Day 17 - On our toes

Day 17 4/15/06 4:30 am
Coordinates............ 02 39.656S, 131 22.818W
Heading................ 210
Boat speed..............7 knots
24 hr total nm .........180 nautical miles (NM)
miles total since MX....approx. 2245 nm
Wind direct. & speed....E/SE 15-20 knots
Swell direct. & ht .....E 1-3 ft.
Cloud cover.............100%
Barometer...............993

We awoke to a beautiful sunny day. The winds had been steady, doing some wonderful sailing and we had made a record day over the past 24 hours of 180 miles sailed. Bruce and I even got showers in before we completed our radio nets and he was ready for his nap. Right after he went down, I noted that a few rain clouds starting to form around the area, very common these days for this latitude. We knew boats ahead of us as well had experienced quite a lot of showers. Matthew just happened to ask if he could turn on the radar, typically used only at night for us. We are often able to see the rain on the radar, but not always. We could see a few up ahead which we would never catch. But not on the radar was a large one behind us. I could see it coming but not to concerned with it, as up to now they had only brought a bit of water and not much else. No sooner had I given it that thought then the wind indicator caught my eye. We had been cruising along at 15 knots or so and it read 45 knots. Rubbed my eyes, could that be. It bounced between the 30's and 40's for a moment as I ran this through my brain. It didn't feel like 45 knots yet but we had full sails up and if this was true we were soon going to be overpowered. 30 to 40 knots of wind is very doable when you are prepared, we had better ready quick. In the time it took me to think this, wake Bruce and get up top, it was upon us. We quickly reefed in the main and rolled up the head sail a bit and we were dumped upon. It took a moment to gain control. This squall passed nearly as fast as it hit and after 15 minutes or so we were all fine but it certainly got our attention. From then on each storm has packed a bit more winds though nothing quite to that degree.

Adding insult to our injured prides that day, proof that the learning curve can be a little slow on Ohana Kai sometimes. This is the funny thing with guards, the moment you let them down is obviously the time to strike. The sun had been back out for hours and we were running dead down wind. This means typically, very smooth sailing with little water coming over the bow. We opened up the hatches for a while to air it out. Poor Bruce, the powers that be have conspired against him and decided that he does not need or deserve sleep at this point. As he began to try for a second nap, we hit a swell square on our port side that dumped buckets and buckets of water into every open hatch. Even though the hatches over our bed are covered by the dinghy and were only open a 1/2" or less, that was enough space to dump a bucket of water on his head. The remainder came in on our main salon. Luckily, there were no computers out at the time. The only casualty was a game boy, most every cushion and our pride. We are drying out nicely and doing many loads of laundry to try to remove the salt water from items, very tough job.

I'd like to say the day eased up but we continued to run through one rapid squall after another with the swells at our side for a rolly ride. The night brought about 3 hours of lightning, none which ever got to close to the boat thankfully. But it still is a very unnerving thing to have occur around a boat, filled with electrical equipment, sitting on the water. I can officially say my nerves were shot. The saving grace is that we know we are with a couple of days of the island. What fun would the story be if we didn't wrap the passage up with a bang.

until next time,
love lisa and the boys