Update from Dave 4-12-06 Day 10

A boisterous pod of dolphins escorted us into a new day as the sun struggled to pierce menacing clouds. I was a bit groggy but managed to get out my camera and get some decent videos of the frolicking going on off the bow. The last few days have been uneventful… just the way I like it. We are now 1300nm from land and have very little wind maybe 5 to 7 knots. We dropped our flogging sails and went for a lengthy swim then Karl and Julie provided 30 minutes of entertainment as they perfected a synchronized swimming routine. We are looking forward to some rain. One rain squall measuring 7 miles by 3 miles on the radar just narrowly missed us providing only a few drops of rain. We are hoping for a deluge to wash down the boat, do some laundry and shower. The weather is getting hot and sticky so the rain will be welcome.

Yesterday’s excitement was a nice 10lb Yellow Fin Tuna which we caught less than 5 minutes after putting the line in the water. Cleaning the freshly caught fish is a messy operation and warranted a swim so we took down the sails and hove to for a refreshing swim 1200 miles from shore and in 13,000 feet of water. Karl prepared some sushi rice and made beautiful sushi rolls complete with cucumber, soy sauce and wasabi a great treat. We finished off diner with the last of our avocados converted to guacamole a can of refried beans and chips.

Yesterday, was our worst daily run thus far at only 112nm and today is shaping up to be even slower with light winds getting lighter. The hardest part of the light winds is finding a course that keeps the sails from slamming as the swells pass us by. With the current wind conditions this is impossible.

The mild La Nina we are experiencing this year makes for lighter trade winds and may really slow us down when we arrive at the ITCZ which is twice as wide as normal stretching from 5S latitude to 5N latitude. A degree of latitude is 60nm so the ITCZ is 600nm wide at the moment with no indication that it will shrink to its normal size of 300nm anytime soon.

We have a bet going on when we will arrive in the Marquesas (Julie 25th, Karl 24th and me an optimistic 23rd). The losers have to buy ice cream for the winner upon arrival. I’m pretty sure I’ll be buying the ice cream as we may arrive as late as the 26th which still would make for a relatively fast passage of 25 days.

Our current position is 07 degrees 50 minutes N by 123 degrees 50 minutes W