Going westward
Salsa af Stavsnas
Ellinor Ristoff Staffan Ehde
Sat 18 May 2013 13:40
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By the way, watch out, one blog about not posting
pictures has ended up after I posted pictures from Galapagos, there should be
about 4-5 mails with pics now. Ejoy!
So today, all going well, we are prepared with food
everywhere in the boat (well what we have done here is stocked fruits and
vegetables), the bikes are back in their compartment, all things that tend to
pop out at anchor back in their bildges.
We will pull the hook and head for Nuku Hiva. This
is going to be the longest passage we have made so far.
About 3000nM, that is like sailing directly from
Falmouth to the Caribean without any stop on the way. If we make good progress
we should make 120-140nM per day so we can count on making this in about 25
days.
We will head for 5S 110W and then 5S125W and then
to Nuku Hiva, this to have as mauch current as possible to help us and stay
above the less secure wind paths further down. This path has a stable tradewind
on about 18 knots, so lets hope it stays that way.
There are more boats underway so we will have
radiocontact on Shortwave radio, on a net called Southern Cross.
We have been in Galapagos 18 days and these days
have been well spent. Not only did we enjoy the nature but also the
company.
The last two days Windarra also came in and that
was a joy for the kids and us. Windarrs will now stay here to enjoy the
place but the biggest challenge seemes to be the import of spare parts to their
Autopilot. They have also decided to try to buy a windwane and have that as a
backup. That is something we have seen more of recently, boats having problems
with autopilots, even one that came back after sailing 400nM towards Marquesas!
To have two systems is in my opinion essential. The windwane/autopilot is your
third crew member if you do not have any and are only two adults on board, the
passage becomes a total different experience. On your watch you can only sit
behind the wheel, nothing else.
We will have time to write more when we are at sea,
but now we have to work on getting ship shape.
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