Here we are, the transpacific! To tell the truth, we couldn't wait to leave to continue our little adventure. We know that we will be at sea for a long time, but the desire to continue is really stronger than the boredom at sea. And then with a transatlantic and the Caribbean crossing, we are finally a bit broken in.
We decided to leave on Sunday April 10th in the morning. The weather conditions are not so good off Golfito as there is no wind, but it's finally the same every day: it's the Doldrums area. After a week of watching the weather every day, we know that our journey will start with the engine for several days until we reach the Galapagos Islands where the Pacific trade winds start to blow. We had foreseen this by filling up with 100 extra liters of diesel in jerry cans and the same for water. We are ready.
As expected, the departure went well. We look at the land while leaving knowing that the landscape of the next weeks would be only made of water. So we are driving on a sea of oil. This may seem very quiet but it is rather the opposite; the engine is very noisy! To overcome this problem, we wear earplugs, headphones...
All solutions are good to find a bit of peace and quiet. You have to imagine that the mechanical noise of the diesel engine accompanies us 24 hours a day! The worst in this story is Lucas, whose room is stuck to the engine compartment: Imagine just how hellish it is.
With so much noise, we don't talk much to each other and we occupy ourselves differently: we read a lot, we watch series or movies, we write to our loved ones thanks to the satellite phone. Finally, this engine start-up also allows us to gently re-acclimate ourselves to this environment so special. Apart from the noise, there is no swell, so the navigation is rather comfortable, it is easy to steer and none of us is seasick.
On the second day, we took advantage of a small breeze to take out the sails to gain a knot of speed. We are making good progress at an average of 5 knots and the wind is also bringing us the freshness we were missing.
The next day, around 6 am we heard a big noise followed by strong vibrations. It was so strong that it woke me up but Emilien at the helm didn't seem to mind, so I thought it was nothing. In the end, when I took my shift at 8 am, it turned out thatwe were not moving very fast anymore with strange eddies behind the boat. So we stopped the propeller and Emilien dove under the boat. Bingo ! It was a piece of net that got caught in the propeller. He removed it and we are went back to normal.
This day also marks a novelty in our diet: we caught our first small Dorado coryphène! A delight!
We cooked it with lime, ginger and garlic: a real pleasure. In addition, we continue to make good progress: the wind seems to be gentle and takes us where we need to go and the sea currents are with us.
The following days follow each other and we are seriously approaching the Galapagos Islands. Our course changes as we are now heading towards 230° but the daily routine remains the same: engine and sails out, a lot of noise, a bit more swell and we also caught twice some very small tuna that we released because they were really too small.
In spite of this daily routine, some things disturbed him. On the one hand, we had our first Breton day: it rained all day! So I say to myself: "it's not serious, you have to look on the bright side, I won't be hot". That, to not be hot I didn't get hot! It rained 6 hours on my 11 hours of bars and that's without counting the time spent underwater for Emilien and Lucas!
Then, late Wednesday afternoon, the rod bent in half; we had a fish! I immediately set about reeling it in and It pulls super hard! I can't see him well, but he is on the surface. He is pulling so hard that my forearms are tingling! Despite this, I get over the pain and try to pull him up to us. Five minutes later, it is a few meters away from me and disappointment is replaced by excitement. The wonderful fish was actually a bunch of nets... How sad. The waters here are rather polluted and we still have the proof.
Finally, we had our first stowaway! A beaked friend that we named Hector. He has brown/grey feathers, a lighter neck and a blue grey beak. This one is pretty thin, it was slightly long and hooked at the end. Hector was at the bow of the boat and was balancing on the line.
The funny thing is that he seemed to be holding on with his flippers but he was still sliding! He was kicking his buttocks to keep himself upright (he was missing a feather). To finish, he observed me attentively, then the boat, the masts, before huddling on himself and starting to look for I don't know what in his feathers.
Anyway, a merry guy! Now he spends all his nights with us on the boat and leaves in the morning. Finally, this bird story has even become more important off the Galapagos since several other birds have joined Hector. They sleep on the lines, on the bow, on top of the mast. The good thing is that it makes us animated (i.e. the way they land on the moving line is highly acrobatic), but the bad thing is that they defecate on both the boat and ourselves. So this is the situation.
At the end of the week, we were finally able to turn off the engine! This good old Perkins diesel brought us to the Galapagos without any problem, smoking a little towards the end. The wind is blowing three quarters of the way (full speed) and we are making good progress with a average speed of 5.5 knots. The swell rises and we finally experience our first days of calm. The current is always with us and we are reassured because the windless zone seems behind us.
We are making good progress under sail. Anyway, the engine does not work anymore. The last time we used it was two days ago, with 20° of heel for 10 hours. It started to smoke white and to decrease in speed. so we had turned it off. On Saturday 16 in the morning it was necessary to reuse it flat this time and it turned two hours until it did the same until it stalled We tried to restart it but but without success We asked for the opinion of people who know about it in France via the satellite phone but it does not smell good. Fortunately, we left the zone of the doldrums of Galapagos and the wind is well present!
Another amazing thing about this weekend, I saw my first shark! I saw its fin and tail fin sticking out of the water 10 minutes after the engine stalled. Not very reassuring I take this as a warning: do not bathe. Later, Emilien saw one jumping in the distance while hunting. It was apparently massive !
Once past the Galapagos Islands, we are heading towards 0°N 100°W where we will officially enter the Southern Hemisphere. In spite of the small technical problems at the end of the week, our morale is high and we are happy to have progressed so well in this first phase which was expected to be more complicated than that.
See you the following week for the continuation of the transpacific.
Daily coordinates: