the symptoms we had. Either it was the pump failing or there is an outside cause which needs to be identified lest it ruin the new pump.

Dinner was curry accompanied by a can of beer and wine. We’re back on land. Did we just spend 3 weeks sailing?"

Not Alone Out There

There is steady traffic from Galapagos Islands to the Marquesas Islands.  Check out this map showing the current locations of sailing vessels that use the WinLink Position Report system....

Traffic:  s/v  Dignity  is highlighted

All of the following cruisers are near the s/v  William T. Piquette.     These boats have either just recently arrived at Fatu Hiva Island,  or they are about to arrive.

s/v Dignity's  tracking map  (WinLink Position Report system)

Many of these cruisers maintain wonderful blogs.  For example, here is the one by Steve, Helen, and John onboard Dignity. 

S/V LeuCat  is the catamaran cruising home of Dave and Mary Margaret Leu.  Check out their blog...

LeuCat Blog

And another:  the s/v  Kamaya which is the home of Ruth, Tim and their children, Kai and Maya  (thus Kamaya).

Blog of s/v  Kamaya

There are many such blogs.  Here is one more full of exciting day-to-day reports....

s/v Nika

These are wonderful adventures to read.   Check them out.