Position: May 29, 2012 at noon (HST), 34 degrees 11 minutes North, 139 degrees 52 minutes West.
First of all, we're definitely past the halfway mark now, both by distance covered, and by time elapsed (we hope WAY more than half the time!). Hard to measure when we hit *halfway* given that we haven't exactly sailed a straight line to our destination. Which by the way, we have decided will be Ensenada, Mexico, just south of San Diego. Given that a hurricane was headed at Puerto Vallarta this past weekend, we decided it is just too risky to sail further south until next fall. Unless of course, the winds push us that way and make it too difficult to get to Ensenada!
We've had some good wind and then a bunch of no wind. Right now we're back to motoring, trying to get out of the center of the high and back into some light winds at least. We've got a bunch of diesel still, but want to conserve as much as possible, not knowing what the remainder of the trip will bring. Last night was the first night I had a moon to light up the ocean around me for the better part of my watch. The night before was super cloudy and squally with cold winds and rain. But at least we had wind. Twice now, while sitting in the cockpit on night watch, I've been hit by flying fish! It's crazy. First time I thought it was a bird, until I got the flashlight shining on this flopping fish with wings. Next time I still yelled and woke up Tim (who thought I'd gone overboard), but I quickly realized what it was and got the fish back overboard. They have such beautiful big blue *wings*. Poor things - if I was panicked, I can't imagine how they must've felt!
So, still the decisions about whether to motor and use our diesel or sit becalmed and wait for wind. The forecast for the next 72 hours is mixed, we're really hoping for more wind! The other day, after seeing the forecast for light winds we decided to switch to our big huge 150+ jib (the forward sail), taking down the smaller 110 jib we had on the roller furling. Normally, this is not a maneuver that we would do at sea, but since there was no wind, we did it. And at it paid off that day - we were able to sail at nearly 5 knots in very light winds. Then as night fell, we were regretting the big jib - squalls, choppy seas and gusty winds made us remember why we had chosen the small jib for the passage. Too much sail can be scary in heavier conditions. Luckily we got the jib rolled up and managed through the night with the staysail, and now that it's light again, we're glad for the big jib.
Suffice it to say, there are always difficult decisions to make, and this trip had had it's share despite the mostly fair weather conditions. Depending on the wind, we're looking at about 10-12 more days at sea. Our GPS shows 1,100 more miles to Ensenada…. At least we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. But we're running out of good books!
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