I am now 624nm from Hawaii, which is roughly 1200km… Or, in more practical terms, possibly six days of sailing… Mostly things are going well, however I am somewhat disappointed in my progress, and a little annoyed at the tradewinds. There is of course no point in being annoyed, however when one has expectations, I guess it becomes disappointing when things don’t go as hoped. Which of course, is why ridding oneself of expectation and assumption is always a step in the right direction! Easier said than done.

I’ve spent many days playing with rig combinations to maintain Constellation on a straight course for my destination, yet nothing is ever perfect. Every boat has its best point of sail, yet I’ve not yet found Constellation’s most favourable downwind configuration. Which is kind of amusing, because I spent about 25 days in the Atlantic going downwind, and I’ve just spent over a week now in the Pacific doing the same thing… The problem here is, I have some daft belief that I can go downwind comfortably and quickly. Unfortunately, those two things don’t go hand in hand, although I do continue to try… I’ve tried ‘wing on wing’ (twin jibs) in varying combinations, mainsail plus wing on wing, and the the standard calm-seas downwind rig of the ‘butterfly’ which is the mainsail sheeted right out, and jib (in my case, poled) on the opposing tack. So what works? Nothing really. But, to be honest, the technicalities of all this are probably tedious if not boring for most - Besides, it all just gives me something to do during the day.

Day to day, nothing much of interest has happened… No more whale sightings (I did see some near the coast of California), no more dolphins, and only one, mocking bird (not in a literal sense): A rather large bird that appears whenever the squalls do, and flies in circles above me, dipping and arching its wing in contour with the waves, as it vanishes beneath the crests… I’m not sure why it visits during squalls, but, it has done so like clockwork.

While on the topic of squalls, I have to say the Pacific has thrown up its fair share. Compared to the Atlantic, where squalls also frequented, the ones in this ocean come more frequently and are more unpredictable. My Atlantic squalls were always generally rather placid. The trades were blowing at 20kts consistently, and the squall would blow through with an additional 10kts of breeze and be done. Out here, I can never tell how hard it will blow, and just yesterday a small looking cloud set, kicked up both foam and spindrift, which I haven’t seen in awhile. Today, squalls have come through in varying force, but most of all, they’ve wrecked the trades and kept me from going many miles done… The Pacific trades have also been light and inconsistent just generally - The NOAA GRIB data reports usually around 15kts in my area - They always over-report, and I would expect it’s more like 12-15kts. This is all due to the Pacific high, and maybe it just hasn’t properly settled yet… Or maybe, this is just how it is.

All in all, I don’t have too many complaints, although I am looking forward to a quiet sleep at anchor or tied up somewhere, and maybe some fresh fruit…

Thanks as always for the nice messages people send me. Hello to the Waddle family, and for those sending me email addresses to reply to, I will do so from land.

It’s been a long time coming… I haven’t had much motivation since my last post. The weather tended light for several days, and then turned right on my nose - So I sailed close hauled for several days, and dealt with the corresponding change in swell direction and wind, as it swung back around to the north west. Rainy miserable weather prevailed, and Constellation and I beat upwind, and then beam-reached through a cross swell… And eventually made it out the other end into the tradewinds. I think I spent two full days lying in my bunk with my face in the pillow, whining to myself. The price of sailing above about 30degrees north is that one has to sail back through the variable/horse latitudes, and find the sometimes elusive stable winds and weather… Nevertheless, we’re here, and as I speak, Constellation is powering along with twin jibs set and a full mainsail up. During the nights so I can sleep, I reduce sail, but we still seem to be managing about 120nm days, depending on how eager I am to maintain decent sail area.

Several things have broken onboard, but none that could hold us still. The track for the port sheet has lifted, and water is coming in from the deck. Two of the newly bedded stanchion bases also appear to be leaking, and so I have towels all around the place trying to keep things dry. It’s annoying, but nothing much beyond that. Today, for the third time on this trip, the boom flew off the maintrack. It was a stupid design to begin with, but I guess one must remember the majority of this gear was not meant to be put under such stress loads, 24hrs a day, for weeks at a time… Poor Constellation, she was just meant to daysail around the Solent… Anyway, I permanently center bolted the maintrack, and then distributed the load to the boom through two blocks instead of one. I think now it is fixed for good… Not pretty, but fixed.

Otherwise there is little else to report. Tradewind sailing is… Incessant swell kicking the boat left and right, and the practice of balancing sail, windvane, and whisker poles (thanks Roya!) while maximising speed, and minimising stress on the boat, and on the living environment… There is nothing worse than flying along at 6.5kts and careening sideways down waves in the name of progress, while you try to sip your tea.

Thank you so much to everyone who has been sending me messages - They’ve been very amusing, and keep me going - I really appreciate it.

My track has been updated, and I sincerely hope it reflects my progress… I guestimate another 9 days of sailing, if I can maintain 120nm days…

Thanks Marty for getting this post up!

Campaign Progress
of the required users
of the required placemarks

Thanks so much to everyone who read my last post and call for help - As you can see from the above numbers, things are going well. But, the deadline to get those bar graphs up to 100% is the end of this month! If you haven’t already, please read this post and help me get across the Pacific!

So, other than working on Constellation (many great things are happening onboard - I’ll write another entire post dedicated to that… ), I’ve been hanging out with Stephane… ! Stephane and I tried to meet in New Jersey, as I arrived from the Caribbean, and he departed for Europe… Unfortunately, we were about a week apart! He has come back to work and continue his voyage… It was fun talking with him… Comparing notes… Laughing at having the same superstitions and similar experiences aboard our little Contessa’s.

Stephane has now gone back up to Canada for work, and so I’m again left to my own devices, preparing Constellation with all the great people I’ve met here in Greenport.

I’m going to miss this place… A lot.

More photos here…

nick.

Short documentary trailer by DNR-Productions

Short clip I assembled myself while at anchor… I was so bored. This has nothing to do with the work of DNR - (You can tell!)

Another self-made clip on my voyage from Lisbon in Portugal, to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria (The Canary Islands)

Johannes and I have sailed through the night from Dover, hoping to reach the Netherlands, however we’ve since turned in at Zeebrugge, Belgium after slow progress, annoying wind direction (N to NE) and heavy seas. Tomorrow we sail to Flushing, The Netherlands, where I may enter the Dutch inland waterways. Winds over the next several days are not favourable, running to NE, making progress difficult… Johannes has an important interview in Hamburg, and may depart the journey early, which will make the inland waterways an easy option for continuing alone.

Since I currently have no time restraints (other than financial) I may just dabble around, possibly into Amsterdam, and then the river Rhine. Currently this is all speculation, since I have no charts of the canal system, however I will not head back into the North Sea alone.

In other news, my phone has died due to waterlogging, leaks have appeared from nowhere, and Johannes’ tillerpilot also appears to have taken a fatal beating…

Other than cabin leaks, Constellation has performed incredibly well - We’ve surfed 4metre waves, running down their faces at 10kts over the ground, yet still the boat distills confidence and good handling. Ah, the sailing life!

nick.