Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Moonshadow’s Day 7 Passage Report

1900 zulu, April 6, 2016
08 deg. 21.7 minutes North
121 deg. 12.5 minutes West
Wind 20 knots at 040 mag. (NE)
Sea conditions 8' north swell with 2-3' wind waves
Sky overcast, we had showers last night and again today
1900 zulu 24 hour distance covered: 182 nautical miles
Total distance from La Cruz: 1175 nautical miles
Distance remaining: 1694 nautical miles

When the waves loom up on our stern, there is a point with some that the daylight shines through the water from the back side of the peak of the wave such that the color becomes a light turquoise, like the color of the water over shallow coral. It isn't every wave but it happens and is worth watching for. This is what Deb was doing this morning when within that aqua colored section , just below the white foam where the wave was breaking, appeared three dolphin merrily surfing within this glass room silhouetted by the sunlight shining through. Despite all the whining about rolling, we realize this is the reason we're here right now.

We expect that by tomorrow morning we will have reached the half way point, roughly 1400 miles out and 1400 miles to go. About that same time we will be stepping into the area known as the doldrums where the wind is light or sometimes non existent. It remains to be seen if we will have enough diesel (or use it wisely enough) to avoid being trapped for days there.

We are well into a routine of balancing our watch keeping, navigating, cooking, fixing things and resting and find that while tired sometimes, not as exhausted as we feared when we decided to double hand this passage. We've got this.

Cheers from Moonshadow,

John and Deb Rogers
SV Moonshadow
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