Pacific crossing photos & video..
Some stats for the pacific ocean crossing from La Cruz, Mexico to Nuku Hiva, Marquesas
Days to cross: 23 days
Distance sailed: 2,900 miles approx
Best 24 Hr mileage: 170nm
Worst 24 Hr mileage: 95 nm
Equator crossing longitude: 131W
Engine Hours: 65
Diesel used: 43 out of 60 gallons (used for transiting the ITCZ)
Water used: 65 gallons out of 125 carried
Energy: All energy provided by wind generator & solar panels
Fish Caught: 10 (bonitos and mahi mahi)
Breakages: No failures apart from a mainsheet block shackle and small leak in the galley fresh water pump.
Some photos and videos from the passage..
Broad reaching in the north east trades.. awesome sailing!
Cyrille in love with the Mahi mahi we just caught.. we were lucky catching 10 fish in total.. Mahi Mahi and Bonitos mainly..
Glenda the fish serial killer getting into it..
We lost a couple of our best team A lures, and had to resort to making lures from flying fish that landed on deck.. alas they did not deliver 🙁
Glenda enjoying the sunshine after 3 days of completely overcast conditions in the north pacific
Beautiful sunset in the north pacific..
We saw 4 ships in total in the middle of the ocean.. The AIS proximity alarm worked like a charm to warn us.
Sailing in light air with the asymetric as we approached the doldrums…
Cyrille loving the light air sailing..
Dodging squalls..sailing in the doldrums feels like sailing in England 😉
A mega squall surrounds us in the Doldrums (we used radar to track the squalls) It was 5 miles wide and travelling at 20 knots, no way to avoid it but it was only packing 20 knot winds.. It seemed to have a water spout at the head and very heavy rain.. We were glad when we sailed out of in 45 minutes..
No wind in the doldrums, we did some motoring…
All three of us pollywogs swam across the equator tethered to the boat with spinnaker sheets! We jumped into the pacific ocean at position 00*00N 131*01W.
Celebrating with champagne after crossing the equator..
Russ and Kaersten from S/V Liberty who put together an absolutely amazing equator crossing kit which included detailed instructions..
.. and Royal Baby, Neptune and Davy Jones costumes, champagne, diapers, snacks, boat bottle kit etc.. and a framed custom made Equator crossing certificate!!
Pollywog #1 Royal Baby Glenda
Pollywog #2 French Fisherman Cyrille
Pollywog #3 Polynesian Babe Chet
King Neptune Chet and Davy Jones Cyrille about to start the trial of pollywog Royal Baby.. Trial proceedings can be found in this post.. Court of Neptune proceedings
Glenda as Davy Jones in the trial of Pollywog Polynesian Babe Chet
Pollywog Chet sucking oil out of the engine with a pipe as punishment for his heinous crimes.. (I overfilled the engine oil slighty, and had to remove some the hard way!)
We each wrote a letter and dropped it off in a bottle at the equator.. let us know if you get it!
Glenda enjoying a beautiful sunset in the south pacific..
We saw a pod of some 30 dolphins all jumping out of water.. amazing sight..
On my watch, with Cyrille and Glenda sleeping..We used the saloon settees as sea berths.. I installed lee cloths to keep us in our bunks..
Starting to prep for landfall in the south pacific islands!
We caught our biggest fish a couple of days before landfall!
Our final dinner before landfall.. An amazing fish dish made by Cyrille!
Rounding Nuku Hiva to make landfall.. Everyone was ecstatic!
Making landfall at Taiohae Bay after 23 days at sea!!!
Stops (with blue sail cover in the center of the photo) anchored in Taiohae Bay..
Stops taking a well earned rest after sailing 2,900 miles non stop! I gave her a big slobbering kiss to thank her for looking after us.
Wow Guys!! These are amazing pictures! Sounds like you had a great adventure filled with allsorts. I love your equator crossing kit and the pollywog outfits! Thanks for sharing, put a smile on my face :)))