Miles traveled Day 12: 151
Miles traveled to date: 1,551
Miles to Hiva Oa: 1,592
When I recorded our mileage for the day we weren’t halfway yet, but the GPS just ticked over the halfway point about 15 minutes ago. It’s huge to know we’ve come this far and are now on the “downhill” ride. Yesterday the winds never did ease and ended up picking up to 25-28, so we rolled the jib and put up the staysail. You would think that more wind means a faster ride, but that’s not the case. 28 is too much wind for the jib, but the staysail (our smaller headsail) is so much smaller we just don’t make time with it. But it was a really nice comfy ride last night and we both slept well.
Today the wind has gone back to the 15-18 knot range and the full jib is back out. Also, the huge waves have diminished and we’re riding along pretty well. The wind has turned more easterly so we’re tracking a little further south than we’d like but we’re still heading for the barn pretty quickly.
And, the best news is that Rob has a new nickname. I’m calling him Rob “another day another dorado” Sicade. He won’t let me say that on the net tonight so we don’t get jinxed (or sound too obnoxious to those that aren’t catching fish), but I’ll just let it slip here. The thing is that he’s taken a real interest in figuring this out, so he’s doing well. The frustrating part is that we keep getting hits in pairs and can only land one at a time (there are always rumors that dorado mate for life and swim in pairs, but who knows). Somehow one always gets away. So Maya’s tummy is full of fresh Mahi as will ours be in another hour. At this rate the meat in the freezer will last us until New Zealand.
Teresa
