DAY 6. COSTA RICA TO THE MARQUESAS
At sea. Wednesday, March 24, 2010

For the first half of yesterday (Day 5) we had glorious sailing conditions
as we headed close-hauled more or less S with all sails set to find the SE
Trades. We had already passed through a band of squally weather the day
and night before and were becoming convinced that we had the ITCZ behind
us. The winds were still SW, true. But, eventually they ought to become
first S and then SE.

At the same time we were looking for the equatorial current that moves W
at 1-3 knots, a boon for us on the way to French Polynesia. We are still
at between 4 and 5 degrees N and the current is reported to be around 2
degrees N.

Late afternoon big squalls begin appearing all around us again, with heavy
rain underneath the clouds. So far we have not actually been hit by one,
but we usually drop the jib and get ready to reef in should it be
necessary.

At dark the winds become fluky and we decide to motor-sail S some more to
dodge the squalls and to find the southeasterlies. I stick earplugs in my
ears to cut the noise of the Lister. But, I have to admit that she is
running much smoother and less hot now that I have started using a diesel
fuel conditioner. I also added Startron Enzyme treatment to deal with the
microbes (in addition to biocide) and am wondering if I shall soon have to
change fuel filters. But so far, no. The conditioner should help clean the
inside of the engine, help get rid of water in the fuel and any number of
other modern wonders.

The temperatures in these latitudes are lower than farther north and
certainly a lot cooler than the Costa Rican coast. It is possible to sit
out in the cockpit all night in a bathing suit, though I find I am glad to
have a jacket after an hour or two.

I thought I had the watch routine down. One time Kathleen had to shake me
hard to get me awake and I felt quite groggy. This could be dehydration or
simply not enough to eat. Yesterday afternoon I made our first hot meal
(not counting fried eggs). It was a vegetable and bean soup using up the
last of our celery, a red pepper, some onions and garlic, a couple of
diced potatoes in a some chicken broth and later thickened with a half a
small can of refried beans and a can of cannelloni beans. Spiced up a bit
with Worcestershire sauce, hickory smoke and some red pepper flakes and at
the last minute the juice of a lime, it hit the spot. Perhaps I hadn't to
have filled the bowls so full, because everything slopped over and made
the bridge a little slippery and treacherous. There is enough for another
meal of it today.

After a night of motoring, dawn made us realise that the winds had at last
become SE. The swells were much bigger than before but still at a
gentlemanly distance from another. By raising the jib and staysail and
going on a port tack we could almost exactly get onto our rhumb line for
The Marquesas some 3,400 Nm to the WSW. But, there were still lots of
squalls around. We decided therefore to go back on a starboard. Soon
thereafter the squalls stole the wind from us and we opted to motorsail S
until we were out of the band of bad weather. Three hours later we shut
off the engine again and tried a reach on a port tack once more. The sky
is full of broken grey cloud and the sun has yet to appear. But we are
doing 5 and 6 knots and even considering reefing down to help balance the
boat for the windvane steering (our mainsail is so large that it easily
overpowers the Cap Horn). For the moment Kathleen takes over cockpit duty
and sets things up with bungee cords.

The morning espresso tastes wonderful knowing that we may just be on our
long leg to French Polynesia. A pair of masked boobies - pure white with
black lining on the trailing edge of the wings - circle the boat looking
for a place to land. These are the first of these we have seen on this
trip. They give up the project and disappear finally.