12º 54.489s 142º 10.074w
Wed May 29 2019
Isabel’s
talents in the galley are renowned amongst our cruising friends who have had
the privilege of dining on JollyDogs. What they may not know is just how
skilled a sailor she is. When she came on watch last night the winds were
light, around 5 – 7 knots and coming around farther North, forcing us to turn
more Easterly to keep JollyDogs moving. Since we are a sailboat, it’s important
to learn the limitations of wind power, and the binary nature of the wind in
the Sea of Cortez, along with our “schedule” or occasional impatience (if you
will) to get somewhere found us motoring or motor sailing to make an anchorage
before sunset. The safety side of that equation was the desire to entire an
anchorage before the local pangeros put out their long lines or gill nets
around the anchorage approach, something generally done before sunset. They get
retrieved around sunrise, so terminal operations in an anchorage with a village
or fishing camp isn’t the best idea.
We
are no longer beholden to a schedule, and we’re really working on the patience
thing. The Tuamotus are South. Our objective, Kauehi is a good bit West of our
current heading, Raroia is a bit East, and Makemo is just off the bow. Of
course, it’s about 250 nautical miles to any of them, so for now we keep
pushing in the correct general direction and read everything we have on all
three atolls. The French Polynesia SSB net is on at 0800 and 1800 local, so we
can also ask folks about each of them and perhaps get more current intel.
In
any case, I crashed around 0100 fully expecting to hear a diesel rumbling away
when I awoke, but holy smokes, when I emerged from my cave this morning we were
still sailing merrily along in only 4 – 6 knots of wind. Well off course for
Kauehi, but still moving South. I swear, I think Isabel could get blood out of
a turnip; she kept JollyDogs moving along in super light airs all night!
Anyway, that was about 0630 just a bit after sunrise, and now as is usual a day
wind is kicking up a bit and coming more from the East so I can adjust course a
bit more South as the apparent wind builds. Yachtzee!
Many
boat owners fantasize about “just a few more feet” and we’re no exception. Only
problem is there isn’t another boat out there that we think would meet our
“desirements” much less our “requirements”. Remember that, Dino? We’re still
hoping Seawind will build something in the 14-meter range, Isabel’s stated
ideal catamaran size, but in the meantime I just read a review of the Seawind
1260, the big brother to JollyDogs. Our pal Phil recently took delivery of his
and has been playing up around the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest,
and we’re keen to hear his impressions. Phil? You there Phil???
Most
any tub will move with 15+knots of wind, and we’ve recently spent time with
cruisers who note that it takes 10 knots to get their boats going. I
specifically zoned in on a statement in the 1260 review noting how often the
winds just aren’t going to blow that hard, even in the trade wind belts, and
it’s important for a boat to be able to move along in light airs. JollyDogs
seems to be just fine with that, and the review noted that was one of the big
upsides to the Seawind 1260, a design very similar to ours but 1 meter longer
and 1 foot wider.
We
got what we got, as Isabel is fond of noting, and what we got is pretty darn
good. According to PredictWind we’ll be luck to see more than 7 knots of wind
today, but so far we’re making it work and we’re still moving South. Anybody
want to take a bet on where we’ll end up?
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