Pacific Puddle Jump

Day 20:
Spinnaker sailing at night is something I never thought I would do. We needed to keep moving and the winds were light, the seas calm. The crew agreed that we could do it, so under clear skies full of stars we sailed the big green beast (spinnaker) all night and all the next day until 5:00 that evening. Katie had a pod of dolphins keep her company on her watch. Day 20 happened to be Al's birthday. For his birthday he caught the only fish left in the Pacific ocean, a little yellow tail. While I was holding him up for pictures he slithered out of my hands and back to his home in the sea. He was too small to keep anyway. The wind died at 5:00 and we motored all night. Katie made Al's favorite dish, butternut squash lasagna with sausage lady sausage.

Day 21:
This is where the story gets boring. The wind was not going to bless us with its presence for the next three days. We motored all day and night. At least we got to eat Katie's chicken Tikka masala with naan for dinner though, yum.

Day 22:
We motored in flat seas. It was hot and humid and the crew was getting cranky. We seemed to be going through another ITCZ. Squalls everywhere. We encountered a couple squalls and we passed through unharmed but wet. Once again, Katie showed us love with her with mutter paneer.

Day 23:
A repeat of the previous day, no wind and the constant thumping of the Perkins motor in our ears. Thunder clouds all around. Katie made bread and baked in pesto and salami with gouda sandwiches.

Day 24:
What trade winds? We had to motor again. We worried about our fuel supply. For emergency purposes I stored 12 gallons of fuel in jerry cans on the deck. The time had come to put that fuel in the tanks. At this point we only had 60 miles left. So I moved the throttle forward and cruised at 6 knots. Late in the afternoon we spotted land. Al just had to yell "Land Ho!" At 8:00 pm we were rounding the corner into the bay that would become our anchorage. It was a nervous entrance because of the darkness, narrow entrance and steep cliffs. Anchoring at night in unfamiliar anchorages is never a good idea. We were so ready to be done and with the assistance of the radar I was confident that we could do it safely. Besides, we had our friends on Shindig who arrived two days prior talking us in. Not 5 minutes after dropping anchor, Rob, JD, Sylvia and Tom on Shindig came over in their dinghy to welcome us. Don Julio 70 tequila was passed around and we all rejoiced our good fortune and compared war stories.

Total time: 549.11 hours
Average speed: 5.52 knots
Total miles: 2852.83
Engine hours: 165 hours
Indian Dishes consumed: 3
Oatmeal raisin cookies consumed: 3 dozen
Snickerdoodles consumed: 1 dozen
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At 4/10/17 4:33 PM (utc) our position was 02°46.84'S 135°39.19'W

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