As I don’t always want to write what I’m considering as interesting, I asked Dennis who was just beside me. His answer was: “Squall after squall, after squall, after squall…”

Indeed, this describes pretty much of the day.

When I changed in advance of the on rolling squall into my foul weather great, there was not much rain coming down. However, when I did not, we got quite some water poured down on us.

So far we had to reef the genoa only one time today, and that time we were in normal cloth…
Additionally the wind went down pretty shortly after we reefed the sail. Thus, I we took the reef out again pretty quickly.

The speed record at of today was during Tjasa’s watch. For the DD, the Day Distance, (24h interval) at 0400 she logged 176 NM. Thereafter the wind went down and I don’t expect another, higher DD in the next days.

Now we will have Spaghetti avec surprise – the sauce Dennis made smells already pretty good.

Bon appetite MaRe crew!

Am I staring at the instruments or are the instrument starting at me?
I don’t know.

But just minutes ago I stared at the TWS instrument. 25, 26, 27 KN. I let the radar in weather mode transmit. There is a pretty big red field just behind us. A fat squall. Red. (In our Doppler-Radar red means the object is coming towards us, green it’s moving away.) Eyes change staring direction. TWS 27, 28 KN. The to STW 8, 8.6, 7.2, 8.1, 8.4, 8.9, 9.2 KN. Back to TWS 28.4, 28.9, 29.3 KN. Again to STW 9.7, 8.6, 8.8, 9.3. 9.5 KN. One eye to TWS the other to STW. TWS 29.7, 29.9, 30.1 KN. STW high 9 values, 10s are flashing. More important is now TWS. 30 KN is the trigger point to reef the genoa. TWS 29. 5, 28.7 KN. Does the wind really go down?. TWS 29.0, 29.6, 30.1. Adrenalin pump runs. TWS 30.6, 31.2. OK. Reefing needed. No time for foul weather gear. I open the door. Rain has started. How nice. Last glance at TWS 27.7, 26.8, 26.3, 25.5. Wind goes down, squall winds are gone. TWS goes further down. This matches the rain. A squall first delivers wind. Once this is consumed, then comes the rain and the wind goes down further. But what remains is the “Kartoffelacker”.

“Kartoffelacker” translates to ” potato field”. It’s a synonym for for ground being fully bumpy. Thus, German speaking sailors use this term for pretty confused sea, a very bumpy one.

And all sailors “love” Kartoffelacker. Plenty of bumpy waves and reduced or sometimes close to zero wind. It just feels great!

TWS went down to 14 KN before but picked up again. This time surprisingly fast. Already in the range 22 – 25 KN. Nevertheless the Kartoffelacker feeling continues. Great.

MaRe ploughs it now with around 7 KN.

Did I stare at the instruments or did they stare at me? I don’t know; might never know.

The morning could also be called “squalls from the conveyor belt”
(Correction about 18 h later: the day of the squalls from the conveyor belt.)

The first one was about 0500. Tjaša needed to wake me up because the TWS reached 30 KN the trigger point to wake me up. We put a reef in the genoa and all was fine. As the wind went down pretty quickly we took the reef out again to keep a certain progress. Maybe an hour or bit more later. The same game again. In between these activities I needed to run the generator and water maker.
Tjaša finished her watch and went to bed. It also was challenging for her.

I kept going first alone and later with Dennis to get MaRe on stable course. As the wind shifted its direction from ESE to ENE and even to NE, it was impossible to keep MaRe on course. Gybing was not an option because we would have been off course just on the other side.

The possible solution was to sail with the genoa only. That’s what we did. Main sail down, and genoa fully out and opened with a barber hauler to get maximum wind into it. And this proved to be the solution. Under current wind directions and course condition this is the perfect solution.

Also in the still following squalls from the squall conveyor belt this proved to be the best. But they kept me busy. For hours I was sitting in my foul weather gear at the helm station to watch how she deals with wind and waves. First in the wind vane mode and then in the track mode. I finally kept her in track mode as wind direction changes could be taken by the genoa.

The later one reached, as forecasted, in the meantime 3 m of height and come rolling every 5 to 10 s. When one of them comes rolling towards MaRe, she eleganty lifts her bums and let wave glide under her. This enables a great view in the breaking crests at the side of MaRe. The water becomes transparent and looks tinted in blue-green like I saw walking around the end of s glacier moving downhill. And on top the white crests. It is fascinating to see this beauty of nature and also feel the power of wind and wave from the safe position on an excellently designed and built catamaran.

Since changing to genoa only she is running fine and also fast. Speed peaks reached above 10 KN. In average she runs above 7 KN. Thus the day distance at noon was 172 KN.

After I was sure that MaRe runs safe and also fast along her course, I was busy with a bunch of other things. Now it’s just past midnight on board (UTC-8) I finished this narration and will upload it now when we have less then 700 NM to go.

Noon position
16 52.0 s
119 02.2 w
COG 234 deg
SOG 6.7 KN
DD (day distance) 164 NM. Record on this sail. Well done MaRe, there is no limitation for you.
990 NM to go

There’s happy hoppala-day at MaRe. Feel free to join.

At 0853 UTC 1653
Position
16 41.5 s
118 42.6 w
We reached the 1000 NM count down of our sail from Vista Mar Marina, west of Panama City to the Gambier Islands.

And the mountain of palatschinke will soon reach its top and will shrink thereafter faster then it grew.

Happy hoppala-day on board of MaRe!

As MaRe is really fast ploughing her way through a sea being confused but still allows recognition of 2 – 3 m swell from ESE.

Seeing this sea just at dawn with the still orange sky was really something. The waves are colored in many shades – not only 50 – of a metallic blue and grey combined with many shades of the orange light of the sky minutes before sunrise.

Now with the sun being above the horizon the crest of the bigger waves rolling towards MaRe from astern, are getting b glassy on top and when their top breaks, MaRe lifts her bums and let the big wave gliding through under her hulls. She is wonderful, and strong lady carrying us over thousands of miles.

BTW the sunrises at 0605 local time of MaRe, which is UTC 1405.

Today the baker it’s not performing his pole & table dance, but Tjasa makes hoppala-palatschinke. She made already hoppala-tea, and hoppala-coffee.

Thus, today is hoppala-day on board of MaRe.

Now, 0654 our navigation computer says 1014 NM to go. In 3 h we will celebrate – maybe with hoppala-palatschinke – that we have less than 1000 NM to go.

The distance increased last night a bit because we are heading, until wind conditions around the Gambiers are changing again, to a WPT south of the reef to be able to go to the reef entrance on the western side with wind and waves from behind. If you like, have a look at Google Maps (I don’t like Google but I like the maps.) You should be able to see the main entrance at the western side of the reef.

The northern WPT is about 2.5 NM north and the southern WPT about 7.5 NM south of the reef.

BTW, there is a pretty good Wikipedia article about the Gambier Islands.

Happy hoppala-day!

First some figures
Until 230429 0800
+ we sailed 3010 NM,
+ we have 1148 NM to go.

We had no accidents on board, boat and everyone in good shape; mentally and physically.

I personally don’t have the feeling that I’m already 40 days out at sea with my crew. This for me is good indication that a good crew is on board.
Nevertheless I’m also looking forward to reach the Gambiers and drop the hook in the lagoon close to Mangareva, the main island with Rikitea being the main settlement. I’m very curious about the people of this remote, small groups of islands being off of the beaten tracks.

I will now give me mobile phone to my crew to add their own impression and feelings.

Tjaša
To be a crew member of this sailing is a privilege. It is a very special, unique … spiritual life experience …

Nevertheless, it is also a privilege to be surrounded with gentlemen … especially in the middle of the ocean, hahaha.

But I’m looking forward to reach the Gambier Islands. I’m wondering about shades of its beauty and I’m looking forward to meet people who live there.

Dennis
40 days out at sea without the sight of land perhaps sounds long but have felt faster than you would believe.
Now its hard to imagine that soon we will be waking up to the sight of an Island every morning and not the endless blue ocean.
It will be a strange feeling to stand on land again after such a long time and not feel the sway of the waves underneath my feet anymore.
I’m personally looking forward to some snorkeling and being able to go for a run at the beach!
But still some more days to go and now we have fast winds approaching for the last push towards Gambier!

.As forecasted by ECMWF (European Center for Medium term Weather Forecast) the trade winds caught up with us from the east.

Today we are sailing constantly in 4 – 5 Bft winds, making good speed and thus good distance.

From tomorrow on the wind is supposed to increase even to 6 Bft. We might then get the main fully down and use only the genoa to get more flexibility in terms of wind angle and the course we want to sail. This depends on the direction the wind will be blowing. We will see.

This narration is not a normal one. The lasted posting is an updated version.

I’m using in my narrations a lot of abbreviations and special terms, which are understood by sailors. As I know that there are many people without sailing knowledgex reading these narrations, I decided to add a glossary of terms. Here you can find always explanations on the terms and especially the abbreviations I’m using.

TWS True Wind Speed – the speed measured any position at land or sea where the position may not move. On board of a boat this wind speed is calculated using satellite data.

TWA True Wind Angle – the angle equivalent to TWS.

AWS Apparent Wind Speed – the wind someone standing on a boat feels. This is the wind the sails feel thus the wind which propulse the boat. It is measured on the top of the mast.

AWA Apparent Wind Angle – the angle equivalent to AWS.

STW Speed Through Water – the speed a boat makes through the water. It is measured just outside of the hull.

SOG Speed Over Ground – the speed with which the boat moves over the ground of the globe. It is calculated from satellite data.

COG Course Over Ground – the course (direction) in which the boat moves over the ground of the globe. It is calculated from satellite data.

WPT Waypoint – point along the route a boat sails. Each WPT had a pair of coordinates that determines its position on the globe or on the sea chart (digital or paper)

BTW Bearing To Waypoint – the direction under which the WPT is located; being seen from the boat.

DTW Distance Too Waypoint – the distance of the waypoint from the boat.

PRT – Port or Port side – the left side of a boat when looking from stern to bow.. Color is red.(The red heart is at the left side of a human body.)

STB – Starboard or Starboard side – the right side of a boat when looking from stern to bow. Color is green.

NM Nautical Miles – distance unit for navigation. 1 NM is the equivalent distance of 1 angular minute of a longitudinal circle around the globe (these circles go through the North and South pole).

KN Knot – a speed unit for which means the NM per hour.

As Nautical Mile and Knot are not an ISO units, they don’t have an internationally fixed abbreviation. Thus one can find other abbreviations as well. I’m using the ones here in capital characters because they are not in conflict with any ISO units.

Sails
Every sailboat can have different sails but almost always have a main sail and one head sail.

The main sail – or short the”main” is the big 3-angular sail behind the mast.

The head sails – are always before the mast. Head sails can have different sizes and thus have different names. MaRe has 3 different head sails.

The genoa – biggest and most often used has 49 m2.

The jib sails – Only a few catamarans can fly jib sails. MaRe has two. A jib with 20 m2 and a storm jib with only 8 m. Depending on wind and direction conditions one jib can be used in combination or instead of the genoa.

Gennaker – this is huge, approx. 120 m2, very colorful sail made out of material also used for parachutes. It is a light wind sail, which I can use for AWA from 70 – 180 deg. (For sailors: I can even fly to 150 deg on the other side with a tack height of 2 m). It is flown in the very front of the boat but can be pulled to the side as well; this depends on the AWA.

Reefing a sail – or – put a reef in sail – making a sail smaller because their it’s too much wind or there is more wind to expected.
The main sail has 3 reefs plus what I call reef 0. Reef 0 is the unreefed sail. When the reef number increases, the sail is getting smaller.

For the genoa there are “bars”, marks at the foot (lower edge) of the sail. The more number of bars are to be seen, the bigger the sail is. 3.5 bars means the full sized genoa. 0.5 bars means the genoa is reduced to the size of a “handkerchief”. The finally stage is furling (rolling up) the genoa fully. The number of bars is also in table from the designer.
Now, you might read “we furled the genoa” – furling a genoa is a work done very often on a boat and has not necessarily something to do with strong winds. Most often it just means getting the genoa out of are way because we need to work at mast on the main sail.

The gennaker can not be reefed. For that reason I can it a “binary” sail; it’s up or down. Like “1” or “0” in a computer.

Jib sails will not be reefed but exchanged.

Halyards – each sail has its halyard , which is a line to pull the sail up.

Sheets – Each head sail has 2 sheets. Sheets are lines with which a head sail must be adjusted to the AWA.

The main sail has only 1 sheet to adjust the sail to AWA.

Barber Hauler – a special line, which allows to open a head sail more than what is possible using a normal sheet. I use this typically when I only the genoa and have winds between about 150 – 180 deg AWA.

Autopilot – it is a computer, which can steer the boat depending an information it is given and the steering mode being selected

Steering modes are:
STBY – stand-by – the autopilot returns the steering to the person at the helm and does nothing else.
AUTO – the autopilot steers the boat into a direction entered, ignoring wind and current drifts.
WIND VANE – the autopilot steers the boat in a way that the entered AWA determines the direction the boat is going. Thus, when the wind changes direction, the boat follows the new direction.
TRACK – the autopilot steers the boat to a given WPT correcting drifts by currents and wind. This mode can only be used with very stable wind directions or when the boat is running by its engines.

Directions in hours
If one stands somewhere at the boat and wants to tell another person where there is something to be seen, the hours of clock are used. 12:00 is fixed to the bow and 0600 is fixed to the stern. The other hours are distributed around the clock.
E.g. 0300 is on STB at a 90 deg angle from the boat. 0900 is the equivalent on PRT. The others are in between on a logical order.

Compass directions
N north (0 or 360 deg)
NNE north-north-east (22.5 deg)
NE north-east (45 deg)
ENE east-north-east (67.5 deg)
E east (90 deg)
S south (180 deg)
W west (270 deg)
Between each main direction the sub directions equivalent to the ones between N and E exist.

Waves
There are wind induced waves and the swell. Wind induced waves are on top of a swell and are cause by wind closer to the boat. Whereas swell is created in constant winds far away and these waves roll long distances.
(If I’m not wrong there is a good article in Wikipedia: “Douglas Scale” is a pretty good search term. )

I hope that the terms are understood even by non-sailor. At least this was the objective for writing this glossary of terms. Feel free to ask for additional information to skipper-cat-mare@myiridium.net

An hour ago, I looked at the sky behind us and on PRT side and decided to replace the gennaker by the “pajama”. For about 1/2 an hour the wind still was weak. Then it picked up and now with a 4 Bft wind from ESE we are running already with 6 KN peak STW.

In the meantime we had dinner. Tonight inside the salon. Desert: tiramisu.

Wind went down again. The monkey with the tin tool sneaks MaRe and steals again the wind. But we still make good progress on direct direction to the Gambiers.

Now only 1204 NM to go.