Tag Archives: sugar shack

NZ Bound #3: 210 till entering the world of pies

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Pies are the like tacos of Texas or Mexico, pie competitions are fierce. The best filling to crispiest (but not too crispy that it makes a mess) and getting the just right savory to dough bite is serious business.

We are still knocking off the miles and that is good, still on track to beat the next cold front hitting New Zealand. We have 2 more sleeps at sea before clearing into the country

The bad news is that we are using a bunch of dinosaurs 🦕 🦖 juice to get it done. A dreaded blue hole materialized on the weather forecast, it was predicated and then not and then again, and yup it happened.

No big deal, we sailed with the engines on for a while. The wind started coming out of the north so we broke out a big kite to play with and let it pull the boat toward NZ. After getting it all set up and talking through the procedure, the wind nearly died. Not enough wind to blow out a candle. So on came the noise makers and we have been motoring nearly all day and will continue through the night.

One huge bonus, we rinsed off all the Deep Water Salt for the startup business, there were not enough people interested in Deep Water Salt Margaritas. Oh well. Also made water and filled the batteries. And.. it was warm enough to get a shower on the back of the boat

Penultimate sunset of this voyage came complete with a little green flash

Penultimate a cool word that doesn’t get worked into everyday conversations nearly enough. When was the last time you said one before last?

There may be a little bit of wind coming in tomorrow to finish the last day under sail, one can always hope.

All well onboard.

Quickie of the sunset

Cheers.

NZ Bound #3: 541 miles till we get to where mullets are still a style

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541 left to go is the half way mark. We have been knocking out the miles and it’s getting more and more like the Champagne sailing we were told about. However, if we would have had any Champagne on board we would have no doubt shaken all the bubbles out, so we will just having some vinegar. same thing right?

Sunrise at 1/2 way. Cheers hoping today is a Champagne type of day

Finally shook one of the reefs out of the main sail. The wind had remained under 20 knots for a bit. Still have one more gear if we get too slow.

During our normal 24 hr mile mark, every 24 hours since starting, we only managed 196 miles to the destination. So close to the magical 200 mile day! However at SSB time checkin, the 24 hour distance since previous SSB check in the distance between check-ins was 200! Yippie!

What do you do on passage?

Crew doing crew stuff at 11 knots.

All good onboard, probably another 30 something hours till the wind does the “yeah naw” thing and switches all about and we slow down while the wind regroups from the opposite direction.

Doing our best to finish foods before arriving NZ ..

240 hours into the passage to Marshall Islands

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Are we there yet?

After a nice siesta out in the middle of nowhere. It was time to finish this journey. Seems I was so hard a sleep Christine couldn’t wake me. Well she did wake me, and I’m not sure what was said, but it was surely something I didn’t understand since she let me go back to sleep, and sleep 2 hours past original time to get going. So if you see me today, thank Christine for my beauty sleep, I obviously needed it.

Final passage sunset

Made contact on SSB in the morning to notify of our position and a time to meet at the mooring with another boater to give us the lay of the land.

We got to follow 2 container ships in the pass this morning, Looks like a busy little place, lots of lights along the shore and quite a few commercial boats inside the lagoon.

Just like the Houston ship channel. Lots of traffic this morning

Over all a comfortable passage, weather wise it was spectacular. Would have been better if there was more (or any sailing) involved, but that might have changed the sea state. I’m sure Christine will have a different opinion, but with the drugs she seemed pretty normal, if that is possible.

Noteworthy:
• SPC and ITCZ: I guess it’s possible that you can make it through without too much drama with the right amount of diesel and super slack weather window. Not sure if that’s true or not, but somehow worked in our favor, albeit a longer / slower trip that our normal.
• Lost : Tan lines, I’ve looked everywhere they are no where to be found. Something you’ve had for fifty something years and to have lost it. All is not lost, I have it on good authority that civilization brings them back.
• Diet : While the boat lost hundreds of pounds along the way, I’m sure I ate everything in sight. Any thing to keep awake, it’s the lack of exercise that isn’t good. A long HOT walk on shore will do wonders for the psyche, after clearing customs of course.
• Lost : SSB & Ham radios have been dying for a few years, but the once entertainment and safety at sea is still tapering off. Hardly any boats checking to PacSea net. We did use ours to keep up with a friend that is on his way to Japan.
• Lost : A little blood from a drone catch, count your fingers lucky, we we should have practiced that on flat ground before trying it in ocean swell.
• Learned : You can motor a long way when you need to, nearly 130 miles per gallon of diesel, by rough calculation.
• Lost : More of my sanity not sure how much I have left to loose, seems to be being replaced by senility, or is that just my bad spelling?
• Learned : Its frigging HOT this side of the equator, should have installed air conditioning instead of the diesel heaters.

Anchor down (mooring retrieved) and cold beer in hand! Yippie. Off to find the authorities and clear into customs and immigration.

And now back to your regularly scheduled program.