02:41:40S 99:20:44W
The Adventures of Sunboy the Sailboat
Al Sparkes and Deb Swain
Thu 27 May 2010 10:50
We left San Christobel early Sunday morning in company with Stardancer. We got away about 7.30am and right from the start were able to put up our full main and headsail and took off. We had brilliant conditions and were thumping along at 8.5 to 9.5 knots, sometimes getting over 10 knots!! Of course these conditons were not to last and by nightfall we had the motor on and were motor sailing which was a real bummer. We made the 7.00pm sked with Stardancer and they too were motor sailing and that was the last we heard of them. We dont know if they upped their throttel and got a head of us or what happened. We spent the next couple of days cruising along, doing some motor sailing and also just some nice steady cruising, getting the gennaker up during the day and taking it easier during the nights. Yesterday was a day with plenty of wind and whilst that was great, along with the positive current, it did make the seaway very choppy with wind against the current, topped with some pretty big swell at times. The upside was we were making excellent way, making 183 nautical miles in the 24 hour period which was excellent.
Lukey has been very vigilant with his rigging checks considering the problems Ghost has had as well as Nika and at this stage, fingers and toes crossed, all appears ok. The conditions eased last night (Wednesday) and we watched the beautiful full moon come up just after one of Deb's fantastic chicken caeser salads, our first 'meat' meal out of our new freezer. It was absolutely delicious and has truly become one of Deb's signature dishes. The winds and seas eased off and it was a brilliant night at sea.
Our set watch times are proving to be excellent and we are now getting into the groove of the trip with about 2350 miles left to go. It is now 4.50am in the morning, the moon is still lighting up the ocean and the sun should be rising in about an hours time, just right for morning coffee with Nikki when she starts her 6.00am watch. Layni has been her usual brilliant self on passage and has even been getting into some school work which is just great. Fishing has not produced anything but having said that, we havent done much as we have been using the tow gen to keep the boat power supply being boosted. Well gotta go and get some weather files, bye for now on Sunboy!!