Position: 14 degrees, 57 minutes North; 111 degrees 57 minutes West

Our friend the Red Footed Booby

We had a pretty slow night. Not much wind and it’s 1000 and still only 3-6 knots (3 right now and we’re only going about 2.5 knots. At one point last night the knotmeter read; “0.00”. Now that’s slow! We’re towing a water generator at night and it was hanging straight down. The water gen is essentially a propeller and short shaft on a very stiff rope. Towed behind the boat, it spins a generator that makes electricity. We don’t use it during the day since the solar panels are working then and it interferes with fishing, but at night it keeps the batteries charged while we’re using the shortwave and nav lights. Between the solar panels and water gen, we haven’t had to turn on the engine to charge batteries at all this trip. In fact, we have only turned it on once for an hour to avoid a commercial fishing boat who was determined to pass way too close. The wind was very light, so I opted for the conservative approach of making a 90 degree course change to keep way away. As always I tried to raise him on the radio and as always, they ignore the calls.

(A note since I originally wrote this in the morning. It’s now around 1600, there wind stayed low to non-existent all day so sometime after lunch we decided to put up the spinnaker. Now Charisma is playing “America’s Cup Yacht”. With the spinnaker, we’re a accelerating such that the apparent wind moves 30 degrees forward in just a few seconds as the chute fills and rapidly pulls Charisma forward. We’re actually doing 4.5 knots boat speed on 5 knots apparent wind. Not bad.

So, about last night and the Booby Havoc. These are very silly birds. There are a bunch of them around, probably nesting on some islands that are a hundred miles north of us. Sooo…they are pretty tired from all that flying and every single one that flies by comes over to check us out; “oh look a nice tall mast to land on!” Of course the mast is swinging through a huge arc, being 50 some feet off the deck of a rolling boat, so Booby Havoc! As they try to land on the mast they realize their mistake and either get hit by the mast/wind vane or veer off at the last second. Two have hit the vane. The first bent it so it wasn’t usable and remarkably the second one bent it back the other way enough so that it works again most of the time now. One of the more clever boobies figured out that the spreaders were a safe alternative and spent the night perched there. I prefer that perch to damaged masthead gear although it gives a new meaning to the concept of “poopdeck” after a Booby has sat above the deck, for four or five hours.

Last night by chance I discovered a Booby Deterrence System. It only works at night but that’s when they want to roost on the mast. Last night, I brought out our new, powerful searchlight to help in a project. As I was coming up into the cockpit I saw a Booby flying just above the backstay trying to decide whether there was a good place to land. Instinctively (hunter that I am) I hoisted the spotlight and pulled the trigger. The result was instant Booby Madness. The light blinded and confused him leading him to hit the backstay whereupon he “stalled”. Barely recovering from the stall, he crash-landed right in the cockpit sliding across the seat and coming to rest against the scuppers…just a foot and a half from a startled Ann Adams who was innocently steering the boat, minding her own business. The Booby just sat there looking at Ann (and she him wondering what had just fallen from the sky mere inches from her head in the middle of the Pacific Ocean). He was looking dazed, confused and perhaps more than a bit embarrassed. For my part, I was whooping with joy having found a secret weapon in my quest to rid Charisma of marauding Boobies. We took a picture (probably further confusing Mr Booby with the flash) so we could prove this and finally the Booby leapt for his freedom splashing down like a plane in a carrier landing gone bad. I am quite sure he won’t be back.

In the meantime, armed with my new weapon I scan the night sky for incoming Boobies and when they are silly enough to attempt a night landing on the top of my mast I blast them with the blinding light from the spotlight that my sister Sue got me for my birthday. Thanks Sue. The unintended use of your gift has so far saved us from further Booby induced damage.

Here’s a few notes to catch up with folks: Cliff; that’s hilarious that PH Record is going to publish the picture of us all on Espiritu Santo. We’ll look forward to seeing a copy. Send a note and let us know how it came out. Also, you’re right, the moon is most amazing right now surrounded by gazillions of miles of water. The horizon is amazing and the moon is so bright you can almost read by it. (Comment from Ann: The moon, which is actually full tonight, was still setting in all of its splendor as the sun started rising behind me on my shift last night. Not something you get to see everyday!)

Sue; glad to hear Ann’s sewing machine is getting a work-out. Ann is channeling good thoughts toward Missy’s project. On board before we left Ann made a sail cover for the storm jib so we can leave it on deck and it won’t be in the way. I imagine the sewing machine will come out again soon as the sun is getting so intense it would be nice to have a bimini (cockpit cover). We have some Sunbrella fabric and there’s already a zipper on the dodger where the thing is supposed to attach.

Elan; thanks for the info on the trades. We’re in a transition zone and I am looking forward to more solid wind. It’s been mostly less than 10 knots which is why we’re only putting in 90-100 miles per day right now. Also makes night watches more of a challenge because the wind vane won’t steer when it gets really light. Last night I steered most of my watch from 2100 to 0300. I would just aim the boat, tighten down the helm brake, close my eyes and then wake up when my forehead hit the wheel as I nodded off. Recheck helm and repeat. Will be nice when Wilson can just steer all night, but we need solid 7 knots of wind to do that. Good advice on 120 degrees. We’re heading down the rhumb line for now with 128 degrees being our “do not pass” line. Somewhere as we approach 120 we’ll start to look for a “hole” in the ITCZ, duck through and try to dodge bad weather.

Joan: See, it is not Ann who is falling asleep on watch! (This is obviously by Ann.) I spend my watches reading iBooks (just finished The Paris Wife – good read) or playing Scrabble. Not as fun as Words with Friends but keeps me entertained. I have even resorted to Angry Birds a time or two. Luckily I was able to use the iPod and music to keep me awake during my watch last night. Nothing like dancing when no one can see you! (Maybe this is the fishing problem?!) Night Watches: As you probably have deduced, we are not sticking to the 3 hours on, 3 hours off watch system that we originally intended. It works great to go as long as you are awake and then wake the co-captain (see how I snuck that in!) to change shifts. Bob is particularly good about taking longer shifts when the air is light and I really appreciate it.

Jerry; Hmm, a wind dance. We’re already doing a “fish dance”. Problem is that’s not working, so I’m not sure if we’ll do any better with a wind dance, although it IS fun to watch. Ann’s getting quite creative.

For all; thanks again for following us. Also, I have a request. I forgot to research the history behind “Shellbacks” clearing across the equator. Since we’re both Shellbacks at this point, we need to know what ceremony we should perform. Any thoughts/research would be helpful, but please keep it to a paragraph so our email doesn’t get bombed by a long file. I know there’s hazing rituals out there that we need to uphold.

Position: 15 degrees, 27 minutes North; 111 degrees, 14 minutes West

Blue Water Cruising!

Wing and Wing, downwind.

Beautiful conditions today. The sea is so blue it’s actually almost purple the color is so strong. Not too much to report so I’ll leave this one short since I’m tired and have to go on watch (2100 to 0100 or so). Tomorrow we’ll write some thoughts in the afternoon when we have more energy (Ann’s almost in her bunk right now, having just finished the dishes from dinner)

So, see you all tomorrow!

Position: 16 degrees, 25 minutes North; 110 degrees 04 minutes West

The highlight of our day today (simple pleasures when at sea) was the first salt water showers of the trip. It got warm enough that it was refreshing. Ann shrieked with what sounded like joy. I think. Maybe. Anyway, you put the canvas bucket (with rope attached) over the side, pull up a bucket full of water and dump it on your head. Then lather up and do the same thing a second and maybe third time. Then, we get to rinse off with warm, fresh water from our camp shower, which had been heating in the sun. Felt great!

Other than that, a pretty slow day. Only 98 miles in the last 24 hours. We’re still waiting for the wind to fill in. Tonight is not looking very promising either. Right now we have about 4 knots of wind, so we’re not going anywhere very fast. Same as last night. At least the view is good 😉

By the way, thanks everyone for your comments. It’s one of the highlights of our evening to read them out loud after dinner.

Position: 17 degrees, 33 minutes North; 108 degrees, 52 minutes West Hopefully, anyway. This morning the wind backed as did t he seas. Both are now coming from the WNW, so we’re now reaching instead of sailing close hauled. We’re much more comfortable as we’re not slamming into the waves. The wind has been lighter today (looks like we only made 109 miles), but we’re hoping as we get further out it will strengthen soon and back some more so we’ll be going “downhill”.

Ann found a flying fish on board this morning and I found a couple squid all of which were no doubt evading predators just to find themselves in a more precarious position on board Charisma.

Booby havoc ensued this afternoon when a Booby tried to land on the wind vane. We didn’t personally see the disaster, but they have been “eyeing” the masthead for some time now. The wind vane is now bent and useless and there is some bird poop on the deck. I’ll leave the rest to the imagination. Fortunately, said bird just broke the vane and not the wind instruments which are on a separate bar and still work fine. No news on how the Booby is doing.

A note to our friend Dave Nieuwstad on S/V Free Spirit who arrived back in La Cruz just in time for us to leave. Dave: Thanks again so much for the nice bottle of wine (which we are saving for when we catch a fish). Also, Ann made bread from your recipe last night and it came out terrific!

From Ann- I know that Sue (Bob’s sister) will be pleased to know that the Admiral on Charisma has specific rules about claiming “birth month”. According to the Admiral (yes, I know the Admiral very well), if you do not claim “birth month” on the 1st of the month you have missed the opportunity to do so. Sorry Bob, you will just have to settle for celebrating your special day only today out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean! I am sure your family is singing the Swedish birthday song anyway. We celebrated with a yummy pasta dinner (not made by Bob) and those delicious Ginger Spice Cookies!

And in answer to Sue’s question on our last blog, I love the night watches! In fact, I let the birthday boy have a full 8 hours of sleep last night. The moon was glorious, not quite full but shedding lots of light. When the moon finally set at about 5am I was treated to a very special sight. Originally I was concerned and thought that Charisma was passing gas until I realized we were going through a large school of jelly fish. Phosphorescent bubbles were popping up from the stern of Charisma. They were actually all around us. Looked like popping bubbles!

Position: 18 degrees, 47 minutes North; 107 degrees, 29 minutes West

Watched the sunrise this morning and was happy to see we are in the deep blue. Definitely out of the “coastal green” zone, the blue out here is sight to behold. We spent most of the day just getting used to life at sea and adjusting our “sleep clocks” to the watch system. I had the 2200 to 0100 watch and was nodding off toward the end of my watch, so Ann gave me a five hour sleep (Yay Ann!) and didn’t wake me until 0600 when I took over in the morning light and she got her well deserved rest.

We caught a small albacore tuna, but decided it wasn’t quite big enough, so let it go. Other than that, an uneventful day just enjoying the wind, sun and sea.

Woo, Hoo, April Fools!

Position: 20 degrees, 17 minutes; North 106 degrees, 01 minutes West

Leaving La Cruz, Mexico for the Marquesas.

Storing food. Hey, wait a minute. "Ann, where's the BEER!

So, our first day out has been a great one. There’s a nice breeze and we are moving along on a close reach at about 5-6 knots. Wind is about 12 knots and the sea is 3-4 feet from our 2 o’clock (so we’re not yet riding “down” them, more like up and over-I closed the foredeck hatch just in case we catch one over the bow). Wilson (remember him? our wind vane) steered all day. We didn’t need to touch the wheel until a ship coming North, probably from the Panama Canal, crossed paths with us. I look on the radar and saw that we going to cross within a half mile of each other-way too close at sea-so for about 20 minutes hand steered to avoid him, then back to wind vane steering. I made tonight’s dinner this morning in the pressure cooker while we were still at anchor so we wouldn’t have the trauma of cooking a full dinner the first night out while we’re still trying to get our “sea legs” again. Smoked ham hock with beans simmered with onions, carrots, potatoes, etc. Yummy. All I had to do was heat it. We left anchor with style too. Didn’t turn on the engine, just hauled anchor, drifted out and once all the lines were cleared up we unfurled the jib and glided out. Very peaceful way to leave. Now we’re just sitting in the cockpit (in tee shirts and shorts at 2100). The moon is out, we have a reef in the main with the 130 jib and have the view I never tire of; the tip of the mast scribing a circle around the heavens and pointing out the stars as we go up and over waves. Charisma is very happy virtually dancing over the waves despite all the gear and food we’ve loaded her down with. As of this moment, we have 2630 miles to go! Had fun tonight listening to the evening “Puddle Jump Net”. Ann loves to hear where the other boats are. Several of our friends who left a day before us are only 60 miles away. Some we can hear from the other side of the equator. One friend who is going to the Galapagos first, called in about 400 miles North of the Galapagos. They will spend a couple weeks there and then head out to Polynesian where we will likely catch up with them at some point. It was noted on tonight’s net that there are now 23 boats spread out from here to within one day’s sail of the islands. Very exciting! Well, time for starting the watches. Someone gets to go to sleep now. May the negotiations begin! PS (From Ann) – we are still pinching ourselves – hard to believe we are really under way!

OK. Before we’re out of cell range, Ann wanted to send a picture of the “Ham Shack” on board. In this picture, I’m downloading weather info from the shortwave radio to my computer.

Sent from my iPhone

no-footer Position: 20 degrees, 45 minutes, 50 seconds North 105 degrees, 31 minutes, 01 seconds West

Well, we’re actually anchored in Punta Mita right inside the coastline of Banderas Bay. We decided that it would be a great transitional step from Marina life from the past month to a month at sea.

So…after a stressful week of provisioning, preparing and otherwise getting ready, we’re chillin’ at anchor. A nice sunset, a “Charisma” some final boat projects and we’re ready.

We checked in on the “Net” tonight. We’re now officially part of the loose group of boats leaving Mexico and heading to Polynesia. We could hear boats all the way on the shortwave radio and were told by the net control that our signal was very strong, so all the work I’ve put into “tweaking” the radio, especially the grounding system and antenna seems to be paying off.. One boat is within 90 miles of making landfall at Hivo Oa (where we’ve going), having left a month ago. That means our radio is working well, as we could hear their signal well over 2500 miles away. Ann was enjoying hearing all the boats that we have met over the past five months of cruising. We’re both excited. Now that we’re anchored and know that we are heading out first thing in the morning, it’s gotten very real (the weather is great, which is why we’ve been rushing to get out-there’s a “window” the next couple days of favorable winds to get us off the coast and into the Tradewinds). There are probably 20 boats out there right now with another dozen yet to leave from here (Banderas Bay, Puerto Vallarta). Might seem like a lot, but it’s covering thousands of miles. When I sailed to Hawaii (twice), in the Transpac race, there were 80 boats all leaving LA at the same time and heading to a finish line off Diamond Head and despite that after the first day or so you don’t see anybody.

OK, that’s it for tonight. We’re excited. Weather’s good. We’re ready. Charisma is ready (in fact, today motoring up here, she “felt” different-like she’s thrilled she’s going to do what she was designed to do. Funny, but boats are like that. They definitely have personalities and some days they are in better moods than others).

And now a word from Ann: It was really exciting listening to the net tonight and hearing Bob check us in (right after the “other Charisma” checked in! We never heard of another Charisma until the Jump! Thank goodness they are a nice young couple with a kid, not a cranky pirate! This is now very real! I was able to do a little checking in with folks before we left La Cruz and it was wonderful! It has been an exhausting pace for the last week and truly, Charisma could not fit anything more! (Yes I took pictures of the water line!) Oh, except for the standup paddle board we bought today! And it’s official, I am tired of shopping, washing, repacking and stowing stuff. I finished the coffee (thanks Andy Knight -we found a place to get it ground and we bought another 20 lbs!) repacking (vacuum sealing) after we dropped anchor at Punta Mita! Nothing left to do! Yay! Our departure was bittersweet. We loved La Cruz and were treated to the music group Tataware at lunch and then got back to the boat, showered and shoved off! Many of the other “jumpers” (Like Blue Rodeo, Bright Angel and The Rose) were there to help us leave the dock! Even Free Spirit Dave made it back to La Cruz to see us off! So we rest well tonight and start sailing tomorrow. Bob says he doesn’t want to run the engine at all for the next 2500 miles! Remember to have fun putting the latitude and longitude that Bob lists on the blog each night into Google Earth and see where we are!

no-footer Position: 20 degrees, 45 minutes, 50 seconds North 105 degrees, 31 minutes, 01 seconds West

Well, we’re actually anchored in Punta Mita right inside the coastline of Banderas Bay. We decided that it would be a great transitional step from Marina life from the past month to a month at sea.

So…after a stressful week of provisioning, preparing and otherwise getting ready, we’re chillin’ at anchor. A nice sunset, a “Charisma” some final boat projects and we’re ready.

We checked in on the “Net” tonight. We’re now officially part of the loose group of boats leaving Mexico and heading to Polynesia. We could hear boats all the way on the shortwave radio and were told by the net control that our signal was very strong, so all the work I’ve put into “tweaking” the radio, especially the grounding system and antenna seems to be paying off.. One boat is within 90 miles of making landfall at Hivo Oa (where we’ve going), having left a month ago. That means our radio is working well, as we could hear their signal well over 2500 miles away. Ann was enjoying hearing all the boats that we have met over the past five months of cruising. We’re both excited. Now that we’re anchored and know that we are heading out first thing in the morning, it’s gotten very real (the weather is great, which is why we’ve been rushing to get out-there’s a “window” the next couple days of favorable winds to get us off the coast and into the Tradewinds). There are probably 20 boats out there right now with another dozen yet to leave from here (Banderas Bay, Puerto Vallarta). Might seem like a lot, but it’s covering thousands of miles. When I sailed to Hawaii (twice), in the Transpac race, there were 80 boats all leaving LA at the same time and heading to a finish line off Diamond Head and despite that after the first day or so you don’t see anybody.

OK, that’s it for tonight. We’re excited. Weather’s good. We’re ready. Charisma is ready (in fact, today motoring up here, she “felt” different-like she’s thrilled she’s going to do what she was designed to do. Funny, but boats are like that. They definitely have personalities and some days they are in better moods than others).

And now a word from Ann: It was really exciting listening to the net tonight and hearing Bob check us in (right after the “other Charisma” checked in! We never heard of another Charisma until the Jump! Thank goodness they are a nice young couple with a kid, not a cranky pirate! This is now very real! I was able to do a little checking in with folks before we left La Cruz and it was wonderful! It has been an exhausting pace for the last week and truly, Charisma could not fit anything more! (Yes I took pictures of the water line!) Oh, except for the standup paddle board we bought today! And it’s official, I am tired of shopping, washing, repacking and stowing stuff. I finished the coffee (thanks Andy Knight -we found a place to get it ground and we bought another 20 lbs!) repacking (vacuum sealing) after we dropped anchor at Punta Mita! Nothing left to do! Yay! Our departure was bittersweet. We loved La Cruz and were treated to the music group Tataware at lunch and then got back to the boat, showered and shoved off! Many of the other “jumpers” (Like Blue Rodeo, Bright Angel and The Rose) were there to help us leave the dock! Even Free Spirit Dave made it back to La Cruz to see us off! So we rest well tonight and start sailing tomorrow. Bob says he doesn’t want to run the engine at all for the next 2500 miles! Remember to have fun putting the latitude and longitude that Bob lists on the blog each night into Google Earth and see where we are!