Pacific Crossing Day 17: Sailing Through Squalls

The sun rose later than usual this morning- did we change time zones again? Squalls surrounded us. 

Sabado was sailing well. We were maintaining great speed in the right direction, and the sails were happy. The waves began to grow, and the sky got dark, so we decided to reef- just in time. The wind jumped up to 25, gusting to 30kn. We were flying! 

After struggling to find an efficient sail configuration these past few days, it felt so good to kick back and let Sabado do her thing. After the first storm had passed, we decided to bring out the gennaker and cheered as our speed soared! We flew it for maybe 20 minutes before we noticed another squall coming up behind us. So, we swapped it back out for the jib. We used the jib and main for the rest of the day, a nice change of pace from the constant furling and unfurling of our big headsails. The wind was averaging around 18kn, our SOG 7.3kn. 

At one point, our port side was swamped by a breaking wave. I immediately checked down below to ensure none of our hatches had leaked. Thankfully, all was dry.  

I don’t have much else to report today! Despite the bigger seas, we had a nice, reasonably comfortable ride. It was gloomy and periodically rainy, but we relished the break from the sun and heat. We had leftovers from last night for dinner- the perfect comfort meal for a stormy day. 

Our batteries didn’t get much of a charge, so we might turn the inverter off overnight to conserve power. I don’t have a very colorful sunset to share with you tonight, but spirits are high aboard sailing vessel Sabado. 

10 comments / Add your comment below

  1. HI

    as long as both of you are happy all of us clingers on are happy. any guess when you arrive? I keep checking the “where is “sabado” and only 2 grid squares left to go at last check.

  2. Loving following your big trip…we are heading towards the Med but if you end up in Australia and we are home please touch base ! Quick question re your jack line setup… saw from a photo you had them running down the Centre of the boat which we have thought about doing … if possible can you send a pic of your set up ? Safe sailing and fair winds …

    1. We’re planning a big refit in Australia next year (or the year after…), so we’ll definitely reach out! 🙂 I’ll snap a photo of our jackline setup or include it in our next video for you.

  3. I am glad to see the wind has picked and another day of saf sailing in the ship’s log! I hope at some point you share the pre prepared meals you put together for this passage and how you are storing them. I would love to have more options in my recipe book for passage meals. Have you thought of a recipe book for cruisers? It may be a lot of work but I think a nice money maker.

    1. Thank you, Kris! I have been working on a big provisioning blog post that I’ll be sure to include meal prep info in. I’m waiting until we arrive to post so I can add notes about what lasted the longest/ if there is anything I wish I did differently! A recipe book would be so fun!

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