Pacific Passage Day 10 1/2 way there... hopefully

Hello Everyone,

Today has been better... the winds have come down to about 15knts and the swells have eased up a bit. It is not so much a mechanical bull ride anymore so we are enjoying the slow roll from side to side versus the jerking motion. We have gone 1600 miles and Chris is baking a "half way there" cake... maybe even some balloons...

We are currently at 09.09N and 126.23W. We are heading 260 degrees... almost west at a speed of 7 knts. We have figured out that we believe if all continues we will be at the 130W mark on 4/2 at midnight and then we will gybe down toward the marquesas from there. The forecast is calling for light winds through the ICTZ so we are hoping that we will be able to sail a lot of it.... it just depends on the direction of the winds and if they are consistent. Otherwise we will flip on the engines and make our way through...

As I have been out here for a little while looking around the boat... I am realizing there are a few things that I brought that I could have definitely left at home... One is all the equipment we brought to keep in shape... First, there is no time or if there is I sure as heck don't want to break out yoga mats and resistance bands... Secondly, pulling the sheets, raising the sails, the dinghy, trying to keep balance... etc... you are in constant motion. Another set of items... All of my beauty lotions and creams... Ha Ha... not that anyone ever sees you in the first place but... your face is in a constant state of wet, sweaty or grimy... to add lotion onto that.. UGH> Yuck. I must say that the 7 portable egg carton containers I bought to carry the eggs from the market in was a waste of time. The plastic ones they sell in Mexico work much better and when they are done I store my limes in them to keep them fresh. I brought a kindergarten classroom full of art supplies... not so much needed and ends up making a mess that you ultimately don't have space for.
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Things I couldn't live with out.....#1 is the kindle! I can't believe how much all of us are reading and without this device there is no way we could have brought the amount of books on board that we need to. #2 My wonder washer.... it is really nice to have something so small that works so well to wash your clothes. It also uses very little water which is a precious resource for us out here. #3 Lock and Lock containers along with the containers the peanuts from Costco come in. Also the plastic containers costco sells the apples in. It helps to keep the fruit fresh and since they don't touch the don't contaminate the other fruits... Once the apples are gone I put oranges in the. Need to have a pressure cooker .. I make a lot of one pot meals because everything you eat needs to come out of a bowl unless you are in a mellow anchorage. If you put your food on a plate is slides or rolls off the plate. I love my yogurt maker and my sprouter... it is nice to have fresh green spouts that you can grow your self. You really start to miss the crunchy healthy food so this is a nice additive to salad and sandwiches. Out of the kitchen now we purchased these gear ties that are useful for a bunch of things. we tie hoses up with them, fishing poles, tie up anything. They do break under pressure but they are really handy and nice to have.... the kids also use them for toys,

This was just a start to the list... there are more and when I can Chris and I will put a list together of tools we couldn't do this trip without.

This crossing so far has been easier that I ever expected and the seas have been the same as you find in the San Francisco Bay in July... maybe even a little less... Knock on wood this all continues for us for another 10 days. The forecast is looking good for us so far for the next 72 hours out... and then some... lets hope it stays the same.

Hugs and love to all

Heath

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Pacific Passage Day 9

Hello Everyone,

Just checking in again... This one will be short because of the mechanical bull we are riding. The swells have picked up and their confusion is messing with our heads... But it isn't uncomfortable just really annoying. You literally have to sit down and hang on even when sitting... We heard from commanders weather, our weather passage team, they suggest that we keep going west and then turn south at the 130W longitutde line. They say that the winds are light but good to help us cross the ICTZ and that there doesn't look to be any squall activity there for the next 10 days... So we have to continue on our course for another 3 days... unfortunately they also said that there isn't much of a reprieve of the swell conditions... I feel like I am at Mile 21 in my marathon and telling myself okay... only 3 more days to get out of this washing machine... the boat is handling everything great! Auto is driving like a champ day and night and we are just trekking along. Off to the races... and as Gayle says, "Honey lets not race the house..." although at this point I'm saying lets just get out of here... Spirits are still holding up, we are still charting all the boats that are in this with us and exchanging emails for position and weather conditions. Did I say it is nice to know they are out here and we can all help each other!

Currently we are at 9.23N and 123.41W our heading is 265 degrees and we are going 8 - 10 knots in 17-23 knot winds. 1427 miles into our trip of about 3,000. Last night was interesting... I was sitting on my watch at 3:30 in the morning, minding my own business, reading my kindle.... when this flying fish decides to join me. He jumps onto our boat hitting my leg and then landing on my foot and starts to flop around... needless to say it scarred the B-Jesus out of me and I had to get Chris's fishing glove to grab him and throw him over. I was up for a few more hours after that so Chris got a little extra sleep. These silly flying fish are landing all over our boat at night. During the day they are fun to watch fly out of our way as we go along. There are also these tiny little brown birds that look like sparrows... not sure what they are doing out here, or how they survive... did I already mention this... sorry not much to talk about.. :@)

All the kids are doing well. We havent been able to do any schooling with the motion we are in, so they are back to reading and minecrafting... Anyway gotta go look at the horizon for a little while so I don't get sick.. but we are all doing great... Knock on wood and that we keep blazing our trail to the Equator. I can't wait!

Hugs and love to all

Heather

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Pacific Passage Day 8

Hello Everyone,

Not much to report today except that we have had consistent winds in the 18 to 22 knot speed and we are flying... it is nice to be covering so much ground but I am really starting to feel it in my bones. Physically your muscles start to ache. It is hard to walk around and if you do you are hanging on to something. I used to love this in the bay for about 4 or 5 hours... but after 48 hours of it... Im just tired. I am looking forward to a little calmer weather.. or dropping an anchor. The weather is good. Skies are clear. We came across our first squalls last night and were able to skirt around them only getting a little trickle of rain on the boat. It really is true that they show up on the radar so you can do your best to avoid them. They are also pretty pronounced and easy to spot on the horizon..... especially with the moon being so bright.

We have gone 1230 miles on our trip meter. We have about 120 miles to hit 123 W where we will probably be turning south again. It seems that the winds and our comfort are really deciding which direction we take. We are currently at 10.32 N and 121.03 W and are on a course of 262 at speeds from 8 - 11 knots. The swells are around 6 -8 feet but are about 20 seconds apart, and confused so you just feel like your on thunder mountain railroad. Okay maybe one notch down from that but at this time I am so done with it that my nerves are getting shot. Then add the slamming on the boat from the water underneath and the whole boat jumps up and vibrates until the wave passes.... UGH! The kids are doing great. I think they have read everything on their kindle and listened to all the music they can over and over again. I have been able to read myself so I guess I can say that my sea legs have officially kicked in... A few of the books I have just finished (for my book clubs) are "The girl on the train".... Loved it. Ordinary Grace and One Lavender Ribbon. I finally finished Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore... That was good too.

Okay... I think this is about all I can get out for now. Some people are entering our coordinates into Google Maps if you interested to see where we are in the world.

Hugs and love to all,

Heather

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Pacific Passage Crossing: Day 7

Hello Everyone,

Just a quick update today.. I think we are starting to cross time zones so now when the sun used to rise at 6:45 it now rises at 8:15. It is weird to have all these little changes happening. The seas have been really confused for the last few days. They aren't big it is just annoying to be sailing in them because we are constantly being rolled around from side to side. It is a definite core and leg work out. We are constantly having to brace ourselves. If you can imagine going up and down stairs with either hot tea or bowls of soup and then having your floor either drop out from underneath your step or rise up on you as you go for your next step and then on top of that turn a sharp 45 degree angle and tilt.... I feel like the little ball in the labyrinth game. It is starting to wear on our nerves and stomaches and we find that all of us just want to go to sleep to get through it. It really is exhausting after awhile.

At least we have sunny skies. The winds are consistent so we can make good southerly progress to our waiting point to see when and where we should motor across the ICTZ. We want the range to be the smallest so that we have the least amount of weather issues. We are currently at 12.38N and 119.47W. We are heading a course of 186 and are cruising at about 7-9 knots. Wind speeds are around 14 - 16 knts from the NE and are coming in a broad reach... (i think).. It really is perfect except for the washing machine we are in. I am finally starting feel a little like a sailor... I am starting to get a comfortable clue on how to change all the sails and how to trim them. PHEW>>>> wasn't sure I was ever going to get there. Of course when you are on the same tack for 4 days you get an idea of how to trim the sail.

We haven't been able to do much for school today since we are all sleepy and afraid to get sick.. but the kids are doing well. Alexia and Tristan are just reading up a storm. Tristan had to read a book for school and he finished it in a day. What they say about the kids reading is really true. There really isn't much else to do and it is a nice escape. It is hard to walk around safely on the boat so there is a lot of sitting. Movies, reading, games and drawing are about our only activities.

We crossed the 1,000 mile mark today so we will have a cake to celebrate. Not sure what will be for dinner, it may just be top ramon at this point.

Hugs and love to all.

Heath

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Oops... Correction TODAY is Day 6 of Pacific Crossing Passage...

Hello Everyone,

Well... so since this trip I have come to realized that unless I look at my watch I have no idea what day of the week it is and especially what day of the month. We left La Cruz on Saturday night 3/21 and now it is Friday 3/27 at Noon. The days seem to blend together... we are often doing the same things during the day so you forget what day it is. We don't have anywhere to be or anytime frame of something to be doing so the hours just melt together. The scenery is always the same... blue, blue blue both and then maybe some grey.

Even with the light winds we were able to go 157 miles in 24 hours...Our second fastest day.... Yay. One of the times of day we look forward to is listening to the net at night. It is really fun to hear the other voices out there and to see where everyone is. The kids all gather around the table and we have the chart out and are putting little stickers on the kid boats that we are close to. Amaia has figured out that we travel about an inch a day and is now using the ruler herself to see how many more days we have till we reach land. It has stopped all the questions of are we there yet and when will we be there. She looks everynight to see where we are and where her friend Jacintha is and then she tries to measure how much longer we have. It is really cute to see her do this.

Last night I cheated and turned on the engine. I felt so guilty doing this. I really struggled with the decision to do it. I have been racing in my own mind to try and catch up with the other boats out there and look forward to passing their plotted points that I felt bad using the engine. The winds died down drastically and really turned behind us so unless we went way out of our way we couldn't catch a breeze. After bobbing for about 30 mins and going about 2 -3 knots I said screw this and I took down the gennaker sail, centered the main sail and then turned south to make a little south progress. We were cruising at about 6 knots but we were going in the right direction... it felt good. We ran the engine for 8 hours and then the winds have really picked up. Since this morning we have been sailing in about 15 - 18 knot winds and averaging speeds of 8 - 10 knots. We even hit 11.5 knots.... so nice to be cruising quickly. At this speed we should be able to reach our turn left (south) point of 120 w longitude by tonight. I will be nice to start making southerly progress.

With the swells picking up and the winds we are being rocked a little more than we have been used to so the kids have just been reading and playing. I can't help them much with the home schooling so we worked on out addition facts and are really getting them down by memory... me too... I hear it helps for when you are older :@)

We lost another lure yesterday with something that almost ripped our fishing pole out of the harness it is in. The pole almost bent in half and then the line snapped. Tristan thought it was a good idea to get the pole and I just knew that if he would have been able to take it out of the holster we would have lost him overboard... That was some big fish and as kaela says, " that fish eats lures for breakfast'!". I just know there is some fish out there that is 400 pounds wearing our fishing lures as bling bling....!

Hugs and love to all

Heath

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Day 5: Pacific Crossing Passage

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to let you all know it is another uneventful day. We are really getting in our grove now and all is well on board. We have had another good day of winds and fair seas. The swells were a little confused this morning but then they had their coffee and got there mojo on. We are now cruising at 6-7knts in 11-13knt winds and are heading at 266 degrees. The winds are from the east and we have been told by commanders weather to keep on this west path until we reach longitude 123 and then we will make a B line for the Equator. The winds should be in our favor and we should beable to do this on Saturday. They will keep us posted on where to cross the ICTZ which our last word was around 6 latitude and 122 longitude.. now 123... Another boat that is getting advice from a weather router in New Zealand was told to cross at 8 latitude and 123 longitude.. so we are right on track with what the other boats are being told. It is nice to have so many boats out here and to hear them on the net and to be able to compare weather from what ever point they are at. Our current position is 14.57 North and 116.21 West and we have gone 750 miles so far. We have about another 300 to get to the point where we need to turn drastically left... lefting, leftaroo....

Today was good. Our routine on the boat is basically what ever keeps our sanity. Unlike all the advice that has been given on the blogs to have a routine and a schedule..... I definitely am not able to follow any type... We eat what we feel like from one of the 14 meals I prepared or what ever we feel like cooking. Tonight is the tuna that was caught the other day and RESTS>>>> Yes, Oma we are definitely eating all the RESTS (Leftovers). Nothing is going to waste. I have been sprouting for fresh greens on the boat and just harvested my first batch of alfalfa sprouts. It is really nice to have something to crunch into and something that is fresh! I started my next batch which is a salad type mix of seeds, lentils of all sorts, alfalfa and other stuff. My challenge is to see if I can get the kids to eat it. I also made chocolate chip cookies today.. that was a treat and made a double batch so we could keep the mix in the fridge to pull out and bake fresh cookies.. when ever the generator is on. Yum... I can't wait for tonight's batch.

We had a little school. It is rough getting the kids to focus on school out here. We should be getting way ahead but whenever the seas change or even just after awhile everyone starts to get sick and needs to take a break.. Then getting them back to the table is always a challange. Amaia is really picking up on her fractions.. I love watching them excel so easily. Alina is working on adding 2 digit numbers and is really taking a liking to it. I think she likes the order of it... keeping her numbers in line and having to have neat numbers. She is really anal about her handwriting and organization. I love it. Alina's reading has really taken off as well. We have been reading a ton together since we left and she has made leaps and bounds of progress in her ability to read and read fluently. I am really enjoying working with them right now.

I have been making a video blog of this passage and now Tristan and Amaia are wanting to do it as well. It is really fun to see them input on Photo booth and do a little synopsis of our day.

One of the exciting things that happened today besides the feast of the cookie dough and the fight over licking the last of the spoon and bowl.... was catching a bird in our fishing line. It is really sad to see them back there. We have actually caught 3 so far on this trip... 2 fish and 3 birds. I can't believe they are traveling so far from land and when they see our squid lures in the water they dive after them. Don't worry we have been able to save them all and they end up flying away and then circling the boat again with me yelling at them to get away... but today chris had to reel one in onto the boat because the hook was stuck on its beak... We were able to undo it and chris held it for a little while for the girls to take a look at and then set it free. I hope that we aren't catching the same bird over and over again... stupid thing :@)

Well our forecast for tonight is some squally showers and it is overcast today. Then more squally showers for tomorrow. I hope this isn't a sign of our really cool weather changing. It has been nice being able to set the sails and then not have to really check on anything for a few hours. We will see.

Hugs and love to everyone.

Heath

From Amaia:
We are on the 5th day of the passage to the marquesas. It still isn't very fun because we cant see land. It is kind of fun because we get to watch movies and play games and stuff. Mom is making chocolate chip cookies right now and it is really cool because we rarely get cookies or treats. It is pretty cool because i can read a lot and not get sea sick because i have earned my sea legs. We have caught lots of birds on this trip.... one even flew into our wind generator... that one didn't make it.. but the others flew away.

P.s. why do I keep dropping my kindle.... :@)

Love, Amaia

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Day 4 of Pacific Crossing

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to update you... It is currently 4 our time on March 25. We are cruising at 9 knots in 12 knots of wind. I can't thank our boat friends from Flight enough for our $500 peso Spinnaker and how much it has scooted us across in these light winds. We are so spoiled with it being so easy to change out spinnakers to get the best course and winds available. Today was a little over cast and we see some rain showers ahead of us. The forecast calls for possible showers and then for tomorrow possible squally showers so we have been practicing taking down spinnakers and reefing. I think we are good. Today is the first day that I think I may have my sea legs... I don't get as nearly sick as I used to in the same sea conditions and am able to type while we are being rocked from side to side with the swells hitting us on our side. The swells have picked up a little from last night, they are about 4 - 6 feet but they are so far apart that you feel like you are on a kiddy roller coaster ride. All is good on the boat front. She is really happy and is getting us across comfortably.

In regards to all of us.. we are doing great. The kids are keeping busy with changing activities and so much reading... They are playing some games and Tristan is still working on his french. Chris brought out the chart today and went over our plans with the kids and how many days we are GUESSING it will take us to get to the islands. We think if all goes well it will take us another 16 days... How cool is that. It really is true what they say about adjusting to being out at sea and making the time pass. Everyone is on different sleep cycles and so the time passes quickly especially with all our naps... we are just sleeping our way through... We are listening to lots of music.. Alina has made herself the official entertainer on board and dances all around for us. We had a great dinner last night of Potato soup and broccoli... Tonight Alina gets to pick because she hasn't been able to enjoy a dinner in the last three nights. For tonight's dinner it is spaghetti. She is so excited... how easily the simple things become something to look forward to.

We are currently at Latitude 15.05 North and Longitude 114.00 west... our heading is 256 and we are doing 9.9 Hell Yay baby! we are flying I love it! We just passed 600 miles out on our trip meter.

Hugs and love to all.

Heath

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