Northern Pacific 20 May 2012 02:19 42N06 171W45
We finally got about 24 hours of 20-25 knot winds, but we’re back down to 5-10 knots of wind, more expected with a low passing by tomorrow. Not much to report. Our days of spending watch in the cockpit are over. It’s wet and cold out there. We used an infrared thermometer to measure the hull temp in the bilge: 50F brrrr. I used the same thermometer to measure the temperature of my finger tips after coiling lines outide…same 50 degrees brrrr. Tea and soup consumption is on the rise. The light cotton Tahitian tifefes have been replaced with REI sleeping bags, and long-johns are now a 24 hour garment. It’s official, we’re going to Alaska.
Crescent City is about 2100 miles to starboard. Hokkaido (northernmost island in Japan) 2100 miles to port, Adak 600 miles ahead. The Aleutian’s come down farther than I realized; when we make landfall, we’ll be about the same latitude as the northern tip of Vancouver Island.
Someone dumped a big bucket of indigo and forest green into That Blue. It’s now a deeper, darker, cooler blue. I don’t think it’s just the lighting (misty gray). And it smells different – strange, but it smells more and more like the sea. Our already erratic sleep patterns are being further interrupted by 16 hours of daylight with more expected each day. Luckily I am getting better at sleeping during the day.
Wind shift, must be our wind on it’s way, I’m off to adjust the sails. A bird is laughing at me in the dark, maybe he’s never seen a peeps.
xoxomo