August 5th, 2021
Lost the Main!
Greetings!
Day 16 on the water! We've made our turn towards California! We've traveled almost 2,000 miles across the Pacific, and have under 1,000 miles left until we reach Catalina. Last few days have been overcast with the sun occasionally trying to peek through. The ocean now has a gray tone to it due to the clouds, and winds have picked up just a little. Back to 4 foot swells and sloppy seas. Can't complain, cause we have had fantastic weather most of the trip.
Sushi for dinner was amazing, seared tuna for lunch the next day, and then cheesy chicken with spinach and parmesan and peppers, all on top of brown rice. It was the perfect dinner for a cold day. Have started to add on the layers to keep warm, especially for those night watches. Fuzzy polar fleece pj's are the best. This morning for breakfast Greg cooked us potatoes with fresh rosemary and garlic, and italian sausage. Greg has been cooking a hot breakfast every morning. I'm getting spoiled.
A bit of news is that yesterday at 1:30pm we lost the main sail! At the very top of the sail there is a grommet that the halyard goes through to keep the sail up, and it decided to rip right out of the sail. So we had to finish bringing the sail all the way down; leaving the halyard, shackle, and ring at the top of the mast. With the current weather conditions, we are not going to attempt to fix it at sea. We aren't racing, no more upwind sailing left anyhow, and we are fine sailing along with the front sail. Of course it is a bit rolly without the main to stabilize things, and a little slower, but we are adapting. Then early this morning we had another mishap. We went to jibe to boat, but as the sail came across the upper running back stay got caught up in the jib sheets up by the clue. This made it a bit hard to reach. After back winding the sail, Greg was able to use a boat hook to untangle the line. All while the boat was rolling. Fun, fun. Greg got the line untangled, we finished jibing, and then continued on our merry way! With the wind we had to take down the spinnaker a couple days ago, but shortly after jibing, we were able to start flying again. This is a very good thing cause it's helping us move along and also helps stabilize the boat for a much nicer ride. Should be able to fly the spinnaker for at least the next 3 days!
Hugs,
Greg and Toni