Sailing Bear and Seal

Pacific Crossing – Day 8, 9 & 10

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Krista

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Week 1 is DONE! 991 nautical miles (nm) sailed and motored. We motored for the first day and half to get into the tradewinds and then turned on the engine every once in a while during sail changes or a boost on slow nights.

Our main issue was the disagreement between the wind, the waves and the current. The current was coming directly from the East at up to 2 knots while the wind and the waves were coming from the southeast. This created a washing machine effect. While monohulls are known for cutting through the waves, catamarans will hobby horse. So when one corner of the boat will be down, the opposite corner will be up. Alternating corners could be in the water or out, so as the wave passes under, one corner of the four will slam down.

The boat will outlast the sailor and the sea will outlast us both. I’m not concerned at all in regards to safety, but it makes for an uncomfortable sail.

Above you can see what are called Points of Sail. What we have been dealing with is the current coming from the east, which is the back of the boat as we are heading west. The wind and the waves are coming from the SSE so that is putting us on a BROAD REACH. When the waves are lower or less frequent (which is called a longer period, the time between crests of waves) the sail is extremely comfortable and fast. What we find currently is slamming, surfing, crashing, and general discomfort. Fortunately, this was only for three days. We haven’t been that uncomfortable since.

1650 nm left in our journey at the end of Day 10

Ripped Code 0 which took out our higher wind downwind sail. This was the sail that we had intentions to use the entire crossing as we can comfortably leave it up at night. If we run into a squall, this sail is on a furler and can be rolled in relatively quick.

The sea had other intentions.

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Hello,

I’m Krista

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Sailing the seven seas since 2020. As an avid hiker, biker, runner, knitter and stained glass artist, I like to do hard things. After learning that 0.01% of the world’s population will run a marathon, I ran the world’s seventh most difficult marathon, the Equinox Marathon in Fairbanks, Alaska. More people will summit Mount Everest than will circumnavigate by sailboat. I plan on being one of that small group.

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