Hello:
Summary:
Today has been a beautifully calm and quiet day out in the middle of the ocean. THe water is glassy like a lake in New England. We are in a wind hole, and we decided to embrace it. We motor-sailed under the main overnight, and then shut down the motor around 10am. After some breakfast, we proceeded to make two important repairs (see below for details). We were visited by exhaling humpback whales and a large pod of dolphins jumping in all directions, as the passed by the boat. Jimmy had the watch from 3 to 6pm, so Megan and I took naps and relaxed to the gentle swells rolling in from the north west.
Megan cooked chicken for dinner. We will soon start the engine to head north 80 miles to Latitude 38. From there,we will finally turn east, and by Tuwsdaty evening will be positioned to catch the south west wind on a broad reach.
Position on 6/12 around 19:30:
Lat: 36′ 39.000
Lon: 49′ 29.000
Conditions:
TWS: 3.2 to 4.3
Seas: Calm
Boat:
Heading: 003′
Boatspeed: 1.4 Knots
–Tonight we have about 80 miles to get to our next waypoint APO6 at Lat38/Lon149’45. Wind from the southwest is predicted sometime Tuesday evening and all day Wednesday.
–The next waypoint after this is APO7 at Lat39/Lon132’50, about 350 miles to the east. From this point, we will have 928 miles to go to San Francisco, due east.
Notes on Repairs:
–After some breakfast, we proceed to repair a 18″ rip in the leech of the main sail, between battens 3 and 4. We applied wide sail tape around the outer edge, over both sides, and sowed on both sides of the tear, along the leech. It should hold in heav wid.
–Megan went up the mast to investigate the break in the starboard runner attachment. It cannot be repaired. So, she took the starboard spinnaker halyard and redirected it through the upper shrouds, so we could run it directly to the stern of the boat. I connected it to the original running back and checkstay 3-way junction, and back to the stern pulley, with a piece of spectra. This is now a fully functional repair of the running back. So we can tack as needed in heavy weather and not worry about the mast.
It now looks like we will need about 19 to 20 days to complete this trip. This is a return delivery, not a race, so time is not important as long as we have enough fuel. We still have about 650 nautical miles of fuel capacity, so we will be okay. We still have plenty of food and water. All we need now is wind. Wind means free miles.
Tom and Megan
s/v Avion

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