{"id":2074,"date":"2013-05-21T21:29:26","date_gmt":"2013-05-21T21:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=2074"},"modified":"2013-05-21T21:31:06","modified_gmt":"2013-05-21T21:31:06","slug":"half-way-home-and-a-full-measure-of-excitemen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=2074","title":{"rendered":"Half way home and a FULL measure of excitemen"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s nearly\u00a0noon on Tuesday\u00a0as we enter the 4th day of our voyage from Abaco Bahamas to Essex, CT, aboard Pandora. \u00a0 I say that we are entering our 4th day as we picked up our anchor in Marsh Harbor at\u00a011:00 on Saturday\u00a0to begin our 1,000 voyage home and it’s\u00a011:00\u00a0now. \u00a0 \u00a0 Is that a coincidence or what?<\/span><\/p>\n

As we make our way north, we are keeping an hourly log of lat\/lon (position), speed over the ground, wind direction and speed along with other data. \u00a0 \u00a0Keeping this location each hour is critical as it will allow us to better understand where are are in the event of a problem, such as our being struck by lightning and loosing all our electronics. \u00a0This would be particularly critical if we were to loose our GPS. \u00a0 Unless we had been logging our Latitude and Longitude regularly, we would have no idea where we were.<\/p>\n

Anyway, we keep all those stats in a log book designed for that purpose. \u00a0And\u2026each page has 24 lines on it so day one begins when we leave port and the “second day” begins 24 hours later, in this case at\u00a011:00\u00a0daily. \u00a0Get it? \u00a0 Bob!!! Quit it with the boring stuff. \u00a0What was exciting?<\/p>\n

So glad you asked. \u00a0 In the last 24 hours we enjoyed, or not, the following.<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 NOT enjoyed\u2026Numerous squalls with strong winds and rain, lots of rain. \u00a0 And a few of these were in the dark. \u00a0The wind was strong and as Pandora surfed down waves , in the dark and rain, I could only imagine what it would be like to be in a real storm.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0REALLY NOT enjoyed our hunt for the Gulf Stream. \u00a0 For hours we meandered in meanders, along the side of the Gulf Stream. \u00a0 \u00a0We were given the coordinates for the southern wall of the Gulf Stream but with the light wind and the side of the stream swirling around, we were caught in currents pushing us every where but where we wanted to go. \u00a0 On top of that, the seas in that area were very confused which meant that the boat was rolling wildly from side to side for much of the day. \u00a0Happily, today is a lot better, more like a mill pond. \u00a0However, Brenda might not think that “mill pond” is quite the right description.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0NOT enjoyed\u2026Wind on the stern that wasn’t quite strong enough to make distance and we really didn’t want to motor. \u00a0 (At least the wind wasn’t on our nose.)<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0NOT enjoyed\u2026An uncontrolled jibe. \u00a0This means that the main sail slammed from one side of the boat to the other in a big bang. \u00a0It happened when a squall hit us with a 100 degree wind shift without warning. \u00a0BANG! \u00a0A move like this can break the boom or worse. \u00a0 Not a good thing, especially 200 mile from shore.<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 NOT enjoyed\u2026When the main sail jibed, it broke the preventer. \u00a0This is a line that runs to the end of the boom to slow it down if we jibe. \u00a0Well, there was a snap shackle on the end of the line that exploded when the boom slammed over. \u00a0What is that about the “weakest link”? \u00a0 Well, it was fine that the shackle broke as the boom didn’t.<\/p>\n

6. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0REALLY NOT ENJOYED!!! \u00a0Speaking of the boom. \u00a0We ALMOST had what would have been a REALLY BIG problem with that too. \u00a0 Somehow, the nut, on the bolt that holds the boom to the mast came off. \u00a0Thankfully, the bolt stayed in place. No simple feat as the nut was on top so the bolt could have just dropped down and out. Had that come off the entire boom would have broken free of the mast, in loads of wind, I might add, which would have been a major problem. \u00a0 \u00a0I don’t even want to think about what would have happened. \u00a0At the very least, we would have had a major failure of the sail, which would likely have ripped in half. \u00a0Beyond that, a 17′ long boom would have been flailing around in a seaway, perhaps acting as a battering ram against the side of the boat. \u00a0I don’t want to think about that scenario,even a little bit. \u00a0After a bit of jury rigging, we were back in business. \u00a0All this for the lack of a single nut.<\/p>\n

7. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Enjoyed? YES and NO\u2026The (big one) that got away. \u00a0We were fishing and hooked a really large Mahi Mahi. \u00a0After something like a 30 minute effort to get the fish the boat the line parted and the fish got away with the hook etc. \u00a0To say that we almost boated it, is an understatement as Chris got some scratches on his leg from the fish’s fins as it thrashed around at the stern. \u00a0That’s close. \u00a0Ian got some great videos of the fight which I am sure he will put on YouTube. \u00a0You will have to trust me on this but it was huge, perhaps \u00a04′ long. \u00a0 Yes, I know, the one that got away. \u00a0 So, I didn’t enjoy losing the fish. \u00a0I sort of enjoyed reeling it in. \u00a0But most of all, I WAS SO GLAD not to have to clean a 4′ long bloody fish in the cockpit. \u00a0 However, all the slime would have been washed out a few hours later by the deluge of rain.<\/p>\n

8. \u00a0 LOVED and enjoyed… \u00a0A fabulous sunrise after all of the squalls. \u00a0Actually, these clouds off of our stern, lit by the sunrise brought us a whopper of a squall a short while after this shot was taken. \u00a0In the foreground was a large swell. \u00a0Bummer that it doesn’t show in this photo. \u00a0Pretty impressive.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n9. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0REALLY ENJOYED!!! \u00a0A pod of 3 or 4 dolphins visited us for about 15 minutes, swimming all around the bow and darting back and forth across the pressure wave of the bow cutting through the water. \u00a0 I have seen dolphins do this before but this is the first time I have been able to get decent photos. \u00a0Getting a photo of a dolphin took me only 8 months of this trip. They were beautiful.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n10. \u00a0 \u00a0 ENJOYED!!! \u00a0Being half way home. \u00a0Yes, I know that I already mentioned that.<\/p>\n

All and all let’s call the last 24 hours “interesting” and “mixed”, some good, some not so good. \u00a0 Today? \u00a0After cleaning up the mess down below and airing out a soggy boat, the sun is out and it’s cool. \u00a0 \u00a0Did I mention that we are half way home? \u00a0 It’s almost time to begin using that often repeated phrase, “are we there yet”.<\/p>\n

So, that’s the 24 hour top ten for Pandora for day three.<\/p>\n

When do we expect to be home? \u00a0That’s hard to say. \u00a0 If we are able to keep our speed up we should be to New York at some point\u00a0on Thursday\u00a0or perhaps in the early hours of\u00a0Friday. We are not going to come in via Montauk as the strong unfavorable winds will arrive too soon for us to go that way. If we can’t get to New York by\u00a0Thursday\u00a0night,we will have to pull in somewhere and wait a few days as there is a front coming through\u00a0on Friday\u00a0that will usher in strong northerly winds that will make any further progress north impossible. \u00a0 So, in an attempt to keep on schedule we fired up the “iron wind” and are under power as there’s not quite enough wind today to move along at a decent pace.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the forecast calls for freshening, and favorable, winds later today or\u00a0Wednesday. \u00a0 These winds will likely \u00a0end up being too much of a good thing in the next few days. \u00a0 While they will be from the southwest (good), they will build to the high 20s and low 30s (not so good) in the next day or so. \u00a0 \u00a0At least they will be from behind us.<\/p>\n

So, half way home, some excitement along the way. \u00a0 Making progress\u2026 \u00a0Speaking of making progress, perhaps I should make some lunch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s nearly\u00a0noon on Tuesday\u00a0as we enter the 4th day of our voyage from Abaco Bahamas to Essex, CT, aboard Pandora. \u00a0 I say that we are entering our 4th day as we picked up our anchor in Marsh Harbor at\u00a011:00 on Saturday\u00a0to begin our 1,000 voyage home and it’s\u00a011:00\u00a0now. \u00a0 \u00a0 Is that a coincidence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2074"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2080,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2074\/revisions\/2080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}