Raven made landfall around midnight (French Polynesia time) last night! I’m sure the crew is already anticipating a well-deserved big celebration and some nice shore time in one of the most beautiful places on earth! This Google Earth image shows Raven’s approximately 3200 mile track (in yellow) from La Paz, Mexico, to the Marquesas (marked in green). The next green marker some 900 miles further on is Bora Bora where Mike and I plan to meet up with the boat mid-April, and the three red place markers are Penrhyn and Suwarrow in the Cook Islands, and Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga, where we plan to cruise in April-May. That massive expanse of blue water looks much better in person!
By the way, the little volcano icon top left is Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Captain’s Logs:
Feb 25 – Day 8 – 03.17n 126.40w 1080nm to go…….made good 200nm. We cleared the ITCZ this morning…….as usual a horrible trip through……..but the best crossing I’ve ever done of it…..wind 8 knts to 37……wind from 030 to 130…….boatspeed from 3 knts to 14 knts…….squalls in the 100’s………no one wind speed or direction for more than an hour or two……….Now we have full main and headsail, doing 9s with an ESE of 15 and a calm sea……….really nice sailing…..It feels like we are in the South Pac already………
Feb 26 – 01.10n 128.59w 898 to go…….made good 182nmSoon after noon yesterday, the wind dropped to 10 to 12 from E, as forecast……..so motorsailing and using precious diesel !!! Also we are affected by the equatorial counter current to the tune of about 20 nm yesterday………soon after noon yesterday, the wind dropped to 10 to 12 from E, as forecast……..so motorsailing and using precious diesel !!! Also we are affected by the equatorial counter current to the tune of about 20 nm yesterday………
Later Feb 26 – wind in the 100s was a typo……..squalls in the 100s it should of read…….. it was the best crossing I have done, e.g. shortest …only 200 miles across………sometimes it’s as much as 600 miles, 3 days of really bad sailing. And other times it was more intense, as the forecast said this time…no sig. convection. So all in all a good crossing……… It’s always bad….just how bad is the question. Yap lots of blue water……..light winds from behind, making things slow……and now we have a really strong current from the west………. But beautiful……since leaving the ITCZ it’s been blue skies and cloudless nights. Diesel getting short, but should have good winds for the last two days. We cross the equator in about 4 hours………will have the first beer for 10 days as celebration……..this sailing is good for my body……..and mind.
Feb. 27 – now at 00.57s 131.07 717nm to go……. 181 made good. The strong current seems to be easing this morning……..light winds from behind…….motorsailing…….diesel, about 325 lt left…….You commented we have gone in a straight line…….but really, not that straight…….. after three days out of Cabo we were 70nm to the west of our track and two days ago we were 120nm to the east of it and are now 75 miles east and converging slowly……..so not really straight…..
Feb 28 – now at 03.06s 133.19w 533nm to go……..made good 184nm. NE winds of 15knts making very frustrating going…….too light and too behind for sailing, we are off course keeping the sails full and slowly motorsailing……..expecting shift to the east soon…….. This NE not in the forecast !!!
Mar 1 – now at 05.17s 135.53w 332nm to go……..made good 201nm. NE winds of 15knts all day yesterday……this morning it has moved around to the east…….so we are sailing now….slowly. We now have a favorable current, hence yesterdays 201nm.
Mar 2 – now at 07.40s 138.49w 107nm to go……..225nm made good. Winds moved around to 100T……good sailing for the last 24 hours and looks good for last 12…….we sailing with full main and reacher in 15 to 20 knts at 9 and 10 knts boatspeed…….all we needed was the better angle !!! we should get in with about 100lts spare diesel. ETA 2400By the time we get to Bora Bora we will have moved Raven some 4000nm !!! By the time we get you to Tonga we will have moved over 6000nm…..or a 1/4 the way around the world !!!! My point being the Pacific is a huge place……Very conveniently a new sailmail station just opened in the Tuamotous a few days ago………works great.
Mar 3 – 11.30 pm at anchor………..13 days 12 hours……….
Cheers, Rod