Day 130 Sailing

"A Perfect Day for Banana fish"
Position @ 1900 - S18º23 W159º03. 24 hour distance traveled = 150 n miles (remember that a nautical mile is approximately 1.1 statute miles. Our target, the island of Suwarrow is at S13º14 W162º46 for those of you who want to look this up on Google Earth)
I never quite knew what that J. D. Salinger title meant but if it meant a nice day by the ocean, this day would qualify. It was a bit cloudy but the weather was turning warmer as we headed North (that sounds a bit counter intuitive for us Northern Hemisphere folks) and the sea and wind continued to be in our favor.
We all spent the day reading and relaxing and took turns watching the horizon for other boats and napping. We had all just read an article in Sailing magazine about a sailboat that got run down by a 780' long container ship off the coast of Chile so that made us more watchful than ever. This is not particularly a shipping zone and the ships we have seen have been very courteous but it only take one...
Our speed was higher than we had seen in previous passages and the only disappointment was that we caught no fish. Instead, we hooked a large log and lost our lure. We were 45 miles from the nearest island at the time so that log had traveled a long way.
By nightfall, the wind and waves picked up a bit with winds now at 20 to 25 knots and waves 4 to 6 feet. This was not a new situation for us but it meant we would have to change our sail configuration to have a pleasant night time sail. We had been running with the standard sailboat set-up of a full mainsail and jib but when the wind comes up, we take in the jib and reef (reduce) the sail area so that "Chuck" (the wind vane automatic pilot) can steer. If we have too much sail up, it "overpowers" Chuck and the boat tends to "round up" or steer itself toward the wind instead of keeping the desired direction. By reducing the sail, we "balance" the boat and Chuck can do his job.
When the waves increase we also put up the staysail (a sail between the mast and the jib) and leave it pointed parallel with the boat. Having this sail in this position does not really add to the propulsion of the boat but it acts like a damper and stabilizes the boat in the waves making for a much more pleasant ride.
During my watch from 1900 to 2200 we encountered some small squalls that brought a little rain and some wind gusts to 30 knots. This requires attention from the person on watch as these gusts also overpower Chuck and the boat need to be hand steered until they subside. Also, with no moon and an overcast sky it is impossible to see approaching weather so you need to be prepared to act quickly when the squall hits without warning.
Nonetheless, this is pretty benign weather compared to some that we have seen. Having had steaks on the barbecue for dinner with carrot cake for dessert, we were ready for anything. Yes, we do eat well at sea.