10.28.149N 121.04.711W Due south of San Francisco, due west of Costa Rica, 650 miles N of Equator, 1621 miles from Nuka Hiva, on course heading 215 degrees magnetic (great circle route adjusts 1 degree every 2 days). Our seventh day since we left Cabo San Lucas and we’ve been underway except the 24 hours we spent in Socorro Islands. We’re making great time in calm seas, over 180 miles last 24 hours. We are running slower than normal for fuel conservation, but have had favorable currents for the last 3 days adding almost a half knot. Nine days remaining at this speed, should put us into Nuka Hiva April 1 (no fooling). Air temperature is the same day and night – 80F, water temperature is up to 86F and humidity has been 75% – reminds me of weather in Maui. There’s just enough breeze from the boat and a little sea breeze to keep the pilothouse comfortable with the doors open. Fuel used as of this morning was 500 gallons of our 2200 capacity, so we are getting over 2miles / gallon which is phenomenal moving 100 tons. At this rate we will arrive in Nuka Hiva with almost 1000 gallons, which will give us options to fuel or not based on quality and price of fuel. Mechanically we changed a Racor fuel filter, I’m finding we get about 1000 miles on a filter with the current batch of fuel (we have dual filters – so I can switch to the other filter and change without shutting the engine down). The first three days we made 200 gallons of water for the trip – topped the tank up to 300 gallons, so I changed the watermaker filters. Between the solar and the main engine alternator we do not need the generator to keep the batteries up. We’ve been using our hydraulic cruise generator to run the stove when cooking lunch and dinner. This is super fuel efficient – as the hydraulic generator only draws .5 gph, does not need warmed up, or loaded up and we can run it for 20 minutes and shut it down. Our engine room checks every 4-6 hours look for temperatures (hydraulic tank cooling, turbo, prop shaft), hydraulic levels (on the stabilizers) and any other unusual site or sound. Speaking of temperatures – engine room is a toasty 115F – so I’ve discovered using a long sleeved spray guard wetted down is the secret when I have to spend anytime in there changing filters. One other engine room novelty – Christine has discovered 115F is perfect for “baking” yogurt. Speaking of making yogurt – we’ve found making our own drinks (ice tea that we make either with tea bags or instant mix) and coffee means we don’t need to carry bottled drinks significantly reducing our trash management. We have the ice coffee recipe down – so maybe we’ll open a coffee house in Brisbane. We have nearly a terabyte of music indexed by artist, genre, and/or track name, so we’re both enjoying exploring songs / artists we haven’t heard in a long time. Reading lots of books thanks to the Kindle – truly life without internet and cell phones.

Another beautiful morning. We are still riding with favorable condition – 5-10 knots wind, gentle swells. Life is easy. After a several days at sea, we are totally in the grove now. Our shifts are semi-flexible, normally started with a long night watch for each of us,- ~5 hours, that gets us to 5-6 am in the morning, then we take a 1-2 hour nap as needed during the day. This watch schedule has been working well for us. Although there hasn’t been a lot to watch for – the closet ship in the last 3 days was a tanker going to Peru from China, crossed 16 nm in front. [google-map-v3 width=”350″ height=”350″ zoom=”7″ maptype=”satellite” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”12.911,-118.634{}cruiseship.png” bubbleautopan=”true” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]

The sea is calming down even more in the last 12 hours. Almost no wind, with a gentle motion of swell. Our speed is up, sometimes exceeding 8 knots, with 3-4GPH fuel burn. We couldn’t ask for a better condition. Haven’t seen another man-made object since 2 days ago, not even a dot on the radar screen which is scanning 24 nm radial. We were kept busy by birds yesterday. N62 is like a magnet attracting birds even 500 nm offshore. They love to sit on the upwind flopper-stopper pole and make a mess on our brand-new solar panel and canvas bimini. And they have no fear – no loud noise, hand-waving could scare them away. We had to physically climb up the pilothouse roof and poke them with a paddle – not the safest thing to do in the middle of Pacific. And they would come back soon if we were not up there guarding. We eventually came up with a sophisticated device – a coat hanger bend to a U shape with some aluminum foil attached. We rigged it up so it sticks out on top of the pole. It seems to be effective last night. We will see how it does today. [google-map-v3 width=”350″ height=”350″ zoom=”7″ maptype=”satellite” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”15.580,-116.385{}cruiseship.png” bubbleautopan=”true” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]

The sea is calming down even more in the last 12 hours. Almost no wind, with a gentle motion of swell. Our speed is up, sometimes exceeding 8 knots, with 3-4GPH fuel burn. We couldn’t ask for a better condition. Haven’t seen another man-made object since 2 days ago, not even a dot on the radar screen which is scanning 24 nm radial. We were kept busy by birds yesterday. N62 is like a magnet attracting birds even 500 nm offshore. They love to sit on the upwind flopper-stopper pole and make a mess on our brand-new solar panel and canvas bimini. And they have no fear – no loud noise, hand-waving could scare them away. We had to physically climb up the pilothouse roof and poke them with a paddle – not the safest thing to do in the middle of pacific. And they would come back soon if we were not up there guarding. We eventually came up with a sophisticated device – a coat hanger bend to a U shape with some aluminum foil attached. We rigged it up so it sticks out on top of the pole. It seems to be effective last night. We will see how it does today. [google-map-v3 width=”350″ height=”350″ zoom=”7″ maptype=”satellite” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”15.580,-116.385{}cruiseship.png” bubbleautopan=”true” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]

The sea is calming down even more in the last 12 hours. Almost no wind, with a gentle motion of swell. Our speed is up, sometimes exceeding 8 knots, with 3-4GPH fuel burn. We couldn’t ask for a better condition. Haven’t seen another man-made object since 2 days ago, not even a dot on the radar screen which is scanning 24 nm radial. We were kept busy by birds yesterday. N62 is like a magnet attracting birds even 500 nm offshore. They love to sit on the upwind flopper-stopper pole and make a mess on our brand-new solar panel and canvas bimini. And they have no fear – no loud noise, hand-waving could scare them away. We had to physically climb up the pilothouse roof and poke them with a paddle – not the safest thing to do in the middle of pacific. We eventually came up with a sophisticated device – a coat hanger bend to a U shape with some aluminum foil attached. We rigged it up so it sticks out on top of the pole. It seems to be effective last night. We will see how it does today. [google-map-v3 width=”350″ height=”350″ zoom=”7″ maptype=”satellite” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”15.580,-116.385{}cruiseship.png” bubbleautopan=”true” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]

Second sunrise for our pacific crossing. Weather has been stable, sunny with light wind. We are just cruising along on top of ocean swells. Last night, around sunset, we saw signs of fish on the depth sounder – throw out a line. Not even 5 min, we heard the reel – it was a big one! Mark and I took turns and fought for 20 mins, the fish still wasn’t giving up. We were in a hurry to bring the fish into the boat before it was too dark. Mark got it almost on the swim platform, the hook slipped off the mouth. Too bad, it would have been our biggest catch so far.. Well, next time. [google-map-v3 width=”350″ height=”350″ zoom=”7″ maptype=”satellite” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”17.130,-114.184{}cruiseship.png” bubbleautopan=”true” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]

We are 24 hours into our crossing, almost 400 nm off Cabo. The condition is light – 5-10 knots wind, 6-8 ft following sea. It is 8PM and we have both pilot house doors open – loving tropical cruising. [google-map-v3 width=”350″ height=”350″ zoom=”7″ maptype=”satellite” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”18.040,-113.143{}cruiseship.png” bubbleautopan=”true” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]

We stayed a day at Isla San Benedicto. It was wild. Whale breaching right next to the boart, Manta rays flew by. We did get the chance to swim with manta ray. In a strange way, I felt we were on a safaria in South Africa, except this is in ocean. We are now on the Pacific crossing. KVT satellite signal faded much sooner than we thought. So we are on Iridium now. We will update our position on the blog periodically. [google-map-v3 width=”350″ height=”350″ zoom=”7″ maptype=”satellite” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”18.911,-112.1690{}cruiseship.png” bubbleautopan=”true” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]

The solar project is finally done this morning! It was still up in the air last night, as there was still quite a bit canvas work left. The canvas guy told us he will be back after super and finished the job. We waited till 10PM – no one showed up – realizing we need to prepare ourselves for another day of delay. We woke up this morning, making coffee. We heard noise on deck – 7AM, the canvas team showed up! They worked till 2AM last night and were determined to finish this morning. Mark disconnected the power cord when they were still working – “we are leaving today”. We are ready. Even though this long stay with Cabo Yacht Center was not planned, it ended up being a big positive. Not only we get the solar project done, with top quality, but other boat projects that we haven’t had time to attend to. Gray Matter is much better prepared for the big crossing now. Another unexpected bonus during our Cabo stay was that we met a Canadian couple – “Nordy dreamers” – here for their winter vacation. They helped us did two BIG grocery shopping with their rental car. Gray Matter is loaded! We will try to update our progress on the blog, but probably without photo and video.

Christine and I have discussed this over the last year, and following much of the blog posts from other owners, the general wisdom has been the boat requires so much power that you’d need 20 panels to generate enough power to provide appreciable dent in the generator usage.

After cruising for the last two months we have a better perspective on what power we need. Our N62 does not have the big sub-zero refrigeration and freezer systems that are on the newer boats. Instead, we have four separate refrigeration units which we can turn off one at a time if we are not using them all. We have electric heads and halogen lights (LEDs are the next project) but we tried to keep them off as much as we can. If we sit an anchor for 24 hours we find we need 3.5 to 4 hours of generator time – which we need for the stove, oven and any heat or air-conditioning. We have 2040 amp hours at 12 volts (8 x 8D Lifeline AGM batteries – 255 aH each). We use about 15% (300 amp hours) of our batteries in a day for refrigeration and other 12v needs. After talking to our sailor friends, we believe a 1kw solar system could actually make a big difference for our boat.
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