Pacific Crossing Day 15: If you can’t get out of it, get into it!

We turned the engine off around 2am; our SOG was 7kn with our main and code zero. We don’t usually fly our big headsails at night, but we really needed to sail. The sunrise was a show, with dark clouds and rain sprinkled throughout. There was a steady, cool breeze, and we could still catch a glimpse of the moon between the sails. 

We continued until after lunch when we swapped out the code zero for the gennaker in response to the changing wind and sea state. We gained a knot of speed after the switch. Our bodies are starting to show the signs of this new routine. The bottoms of our feet are burnt from standing on the hot teak at our aft winches, adjusting, furling, and unfurling our head sails. Our hands are sore as new calluses form from constantly handling lines. Our lips are chapped from the wind and sun. We’re realizing that we do not have the proper sail inventory to make this an efficient, easy trip. We are physically exhausted, but, in the wise words of one of my favorite college professors, “If you can’t get out of it, get into it.” So, we persist, throwing on our sun hats, reapplying our sunscreen, and donning our sailing gloves. We’re sailing our house across the largest ocean in the world, just the two of us! How cool is that?!

Ray set up a temporary contraption to prevent chafe where the gennaker line rubs against the lifeline.

I baked some sourdough focaccia. This is my first time making it since we left the dock (and the air conditioning). It rose so much faster in the heat and humidity that I may have over-proofed it. The result was more dense but still soft and delicious! I guess I could slow it down by letting it rise in the refrigerator, but who has enough fridge space for that on a boat? 

We furled in the gennaker around 3pm and brought out the jib, hoping to get Sabado back on course. Our speed took a hit, but at least we were going in the right direction now. Our weather router gave us an option to keep our speed up and hopefully alleviate the slatting of our main sail. He set two “gate” waypoints along the same line of longitude, advising us to favor the northern point as much as possible. We altered course and brought the code zero back out, SOG 7.5-8kn. Now, that’s more like it! 

We caught two fish just before sunset: both bonito tuna. Bonito are very oily and have a strong flavor. They’re not our favorite, and we’re by no means low on food, so we threw them back. 

We had dinner together in the cockpit, day dreaming about what it would be like to have an A2 sail… Here is my view as I’m posting this: