Miles sailed day 19: 124
Miles sailed total : 2,384
Miles to Port Angeles: 2,531
About 5:30 this morning the wind eased after a nice night of sailing due east. At 7:00 I furled the jib, turned on the motor and put the boat in gear for the first time since July 3rd. The forecast said the wind would die today, and it’s not unexpected. The low north of us is too far away now to give us wind, and the one screaming up behind us isn’t quite close enough yet (although I think it’s sucking the wind out of where we are right now). Given that we still need to get out of its way, though, we chose to burn some fuel in order to continue pushing east. We still have 115 gallons onboard, so that’s not a worry yet.
When I saw the 96 hour forecast this morning I learned the answer to yesterday’s burning question about what would happen between the low and the North Pacific high. At first glance it looked like the high was going to force the low back west, like pushing on a rubber ball until it’s too compressed and pushes back. But now I think what’s happening is that the high is moving west as wind gets sucked into the low and stopping the eastward progress of the low at 170E instead of letting it get as far east as they originally thought, which was to 180. Whatever the case is, it’s going to start moving north over the top of the high like the rest of them do soon enough.
Now that I’ve bored everyone to death with all we’ve learned about weather in the North Pacific (and who knows how much is even right anyway), our hope is that from here on in it’s just a test of patience and keeping from getting becalmed in the middle of the high. We need to start sailing north and get up over the top of the high to keep some wind. This is where I should find someone who’s a regular on the Victoria to Maui race circuit and see what the common strategy is for sailing this last leg.
Yesterday we cleaned out the last of the food in the fridge and freezer and inventoried all of our canned and dried goods. Turns out I’m quite a good little hoarder and we have plenty of food, even enough canned meats to have a little protein nearly every day. This helps my schedule now, changing from cooking duties to opening can duties, which will leave me more time to go scrape dead varnish off the teak outside. Wow, just can’t wait for this passage to get over. Oh, I forgot, cherish every moment.
And Maya is now, for the first time in her little life, learning what it’s like to be cold. Smart little gatita that she is, it only took about 2 minutes to learn the value of a down comforter. Unfortunately she’s decided that the best place on the boat now is between our legs in the sea berth while we’re sleeping. It gives her both warmth and bracing when the boat’s rolling. Personally I prefer she stays on top of the freezer while I’m trying to sleep, but you can’t blame her for not liking the cold so much. I thought she didn’t like to be touched because she was still young, but it turns out she just didn’t like the heat.
Teresa
