Day 3 of Pacific Crossing

Hello Everyone,

It is now day 3 of our crossing and we couldn't have asked for more perfect conditions. We are sailing 8 knts in a 11 knt wind speed flying our spinnaker and heading a course of 224 degrees. Our rhumb line to the Marquesas is 225 degrees so the closer we can stay to that the better. The seas are still mellow with a 1 - 2 foot gentle roll. The only complaint I have is the swell is hitting us on our beam so we rock side to side. Outside the sun is shining with a little cloud cover and it is about 80 degrees with an 80 degree water temp. We are currently at 16.46 latitude and 111.28 longitude. It is 12 noon and all is well. We are listening to the SSB net every night and keeping track of the boats we know and their position. It is nice to hear other voices on the line and know that they are close to you. Chris has a map that he is marking so the kids can see where we are and where the other boats are as well. They like to see the little stickers get closer to the islands. We all take different courses and boats go at different speeds but it is nice to see know they are there. One boat caught a 7' Marlin yesterday... Not sure how we would get that on the deck... But would love the picture/challenge..

We had an uneventful night watch last night. The stars are amazing and the moon is growing and filling out to light our way at night. We are pretty much sailing right into the moonlight so it is beautiful and peaceful at night. Tristan took his first night watch last night. It was nice. I could sleep for an hour and then take my shift. It really helps out having so many eyes. It was a good night to start because I thought we were sitting in the Lafayette reservoir it was so still. I see it in movies the dead calm but have never experienced being 400 miles off shore and having the ocean look like a lake. It was amazing seeing the stars reflect off the water. I kept waiting to see the dolphins but no such luck last night.

The kids have really adjusted to this sailing so far. They have stopped asking "when will we be there" and now just find things to do. Tristan is trying to learn French on our way over so that someone knows how to communicate. I believe he has just been promoted to communications director for this trip. He is really taking charge of the languages and is loving the challenge. We had the Blue fin tuna last night for dinner and ..... yep we will be having big eyed yellow fin tuna tonight. I woke up this morning to the sound of the whirring from the fishing lines (TWO of them). Chris was fighting to bring one in.. which ended up being 24 lbs, and the other line we were just trying to drag the fish till he could get to it. Unfortunately that one shook the hook and we lost it. I guess it is better that we did.. we don't have any room in the fridge and I really don't want to attract the sharks by dragging a fish that long. We are 2 for 3 days...not bad for now... lets see how long our luck lasts. I have been growing sprouts for greens on our trip. We still have broccoli, green peppers and one package of lettuce but we are quickly going thru our fresh supply. Not only is the stuff ripening faster than I thought so we have to eat it but the kids are craving it. On one hand it is nice to see them eating so healthy.. on the other it needs to last another 3 weeks... I believe we will NOT be going through the eggs I thought we would. They just don't sound appetizing when you aren't 100%.

Hugs and love to all.

Heather


Chris's View:
It really has been a great start to this journey. We know we are pretty new at this stuff and the ocean is breaking us in nicely. Family Circus is also digging these conditions- excelling in the relatively light wind as long as we can keep reaching along, and not heading more southerly. Many folks shy away from spinnakers, but we are loving the fact that we have a variety of lightweight sails for these conditions. We have a gennaker we can roll up (furl) and its easier to manage, and so we put that up at sunset and through the night, but in the morning we are now on our second day of raising our 500 peso "American Flag" assymetrical spinnaker. it is a HUGE sail that is red white and blue, and is a hand-me-down, from a hand-me-down to a hand-me-down. It has patches all over it but is holding together and provides a great in between sail that we didnt have before. For the last two days we have set it up in the morning, and so far its been flying all day- plus its much cooler to look at with its colors. And for $35 USD it is amazing- I hope we can bring it back to Lafayette and use it as a tent for a party!

We are supposed to have light winds yesterday and for the next two days, and I am hopeful we can manage it the way we have over the last 24 hours. It would be nice to be more consistent- but all in all its pretty groovy.

Its also great to see everyone start to get their sea legs and start to feel better- we'll see if we can start some homeschooling and make progress on that front. Certainly I need to get better at fish dissection- as this morning's Tuna was HUGE and I found all sorts of squid in its stomach- maybe one of the scientists out there can help us get some fish dissection expertise. I also have to get better at cooking the fish- as last nights version was only average (not easy when you are trying to bread it to make it kid friendly) We are paying a price for our fishing though as there are some really BIG fish out here- one of our lures on a steel leader was eaten away with only part of the steel left, and we lost one of our handlines that snapped, even though it has a 300 lb test weight! Thankfully I loaded up on some new toys, and also downloaded some instructions on making your own lures out of plastic bottles and chip/snack bags.

Three last favorite moments:

1. Seeing Venus reflect in the water when the moon went down, I've never seen a star or planet shine so bright that you can see its reflection
2. Sitting in a bean bag, sipping Peet's coffee (thank you Andreas) and listening to classical music ("Morning" Peer Gynnt) as the sun rises over 45 minutes. Its a pretty magical deal and for the last two morning's Alexia has even been awake- a startling feat in its own right!
3. Seeing the family teamwork as we take down the "American Flag" monster sail. It didnt come with a furling sock, so it was great to have many hands to gather it in before it flew away!

We're thankful so far, and are hopeful that our good fortune continue! Hope you are all well - CHRIS


Tristan's View:
It has been a really good trip so far. The winds have been good for the boat and the swells are staying small. My main routine for now is wake up, sometimes eat breakfest, grab the hard drive and start watching movies, sometimes I listen to music but usually watch movies. Today was an exciting day because early in the morning we caught our second fish. It was a big eye tuna that weighed 24 pounds. Today I started the Rosetta Stone. It actually is more fun than I thought it was going to be. I started French and now I know some french. My mom and dad have told all of it so all go over bits and pieces of it. The sky at night is something I have never seen before, the stars are so bright that it looks like they are flashlights shining at you. About 30 minutes after the sun goes down a rainbow of colors appear above the horizon. I like seeing all the flying fish flying around our boat, today we also caught a bird, but then we released it. I hope that the trip can stay like this the whole way.

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Day 2

Hello Everyone,

Since I am typing this you know that we are all doing great and our sea sickness has subsided. If I could just get the kids to stop running around on the boat that would be even better.

It has been a wonderful two days of sailing... some may say the last day has been a little slow but I have enjoyed the motion of the boat much better. The sea state is very calm right now. We have about 1 to 2 foot waves lapping up against our beam. "it rocks us gently, rocks us slowly, take it easy babe don't you know... " Okay enough. The kids are doing well, we are reading a ton and watching movies. I thought about having some school session but I'm not quite there yet and hesitate to have the battle with the kids and then tell them never mind because I can't read or focus that long.

Last night was really amazing. Mykaela was on watch when she came running down into my room and said, "Come on Mom,,,, it's really cool you have to see!" I came up to see dolphins swimming beside the boat and leaving their phosphorescence trail behind them. It was amazing to see the green glowing streaks through the water and then when they would break the water it looked like Tinker Bell has just dumped fairy dust all over them. They were sparkling everywhere. During the day, the water is so amazingly BLUE... Often, I am just staring at it. It seems almost the color of a blue raspberry snowcone... its beautiful. (and that would be really nice to have right now) We have seen a few birds fly by and I wonder why on earth they are out here so far... and then of course the spinner dolphins that join us occasionally. It is really cool how high out of the water they can jump and how fast they can go. I wish we could lasso them and have them pull us along. I am hoping that the winds pick up a little and that we can scoot along at a little faster pace but I am truly not complaining. Right now it is 13:30 and we have gone 300 miles of the 3000. We have crossed our first Longitude line and gone a 10th of our way... seams like a reason to party :@) or at least break open the snickers.

I have been trying to document this journey but it seems can only take so many pictures of the kids lying around and the sails... Tristan has taken it upon himself to video blog our trip so i am looking forward to the final stage of me crawling on the beach and taking my sand samples.... Lets hope we have fair winds and calm seas for the rest of the trip... knock on wood!

Hugs and love to all.

heath

Lat: 18.10 North
Long: 110.03 West

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Family Circus is rolling in to the Big Blue! Day 1

Well we finally got underway! We ended up with many odds and ends, and then realized the bottom of our boat had an entire ecosystem attached to it that was going to dramatically slow us down. We thought we could do a quick clean before we headed out, but after jumping in I knew it was going to take a while, and we hired a local diver as well. A few hours later, we said our final goodbyes, raised the Family Circus Flag from the Bow and headed out of the marina. We were really taken by surprise, and got choked up, as close to fifteen boats set off horns, whistled and got on the radio to wish us well. One of the kids friends boat even escorted us out in their dinghy. It was a pretty cool moment, but also a reminder of the great local cruising community that we had gotten to know, and that we were now leaving behind. Some we'll possibly see in French Polynesia, and some we'll hopefully see elsewhere down the road. One of the aspects of cruising is that you rapidly meet people of similar interests, and you have more time to sit down and spend time with them, even if its only for a compressed time period. Hopefully, we'll get to host some of them in Lafayette, or meet them elsewhere down the road.

The late afternoon thermal was blowing and as we set the sails at around 1630, Family Circus took the bit in her mouth and headed out of Banderas Bay with a nice wake, doing 8 knots!. Unfortunately, we still have a chafe issue with our outhaul and our brand new line didnt last more than fifteen minutes before the cover parted. We made some better adjustments and think we're in good shape, but it pointed out that we didnt get a shake down sail in over the last two weeks in La Cruz.

We've settled in quite well and really made good time. The swells have unfortunately been on the beam (right angles to the boat) so we're rocking a bit more that we'd like - but the boat has been flying all night. We've averaged more than 7 knots, often close to 8, and even hitting 9 in a gust. The wind has been 11-13 knots, but has just started lightening up over the last few hours, and we now have the Gennaker up in 9 knots of wind, heading 248 degrees. Our current position is 19 degrees 36 mins Latitude North, and 107 degrees, 52 mins Longitude West, and we've covered 155 miles in the last 21 hours, which is a great start. The weather router and forecast, will keep us pointing in this general vicinity- we'd like to point at the Marquesas more, but will risk heading in to even lighter winds. We know it will go light everywhere in a 2 days but will try and ride what we have as far as we can.

Many on board are on sea sickness pills and hanging in there quite well. The sun is out today, the water is sparkly blue, and the breeze feels good. A reggae collection is currently playing the cockpit, and everyone is lounging around, snacking and adjusting to the boat motion. We finally put the fishing gear in the water, and also had 32 four inch squid jump on to the boat overnight, including up on the hard top! Its an interesting self sacrifice they make, but leaves quite a mess! I think it will take several more days until we really feel better, but we know it could be much worse and are making great progress.

We checked in to the radio net last night, and sent in a position report. Hopefully these start to get through and start to get posted to our blog. If any of you can keep me updated on that (and the Warriors games) through the secret portal that would be great! We'll be back on the radio net tonight as most of the boats doing the crossing are checking in nightly and its fun to hear their voices and compare notes on weather and progress.

Hope you are all doing great! Day One is almost in the books and its a great start! CHRIS

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Its on like Donkey Kong!

I meant to write a blog post as well- but time got away.  This will have to do for now, and I will compose some deep meaningful thoughts along the way.

I am thankful for our boat that is ready to do this.

I am thankful for the cruising community that encourages us and inspires us.

I am thankful for the all the amazing things around us. Its a Great World.

I am thankful for all our friends and family that are so supportive.

I am thankful for my mom and dad- for so much.

I am thankful for my kids that are so damn awesome- even in tight spaces.

I am most thankful for my amazing wife and 1st Mate.

CHRIS

The butterflies mean that you are really pushing new boundaries - we are ready to roll!

Here We Go.... Puddle Jumping across the Big Blue!

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to send a really quick note.  We are leaving today for the Marquesas Islands.  It is a journey of about 3000 miles and about 20 - 30 days at sea depending on weather.  We are all provisioned with Food, Water, Gas and sanity checkers,,,, games, books, arts and crafts, equator celebration stuff,  Easter stuff, and gifts for the kids of Polynesia... and our weather wind for any wind at all is the next 2 days... to hit the trades.

We added a page to our blog site.  It says tracker and we will be reporting our position and information to Yotreps along the way and they will update where we are and what is going on around us.  It is under the page "Tracker - follow us across the Pacific" and just click on the link if you are interested.  Of course we haven't tested this so lets cross our fingers that it actually updates... It was a good thought anyway.  We may not update everyday but will do as often as we can.

It has been a whirl wind getting ready, but the motors are all checked, parts in place, forestay is repaired and installed, rig is tuned, generator is good, safety equipment all charged, checked over and ready for use.... Not sure what else there is to do except cleaning the bottom of the boat so we can go faster... We will do that at anchor in Punta De Mita on our way out.  We have said our good byes which as always is extremely emotional.  The older kids had made some really great friends here in La Cruz and so it was hard to see them go.  Us parents as well.  We will miss all you guys and look forward to reconnecting in the future.  Best of our wishes for your journeys in every direction! I'm sorry I missed a picture with you guys Katia.  Alexia will miss you tons.  Please send us one for Lexi so she can keep it on her computer.  Love you guys!  It has been a real treasure for her to have you as a friend.  You guys are like soul sisters... in many ways.

We won't be able to send updates with photos but will be blogging along the way.. Or chris will because I get sea sick... hopefully it will go away soon.

Take care,

Love and Hugs to everyone.

Heath

Getting ready for the jump... Puddle Jump that is...

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to update everyone on what is happening.  We are currently in the Marina at La Cruz.  We have been given a weather window to depart the bay here and head to the Marquesas as of Friday or Saturday.  There are 175 boats that are registered to make this leap with us.  I am getting really nervous, anxious, sick, sleeping issues, etc... but I also know that we are super prepared from the extra gas tanks, extra water, 14 meals preprepared for the trip, provisioning, charts, medical items, games, books, toys for the crossing... etc.  There is so much on our to do list over the next five days that it seems really daunting until you can see that you are actually checking off some of the items.

example of our to do list:
forstay replacement... Okay so this is a deal breaker
Engine Part for one of the engines... : also a deal breaker
change oil in generator and engines
dive bottom of boat for cleaning and checking zincs...
Checking all safety equipment
going through safety and emergency drills
provisioning with fresh fruits and veggies
another costco run for peanut butter and pub mix
fix leaks in dinghy
Outhaul replacement
navigation software download on computer
fill up on fuel
Have dinghy chaps delivered
pick up computer from repair shop
dentist trip for tristan
port captain checkout
Laundry
Wash curtains, sheets and clothes for passage

Items completed:

chris passed his general's license for the Ham Radio (HUGE)
Heads are ready and smell free
Fans installed
Boat inspection done
Eisenglass replaced... unfortunate crack all of a sudden on last passage


Anyway... that is the short list... all these things take a while and it seems that we are having several sleepless nights trying to get these checked off.  It doesn't seem to matter how prepared you feel you are there is always so much more to do to double make sure that you have done your best to make sure you are prepared.  It always seems that we are stressed when we are here in the marina because of all the appts you set to get work done and your boat is torn apart trying to get to all the tools, equipment and things that need to be done.

Just a quick update on Amaia and her pirate eye... it has completely healed and looks great.  So nice to see how quickly the kids heal.

The kids have been enjoying being in the Marina with all their friends and running amuck on the docks and other peoples boats.  There are many dogs on our dock and so Amaia and Alina have been charging the owners a peso to walk their dogs for them.  They are having a good time with this.  What I really think is that the owners are paying them a peso to get the kids off their boat and take the dogs with them.

Tristan, Alexia, Amaia and Alina have been enjoying a Silks class in town.  They are learning how to climb with silks and they are loving it.  I guess this can count for their PE class session.  What a unique opportunity to have this class going on in the town we are in and how easy it is for the kids to walk up on their own.  They love meeting their friends and then walking up to class.

We are all anxious, excited and completely out of our minds thinking about the adventure that we have been planning for in the last 10 years coming to light.  I can't believe it is here and we will be sailing the ocean blue in the next 7 days.  Think of us.. wish us fair winds, calm seas and a speedy venture to the beautiful Marquesas islands.

Hope all is well and you are enjoying your own adventures... take time to watch a sunset or two.

Hugs and love to all

Heath

I didn't knock on wood!

Hi Everyone,

So I have learned my lesson.  My last post was on insurance... to have it or not!  Well low and behold I didn't knock on wood when I was talking about our fantastic luck in not having anything happen to any of us since we have been gone......

As Chris posted, we had a bit of a struggle this week making our way up to La Cruz from Zihuatanejo...  (I thought of you Aunt Mary Sue... Dang it all I couldn't find the beach that they filmed Shashank Redemption on... Of course this was our primary reason for going to Zihuat).  Anyway... we had a 2 great days of motoring in VERY calm seas.. We were seeing a bunch of wild life from whales, dolphins (which Kla was determined to try and touch while hanging from the pulpit on the front of the boat while they swam underneath)... and more turtles than we had seen on this trip so far... the funniest thing is the birds that sit upon their shell and drift along with them like they are BFF's out for a stroll in the mall.

One of the things I worry about is hitting a panga at night.  Often these fisherman travel up to 100+ miles off coast in these boats.  They travel only with a cooler and maybe, if lucky, an extra bit of gas. They don't have radar, GPS, radio or even navigation lights.  On rare occasions there are some that have a make shift light system but they often travel with only a flashlight for when they are fishing. .  They go out over night so when we are sailing away.. I am always concerned that we won't see them and will not be able to turn the boat in time to NOT hit them.  I know it is a big ocean but... there are so many of them.  Here is a picture of one that I saw on the beach of Chamela... I think they throw a car battery in to run the light.

We started the day off great with a diesel fill up in Barra Navidad, a beautiful sunrise, and then a special visit by the Actual French Baker that visits the boats in the anchorage with fresh pasteries for their morning coffee.  all in all it gave us more experience in being out there... and then the a not so good day... Of course I had just mention to Chris that I was wondering what a squall would feel like while we were out on the ocean... He thought they would feel like this but instead of 14 hours of 25 - 35 knot winds they may last maybe an hour or less.  We did get a chance to see more dolphins but with the winds we were experiencing... there was no hanging off the pulpit and trying to touch them today... Any way we made it through that rough patch... the kids were amazing and every time we get into these situations I am very thankful that we have kids that are self sufficient and can manage and entertain themselves... With me being sick and Chris handling the sailing, they are on their own if they need almost anything.  I suck it up when I have to go get them a bowl to throw up in or some food... but it is very minimal and I consider a granola bar a meal at this point.  We got to Chamela bay and had a great time resting at a nice calm anchorage and then swimming to shore from our dinghy to do some boogie boarding.  The wave break on shore was to strong so we through out the dinghy anchor and all the kids jumped in with their boogie boards and swam to shore.  We must have been a funny sight with all 6 of us coming out of the water...

On our last day (Friday) we were bumping along and after about 6 hours... the kids started to get a little restless, as kids should.  They decided to don their life jackets and play a game called don't get wet by sitting on the net and who ever could sit there and not get wet for a minute won.  Well Amaia decided to get overexcited (as she does) and was adding to the game by jumping up so the waves couldn't get her!  As I am literally screaming at her to SIT DOWN UP THERE, the kids are yelling back.. "We got this mom... we are just playing a game and its fun!"  Well, it is all fun and games until.... SOMEONE LOOSES AND EYE!  Soon enough... Amaia is being brought back with blood dripping down her face and I am swearing like (Gall darnit, cheese and rice, fricken fracken.).... well like I usually do when I am so flipping frustrated that my kids never listen... :@)

Yes, that would be our graceful one.  Amaia lost the match with the boat and the boat won by splitting her eye open in the outside corner.  I wish it was above her eye cause that would be a little easier to close but Dr. Chris will have figure this out.  So we are 8 hours from anywhere.. so Chris gets her to lie down and he cleans it, then butterflies her eye and puts a sterile gauze on it and wraps her head.

She seems fine, only cried for a second and then was more worried that she wouldn't be able to read her kindle.  We decided to watch movies instead and I broke out some candy that I had been saving to make her feel better.  We weren't sure if we were going to need to get her to a Dr. when we arrived in La Cruz and get some stitches in it.  Just because of the location of the cut... it was a little concerning about how this was actually going to close.

Red Skies at night... sailors delight :@)

As we pull in to the Marina at 8 pm that night, with a beautiful sunset and of course the kids are all begging to go and get Charlie's Pizza.  They have been craving decent Pizza since we left... And when I say decent pizza it is Sausage pizza that actually has sausages and not hot dogs on it... and Hawaiian Pizza that uses real Canadian Bacon and Pineapple and DOES NOT put maraschino Cherries on top... Crazy I know!

Anyway they were really wanting Pizza, Chris and I were exhausted from the last few days adventure in getting up and were just plum to tired to cook anything.. not even a bowl of cereal.  So we decided to take a peek at her eye and if it really wasn't closing or looked infected we would take her in, otherwise we will call it good and she will have a little scar to show and talk about...

Needless to say her cut looks great.. we will see when the swelling goes down, we got our pizza and we didn't need to traumatize her more with a bunch of extra needles and stitches.  I think a scar is a little cool and will give her a look of toughness.

She is in great spirits.. her new nickname is one eyed willie and she is loving the attention from it.  Not that she doesn't get enough attention on her own or anything.  So in terms of knocking on wood and buying insurance or not buying insurance... I still feel that we made the right decision in our medical coverage and to pay as we go...

Hugs to all and watch a sunset or two...

Heath