04 March, 0320 PST approx 1,500nm NW of Nuku Hiva – Hello from the graveyard shift. As I write we are barreling along on a WSW course with solid trade winds behind us, with a full moon to light our way. Flyer has been keeping up a good pace in the last 24 hours, covering over 140 miles right on course, bringing our 11.5 day total to just under 1,500nm, which, depending on how you measure it, could be considered close to half-way to Nuku Hiva!?
Life aboard Flyer has been enjoyable these past few days. With the boat moving comfortably along, we’ve been able to spend more time just witnessing life in the remote Pacific. Yesterday we were welcomed by a small pod of porpoises who came to play in our bow wave. Shortly after I noticed some leaping sailfish about a quarter mile away, hurtling themselves over fifteen feet in the air!
Within an hour, another massive pod of porpoises came barreling towards us from the south. They formed a thick frontal line as if they were hunting in a group, swimming at an impressive speed and jumping with great frequency. They sped right past us and were out of sight within a couple minutes, and the force of their collective rush was incredible to witness.
There seem to be many more flying fish in these latitudes. Practically everywhere we look they are flying along, inches above the waves, before smashing face-first back into the blue. They’re so fun to watch, and currently in the lead as the boys’ favorite form of wildlife out here.
We had a bit of excitement this morning when we hoisted the A3- our reaching sail that we like to fly when the wind is between 5-20knots from between 70 to 140 degrees true angle (the angle of the true wind to the boat’s axis). The sail is set on the bow sprit just above our anchor roller, and it’s managed by a continuous-line furler that allows it to be wrapped up on itself like our genoa and staysail for easy deployment and dowsing. I had just hoisted it, and Paul was in the cockpit about to trim in the sheet to unfurl the sail, when I looked forward and saw the sail, its furler and furling line flapping wildly about downwind of us, not attached to the boat! And in seconds, the sail had mostly unfurled itself and was making quite a spectacle of us.
We quickly got some help from James on the bow and Kristen in the cockpit. Paul lowered the halyard to me and James while we gathered the sail onto the foredeck. Kristen managed the sheets and steered the boat to a lower course to reduce windage on the bow.
When it was all down and secured with a sail tie, I noticed the Tylaska shackle that’s supposed to be part of the furling drum was still attached to the bow, while the drum was in my hands, still attached to the sail. We quickly deduced that they had separated because the two small grub-screws that keep the threaded connection locked had somehow worked themselves free.
Without any replacement grub screws aboard my quick fix was to simply clean and re-fasten the threaded connection, this time with copious amounts of red loctite and as much torque as I could muscle. I’m hoping this holds for the foreseeable future, and at the very least we know now to be keeping a close eye on this part.
Last night’s graveyard shift was graced with a total lunar eclipse! It began around the start of my watch at 0200 ship’s time (PST) and ended around 0500. With some scattered low clouds, it made for an eerie, haunted feeling on deck.
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