Pacific Crossing Day 3 - 4th June 2020

Pacific Crossing Day 3 - 4th June 2020

Midday position local time (1800 UTC):
- 03 degrees, 25 minutes South
- 098 degrees, 03 minutes West
Sailing with poled out as an experiment
Sea State: choppy with big swell of 2-3 metres
Wind: 11 knots at 110 degrees
Speed over the ground: 5.5 knots
Course over the ground: 260 degrees

Well we had no fishermen encounters in the night and in fact didn't see a single light, so that was good however the ugly sea state and big swell has given us a bit of angst for the last 24 hours. It's really hard to keep the sails set and the sheets and sails bang around and especially when you are tired and trying to sleep it really drives you insane. It's like being on a bucking bronco and not enough wind to keep Askari steady through the water. We have just been trying to run wing on wing with the jib poled out but its actually worse so we will be switching that back before lunch.

We also had an issue last night as the generator wouldn't start. After a few tests in the dark Andrew identified that the new start battery was fine but that there was a difference in the voltage showing on the generator control panel than was measured at the battery. It actually started second time but we needed to do more work this morning - we went into the the night worried it might be the starter. So before coffee we had the generator casing off and Andrew identified the culprit - a fuse on the power supply to the controller had shaken loose in the confused seas and this was enough to stop the generator from starting. Phew that was a relief and we enjoyed our morning coffee.

It is definitely a little warmer today - we are sure this sea state is the impact of converging currents. We enjoyed one of our favourite lunches - chapatti with humus and crudités and that lifted spirits for a few minutes….

Here's hoping we get through this turbulence soon.

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