Day 5 - The slows - Bugs

The last thing you want in an ocean race is a beautiful, calm day with a
glassy sea. So that's what we have. We know that as we sit around trying to
nurse another tenth of a knot out of the sails, to the south of us boats are
speeding along to Hawaii. But the weather can change again, and reverse
fortunes.

Basically everything is fine aboard. The food is awesome -- fresh peaches at
breakfast today, with another of Robin Hubbard's creations now defrosting
for dinner. Everyone's mood is good. I'd say we are just a bit bored waiting
for the wind to reappear.

Back on watch soon.

Bugs

Day 5 - fun in the sun

If you recall the previous post about slogging all day and night, you might
re-read it, as it pretty well describes our Day 4 night if you add in cooler
temperatures, fog, mist, and light rain. With a little less than zero wind
for a good part of the night, it's safe to say that no one was looking
forward to going on watch.
The maneuver of the night went to the starboard watch, who learned when
coming off watch that they'd turned a complete loop without realizing it.
The only evidence was the track on the gps chart plotter. Just goes to show
you how difficult conditions can be out here. On the other hand it provided
a good laugh when the tale was told, which was just the ticket when you're
going on deck at 2AM, knowing that you're going to be struggling to do
anything but stay in the same spot for the next 3 hours. As it turned out,
we had enough wind to a make slow but sure progress down the track. Which
just goes to show you how a little humour can go a long way.
Day 5 dawned cool and misty, and the sun struggled to make its usual
appearance. We emerged from a fog bank and found ourselves in the clear,
looking back at the wall of mist we'd just come from and looking forward to
some warmer, sunnier weather for the day. A partial rainbow formed off our
port bow and the day began.
As the morning wore on, the mist wore off, leaving us in sparkling blue
Pacific waters on a brilliantly sunny day. The only issue was the
continuing lack of wind. On board weather analysis showed us in the middle
of a high pressure area that had formed around us in a most unfortunate turn
of the weather systems we'd be tracking. What had started out as a very
advantageous track had now turned against us and our job now is to find the
fastest way out of the high pressure zone to better winds at its edges.
While we're disappointed at this turn of events, we're still driving the
boat as hard as possible and morale remains high. There's still a long way
to go and much can happen in the coming days.
In the mean time, a dip in the pure ocean water, some clean clothes, and fun
in the sun will do nicely until favorable winds fill our sails again.

24 hour mileage: 120nm

Jay