the trade offs - April 28
Solis log: 31 59'41N 172 09'25
The trade-offs we have out here. It seems that there are definitelytrade offｓ when it comes to weather. From before sun-up this morning the wind almost stopped. But again, beautiful warm sunny day. Finally the wind picked up a little, but so light the sails are flopping and making a tremendous noise above. I'm ready for some wind! But not too much.....
Yesterday we broke the 1000 miles to Kauai. Just a little while ago we broke the 900 mile mark. Getting closer everyday...but these last days are really slow. Warm sunny days just bobbing around and us mulling around inside. Luke and I have taken to becoming strict with dad. For some reason he does not see the pattern, but Luke and I do. Things that keep him well: being on deck, laying down horizontally below. Things that make him sick: sitting, moving around, anything other than lying horizontally below, and phone calls. Whenever there is a phone call, it does not matter where he is or what he is doing. He gets sick. So for some reason he just tends to disagree with Luke and my observation of this. So Luke and I have teamed up to tell him to lay down or get on deck when he begins mulling around below or sitting below reading a book. We sure love him and are just trying to take care of him. We've been quite worried about him, although today he ate two pancakes, kit-kats, peanuts, pickles and some other snacks. These smooth seas are surely good for him, although it only prolongs our time at sea.
Today we've had the spinnaker up all day, but like I said, it has mostly just been flopping around. Luke is still thumping through books at a mad pace. He'll have nearly every book on board read by the time we get there! I tend to still somehow chew up my days with little repairs, fiddling with sail adjustments, downloading weather reports, plotting course and that kind of thing.
Our average of the last 4 days has dropped to 137 miles per day. There are just about 900 miles left, so if our current average continues we will arrive in Kauai in 6.5 days. Here is the funny thing. Our current average for the 137 mile per day streak is 5.7 miles per hour. You would think that 1.8 miles per hour difference was not a big deal. But if we were going just a little more at 7.5 miles per hour we would arrive in 5 days. So 1.8 mile hour difference means a difference of 1.5 days of the course of 900 miles. If you average 1.8 miles per hour faster for the entire trip, it is a difference of over 6 days! Sailing is kind of amazing like that. You cover a lot of distance over a long period of time, so tiny fractions of speed add up to days in the end.
I'm trying to squeeze out everything we've got right now, but thats a challenge when the sails are just dangling from lines and flopping from left to right.
The trade-offs we have out here. It seems that there are definitelytrade offｓ when it comes to weather. From before sun-up this morning the wind almost stopped. But again, beautiful warm sunny day. Finally the wind picked up a little, but so light the sails are flopping and making a tremendous noise above. I'm ready for some wind! But not too much.....
Yesterday we broke the 1000 miles to Kauai. Just a little while ago we broke the 900 mile mark. Getting closer everyday...but these last days are really slow. Warm sunny days just bobbing around and us mulling around inside. Luke and I have taken to becoming strict with dad. For some reason he does not see the pattern, but Luke and I do. Things that keep him well: being on deck, laying down horizontally below. Things that make him sick: sitting, moving around, anything other than lying horizontally below, and phone calls. Whenever there is a phone call, it does not matter where he is or what he is doing. He gets sick. So for some reason he just tends to disagree with Luke and my observation of this. So Luke and I have teamed up to tell him to lay down or get on deck when he begins mulling around below or sitting below reading a book. We sure love him and are just trying to take care of him. We've been quite worried about him, although today he ate two pancakes, kit-kats, peanuts, pickles and some other snacks. These smooth seas are surely good for him, although it only prolongs our time at sea.
Today we've had the spinnaker up all day, but like I said, it has mostly just been flopping around. Luke is still thumping through books at a mad pace. He'll have nearly every book on board read by the time we get there! I tend to still somehow chew up my days with little repairs, fiddling with sail adjustments, downloading weather reports, plotting course and that kind of thing.
Our average of the last 4 days has dropped to 137 miles per day. There are just about 900 miles left, so if our current average continues we will arrive in Kauai in 6.5 days. Here is the funny thing. Our current average for the 137 mile per day streak is 5.7 miles per hour. You would think that 1.8 miles per hour difference was not a big deal. But if we were going just a little more at 7.5 miles per hour we would arrive in 5 days. So 1.8 mile hour difference means a difference of 1.5 days of the course of 900 miles. If you average 1.8 miles per hour faster for the entire trip, it is a difference of over 6 days! Sailing is kind of amazing like that. You cover a lot of distance over a long period of time, so tiny fractions of speed add up to days in the end.
I'm trying to squeeze out everything we've got right now, but thats a challenge when the sails are just dangling from lines and flopping from left to right.
Comments
It’s times like this that I look back on the life lessons that Ron taught me: “Wash dishes with your left hand, you can go faster” “Chew with your mouth shut we don’t all need to enjoy it” and “Clean the dog crap off the roof the neighbor are starting to complain” I am sure the true wisdom of that last one will be revealed in due time.
With all that said my hopes and prayers are that Ron will be able to salvage some vertical days of cool breezes and running seas, that the dolphins will swim along side all the way in, and that recuperation is fast and days on the beach are long.
Gene
Maybe the wind will come every evening and night and your calculations will be true....5 days!
The weather is really weird, wild fires in S.Ca and tornadoes in Virginia.
Its been fun following your progress. I have been using Google maps and seeing you inch through the big blue spaces.
Looks like you are fairly close to the Midway Islands.
What do you guys do for exercise out there? That makes you feel better sometimes.
Have you given up on fishing then?
Take good care of yourselves!
josh
Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play?
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play?
Dear Prudence, open up your eyes
Dear Prudence, see the sunny skies
The wind is low, the birds will sing
That you are part of everything
Dear Prudence, won't you open up your eyes?
Look around round round
Look around round round
Look around round round
Dear Prudence, let me see you smile
Dear Prudence, like a little child
The clouds will be a daisy chain
So let me see you smile again
Dear Prudence, won't you let me see you smile?
Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play?
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play?
That is what I wish for Ron.
Sometimes it's stormy weather, and sometimes it's blue skies. In more ways in one. Sometimes the glass is half empty, sometimes it's half full. But really it's about the glass, about presence. I know Ron's got that part down. And I can tell by your log postings that you are definitely present. The sea, the sky, the wind, the birds are your companions, keeping you company, keeping you present. And it sounds like Luke has got those fish running scared-they don't want to be present.
You had the stormy weather for a while, and now its "Blue skies, nothing but blue skies all day long." It may be slowing your passage down, but it may rejuvenate Ron, Luke, and you, Darshaun.