Ships Passing in the Night, Storms and Going up the Mast ... Again

August 6, 2015

44d 10' 35" N, 150d 55' 43" W

Aside from all the plastic, the International Space Station has been the only sign of other people for eleven days.  That changed this evening, seeing four freighters and a jet contrail in the course of three hours.  We have entered the shipping lanes and must be especially watchful. We got into a delightful radio discussion with an East Indian watch commander on the "Cetus Leader" from Japan that had just delivered a cargo of new cars to Long Beach and San Francisco and was headed home empty. I was struck with the imbalance of trade on that.  He was fascinated how such a little boat could be out here in the middle of the ocean and we got to comparing our ships. They are 635 feet long to our 40'.  Their life boat is longer than Heron Reach! Their beam is 105', ours is 12.5. They sit 25 feet deep into the water, our draft is 6.5.  While it will take us about 25 days from Hawaii to Washington, they go from California to Japan in 12.  Our deck is 3 feet off the water, sometimes actually under water when we are heeled over hard, whereas their deck is 115 feet off the water.  Our crew of two is matched by theirs of 21.  They never go outside as their boat is totally enclosed.  We must have someone outside, on deck, 24/7.  I was just fine with our end of the comparison, until he said they have a laundry room with machines.  I have the galley sink.  It took an hour of hard work this morning to make up for not having done any laundry in two days.  I have a new appreciation for the strength of the old time washer woman.  We spent about a half hour chatting with him and enjoying talking to another human being.

August 7, 2015

42d 49' 43" N, 147d 52' 56" W

1200 miles due west of southern Oregon with a heading of 61d directly towards Neah Bay, WA

Two more boats appeared the next night.  We spoke briefly to one as our course was set to intersect.  They politely changed course on our behalf.  It seems strange that a huge, 1206 foot container ship would give way to a little sailboat, but there are "rules of the road" at sea, and a boat under sail has the right over one under power.  They crossed about a mile in front of us, all lit up like a Christmas tree.  Their draft was 40.4', a little deeper than we are long.

The morning broke gray and windy, with rain expected.  With not a speck of blue in 360 degrees, the clouds over the whole of the sky run from almost black to pure white, while the seas are a jumbled mix of black, slate, silver, with much white. After five days of negligible winds and flat seas, winds now push 20 kts. and swells are 6 - 8  feet high, coming from the rear and tossing into corkscrews as they overwhelm the stern.  Simple chores like cooking will be hard and laundry will be postponed.  The winds come from behind and there is no protection even under the dodger.  The temperature is mild, but when the rains come, we will be wet,

August 10, 2015

45d 11

Due west of northern Oregon, 697 miles to Neah Bay (but who's counting?)

The hard storm came on quickly and left us exhausted but too full of adrenalin to sleep.  It built during the night, rained hard and blew 25 kts through the day.  Winds kept shifting, making it hard to maintain a set course and a hard jibe caused us to lost the back stay support and tear the boom preventer.  We pulled the main and flew a partially furled jib until the next day when it acted like nothing had happened.  It was as though a child were having a major meltdown tantrum and you say, "Would you like some ice cream?" and they smile and cheerfully say "OK", like nothing has been going on.  Fickle seas.  As they calmed, I put on the climbing harness and Jerry hoisted me up the mast.  Sorry there are no pics in radio transmissions, it was a sight! I reattached the back stay support. It was my first time having to go up the mast at sea - not fun - but I feel proud to have done it.

Today we passed the 45th parallel, half way between the equator and the North Pole.  Ocean temperature has dropped 20 degrees since we left the South Pacific!  We are now back to both sails and the next weather is upon us.  Winds are 19 kts and building and we are flying towards Neah Bay.  We are soooo looking forward to sleeping through an entire night.  These long sea passages are just what they say, days and days of lazy boredom, mixed in with moments of fear and very hard work.