Day 4's run - 142 nm
avg speed - 5.9 kn
dist to go - 1310 nm
wx - wind 18-20, seas 6'
sails - double reefed main, staysail, partial furled jib
r/r (repair/replace) - 0
S: Our landlubber friends and family probably don't realize this has been a dream of ours for 30 years. I vetoed the call to sail to Cape Horn; and Michael didn't want to see it unless it was from the deck of his own boat. But Easter and Pitcairn are in the warm climes still...although there's no guarantee we'll make it to shore if the weather isn't cooperating, as there are no safe all-weather harbors there. Also, it's a personal challenge to finally do some 'ocean cruising', though at times it's seems to be simply an endurance test. Even though there are no protected harbors on these volcanic rocks out in the middle of nowhere, every year more and more cruisers (thirty?!) are making the effort to visit. (We'll try to find out the numbers and post them in a later blog.) Easter was named by the Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen when he first sighted it one Easter Sunday in 1771. It's Chilean name is Isla de Pascua, and the islanders refer to it as Rapa Nui. It's been called "the world's loneliest island" by Thor Heyerdahl,(1985 mi. to the closest mainland point of Valpariso, Chile) who spent a year there studying the famous statues (moai) of a past lost civilization. I remember reading his book "Kon Tiki"(?) many years ago. I think that National Geographic and the Nature channel have some great info on these remote islands as well.
We joined the 2010 PPJ Group (Pacific Puddle Jump group) sponsored by Latitude 38 (a sailing publication). They have planning sessions/parties in certain central cruising ports (we left before the one in Balboa, Panama). Most boats have come down the west coast of the US...and jump from one of many points along the west coast of central/south America. We're taking a different route, and don't know that we'll make any of the welcoming parties that are held for the fleet in French Polynesia, but it's fun to hear of other boats' passage notes and trials....(when we get a chance to log on to the internet!)
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