Fuel fears and back in the trades!
2300 UT | 07°29.00’N 149°17.83’W
Sailing baby! Possibly boring you senseless with fuel chat
Good morning from a very happy Falken, currently cruising along at 8-9 knots. We've got the trade winds back! An event that Mary from 5 days ago would be relieved to hear about. Andy had asked me to write a blog on the fuel scenario when we first entered the doldrums. I didn't want to jinx anything, but now I'm confident we're back in the breeze you get the questionable treat of my fuel anxiety brain waffle.
When we stuttered to a halt on the 11th June at 2 degrees South I was more than a little perturbed- I believe my direct quote to Mission Control was 'We're getting absolutely shafted by the ITCZ'. When I gave the weather briefing back in Tahiti, I was maybe a bit too happy about the prediction of quite a skinny band of doldrums to pass through, and my smugness got a royal slap in the face when the forecast developed into an 8+ degrees thick band of doldrums as we got closer.
I'd anticipated sailing across the equator, having a couple of days motoring then hitting the NE trade winds on the other side. Instead I was looking at more than 500 miles of motoring. If we look at the motoring capacity of Falken you'll be able to see why I was slightly concerned.
We carry 600L of fuel, split over 8 tanks. Theoretically that would give us 120 hours of motoring at 6 knots—but there's a lil flaw to this. As it stood I was looking at a max capacity of 90 hours of motoring when we hit these doldrums—so it was a bit of a squeaky bum time. Also bear in mind that I need fuel to charge the batteries when we're out of the doldrums, most crucially the water maker.
Admittedly I am a constant pessimist when anticipating problems (shout out to Big Nez for that character trait), however I think plan for the worst and hope for the best is an appropriate approach in offshore sailing.
My issue was that you can actually get stuck in the doldrums, and I didn't much fancy that. So I couldn't just say well let's motor until the fuel runs out and then we'll just wait for the wind to fill in—sometimes that can take weeks! And there aren't many options in the middle of the Pacific for potential refuelling.
So what was my plan of action?
Read the full article on The QUARTERDECK for the complete story, analysis, and takeaways. Two-week free-trial for new members! quarterdeck.59-north.com
Mary
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Turning the corner
Yesterday found Falken on a Northward course, still heeled to port, climbing and falling over waves. Sunrise this morning found Falken in an entirely different condition, one familiar to her, but not yet to the current crew. And then a truly magic moment, a pod of dolphins at least fifty members strong came to dance on Falken’s bow wave. We are now joyfully headed northeast, on course toward our eventual destination of Prince Rupert. Falken has turned a corner.
Onwards and upwards
Today is set to be the calmest day of our trip so far, waves subdued, wind veering off more south-east, light clouds. What an exhilarating ride it has been, beating upwind non-stop directly north for 6 straight days! What ahead of us is a mostly downwind sail to Prince Rupert, but a very exciting one. This makes it an interesting few days going fast and closely watching the weather, and I’m very much looking forward to it. The crew is happy, everyone seems to be getting good rest, enjoying watches and time in between.
Quadruple digits!
We are still headed north away from Hawaii, though today we have started to veer ever so slightly east. Speaking of miles, we hit quadruple digits today and are currently 1051 nms into our journey to Alaska. The sea state continues to calm down, and the famous North Pacific high is just out of our reach. The next few days will be a delicate dance of riding the outskirts of the high while avoiding the pesky low pressure systems that are dancing nearby. In his very wise words, we need to get north but not too far north, stay south but not too far south, continue heading east but not too far east, and avoid going west but also stay west.