Sailing in the area where we are now, one has to take care a lot about the time zones. They are really crazy.

We still have board time “Tahiti/Cook Islands”, which is UTC-10. As soon as we reach Kiritimati, which is east of Penrhyn, the time zone is UTC+14. An example: We have now 0500 on board, which is UTC-10, thus UTC+14 is 0700 but already the next day.

This had to do with the location of the group of Gilbert Islands, in which the Tarawa Islands lies, which is the “capital island” of the group of Kiribati Islands and it is located west of the 180 deg meridian, thus is in the UTC+ area. Exactly it is UTC+12, which is geographically correct. Because the Kiribati group extends to over almost 2000 NM in East-West direction and wants to have somehow reasonable time differences in one country, the Line Islands to which Kirimati belongs have UTC+14 h. The Phoenix Islands in between the East-West extension of the group of Kiribati Islands, have thus UTC+13.

Therefore, we will now change board time to UTC+14 also we are just at 157 deg W.

In the Samoa Islands there it becomes even more funny. I’ll write about it when I’m there.

… s… happens!

One of the support rods of the cockpit roof broke first loose at the lower end. The welding seam broke. I could keep it on place with the rope. Looked good.

Then the joint at the top part broke.

Two long 8 mm bolts wrapped in textil tape holds now the top part in position. At the bottom side the rope is still in place. Works so far.

Next I used several wood pieces I always keep in a corner of the central cockpit storage space. With them, I built support for weight and reduced swinging of the roof to protect other support beams from breaking.

I have more wood and will built a wooden support structure to support the roof until I find someone who can weld stainless steel and can add additional support beams.

Sailing around the world means repairing the boat in the most beautiful places of the world.

And now, the wind is stolen again by the monkey with the tin tool. 9.5 KN TWS!. Before it was up to 18 KN and for most of the time 16 KN.

Finally we made it and sailed a 156 NM day distance.

It was painful to calculate the day distance every noon. On the third day we made 69 NM, 108 NM the following day.

This morning I calculated midnight to midnight and we had already 131 NM.
At noon we finally got these 156 NM.

There was also an optimization of shorter distance versus higher speed involved. I mostly went for compromise.

What will we achieve tomorrow at noon?

It’s in the meantime 0557 and the eastern horizon has its typical orange-red gradient.

MaRe draws her double track into the Pacific Ocean with surprisingly low wave and low swell. Sometimes she rocks, but not too much. She just reminds us to be careful with whatever we are doing.

ETA at the WPT is became more stable now with 241006. The time seems to become noon. This would be good for seeing down to the ground to look for Bonnie’s and patches of sand. Hope it will stay like this.

I continued to write on my throw-back narration “Customs clearance and fishes”.

Nothing special during my 2nd watch duty therefore I called it “boring night”.

It’s again in my first watch duty.

I saw that the wind changed to around 110 deg TWD (true wind direction). With the old wind vane angle of 50 deg, the ride was bumpy and we went too much E. Thus, I set the wind vane angle to 67 deg and adjusted the sail trim a bit. MaRe sails now with a COG around the BTW, increased speed, and the ride is less bumpy.

My thoughts are around MaRe, back in Penrhyn, and forward in Kiritimati. What will be experience there? How is the pass? How is the anchorage? How will the inbound clearance procedure be? How will be the people there?

The island is just above the equator at 1deg 52.682 min N 157 deg 35.501 min W.
It’s the only islands in the group of Line Islands, which is a port of entry. If I’m not wrong, only 3 islands of the Line Islands are inhabitated.

The Kiribati group of islands consists of 3 sub groups: the Gilbert Islands in the NW, the Phoenix Islands in the middle, and the Line Islands in the SE. From the most NW island to the most SE island the distance it 2400 NM. This is 400 NM more then the straight line from Lebanon to Gibraltar. I assume there is an Wikipedia article about the Kiribati islands available. As I have no normal internet I can’t check.

In respect to our sailing direction this night, it seems to be a permanent adjustment of the wind vane angle to sail in average just a bit E of the BTW. I can’t rely on the forecasted TWD of SE when we come closer to our destination. The current TWD is not forecasted. I’m aware that weather forecast is pretty complex mathematical model which can hit reality exactly or it can be totally off.

I’m getting tired. Until my next watch in about 4 h 30 min. Now I need something sweet, which goes well, which will keep me awake.

It’s noon on board of MaRe.

Shigeo and I had our usual morning talk about the night. Looked at the latest weather forecast. Just enjoying our life here on board of MaRe in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between Penrhyn and Kirimati Island.

Neither he nor I wanted to eat a normal dinner last night. Thus, we both felt like eating something. To my very surprise Shigeo said he doesn’t want to eat last night’s dinner now. (I’m sure it’s again a very delicious steamed tuna). Thus, we had bread breakfast with additionally board made yogurt and the crumbs of Shigeo’s newly invented cookies inside.

MaRe was running fine and as the wind remained in reality and in the forecast the same all day long, we kept her running. Waves were about 2.5 m, a swell was difficult to be seen and judged.

Shigeo worked on something in the salon and I took a nap. When I woke up. MaRe was down to about 2 – 3 KN. Shock!

This was her way to say “I don’t want to be in pyjama all day long!” The wind was down and she was right. We gave her her usual main-reef-1 dress. She enjoys it and runs again with 5 – 6 KN towards Penrhyn.

However, I found the source of a noise which was bothering me already since last night. Not that nice. One of the original support legs of the cockpit roof broke. Fortunately I found a temporary solution to keep it on place. Someone who can weld stainless steel I get hopefully in American Samoa. A little bit away from us…. For every problem there is a solution.

It’s 0554. The Eastern sky is colored in a warm red-orange. Just at the horizon the color is most intensive. The higher the eyes go the more the orange-red faints until it becomes the light blue of the early morning sky. Fresh. Innocent.

In an hour my 2nd watch goes to it’s end.

I’m naturally tired. It seems the wind got tired as well. Only about 14 KN instead of the 16, 17 and sometimes 18 and more KN. The peaks got caused by a number of clouds, which passed over us on their voyage from E to W. The wind keeps it’s direction ESE. That’s good because the angle towards the waves becomes less direct. The swell rolls mainly onto MaRe from about 40 – 60 deg STB. However, it’s a short inhomogeneous swell caused by the wind during the night. Because I could change the wind vane angle again, currently the swell is not too bumpy.

The three boobies are still sitting at STB. However, it seems that one was not liked by the others that well and moved to get about 2 distance from the others. One is sleeping. The other partially sleeping, partially cleaning it’s feathers. The third was cleaning the feathers and watched me while I was doing something at the mast. When they are gone I need to get some buckets of water and a brush. They are not the cleanest guests…

My little SuperWind delivered a big part of the electricity needed during the night.

All systems are changed to daylight view.

Right now the sun is creeping over the horizon. Another day is started.

What will it bring to us and MaRe?

We still have some coffee in the thermos. Took a cup and a freshly baked cookie; very high calorie food. Just what I needed.

Feel better now.

Decided to write. Live writing and publishing shortly after the last line.

Radar check for 24 NM around MaRe. Nothing around. Next check in 25 min. Alarm runs in return mode to not miss any thing.

Saw we are getting a bit more W. Don’t like that. Reduced the angle of the auto pilot wind vane mode again by few degrees. This lets MaRe run tighter now, but we don’t have to tack.

Checked weather report. Will have this wind until 241004. Bumpy next 2 days. Then wind turns to SSE. This will ease the situation. But the 2 next days like now. Fast, but bumpy. Very bumpy partially. Waves will built, thus more bumps. Waves are the bumps of the sea.

Outside in the cockpit it’s very noisy. The 18 KN wind is loud in the stays, sails, and corners of the cockpit. Then the waves breaking closer to MaRe and MaRe’s wake.

Although I made the wind vane angle tighter, the COG line is W of BTW. Need to close a bit more. 2 deg?

Wind is up again to 17 KN. Good speed. Peaks of almost 7 KN STW. Not bad for reef 2 in the main.

Midnight position alarm. Paper work. – Done.
Entry:
Wind: E5 means wind from E of 5 Bft (16 – 21 KN)
Sky: 1/8, fair means 1/8 of the sky is cloud covered and no rain
Air: 1016, 28 means air pressure of 1016 hPa, No significant change, good. 28 deg at navigation table where I’m sitting now.
Sea: 3, 1 means wind waves are slight = between 0.5 m and 1.25 m, swell very low = short (< 100 m), height < 2 m
COG: 002 means course over ground 002 deg (to much N, changed wind vane angle)
SOG: 5.5 means in average since previous entry at 2204 5.5 KN. (Pretty fast) for Pyjama sails
LOG: 13011 means the log reads this value only for comparing, no absolute value.
SAILS/MOTOR: MR2 + GF means main sail with reef 2 and the genoa fully out.
COMMENT: 06 deg, 00.345 min S 158 deg 55.431 min W means MaRe’s midnight position; you can look it up at Google maps.

Suddenly it becomes quieter wind dropped to only 15 – 16 KN. What a difference.

SOG is still good, close to 6 KN.

Radar check. Nothing around us on 24 NM circle.

It became 0035. Only 25 min more to watch.

Changed wind vane angle again by 1 deg to STB.

Guests – got yesterday at sunset three boobies on the STB pulpit. The two sitting there already didn’t want the third one to join. Watch the landing maneuver. Incredible. Hoover without flapping their wings over the spot where they want to land like a helicopter. Unbelievable good flyers. 3rd one just landed between the two others. Dominance.

10 min more to watch. 474 NM to go.

Time to upload.

I’m tired. The alarm to get up sounded like from another world; not my world. However, I got up.

Slept only 45 min because bread and cookie baking took longer then expected. No dinner only 45 min of sleep.

Dressed MaRe in pyjama at 1745. Main reef 2. Small jib down. Genoa fully opened.

With AWA of 63 deg STB and winds of 16 KN to 18 KN MaRe runs through the nightly sea.

Wind changed. A bit S of E. Opened the AWA a bit. Saw it was too much. Need to close it.

Fight with sleep.

…. reading and answering a mail from Alestine, from Penrhyn, made me feeling very well by sitting in the shade, the wind blowing around me, the temperature is pretty nice, and I’m looking outside onto the blue ocean around MaRe.

Because of Alestine’s mail my thoughts are hanging a bit more in Penrhyn than usual. But they are also hanging around my OBM, children and grandchildren. Wish all you were here! Wish you all could have experienced Penrhyn and the wonderful people I could meet there.

We have in the meantime the forecasted wind of mostly 10 KN sometimes a bit more, so we are making good progress. The average should be close to 5 KN. The wind direction is very stable as well. No wind shift alarms requiring a reset of the wind vane angle. (Having written this sentence, there was just one.) MaRe just makes her double track through the middle of the Pacific Ocean towards the equator, which is about 420 NM ahead. 3 – 4 days and we should be there. For me it will be second time. The first time was from N to S but far east in the Pacific Ocean, close to the Galapagos.

In the meantime we had lunch. Still fish from Junior Andrew of Penrhyn. Since we got the first fish from him we are eating daily fish in all kinds of variation. Shigeo recently created an excellent sashimi but not the normal Japanese way with soya-sauce and wasabi. There was ginger, onions, garlic etc in it incl a teaspoon of honey. Excellent taste. We still have fish for two meals more. Curious what he makes of it.

As for the very nice guy who gave us all this fish, I should write a narration about him. It could be entitled. “Customs clearance and fishes”

I also continued on my dough, thus we should have freshly baked bread around 1800.

We have now with 13 KN of wind with gusts of 15 KN a bit more wind and are sailing already with 5+ KN. Because of the 50 deg AWA it’s a bit bumpy but not too bad. Looking over the sea with the white horses, I got pulled to the Japanese term.

“The rabbits are jumping” is the Japanese equivalent for “white horses”. Somehow I can see the jumping rabbits when I look at the white crests of the waves.

As for the night, MaRe will get her safty pajama, with that wet can deal with wind of 6 Bft from the safety of the cockpit.

What will the night bring us?