Daily updates describing the voyage of the yacht Aldebaran
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- Words of Wis
1 June Very good signals from the yacht today. They are at 08 52N, 126 58W travelling at 4.5 knots, the wind is from the NE at 8 Knots and the sea from the NE at 3’. The wind has been reasonably consistent today but it died last night from midnight till about 6am this morning. They still managed to travel 219km (136 miles) in the past 24 hours. The weather is hot and relatively calm. Apparently Lisa woke up this morning all hot and sweaty so she immediately put her bathing suit on and got a bucket and sat in the cockpit pouring seawater over herself. It apparently solved the problem. There is a bird that sits on top of the mast day after day and makes a bit of a mess on the deck below. Carl had a number of attempts to chase it off but hasn’t succeeded. They made humus today and Andrew said he had a great sandwich of fresh bread with humus, tomato and salami. They used olive oil in the oat bread today and think it tastes better than the vegetable oil they have been using.
Words of Wisdom from the crew today: Leslie – I made my second loaf of bread today Lisa – Too hot for touching Carl – Why can’t we stop to swim Don – We are at 100 hours on the engine, time for an oil change in the Doldrums Andy – We need to get that bloody bird off the top of the mast Raleigh – I’ve been working on my suntan and its going quite well.
That’s it for today 2 June Good signals again today. In fact the radio is working very well, they have the strongest signal here of any of the boats in the seafarers net. They’ve had a good day sailing with a NE wind of about 12 knots. They are heading almost due south now to get through the doldrums and over the equator, so are quite happy still having good wind. Their current position is 06 55N, 127 32W and they have travelled 225 km (140m miles) in the past 24 hours. They are currently travelling at 6 knots with a northerly sea of 4 feet and a 30% cloud cover so sunny again today. They expect to reach and cross the equator in the next two or three days and will probably be at about 128 to 129 Deg latitude when they do.
Their refrigerator is working very well and they are glad they stayed to solve that problem as cold water out of the frig is great in the current heat. All their food has kept really well except their avocados which have all perished. And Carl caught another tuna today, a much bigger one, about 25 lbs, so they filleted it and had seared tuna for dinner on rice cooked with pineapple juice, coconut milk, onions, peppers, and a little wasabe powder. Wish I was there. They have enough tuna for tomorrow night as well. That’ll do for today, as I need to pack a few things packed to get away in the morning. Reports may be a bit sporadic over the next 4 days as we will be up Mont Ruapehu, but I do expect to be able to talk to the yacht and get internet access every day. 3 June Today (Friday in NZ, Thursday in NA) we talked to the yacht while we were driving between Ohakune and Mount Ruapehu (in the centre of the North Island for those who aren’t familiar with NZ) with good signals both ways. They were having a bad day and night as the wind has virtually stopped except little local squalls come through with 30 knot winds, so they have to keep their wits about them. It is also raining steadily and the temperature is in the 90s F so they have to keep all the windows closed making the yacht hot and sticky inside but those outside are wet and cold. They are currently using the motor to get some progress through the doldrums. The seas and the wind are coming from all directions and hence can only be described as confused – the crew could be described the same way according to Andrew. They are currently at co-ordinates 05 05N, 127 54W traveling at 4 knots due south. After the net they talked to a yacht crew, who had just departed the Marquesas about how they enjoyed their stay and what was worth visiting. They had met down Mexico way a few weeks ago apparently. 4 June Short report today. The yachties are in much better conditions than yesterday and have some wind again so are sailing with the motor off today. The rain has stopped too. They are heading a bit more west than desired but that is to use the wind to advantage. They are currently at 03 44N, 128 20W, sailing at 4 knots with a 7 knot southerly wind and 5’ southerly seas. Carl had a good chat with Ann and others on the radio earlier this afternoon, so we might possibly get an update from Ann on what she and Carl discussed too. All on board are fit and well I have updated the yacht location, speed, etc stats on www.angnz.com/aldebaran 5 June Wonderful night this...was able to establish communication with the boat for our first time! My neighbor, who has the Ham set, and I have been trying last few nights without success as we were unable to hear clearly. Tonight, my neighbor John told me he would be out and we would not be able to try the radio but I got a call a little after 0300UTC that he had come home early and thought, just for the heck of it, he would turn on the radio and see what he could hear. So he called me saying he could hear Andrew and Graham so I flew (drove fast) to his house which is a block away. When I got there he apologized all over the place that he had lost the conversation but we could listen anyway to see if it came back. Sure enough, the propagation gods were with us and we regained the conversation. Many, many thanks to Andy and Graham for allowing Leslie and I to have some of your sked time tonight...it was very kind of you!! Chatted with Leslie for about 10 - 15 minutes. If I understood her correctly, she said they expect to be in the Marquesas in about 7 to 8 days. Graham, please correct me if I got that incorrect and you got a different account. Anyway, Leslie said all are well and she sounded like an old professional handling the radio. She said she had to go because it was cutting into her schedule to drive the boat and Andy had to check into the seafarer's net. We will try again for contact tomorrow evening at 0200 UTC. Again, I am very thankful for the opportunity to chat with my daughter thanks to Andy and Graham giving up some of their time. Thanks guys!!! Lary Quite a memorable weekend. Both Carl and Leslie have been able to chat this weekend with family which is really great. It gives the relatives the peace of mind that all is well and gives the crew a feeling of belonging to the world and not remote from it. I did talk to Andrew while I was sitting in the van in a really remote location surrounded by bush, and Annette walking with friends on a bush track around a lovely little lake. I left the group to go back to the van to talk to Andrew and forgot that my notebook was in the pack Annette had so I wrote the coordinates etc on a tissue box in the van and have left it down on the road, 500 metres from the lodge we are staying at. So, sorry, the coordinates for today are in the van and I’m not climbing down the hill in the rain to get them. Despite that, they were sailing due south today towards he equator at about 2 deg north, good wind this morning but none this afternoon so the motor is on again. A lovely day apparently. It is interesting that Andrew was always concerned that a tropical cyclone could develop in the Mexican basin and cause them problems, so I have been watching out for potential problems the whole way. The current weather predictions show a cyclone developing in that area about Wednesday this week, so well timed, the yacht is thousand of miles away and will never be affected by it. That’s all today, I pulled out early and left the chatting to Leslie and Lary and went and caught up with the walkers again. We then went and had a soak in a thermal hot pool which was lovely. Now back at the lodge up the mountain and had a lovely dinner. 6 June Annette and I are part way home after a great few days up the mountain. It was cold and wet much of the time but we had a good walk each day in the bush and visited the local hot pools for a soak yesterday. A great location and good company. We get home tomorrow and had a great talk with Andrew and Lisa this afternoon. We were sitting on a little rise on a side road south of Taihape, for those who know NZ, and signals were strong and easy chatting. Unfortunately, Lary didn’t make good contact with the yacht today, conditions were obviously not kind from their location, they’ll try again in a couple of days. Fine day again today with consistent SE wind and swell, both advantageous for where they are going, so the sails are up again. They have had a good consistent 6 to 7 knots speed, with the odd 8 knots – things get a little interesting at that speed I gather! Measuring their distance traveled today from the coordinates, they have done 146 miles (235km) today which is better than they have done for a while. Their current location is 00 16N, 129 31W and they expect to cross the equator within the next two hours. They will save the celebrations till the morning as it is nighttime currently. As none of the crew have crossed the equator by sea before they are all “pollywogs” and of course have to go through a ceremony so that King Neptune can turn them all into “shellbacks”. We will find out tomorrow what the celebrations included, but they will all end up in the water at some stage. I suggested that it would be a good idea if they weren’t all in the water at the same time, but they thought that would give Raleigh an opportunity to show his ability and he could turn around and pick them all up again! At the very least the beards are coming off and some hair as well I expect, but we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out. They also have a bottle of champagne for the occasion. The crew are all feeling a bit tired and worn out and looking forward to a good rest in the Marquesas Raleigh is doing fine and has settled down to a routine. He needs company so is generally with Carl or Lisa. He has little booties on his feet which he doesn’t really like but they give him much more grip when he is walking around the deck. He also has dark glasses to shield his eyes from the very strong sun, but he absolutely hates those. For dinner tonight they had a curry made with peanut butter, coconut milk, herbs, onion, sweet potato, peas, split peas, and spinach, on white rice. They had coconut pancakes for breakfast this morning. They really do eat well on board. I also asked what they do in their spare time. They are quite busy but do have time for other things. Lisa, Leslie, and Carl read a lot and Lisa is on her 15th book. Don and Andrew have a lot of other tasks and Don gave the engine an oil change yesterday. Andrew has difficulty sleeping with all the movement and noise so he takes opportunities to sleep when he can. He recons he has the chance of about 11 hours of sleep a day but only actually sleeps for a small portion of that. Some Words of Wisdom from the crew: Lisa - When did my hair get curly? I look like Shirley Bloody Temple! Leslie – My hair is finally clean Don - Andy has put his foot down and decided that this will be the last week of the passage Carl - Lamp restoring is going better than expected Andy – I will not ask for rain again Raleigh – You people suck! Get me off this damn boat
We had a very clear connection with Carl and talked for about 50 minutes. We heard some of the same stuff that Graham had already reported and it was great to talk with him. They were at 0'07"N and 129'34"W when we got them, so only an hour or less away from the equator. It sounds like the rest of the passage is expected to be easier and they're looking forward to it. We also asked Carl about what kind of exercise they're getting on the boat. He said they get a strength workout raising the sails. They also have these 'shake weights' that a few Seattle friends gave Carl as a semi-joke when he left and an exercise ball of Andy's. Their opportunities for a cardio workout are non-existent. They're listening to lots of iPod music all the time. Apparently, they have a month's worth of listening if they played their way through all of it. I think that, along with what we've heard from Graham, covers most of it.
They are currently at coordinates 01 46S, 130 49W sailing almost due west at 6.5 knots with a good south easterly wind and a south easterly sea of 5’. If they keep this pace up they should be in the Marquesas by Friday but if they slow down it could be as late as Sunday. The day is reasonably sunny but very humid. 8 June The yachties have had a somewhat miserable day. There is a favourable easterly wind but the seas are coming from all directions, although they tend to be southerly which is not comfortable, and have been 3 to 3½ metres in height at times. So the yacht is rolling and pitching a lot. Lisa has struggled a bit in the galley with the seas tonight.
They haven’t seen birds for some days and very little sea life other than flying fish which they see every day. Still on course for arrival at the Marquesas this weekend, probably the earlier the better as the weather is not going to be very good on Sunday. 9 June The yachties had a good day today. The seas calmed down and the wind was favourable so they travelled more in the past 24 hours than in any other similar time period. They have consistently been doing 5.5 to 6 knots with the mainsail double reefed (that is about a small as one can make the mainsail with most of it rolled up on the boom and only about a third up the mast) and a storm sail in the front. But today with the conditions they pulled in the storm sail and flew the genoa and have been cruising along at 8 knots for some of the day. The wind is from the SE at 13 knots and the seas are southerly at 4’. Now that it is dark, they have reefed up the sails and slowed down a bit for safety reasons. At this rate they could get into Hiva Oa late on Friday afternoon, but if they don’t keep up this speed then they have to decide whether to enter port in the dark or slow down and go in in the morning. We’ll find out in another day or so. We’ve been working on them getting in by Friday if possible as the seas and the wind are to rise quite a bit on Saturday and Sunday, which could be a bit uncomfortable.
Everyone is OK, although they all have their down time. Andy doesn’t sleep very well and neither has Carl for the past few days. Don was feeling very tired earlier in the week but has come right, Leslie is OK and Lisa has had a better day in the galley today with the calmer seas, but they are so looking forward to a rest in port in Hiva Oa They are now running their clocks on Marquesas time which is 9.5 hours behind UTC.
I have updated the daily maps and statistics spreadsheet on www.angnz.com/aldebaran but have attached a picture to this email to show their progress over the past couple of days as they approach the port of Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Group, for those who like pictures. 10 June Weather hasn’t been quite so pleasant today with higher seas, tending southerly again and a bit more confused, so they haven’t travelled as far as yesterday. They are at location 07 48S, 136 33W and have travelled 296km (184miles) today. They have 340km (210 miles) to go to the port of Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands. This means they will arrive in the middle of tomorrow night, but they will probably heave to tomorrow evening and enter port on Saturday morning. This will be ok as, although the seas are getting bigger, the predicted higher seas and wind are not now expected till late Saturday. Andrew said they had some bean concoction with spinach, onion, and potato tonight and it was delicious. He says Lisa really has the hardest job on the yacht as the galley is a bit of a challenge in rough seas but the food coming out of there is really great. He said the meal tonight got an extra dose of salt water that came in the hatch with a bigger wave while it was being cooked, but he said that only added to the flavour! Picture of current position attached
I’ve update the progress map and chart at www.angnz.com/aldebaran I might possibly be confusing everyone including myself, as Lary has kindly pointed out I have muddled up my times in the previous email. The NBA game is at 8pm Eastern Time on 11 June, which is 12 noon in New Zealand on 12 June, which makes it 2.30pm on 11 June in The Marquesas Islands. Sorry about that, I put it down to having a ‘senior moment’! I only hope that I’ve got it right now. 12 June The yachties made landfall at Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands this morning and all is well. They are off to the watch the NBA game which starts shortly.
I’ll retire my daily reports at this stage, unless a specific need arises, and leave the crew to keep people up to date while they are on land. 15 June We are going to plan B and I’ve come out of retirement! Annette and I talked with Andrew over the radio for about an hour this afternoon. They are anchored behind the breakwater at Atuona on the south side of Hiva Oa Island. When they arrived they signed up for wireless internet that is available in the port, but only got access for a few hours and it hasn’t worked since, which explains their silence on the internet. So we’ve gone back to daily radio contacts. They of course wanted to know the NBA outcome, which pleased Andrew but didn’t please Lisa. The island is quite beautiful but it has rained quite a lot since arriving and there are not a lot of facilities. There are a couple of supermarkets and a couple of hardware stores but no-one takes credit cards. There is lots of bread available and they get a daily French baguette for about US70c. The croissants are good too. There is good fresh meat, mainly goat, and good local sausages as well, all the rest of the meat is imported from Australia and New Zealand and is much more expensive than what they could get in Mexico, but not unreasonable. Alcohol is expensive but they did stock up on cheap Mexican beer before the trip. There is very little available in the way of vegetables and fruit. Fruit appears quite abundant on trees on private property but no-one seems to sell it.
All the crew are fit and well. They had no problem walking on land when they arrived as their last 5 days at sea were quite rough, but their leg muscles hurt when walking. They all have lost some weight on the trip but with Lisa’s good cooking are putting some back on again, they hope (there is nothing to weigh themselves on). They have been pretty lazy for the past 3 days, recuperating and catching up on sleep. The Police checks this morning were quite minimal, they just had to turn up, and there was no inspection of the yacht. They had paid someone to do this for them as it only costs about $300 to do so, whereas if they had arrived unannounced it would cost them over US$1200 each in a bond (this is returned when you leave, but you do have to front up with the cash initially). They are not sure what the situation is with Raleigh at this point. They have some maintenance to do on the yacht, not a lot but they do have some leaks into the cabin in heavy rain. Some of it is coming down the mast, and they think they’ve solved that one, but the 2 port lights (windows) leak and they need to seal them somehow. There is also a good crop of mussels on the hull which they need to clear sometime but probably not is the current harbour as the water is not very clean.
Current plan is to probably leave on Friday and go down to the island south of them (Fatu Hiva) for a couple of days and then spend a couple of weeks island hopping north to the largest island, Nuka Hiva. They do have to move on Thursday though as the large weekly freighter comes in and it needs a lot of room. There are about 11 to 14 yachts currently in harbour all trying to shelter behind the breakwater. That’s all for today 16 June A pretty quiet day on the yacht today. They spent 2 or 3 hours doing their washing this morning – all done by hand of course. They also moved the yacht so that they are out of the way of tomorrow’s visit from the weekly freighter. Their anchor had snagged so they thought they should free that and move today. Apparently there was a tsunami there a year or two ago and it swept all the sand off the bottom leaving quite a lot of snags bare. They were warned when they arrived that it might be an issue. The windlass that raises the anchor has a fault that they need to fix. There is a bent piece of metal under it that directs the chain into the locker and it has come loose and is now catching on the chain, so they need to fix that.
The weather was overcast today as usual, but no rain. The tall mountain nearby has been covered in cloud ever since they arrived. There is a gas station adjacent to the jetty and it opened for the first time today, so they can get their daily baguettes there now. They are getting 5 a day now, one each, and as they were still warm this morning, they relished the fresh bread with butter, jam, and honey. Frequently make baguette sandwiches for lunch with egg (sometimes combined with mayonnaise, cucumber, etc). They are managing to find some fruit but would like to find a source of more vegetables. Although they have been able to catch up on a lot of sleep since arriving, everyone is still quite tired. They try and get a few chores done each day and there is a lot of reading being done as well as sleeping and they are normally all asleep by 7pm at night. They do have the opportunity to watch a few movies, as Carl has a miniature projector and a little screen that they use to watch movies that they downloaded earlier. Yüklə 436,53 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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