Friday, April 15, 2011

Day 9 - The Evil Spinnaker

Moondance Stats:

LATITUDE: 09-52.66N; LONGITUDE: 122-21.57W
COURSE: 237T; SPEED: 5.5kn
DISTANCE TRAVELED: 1179m
DISTANCE TO GO: 1482m - to the Marquesas!
24 HOUR RUN: 114m

All is well with the Moondance crew, but our spinnaker is not looking so good! We all slept well and woke up to a beautiful, sunny day. The winds were light, but going in our direction, so we decided to fly our spinnaker. Very nice ride until... the spinnaker halyard broke off and the spinnaker was floating in the water. Yikes! Doug and Brian did an excellent job of getting the big sail back on to the boat where it is currently drying out. The really bad news is that we won't be able to fix the problem until we hit land in the Marquesas. We are really going to miss it as we cross the Equator and through the Doldrums...

Evil Spinnaker = 2; Moondance = 1

Other than that, all is good. The weather and water are warming up daily, so we are going in the right direction. We are starting to put away those warm clothes - yeah!

You missed an excellent breakfast this morning. French toast made with homemade Sourdough French bread with a splash of Fern's homemade orange liqueur, plus some bacon (of course). Doug must have been dreaming about it all night, because he woke up with a hankering!

Ramblings... I have two night watches: 9pm - 11pm and 3am - 5am. The 9pm watch is painful because I am all ready thinking about bed and I getting very sleepy, but it goes fast. I love the 3am watch - it is beautiful and quiet especially now that the clouds are clearing. All you see is the moon, stars, and lots and lots of water. Which leaves lots of time for thinking. My thoughts last night - we have been constantly moving for 9 days without using the engine - only our sails - never stopping. We go on with our daily activities of eating, drinking, sleeping, projects, etc. and Moondance just keeps moving us closer and closer to French Polynesia. A strangely comforting feeling.

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3 comments:

svHotelCal said...

Carla, it is great to follow along on your crossing. Enjoy that warm weather and the full moon tonight! Rick and Pam

Jean Young said...

Carla, This is Jean who you met in Cabo. We took your picture on the roof top of the Baja Brewery. Thank you for the tips in Puerta Vallarta. The riverside Cafe was excellent and the swapmeet/flee market was a blast. I am enjoying your posts and will keep reading. Good luck in your travels and if you are ever in San Diego email me and we can show you around town. (jbyoung6@cox.net) Take care and God Speed.

Crit said...

I am envying that feeling of just sailing and carrying on with all daily activities as usual but sailing.........I am actually quite green. So glad that you are vigilant with your blog. I have had camera problems and it has been a while. Back to it. You inspire me!!