SV Dawn

Tuesday June 28

14 Days out

N 13 15.048 W 129 36.267
1450 NM from Ensenada and 1450 NM from Nuku-Hiva.

Halfway!
Hello friends and Family,

As you see I am at the halfway point at least as far as mileage goes. Before me is the convergence zone its transit an unknown and then 650-750 of strong and exciting sailing into Nuku-Hiva. I hope the more challenging conditions were closer to the beginning of the trip. I am also at day 14 and it really doesn’t feel like that long. My truest gauge of time is how many mangos I have left and sadly only 2.

In 1968-1969 a French sailor named Bernard Moitessier was a contestant in a race to be the first person to sail around the world solo and non stop. Close to completing the voyage and winning the race and prize he decided that the fame and attention connected with the win were more than he could bare. He turned his boat around and sailed another halfway around the world non stop to Tahiti where he spent most of the rest of his life. I can see becoming so at one with the voyage that stopping and going back to land are unthinkable.

The last few days have entailed raising and lowering the spinnaker on a regular basis. When the winds or sea state get too boisterous I have to drop the spinnaker and sail under genoa. Above 15 knots of wind or when the boat is getting pushed around a lot by opposing wave and swell action the spinnaker can overpower. What happens first is the wind vane steering can’t control the boat and second the helm becomes overpowered. To

avoid those situations you must be proactive and get the chute down before you have a Rodeo! Unfortunately the motion and sound of the boat when you switch back to the Genoa is annoying and nothing to compare with the ride the spinnaker provides.

A little about my spinnaker, it is an asymmetrical. This type of chute is typically flown by attaching the tack to a sprit at the bow of the boat. I don’t have a sprit appropriate for this but I have clever device developed by a French sailor living in the States. It allows me to attach the tack to my furled Genoa without damaging it or the foil under the sail. When you want to lower the sail you just pop a pin and the sail detaches. The same guy developed another great device for spinnaker flying, it is a sock that gathers the spinnaker together with a funnel type of contraption and then sheathes the whole thing in a nylon sleeve. To deploy it you raise the whole sock and spinnaker together and when ready you hoist the sleeve up allowing the sail to inflate! It is a big reason this solo sailor can fly a spinnaker. My compliments to ATN the company’s name and the initials of the developer.

For the last few days I have had good sun so no issues charging batteries or having plenty of power to make water. I even angled one of my panels to take full advantage of the suns position and doubled my output. The weather has warmed but it is not uncomfortable.

My bilge pump has on occasion during the trip been cycling frequently, several times an hour but perhaps for just 30 seconds each cycle. Today I spent an hour in the bilge trying to locate any source of water getting into the boat that would cause the pump to cycle and found none. I am still perplexed but it is not an issue to cause concern as there are no leaks that I can find. A few possible explanation are that with the following seas and the discharge of the bilge pump on the stern, waves are triggering the pump to cycle or that the auto switch for the pump is being activated?

Last, just recently a Japanese gentleman, 83 years young sailed a 17’ boat from San Francisco to Japan solo in 67 days. He is hoping to become the oldest singlehanded sailor to cross the Pacific. He completed this same voyage 60 years ago in another 17’ boat made of plywood. His new boat is made of aluminum and was designed by the son of the man that designed his first plywood boat. When you see a picture of him and his boat you will notice that he is dressed in a blazer and tie, truly a gentleman.

I have learned that my updates are being read by a larger group of people than I had addressed. That is nice to hear and I hope that it may offer some encouragement to other potential voyagers.

The deterioration of the tiller control line’s from the Monitor self steering gear accelerated and while I intended to change them I had hoped to do it during a calm spell in the convergence zone. No such luck I couldn’t let it go any longer than Monday afternoon. I reduced sail, ran before the wind, lashed the tiller with bungee cords, and pulled up the servo pendulum so I wouldn’t be fighting to connect to it. I taped the new lines to the old ones and was able to pull them through the numerous pulleys tubes and turning blocks without a problem. I completed everything in half an hour and in the end was off course by only 20 deg. Fresh lines on this important piece of gear made me smile!

A note about this wear, I have learned from Suzy at Scanmar the maker of Monitor wind vanes and apparently the most knowledgeable person on these amazing machines that my

sheaves (pulleys) were not in proper adjustment and that was the source of my excessive wear. So I have fixed that! Thanks Suzy!

I am definitely in a new neighborhood, surrounded by squall clouds some with lighting. Very confused sea state. Barometer is falling. The wind comes up quickly and dies away. So far I haven’t had to reef in a hurry but I am ready to and I am sailing conservatively. I hope it does rain, the boat could use a rinse off and I’ll be out there in my birthday suit with a bar of soap!

It’s raining! I can see the squall center on radar 3 miles off the Starboard beam, I wish I got more of it.

A few years ago a reprise of the first Golden Globe race was held. The original race occurred in 1968-69 and it was to be the first person to sail around the world solo and non stop. Shortly before the original race Francis Chichester a 60 some year old London shop keeper had sailed solo around the world however he made an extended stop in Australia for major work on his boat because it had some serious design flaws. After that a number yachtsmen wanted to try to do it non stop. The Globe newspaper sensing a business opportunity didn’t want to miss out so they decided to sponsored a “race” and offered two prizes. The first person to do it would receive 5,000 Pounds and the fastest to complete the voyage would receive a trophy.

Flash forward to a few years ago, an enterprising guy decided to bring the race back and in retro fashion. No modern boats, they had to be designed before 1985, no modern electronics so no GPS, no satellite phones etc. Sextants, chronometer, barometers that was it for technology, just as it was in ‘68-69.

About a dozen boats entered, more than half didn’t finish, two were sunk, several people were injured one seriously. It was won by a 74 year old Frenchman. His boat was not unusual in fact several other competitors were sailing the same boat. He was just

always in the right place for the weather, the best winds, and the fewest storms. He lead the entire race. He had circumnavigated several times before so he was very experienced.

The next running of the race will start shortly. Two dozen boats are entered this time, it has become a very visible event. Half of the skippers are over 60! One is over 80. Only one is under 30. The winning boat model from the last race is well represented again with a third of the fleet sailing that one model. Two American built boats are participating, one built in Port Townsend WA and still being sold. That boat is being skippered by a South African woman with tremendous experience in very harsh conditions in Antarctica. The other boat is a very limited production boat built in Delaware in the ‘70’s and is being sailed by a 28 year old American.

I relate this because long distance sailing is having a resurgence of interest not seen since the ‘80’s. People are able to work from wherever they like and communications are improving to the point where soon it will be feasible to do it from a boat.

I am about 100 miles from what I have determined is a decision point. The location is the intersection of Lat 10 N Long 130 W and my original Rhumb line from Ensenada to Nuku-Hiva. Here I will need to decide how to transit the convergence zone. This is an area of hundreds of miles South of this point where winds are erratic unpredictable and often sporadic. Calm periods could last for days. It is possible to power through some of these obstacles but as you know I have limited fuel on board so a good decision on how to handle the crossing is critical. I will be able to get perhaps 3 more weather forecasts before committing to a route. If I had to choose now the course looks to be continue due South to 7 deg North then turn to to Starboard for a new Rhumbline to Nuku-Hiva. That may give me a beam reach direct to the Island with winds up to 20 kn. In short beautiful sailing. I may experience a lul of 12-24 hours in the Southbound section that I could power

through or wait for the wind to return. Let’s see what the forecast predicts.

I have experienced a few disappointments on this trip. I purchased my boat with an SSB radio, for those unfamiliar with SSB it is sort of Short Wave for boats. In its day 20-40 years ago SSB was the cats meow in offshore communication. You could talk to people around the world and even receive what looked like weather faxes and emails with some additional equipment. SSB was part science and part art in that there was a lot of technique involved in using the equipment. I had to remove the SSB and then reinstall it because of the extensive work I did on the boat. I am not sure if it worked when I removed it but it isn’t working now. A problem with this gear is there aren’t still a lot of people around that are familiar with it and can diagnose a problem. I had a possible guy in Mexico but he became seriously ill and unable to assist me. I am looking for someone in French Polynesia where it is still somewhat more popular to give me some help. So if you know an SSB Geek give me their contact info please! Please don’t misunderstand the SSB is not critical it would be mostly fun to have as there are cruising groups that use them but I have far more modern equipment for weather and communications.

Many of you don’t know but I actually started this voyage on May 31st. I left Ensenada and encountered pretty severe weather off shore. I had a number of problems develop on the boat in the first 24 hours out to sea. These included electronics issues but the most significant was a bad leak coming in at the bow of the boat near the deck. The cabin was getting more water in to it than I could manage so I made the hard decision to turn around and sail 110 miles back to Ensenada. Also during the first night out I had a close encounter with an 800’ long tanker that did not see me. I had to hail them several times at 2 AM to get them to alter course immediately to avoid a collision. I had the right of way. As a consequence I took the next 2 weeks to locate and repair the

leaks, replace faulty equipment and I added a piece of electronics that makes me as visible to big ships as they are to each other.

I departed the second time on June 14th, my anniversary.

Ben Lindner, S/V DAWN