June 28, 2014 @ 8am or (UTC June 27 @ 2000)
Day 2 LightSpeed Sailing from Marshall Islands to North America
Underway position: 08 34N 170 22E
Distance:
109/109nm
Weather:
Max wind speed 4 knots
Partly Cloudy
Air Temp 88F
Seas: Calm with 1m ground swell
Sea temp 88F
Yesterday we motored out of Majuro lagoon and we're still motoring along 20 hours later. The only excitement was a issue with the port engine alternator that failed to output unless the starboard engine was running. This proved to be a bit of a head scratcher and took a few hours of trouble shooting and too many trips into the broiling hot engine rooms to sort out. Our charging system uses two Balmar external regulators and 'centerfielder' to balance the load between the alternators as it turned out it was just a dirty connection that blew a fuse.
This mornings job was to top up the port fuel tank and calculate our fuel consumption rate, 11 gallons in 21 hours, so we're burning about 1/2 gallon an hour at 2150rpm running just one engine and making about 5.7 knots speed over ground. Maximum windspeed thus far is 4 knots and that was a gust, mostly less than 2 knots true, so no chance to do any meaningful sailing. We unfurled the jib, but it was only for show as I think it boosted our speed 0.1 knots. It's hot and still and the going is slow, but we're stoked to embark on a epic journey towards Alaska.
Our plan is to stop at uninhabited Eirkub atoll (we obtained written permission to visit in advance) this afternoon, do some beach combing and then head out early in the morning with a possible stop at uninhabited Jemo which shows a interesting looking ship wreck on Google earth.
Kathy has been cooking some great meals in the calm conditions and we're enjoying our current bounty of fresh spinach, broccoli and fruit. Our cat Shell is suffering in the heat and spends most of her day sprawled out exhausted by daytime temps into the mid-nineties. Yesterday I read an entire National Geographic magazine in one sitting. It's a bit hard to unwind after several weeks of concerted effort to prepare LightSpeed for the voyage ahead.
Overnight we didn't spot any ships and enjoyed the using our new Simrad 3G radar. The radar is overlayed on OpenCPN and easily viewed on a 22 inch monitor from our settee.
That's it for now.
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