Day 8

What a night. We had squalls throughout, but the early evening until 1 am was particularly active with lots of rain and wind. Fortunately Rae Ann was on watch, so I just woke up occasionally to see if she was alright. Rae did great navigating Nikita down wind in the 25 knot gusts and keeping her going as the wind would die away at the end. After a particularly massive squall the wind died completely, when we fired the engine we smelled a sharp burning smell. So we tore apart the instrument panel in the middle of the night to discover the engine hours meter had stopped working. Looking at it again today it seems that, it now works again, and it must have been moisture that got in and created a short. We saw no damage last night but need to look at it again carefully. When we fired the engine today there was no burning smell.

We also found that our genoa clew was chaffing through, normal for this much continuous use. We taped on a piece of rubber hose over the chafe area. Should hold for a while. Got plenty of hose and tape.

The day turned out better with good sailing winds and calming seas. As I right this though the squalls are building for another night time assault.

The Rain Soaked Crew of Nikita

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Day 7

An odd day all the way around. It started with very nice conditions, that in the afternoon changed to lumpy seas, ever changing wind directions and then multiple squalls. In between we hooked up with a true monster fish that threatened to snap the rod, huge, largest I have ever had on. Of course now said fish has our lure and 300 ft of line. Rae and I also looked at each other today and say why in the ..... are we out here, old fashion mid passage blues.

We did cross our 1000 mile mark today, having a small celebration, next up, likely on Saturday is the half way mark.

The Rain Soaked and Fish Poor Crew of Nikita

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Day 6

Well the nuttiness in the seas will just not go away. We now have several forecasts that call for diminishing seas the rest of the week.... lets see. We have a running joke now, every time Rae goes down to make a meal the winds and seas pick up making it very miserable for her.

Our watch schedule has settled so that during the day the watches are just informally shared, with Rae preferring the cockpit anyway so taking the majority of the watches. Rae then takes the 8-Midnight watch and I take from midnight until everyone is up, some time around 7am or so.

I take all of the navigation, communication (we have two radio nets with other boats each day) and sailing responsibilities. Rae takes galley and primary responsibility for the kids. We jointly make all sail changes of which there have been many this trip so far. The kids take responsibility for cleaning the squid and flying fish off the deck (6 this morning) and of course playing.

The Bumpy & Grumpy Crew of Nikita.

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Day 5

Conditions of deteriorated significantly with winds out of the SE at 20 knots and building seas. We are deeply reefed and sailing on a course of 260 at 6 knots. All is well on board.

Isabelle caught breakfast with a flying fish making it in through her window and into her bed this morning. Earlier at about 5:00 am I was treated to a dolphin show that lasted about 15 minutes as they played in our bow wake.

The Over Winded Crew of Nikita

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Day 4

Well it has been another mixed day. Winds came in quite nicely but the seas are still quite lumpy and from a more SSW direction so tend to throw us around a bit.

The only minor mishap was Isabelle splitting her lip open when she was playing in the cockpit and slipped banging her mouth into one of the winches. Not a happy moment, but no significant issue.

The Bloodied Crew of Nikita

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Day 3

Winds have been mixed today, sometimes perfect, sometimes non-existent. The seas have been both very calm and bumpy. We have been making sail changes nearly every hour it seems, not the relaxing set and forget of the trades yet. Progress continues to be good and the crew is doing well.

We saw some dolphins today, our first wildlife of the trip, unless you count the birds that fly around the boat at night dropping fish guts on the deck for me to step on during sail changes.

The only drama so far was a bent swivel on the top of our Spinnaker, which with liberal application of hammer and rigging tape is fixed. Does not look good, but is fixed.

The Crew of Nikita

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Day 2

We have had good progress today with good winds in the 10-15 knot range and ok seas, still on the bumpy side. Really just a day at sea as everyone gets their sea legs and adjusts.

Position 1.46S, 94.11W
Sailing 260 degrees at 7.5 knots.

The Crew of Nikita

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