If you read my post on my trip from San Francisco to Hawaii back in 2015, you might have read about the rod kicker. The horrors of waking up to a breakage on your mast only to realize that the rod kicker is essentially useless on the blue ocean. Well guess what broke again. Last night, some high winds and an accidental gybe and it ripped clean off. Partly our fault, it’s sheet was locked down instead of being free, and now, as before, it’s stowed in our v-birth waiting for repair upon our arrival. At this point, I’m seriously wondering about tossing it overboard. I think I might have successfully used in once in flat lake water in the Northwest. It will be the third time I re-attach it and all it does is give shade to my solar panels on my top deck. Any of you blue water sailors out there ever used or needed one on the ocean? Feel free to comment, I’ll read them, when I get to Tahiti. 🙂
Apart from the mishap overnight, the gybe was a result of some exciting furling in 25 knot gusts, it’s mostly been a slow rocky night and day with more squalls. Seems like we sail from one to the other. The wind usually gusts up a little or slow down a little, but that’s more annoying causing us extra work with the sails than anything else. Sometimes we get a little drizzle, but nothing like the squalls in the Caribbean. It does seem to constantly keep the sea state at a less than comfortable sailing and most inconvenient of all, the squalls keep pushing us west, or prevent us from pushing east. There should only be a few more days of squalls, though (or at least that’s what we hope), before we’re in the clear and we can start our tedious task of easting. Robby from Hawaii Yacht Club told me I’d hate that word, and I can see what he meant. The winds from Hawaii seem more favorable to sail to Fiji than Tahiti. But for now, we’re focused on getting south as best as we can, and get some “easting” in, whenever the conditions favor it. When the wind and waves calm down, “easting” will be easier, and we still have 75 gallons of fuel on board. Nothing sails upwind better than a motor sailor. 🙂
Aloha from Petter and Octavia
Sounds like a crazy crossing already!