Pacific Offshore Cruising, continued….
The crew aboard Hula Girl en route from Hawaii to San Francisco on our annual cruise, seem to be having a merry time. Despite the large high pressure system keeping the breezes down, they are still getting a good amount of sailing in…
Sunday August 3
We did not fish today since the ice box is full of the last fish family we wiped out. And to make fishing matters worse we have other foods that need to be consumed so this evening’s menu was beef and rice stuffed cabbage rolls with carrots and sour cream. It is a Bosnian dish and if you have any reservations talk to Jasper who is now a believer in all things cabbage.
Well now as for wind – today was a pleasant surprise. While the wind stayed below 10KT we were able to average 6.5KT sailing throughout most of the day following the rhumb line (49 degrees). And we calculated our fuel usage and remaining fuel – we are golden. Definitely not planning on going too far south. Even as we make eastward progress we are planning on motoring north when we hit the high then dropping down to SF when we leave the high. We downloaded our weather and wind this morning so we are good to go.
As for today’s happenings – we had to clear ropes off the keel, which was quite an impressive feat by Jasper sailing us in reverse. We thought we did not need him any more until that trick. He has bought himself at least a few more days… We checked the engine oil, we practiced some navigation, we are now tying knots of unbelievable proportions and we can get weather and updates without waking the chief. Not bad for this motley crew. There seems to be an air of happy content on board Hula Girl…
FYI 30 34.606 by 148 05.474.
This is Sparky signing off.
Monday August 4
We started the day with a whale cruising around us for about 10 minutes. What an awesome thing to see! Then we had distant breach off our bow. What a winner for us marine biologists! Can’t figure out who our visitor was – I know who he was not (not a blue, grey or humpback). Then the water got glassy and well it was time to swim! Fantastic! Then we had to tump the captain back in to clear our rudder from some fishing nets. Today we motor, tonight we motor, tomorrow we motor, Tuesday we motor, then Wed we sail!!! Or at least that is the plan and we will of course try to sail here and there when possible but who knows how the winds will really blow…
Other than that we again visited a lovely fish and vegetable curry over rice – tomorrow we will have morally recovered enough to fish again! I shall do the tuna dance before casting our lines and hope the tuna gods are listening.
Other than that Jasper would like to report that the floggings continue…now let’s see if you can figure out who is flogging whom….
True wind is less than a KT as we find ourselves at 31 52.915 by 145 26.111
Sparky is signing off to go learn something about the stars.
