Captains log: As seen on TV

Date: July 15, 2022

Time: 18:31

Position: 26.13.093N 138.4.737

Although we have shifts and we're all supposed to be getting some sleep, last night was a wild roller. Seas have kicked up from the North East bringing in rollers. We're not sure if the waves from the hurricane Darby are making it up this far, but the sea was a bit sloppy. Our trajectory is to the south east, so the waves are moving from behind us, lift us up, then set us down. It actually should be a somewhat gentle point of sail, but with the lack of wind, the boat wants to violently swing side to side when the waves roll under us. This brings an absolutely wild side to side roll. Left side of the boat in the water, right side of the boat in the water, left side, right side...everyone on desks, tables, cabinets, anything loose in the kitchen has flown out. Everyone was quick to organize and clean up. If we had more wind, we would be better propelled through this confused sea state. 

At about 03:30 I got up to see if there was anything that could be done. Trying to sleep while literally being tossed wildly from side to side in bed is not conducive to restful Z's. Nick and Joe were on watch. The three of us quickly threw on headlamps and were ready to reconfigure sails. If I recall correctly, Joe was on the helm, Nick on the sheets and I was up on the deck dealing with raising the mainsail. After maybe 30 minutes of effort, our efforts were unfruitful and we put everything back to the original configuration. 

At 06:00 when I got up for my official watch to relieve Nick and Joe, Joe was a zombie. He's been staying up all night every night, so he went straight to sleep. He's been working hard and deserved immediate rest upon relief of his shift. Nick was also tired (as was I from basically laying in bed all night but not sleeping), but he was in one of the gung-ho moods of "hey Darshaun, if you want to try any other sail configuration, lets do it! Lets make it happen man!". So Nick and I did a sail reconfiguration. Nick was able to handle the helm and all the lines in the cockpit while I was on deck doing sail changes. We saw very minimal improvement, so Nick headed off to bed and I got my two or so hours of alone time in the dark on the deck. We all assume we must have jumped a time zone or two since we left, but it's just easier to stay on Pacific for now. 

About an our after Nick went down, the very elusive "wind" of the pacific started to rear its head. Nothing spectacular, but it started blowing about 15knts. This is amazing and great news. I think our strategy of continuing to head south, even if our plotter showed we were moving away from Hawaii at times, is paying off. I think we're finally getting into the trade winds. I'm feeling quite confident of it actually, now that it's been blowing over 15knts ALL DAY! Very exciting and mood lifting. Not only is it blowing, we are really skipping along now at 7knts. The waves are good size and because we have forward momentum, the violent whipping from side to side we had last night is mostly gone. Now we just hold on as we literally plow up and down waves with the wind to our back, water flying off the bow pushing 35,000lbs of sea water with every inch of forward momentum. It's a beautiful sight. The water is so blue, so clear, so amazing. We're surrounded by white cap waves which I like to call "little monsters". We've had a rule since the moment we went out the golden gate, anyone stepping a single foot on deck must have lifejacket on and be tethered to the boat with a line. For most of this trip it's been pretty ridiculous. With flat seas and little waves, anyone falling overboard could be easily pickup up by us. But now, today, we're glad we've not gone soft on our rules for that. Getting up to the mast or front of the boat now is basically crawling along the deck crouched down and grasping anything you can to hold on while moving forward. Sailing, glorious sailing! Given todays environment, sky, waves, sea-state, etc. we call it "as seen on TV" or "The Pacific Cup, as advertised". 

This morning was the typical, Gene woke up around 08:00 or so, made coffee for both of us then came up on deck. He had a sharp eye and spotted a large fin. I missed it but he was able to spot it again and point it out to me. It looked like a killer whale with places to go. It was just trucking in the opposite direction as us, popping its fin out, and moving on. What a site to see!

Spinnaker trials. I'm trying to recall what was deleted from my post yesterday and what actually got posted, but I think I did write about our exploded spinnaker and then the tedious repairs we did to mend it. Yesterday, in of course light winds, we decide to test it out. We flew it for a while and our repair held strong. The suddenly it ripped apart, but not completely. It continued to fly another 5 or 10 minutes but was quick to again shred apart. We bagged it up and unanimously agreed to completely retire this sail for the remainder of the trip. We felt quite satisfied with our best effort to mend the tattered sail, so had no ill feelings when we stuffed it back into the belly of our boat. While dealing with an attached spinnaker sheet on the forestay, I could not reach the clip so had to fashion a step out of rope and trapeze myself up the forestay. With the boat rocking and rolling, I started swinging, foot in a loop, hand holding on and body swinging. From the cockpit I heard "whatever you do, don't take a photo of this and send it to Darshaun's wife!". 

In gourmet news, the meals continue. Even this late stage into the game comments of "this is the best meal" continue to be heard. There's quite a library on this boat of books that all of us brought aboard along with various sailing and weather manuals. Nick is on the hunt and I think his mantra is "no book unread". Crew composition is critical on a trip like this and what a perfectly blended crew we have. 

OK, just about to finish when I heard some commotion in the cockpit! Nick's hollering about a fish and Gene is pulling in the line. It's a gorgeous Mahi Mahi! Dang, we just ate Tuna melts in tortillas for dinner, but I'm sure we'll be eating Mahi Mahi tacos for breakfast! 

Tomorrow we hope to celebrate our half-way mark. As of now we have 1106 nautical miles remaining which means we've only done about 900 thus far. All of us keep talking about how we "feel" like we're almost there, when in fact we're not even half way....having a difficult time reconciling why we feel this way. 

Anyways, that all in sailing news for today!