PACIFIC CROSSING

PACIFIC CROSSING!

The first two days after leaving the island of Isabella, Galapagos we had virtually no wind as the ITCZ convergence zone moved southwards and played havoc with the trade winds. We motor-sailed SSW to try to find the wind. When we reached 5 degrees South we hit some pretty wild storms. At first I was elated as we sailed towards the dark clouds of a large front covering the southern horizon as we were so desperate to find wind and save our valuable diesel in case we needed it in an emergency. (We carried enough diesel to give us a range of 1000NM). As we entered the front, sure enough good wind was found gusting up to 20knots. Then however, the rain hit, we had 12 solid hours of absolutely torrential stinging rain, it just did not stop and the lightning and thunder were right on us. I pushed on course at approx 235 degrees hoping to come out of the low but it wasn’t until a reefing line on the main snapped that I made the call to head north and try to get out of the storm. The swell was beam on and the soaking wet lines were chaffing constantly with not quite enough wind to fill the sails as we rolled on the big waves crashing over the cockpit. After another 5 hours we left the first storm behind us and set a Westerly course. For the next weeks we encountered many storms mostly at night combined with Southerly beam on swell. Im not sure what happened to the coconut milk run but this wasn’t it! Over the 2^nd week the storms became less frequent but the swell remained uncomfortably beam on coming in from lower latitudes. The wind was all over the place including on the nose for a couple of days as the convergence zone continued to try to sort itself out. I set a South West course on about 265 degrees during the day and then we were able to goose wing and head more on a westerly course for the night as we couldn’t see the bigger beam on sets come through as we could in the day. We stayed on about 5 degrees south until we were approximately 1000 miles east of the Marquases when we set a more southwesterly course to get down to the latitude of Hiva Oa, which is about 10 S. 

We were visited by many birds including terns, petrels and boobies. At night dolphins often visited and the phosphorescence slip streams they left behind were magical. Humboldt squid jumped onto our decks and we often had 3 or 4 squid for lunch, salt ad pepper sqid..yum. During the day we also saw vast pods of spinner dolphins hundreds strong. The most abundant wildlife that we saw by far were flying fish by the millions flying in every direction as we approached. We were constantly throwing them back at night and several times they managed to fly through open hatches into the cabins!

The trip did seem endless at times and I remember when we had made the first 1000 NM thinking that the crossing would never end. On the 15^th day a week from the Marquases the gear selector inside the port engine sail drive broke. This was a drama because although we had enough wind to sail along well, we needed the port motor for charging the batteries. Normally the solar would be fine to charge everything but with the overcast stormy days and the autopilot, nav lights & fridge operating all the time, the battery bank needed a top up for an hour or so each day. Steering into the wind to slow the props I managed to isolate the sail drive unit with the trusty flat head screw driver wedging it in place to stop the cogs from spinning. Then I was able to get a good look at how it all worked and fish out the pieces of the selector arm that had broken off and fallen down inside the oil cavity. Hoping the screw driver would stay in place to protect my fingers from spinning toothed gear shafts I used needle nose pliers and patience to get them out. In rough 3 metre seas of course this work on boats is never easy! 

With all the pieces I still didn’t quite understand how they worked as they were broken and I thought I may be missing more pieces to the puzzle so I decided to take apart the working Stb engine sail drive. This was a big gamble as if I stuffed it up we would have no working sail drive's at all! I debated it with the other crew and then drained the gear oil and took it apart. Lucky I did because then I could see exactly how it all worked and sure enough I was still missing a piece. I went back and fished around some more and finally located and removed the missing piece from the sail drive gearbox. Using a stainless split pin, I put it all back together and was absolutely elated as everything ran smoothly when I kicked the engine into life. So now we had our port engine back on track and charged batteries, big relief!   

For our weather forecasts, we used an Iridium sat phone, email compression program, sail docs and a grib file reader to access the weather. While it worked, it was expensive and the connection was frustratingly slow and chewed precious minutes of our pre-paid time. I would highly recommend the installation of an SSB Radio for any crossings over 1000NM. I know I will be installing one on Brahminy as soon as I have the money saved to do so!

The Southern Cross and other features of the Australian night sky slowly moved higher at night as we continued our South Western Journey. The last week of the crossing, the weather was ideal 12 – 15 knot winds and nice clear sunny days…Champagne Sailing! A few days out from the Marquises at about 10 pm I noticed a shadow passing over the moon, thinking it was a cloud at first, I then realised that a eclipse of the moon was starting to happen, I awoke the other crew to witness this incredible and beautiful spectacle deep out on the Pacific Ocean. The night became surreal as the moon underwent a full eclipse and turned a bright burnt orange. She looked suspended in the sky and gave the impression that you could simply reach out and touch it, a magical experience.

We finally saw the shadow of land at 3am on the 22nd day since we departed Isabella, Galapagos. It was a elated feeling of achievement and I felt empowered to have completed a voyage of such distance and remoteness on my trusty 38 ft cat Brahminy. We had travelled just over 3000NM in 22 days and saw 1 other boat, a container ship a few days out of the Galapagos.

Our Route across the Pacific

Crossing Chart 1. We plotted our lat/long fix and compass bearing every 3 hours throughout the crossing. I dont like to rely solely on electronics, no sailor should!

2nd Chart...its a long haul

Flying Fish were our constant companions, billions of them, most we threw back but we couldn't get to them all in time!

 

The storm front at 5 Degrees South that we sailed straight into to look for wind, we sure found it!

Darsh on watch. We were constantly soaked through in regular storms and rough weather.

OK OK he pulled this face for a re-enactment of how he felt earlier BUT Poor old Ken, the rough weather took its toll! What an amazing sailor though, sick as a dog and taking medication he battled on, never missed a watch and I always felt comfortable when he was at the helm, thanks Ken!

In the rough seas, we always collected Humboldt Squid in the morning. I cooked them up in salt and pepper squid...yummo!

Stuck in the engine room for a couple of days, fixing the Sail drive

The little selector peice that I had fished out of the sail drive oil cavity in peices and used elbow grease, drills, files and a trusty split pin to fix, worked a treat!

Our delicious Fruit hammock, lasted the distance, including some magical plantains that Ken bought in the Galapagos that turned out to be a hybrid between bananas and Plantains. They lasted weeks and raw they were delicious.

I was the bread baker created some delicious variations, this is honey and raisin loaf

Finally after 2 weeks the weather broke and we had some good sailing weather, steady 12 - 15 kn winds.

Ken, feeling better and eating again! One of Darsh's great meals!

Loving the good seas, guitar is perfect for long watches.

Hitchhiking Booby! I named him Biminy, im sure you can work out why! I talked to him for a couple of days until he became sick of me, next photo...

OK Biminy, I get the picture.

My new mate, just before he left us...

We caught good sized tuna but even out in the middle of the pacific, there's sharks!

Finally the Marquises! 22 days later. We saw 1 other boat, a container ship 4 days out of the Galapagos on the entire voyage.

 

We made it!!!