Day 10

We are moving again at last!! Whoop whoop!!

In fact I don’t think we have stopped moving since yesterday’s blog update which is quite something. By mid-morning this morning Jamie announced we had already exceeded our combined daily runs from the last 2 days. Our 5pm to 5pm daily run today now stands at a whooping 76nm!! That’s much more like it!

Last night we had an exhausting night. We are settling into a routine of eating just two meals a day; and taking the second early evening before it gets too dark. Last night as we finished dinner we noticed another large black cloud approaching; very much like the one that had brought our midday squall. We were sailing in much brisker conditions than we had enjoyed for days so we managed to stay ahead of it for quite some time. We cleared the dinner pots away and cleared the cockpit of cushions and anything that we didn’t want to get wet. Because there was a lot of lightening we unplugged our chartplotter and put all our electronics in the oven and isolated our electrics incase we took a hit. Despite a good wedge of moon the last few nights it was pitch black as the moon was completely hidden by cloud. We raced along in the dark aware of the squall cell closing in for hours before it finally reached us. It was about 2am when it finally caught us up and the rain battered down bringing a sudden increase of wind. We struggled to reef down the mainsail and by the time we had two reefs in the wind had already dropped back down again. We wrestled with sails in the torrential rain for over an hour. Once the squall passed the skies finally cleared and we could enjoy the starry night sky properly for the first time that night. I went to bed at 4am as Jamie kindly insisted I had the first sleep and he would wake me as soon as it was light to swap watches. I woke around 8 and popped my head up into the cockpit to find him snoozing away with his alarm set to 30 minute intervals. We have both taken long naps today as and when we have felt sleepy!

With each of these Pacific squalls we are learning a little more about the nature of the weather out here. The squalls are very different to those that we experienced in the Atlantic. Rain doesn’t always signify a sudden rise in wind. There is certainly a different pattern to them to what we have experienced previously. We are learning; every day is a school day as they say.

We expect to experience more of these squalls over the coming days but whilst there is wind keeping us moving we are happy. We are now down to just over 250nm from the Galapagos Islands where we will bear off west-south-west once over the equator to where the trade winds should be; ready to blow us to the Marquesas in French Polynesia! Still a very long way to go but that will be a significant point in our passage. I am very proud of us for being patient and keeping sailing. We have always resisted the temptation to turn our motor on in light winds and to keep nursing our sails and keep moving under our own steam wherever possible and that habit has stood us in good stead now that we have so many miles ahead of us that motoring for a day or two doesn’t achieve anything but to burn fuel.

We thought the degredation of our fresh stores had slowed a little but then this afternoon 3 more rotten eggs went overboard. Such is life.

This is going to be a short update today as the wind has just picked up and we have reefed ourselves down ready for another squall. Hopefully it passes soon and we can get on with enjoying our Friday night!

Hoping everyone reading this has had a good week and wishing you all good weekends whatever they have in store

Sending love from the Pacific Ocean x