La Cruz, Mexico to Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia - 2012

Dear friends

I have finally made it to Marquesas - French Polynesia. Passage took approximately 38 days, half of that was NO wind (3000 nm - 6000 km). Yes I had NO wind for about 16 days total, which is very frustrating, difficult and hard on the boat's rigging, sails and equipment. I have arrived at Hiva-Oa a few days ago. Internet access is limited and very expensive in these islands. There is no chance to be uploading any pictures to the block this time. The best I can do is to share with you some parts of my personal emails, which I have been sending to my family and close friends during the passage via HF Ham radio.

So far so good here. Not much wind, had to stop couple of times and wait for the breeze. Good practise to deal with light winds for ITCZ. Good news is, that my wind vane works well even in light air on close reach or beating. It did not work so well before. They are so, so in light air anyway. That is big deal, because I can save my batteries/amps and linear Autohelm ram. It is actually better here with no wind then in Sea of Cortez, which has a short steep waves even with light wind.
There was a dead baby squid on the deck today morning. Well, I put it on the hook and 2 hours later I had a 2 meal Mahi-Mahi, Dorado. Guess, what was for dinner tonight?

Well, I am getting better at parking the boat, when there is no wind and lumpy seas. Wind still dies off quite often. I deploy 3 SS buckets off the stern and it seems to help keeping the boat away from parallel position to the swell and rolling. Buckets are my drogue replacement and they seem to work. I am at 16N and 112W. Wind seems to be more consistent after 115W. I just deal with it, but it does get frustrating sometimes. Boat is definitely getting beat up, when there is no wind, but large swell and chop coming down from windy areas.
Since there is nothing around and slow speeds, I try to sleep regularly during the night with 1-2 hours check out times. It gives me good rest. When things get busy I sleep in the cockpit, so I can be ready any time. My biggest worry is a floating stuff in the ocean and lightning. That is, why I prefer to go a bit slower. Squalls will be an issue as well. I did have some higher gusts at 4.00 o'clock morning and it sure wakes me up! Getting into a beam reach now, which is definitely better than beating into the wind.
I am definitely not bored and trying to do a little project every day. Love my windvane, works well!! Installing wind generator in La Paz was a good thing, batteries are almost full every day even with the cloud cover most of the time now. I have managed to fix my VHF microphone.

It has been slow go for me. If I had a choice I would have left a week or 10 days later, but could not do so. I had some urgent situation to deal with in Europe and after that my Mexican visa has expired, so I had to leave. I was hoping to stop for a few days at volcanic island San Benedicto, not far from Socorro Island. However, westerly winds pushed me too far south from S. Benedicto and I did not want to motor 70 nm back to the island. Some boats reported very good snorkeling and diving with manta rays there. Now, I think I should of gone there. I had to deal with a lot of days with no wind, which is quite frustrating and annoying in rolly seas. It is hard on the boat, rigging, sails, etc.. Hard knocking of rudder shaft inside the top nylon bushing was a result of excessive wear in rolling seas. I have made a clamping tool to turn the bushing in different position and installed some jacking bolts to put pressure on the bushing if needed, to adjust the clearance. It seems OK so far.
Ocean birds - boobies like to look for place to hang out over night. They try to hold on to anything around the boat. My Windex wind indicator got bent from them. Anything on top of the mast can be damaged by them. Some times they fight over the spot on bow sprit railing. I could not let them to sit on my solar panels, but they would not move until I pushed them away with my arm. They are funny and not shied at all. There are usually some squid and flying fish on the deck in the morning, which can be used as a bait for a bigger fish.
An other little inconvenience is a broken side of my tooth from ground up bones in Mexican sausages and salami's. So far it does not hurt, the dentist is a few weeks away yet.
There has been 18 - 24 knots wind last few days with 3-6 meters (10-18 feet) seas. Moving around the boat and cooking got a little more challenging. I seem to be getting over 100 miles a day runs, which is fine with me. I do not like to go too fast anyway, because the floating objects in the sea. Slower is comfortable and safer anyway. I will be dealing with light winds soon again and the squalls, nearing the Equator.
The passage will take much longer then expected, but that is OK. I do have enough food. Learning something all the time. I hope to be at Equator by the end of next week to celebrate my first crossing with the King - Neptune. I do like beautiful clear dark blue water around me.

Busy dealing with the squalls every 1-2 hours. Winds shift 200 degrees in a few minutes. Lot of water coming down, yes deck is clean now. I am close reaching - beating into 8-10 kn of ESE now, which is a good news. I might-of almost sailed thru ITCZ, which is above Equator in this area. That would be a very good thing. I have motored yesterday for a few hours between the squalls and made some needed water. Watermaker did not get flushed for almost 2 weeks, which is a borderline. I had to clean part of the hull yesterday and the prop (not easy in open ocean). Very thick growth of small tubes on the hull and a lot of barnacles on the prop. It was all clean 3 weeks ago! The water was nice, clear dark blue and warm.
Previous 2 days were full of unwanted surprises and screw ups. My Autohelm kept kicking out, I thought it was a too tight rudder bushing, so I worked on it for several hours. At the end, when I was going to take Autohelm ram out, I found loose connection at drive motor. Easy fix, but it took all day screwing around. Then, my wind generator died. I found blown fuse, but I am not sure if it works anyway, because I need higher winds. So far I have been lucky with no thunder storms. Rains sure cools of the air nicely.

Well, this time from S. Pacific. I have crossed the Equator a few days ago. Shared with the King Neptune some alcohol and took some pics of my gauges showing 00.00 N/S. Squalls before Equator got quite nasty with tons of rain, so I ended up motoring for about 5 hours. I have not used much of engine on this passage yet, just about 12 hrs. Some of it were to run watermaker. Trying to learn, how to sail in light winds without trashing the sails and rigging in bouncy seas. Squalls can be annoying, especially if I get 3-4 of them during the night. So far no thunder storms, which is a good thing. There was not much wind around Equator North or South. I managed to sail most of the convergence zone - ITCZ, which seem to be at 3-5 N. Currently I am at 03 S and 126 W getting some nice winds between the squalls and having 850 nm to go. Running spinnaker requires plenty of attention in rolling seas and snappy motion of the mast and rigging.
Bottom of the boat got fouled up with small tubes - soft coral after 3 weeks. I had to do 2 days of cleaning in open ocean with the snorkel. It was quite hard work and I would not want to do it too often. The blue water was very clear. Recently, I am trying to figure out modification to my new wind generator. "Smart" voltage regulator card seem to be gone. I would like to run external regulator, but I am not sure if it is going to work. Well, always some thing to do, not bored at all!!
Some boats are reporting better speeds and winds. A lot of them are reporting ripped sails etc.. It is a different way of sailing out here and I am learning to deal with it. All of you offshore experienced sailors know exactly, what I am talking about. I do get enough sleep, which is important. Still having a lot of food onboard.

I have sighted Hiva-Oa today after lunch, when I was getting spinnaker ready. How ever there has not been much of wind for last few days, quite annoying and frustrating!! Dealing with a lot squalls and thunder storms last 2 days. Not much sleep lately, just bouncing around. I was surrounded by squalls, which would actually block the wind from each other. Just like convergence zone. I am not rushing anyway, because the weekend and I can not clear into French Polynesia before Monday.

Well, I have received nice welcome to French Polynesia today. My big question mark at the back of my head about visas got sorted out today morning. The officers told me, that I have a 6 months here. This is a big deal for me and definitely good news. Now I do not have to rush to Tahiti - Papeete and enjoy the islands in slower pace. I did not have to pay a bond either. Hiva-Oa is a beautiful island with sharp steep peaks and lash green. Quite clean and organized, compare to Mexico. Coming in was down the wind, but last night and tonight are very enjoyable. Rich moist air with soft smell of flowers, quite nice. Reminds me west coast of BC with out flowers flavor. I will be moving in 2 days to Fatu Hiva - The Bay of Virgins. The food seems to be expensive here, but that was expected. Got the money at the bank - ATM, which is OK also.
The life is good again :-).



Maintaining this blog could by complicated time to time, because Internet signal/connection for uploading pictures, will not be as good/fast as it is in large cities/communities. Please, excuse my poor writing skills and grammar.  Google translate does good job converting text to other languages.
I hope, that you will find something interesting in this blog – enjoy.

Jara  (JJ)  Holcman       s.v. Ocean Echo 1