Author: dommyp

Panama to Marquesas, French Polynesia Day 28

Hi guys. As I write this we are now some 150 miles from Atuona, the port of entry on Hiva Oa, in the Marquesas! But can we get there??? The last couple of days of sailing have been challenging. We go from rolling a round in big seas with no wind to 30 knots and torrential rain in squalls. Also the wind direction is all over the place, making the sail setup difficult. Right now we have dropped all the sails and are drifting at 2 knots towards our destination rolling all over the place!

Here’s our position as of 1100 today:

So in the mega squall a few days ago, we noticed a few small tears in the Genoa after it unfurled itself in 40 knot gusts. We were still cautiously using it until two days ago when another gust picked up and this happened before we could do anything!

So we have now retired this sail for the rest of the journey to not risk anymore damage and have reverted to using the little spare genoa that we were given by our friend John. Its great that we have it otherwise I’m not sure what we would have done!

If the wind does come back in the next couple of hours, then its still possible that we will make landfall late tomorrow or the following morning. Keep your fingers and toes crossed! Here’s some pics we took over the last couple of days. Rainbows, sunrises and a strange bloke climbing up the mast?!

Maybe the next post will be from the Marquesas???

Dom and Ailsa on Azimuth

Panama to Marquesas, French Polynesia Day 25

Hi again. A quick update for you on our progress. We have been making good time the last few days, averaging about 150 miles a day. The seas are pretty rough and side on to us, so its rolly onboard. Lots of stuff flying about and annoying noises! Still, we take the rough with the smooth. This is proper trade wind sailing now, with winds of between 15 and 22 knots and seas of about 2 to 3m swell. That might sound big, but the wavelengths in the Pacific are very long and so its much more gentle than it would be in the Atlantic.

Here’s our position today as of 1740 local time. We are now in time zone UTC-8, which is 9 hours behind the UK.

So if we carry on at our present rate, we should be arriving in the Marquesas on April 26th.

Here’s a few pictures from life onboard. Crew are happy and relaxed, and we are getting excited now about the prospect of landfall!

Catch you again soon!

Dom & Ailsa on Azimuth.

Panama to the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

Hi again everyone. We were set to eat that Mahi Mahi … then we looked out the window in the fading light and saw the huge squall that was inevitably going to hit us! We have already had interactions with many squalls over our sailing career over the years but hand on heart I can say this was probably the worst yet. I think we were in the maelstrom for about 6 hours. The rain poured and the wind howled, peaking at a pretty scary 40 knots. I managed to reef the main in a lull, and we fought to get the Genoa in when it decided to escape! Azimuth seemed to take it all in her stride, surfing down a couple of waves at 12 knots, and shaking off the beating. Its quite something to see the power of nature blowing the tops off the waves and the sea literally boiling around you.

Eventually we managed to break free of the thing after sailing downwind for 6 hours. The rest of the night was thankfully uneventful. Azimuth even looked quite clean in the morning after a good dousing with fresh water. We were both pretty knackered the next day as you might expect, but no worse for wear. I even managed to catch another fish, this time a Black Fin Tuna about 10 pounds. Oh and the Mahi Mahi was delicious!

Here is our position today as of 1345 local time. We are about 800 miles from the Marquesas but going pretty fast.

All the best for now

Dom & Ailsa on Azimuth

Panama to Marquesas Day 21

Hi! This fellow did not die in vain. We have Mahi Mahi for tea tonight. Lightly fried with some garlic and lime.

What a beautiful coloured fish. And a real fighter too on the line.

Maybe we could have squid for starter? These guys are on the deck every morning. No idea how they get there!

We had a slower day yesterday. A lot of squalls overnight and this morning. Thankfully we can pick them up on our radar and be prepared.

Our friends on Coral Moon said that they saw lightening too which is always very disconcerting at sea when you have a mast sticking up. They are currently about 250 miles behind us.

Here’s our position as of today at 1330:

We’ll leave you today with a picture of last nights sunset which was a pretty one.

All the best from Dom & Ailsa on Azimuth.

Panama to Marquesas Day 20

Hi All! Were still going! Yep, 20 days at sea and 2727 miles in to this epic journey. We have passed our previous record for our longest crossing at sea, which was 17 days and 2500 across the Atlantic. Currently we are almost due south of Los Angeles! Marquesas is about 1200 miles away now. We are both going a little stir crazy onboard!

Progress is good, we are starting to turn more west now. Here’s where we are as of 1700 today local time

Possibly only a week to go now. Depends on the wind. Yesterday we hooked a huge sword fish. It was on the line for at least 3 or 4 minutes going crazy, jumping in and out of the water. We were thinking swordfish steaks… yum. Truth be told, I would have had no idea how to land it! It escaped though, wasn’t to be.

Catch you again soon!

Dom & Ailsa.

Hi All. Here we are on the Pacific 18 days in to our sail from Panama to the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. Here’s our position as of 0915 local time. Yesterday we went through our second time zone of the trip. We are now 7 hours behind UTC, making us 8 hours behind the UK as you guys have switched to British Summer Time. Its starting to get confusing keeping up with the right times.

Yesterday we celebrated my Birthday onboard. It was a lovely day of sailing as usual, but the wind and the sea state really picked up throughout the day, and by the evening we were getting chucked about like a cork, but a cork doing 9 knots!

Ailsa cooked up a feast for my birthday tea. Pearce Pie (one of our family favourites) with roast potatoes and sweetcorn and a chocolate cake for afters. Delicious, and all this whilst being down below in the galley with pans and stuff flying everywhere in the crazy conditions. Awesome!

Spirits are still high onboard. We seem to be speeding up a little as we are now well in to the South East trade winds that blow in this region. Taking each day as it comes, and enjoying the moment! Thanks to everyone who phoned and sent birthday messages!

Catch you again soon

Dom & Ailsa on Azimuth.

Panama to Marquesas Day 16

Hi guys, quick catch up for you. Today we are sailing fast! The wind has picked up to 15-18 knots on the beam, but the seas are still flat. This is perfect ocean sailing.

Here’s our position as of 1340 local time (UTC -6). I’m starting to have to zoom out now in Google earth to get the path all in, and seeing the curve of the earth.

We are about 1000 miles from the nearest land (the Galapagos). The Marquesas are about 1900 miles to the west and Easter Island is about 1500 to the South. It feels quite humbling to be so far out on the Ocean. Azimuth is performing really well. No problems to report! We have been sailing on a beam reach or close reach for about 3 days now, and we have a bit of a lean on today. I have discovered a new way of measuring the angle of the lean when I made a loaf of bread in the breadmaker today! About 10 degrees I reckon according to the top of the loaf!

I leave you with a couple of shots of the boat. Another beautiful day at sea. Now we know why they call it blue water sailing.

Back again soon.

Dom & Ailsa on Azimuth

Hi everyone! Day 14 of our trip to the Marquesas. And yes we no longer reside in the Northern Hemisphere!

We had a little celebration to mark the occasion. Some alcohol may have been involved, hic!

The picture on the post is actually what it looks like at the equator. You have to sail between the white lines otherwise there would be a nasty collision…..

We crossed at 1600 local time. here’s our position today:

Sending you all our best wishes from Azimuth as she guides us across the Pacific!

Dom and Ailsa on Azimuth

Panama to Marquesas Day 12

Hi again. We had a fast day of sailing yesterday, covering 175 miles in the day. Today the wind seems to have dropped a bit so far, and we are going slow again. Still flat calm seas and blue skies. Life onboard has settled in to a nice routine. Its pretty lazy really, a lot of reading and snoozing and not really worrying about anything.

Here’s our position as of 1000 local time today. We are now 6 hours behind the UK as we crossed a time zone as we passed the Galapagos Islands.

Caught two Yellow Fin Tuna yesterday! One in the morning and one just before sunset. Both fish about 8lbs each.

The freezer is starting to fill up with tuna steaks! If anyone has any good tuna recipes to share please send them through by email or whatsapp!

So I was saying that we had settled in to a routine. Had a bit of a wake up call this morning. I was doing the weather routing for the next 24 hours and I looked out the window to see a large fishing boat surrounded by 20 foot skiffs about 0.5 miles off our starboard bow. He was not on AIS, and we simply had not seen them. Quick turn to Port and everything was alright. Then the skiffs started to leave the main boat and at least 3 heading towards us. Here we are 1500 miles from Panama and 600 miles from the nearest land (Galapagos) and there are little motor dinghies?!! Binoculars out, and all the boats were flying the Colombian Flag. So these guys are even further from home. They went on by on their way to who knows where and weren’t bothered with us (so far?!) I guess when you next buy your tuna and check that it is sustainably sourced (line fished), spare a thought for these poor guys in open boats 1500 miles out in to the Pacific. Cant be much of a life, and dangerous too.

See you again soon.

Dom & Ailsa on Azimuth

Panama to Marquesas Day 10

Well, we were beginning to think that that our fishing skills were just not up to the task. 10 days the line(s) have been out and all we have done is snag seagulls and lose lures! Well, that all changed yesterday, when I bagged a yellow fin tuna! It put up quite a fight to land it, and we we all in a fluster as I dragged it on to the back deck. After filleting, the back deck looked like the scene of a massacre. A few buckets of sea water sorted it though.

And delicious it was too with fried potatoes, plantains and coleslaw. Looks like enough for 4 meals for two people. I think about 5 kilos or 10 pounds in weight. The line is back out. I am hoping to fill the freezer before we arrive in the Marquesas.

Another glorious days sailing today. Force 3 winds on a flat sea and a cloudless blue sky. It really is plain sailing here. We don’t want it to end!

Here’s our updated position:

We have started to slowly head south. Now only 115 nautical miles from the equator due south of us, but we probably wont be crossing for a few days yet.

We saw another boat today, a huge tanker heading to Panama. The first sign of life we have seen for about a week.

Fantastic sunset last night!

Catch you again tomorrow.

Dom & Ailsa on Azimuth.