Happy Valentines Day

Couldn't be happier being able to spend the day with my valentine under sail! The nights have been pitch black, with the low cloud cover and 'new moon phase'. Being so close to the equator, the sun rises at 7:04am and sets at 7:03pm. We're sailing smartly, (5.5kts. in 13knts. of wind) but of course the wind is on our nose...so we hope to do one last tack before we're on our course line for Wreck Bay. All's well aboard, and we hope all our valentines out there have a great day!

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changing wind conditions...

N00deg54minW087deg36min. We had to motor all night in very light conditions, but are now flying along at 6.5+ knots with partially reefed yankee, staysail, and single reefed main. We're about 155 nm from Wreck Bay, and will arrive in 1-2 days depending on whether these winds persist or lighten up. Light winds would put us at our destination at night, so we'd have to jig around until daybreak to read the reef and see where to anchor (and therefore make it a two more night passage, rather than just one).

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We're in the ITCZ

N01deg54min;W086deg07min. What a lousy night. The Profurl upper swivel mechanism broke last night as I tried to take in the sail in a 25 knot squall. We can still put out a bit of foresail, but I have to go onto the bowsprit and physically turn the drum and sail while Sue's on the furling line in order to bring in the sail all the way. We've been in the ITCZ, with rain, squalls, no wind and a constant change of sail combinations in response to the variety of winds and directions we've been experiencing. There's not much I can do underway (until we get to Wreck Bay) to further diagnose the Profurl problem, although I did rig the spinnaker halyard to take the load in case the forestay let go. Otherwise, more and more little projects keep getting done, and we're looking forward to the next 280 nm (approx) and arrival at San Cristobal with enthusiasm. Further good news is that we've finally dialed in the Sailomat windvane and its performance is awesome. Since we don't have to use the autopilot we save amps, the boat's quieter and it's just a really pleasant way to get somewhere. The reefer and watermaker are working fine, and we're collecting lots of rainwater.

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Tracking Infini's path

N03deg08min;W084deg;24min. The correct website for YotReps is www.pangolin.co.nz. Again, you'd go to the website, look up YotReps, then plug in M's Ham Call Sign, which is KH4IHF, and you'll find Infini's position, which should be updated daily. This blog, of course, will continue to give our impressions of daily life aboard. Last night's run was a good one. We've had constant SW winds of 12-14 knots, making for 6.5-7.5 knots boat speed on a course of 175-180 degrees. Not exactly our rhumb line to Wreck Bay, but, hey, if we wanted a straight line we could have taken an airplane! We figure another 3-4 days to landfall, but we'll have a better idea in the next day or so as we're expecting a wind shift. For those of you non-sailors, we get our weather sources via the SSB radio, although we've learned thru the years not to take any of them as Gospel. You get what you get, and so often the local weather conditions are different from what the predictions have called for. Infini takes it all in her stride, and we have a variety of sails to respond to light and heavy weather sailing conditions. For example, we flew our new Code Zero light air sail the other day and it was beautiful! We couldn't keep it flying too long as the winds crept up and necessitated us changing to our Yankee jib, but it's a useful sail in our inventory.

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Wed. 2-10-10

N4deg46min;W83deg32min
Well, we're in lumpy seas, but at least we're moving smartly along under double reefed main and full yankee. Boatspeed is in the low 6's, which considering our comfort factor vs sea state is pretty good. Caught a 4' bull dolphin (mahi mahi) yesterday. It weighed 16 pounds, put up quite the struggle, and yielded many happy fillets for our freezer. Less than 500 miles to Wreck Bay, Galapagos! (S - As the pelican flies...we'll have a few miles added I bet). Btw, for those of you interested in following our position, Pangolin.nz (I think that's the correct web address) displays the Yotreps Reporting System of vessels reporting into them, by Ham call sign. My Ham call is KJ4IHF, and we're set up to automatically report our position to Yotreps via SSB radio once every 24 hours. So, if you go onto Pangolin's site, find the Yotreps area, and scroll down to KJ4IHF, our position should be posted. Please, somebody let us know if it all works! Cheers!

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Feb. 9, 2010

N05deg.49'/W082deg.13'
Ah the ups and downs (not just the boat movement either), of getting into the 'routine', as if there could ever be one on a moving, constantly working vessel. We're happy to be out of the shipping traffic around Punta Mala, and have again been thankful we put AIS instrumentation in. Our wind has not been consistent, hence many sail changes along with running the engine if we run out of patience and want to go 'find' the wind. We've not kept to a formal watch schedule; with Michael doing the repairs (one being when the engine FW pump pulley fell off (yikes!), and he had to hunt down the nut and woodruff key in the bilge!) Don't even ask how this stuff happens....I hand steered during that project, while a pod of dolphins entertained me with their antics for two hours...their contrails of luminescence putting on an wonderful underwater show. The water maker is getting recommissioned in stages, as M will have to take apart the March pump to find out why it's acting cranky....We'll try to do daily position updates, and Yotreps will also have us listed under M's Ham call sign of KJ4IHF; please don't worry if you don't see an update; sometimes we get too busy to do entries. All's well aboard the sv Infini.

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Feb. 7, 2010 The sails are full!

N07deg.01'/W079deg.44'
Oh what a nice feeling to be on the water once again. We left yesterday at 11:45 with full water and fuel tanks, and the wind and waves at our backs! Once past Taboga and Los Farralones, we got a nice constant wind and sailed the night under full main. The luminescence of the wave tops from Infini's encounter, along with the trailing stream from hull and wind vane rudder was like a psychedelic show; along with the clear night sky we didn't rest much...just enjoying the ride. The pod of dolphins racing with us looked like a zillion flashing led's...it's neat to see that plankton agitated. We plan on a 7-10 day passage to San Cristobal, Galapogos.

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2-5-10 Departing Balboa, Panama...

We're Galapagos bound tomorrow morning. It's been a long struggle, as we've completely rewired the 12 volt system, designed and installed a customized bracket which supports the reefer compressor as well as the alternator, installed the new Balmar 94-165 alternator, along with the Balmar 612 regulator and Duocharge, custom fabricated new common ground and positive terminals, completely disassembled and rebuilt the Maxwell 3500 windlass, had the bottom cleaned, and completed a bunch of smaller projects as well. We've managed to go to most of the Wed. morning Dim Sam Chinese food breakfasts, as well as the Mon. afternoon book swaps. We've tracked down resources in the most unlikely of places, and have seen parts of Panama City that are definitely off the beaten track. The people we've met at the Balboa Yacht Club have been wonderful, and the launcha drivers have treated us like family. We recently met Eric Forsyth of the Westsail 42 yacht Fiona, and enjoyed chatting with him before he departed on his fourth transit of the Panama Canal. So, we're a bit anxious before departure, but feel that we've been blessed to have had such a wonderful time in Panama. It will take a while to get back in the groove, but we're looking forward to continuing our voyage and will continue to post updates and positions to our blog while underway.