4.11.18 @ 1000 Local, 1700 Zulu Day #17
Latitude: 03°00N Longitude: 129°15W Covered Distance Last 24 Hours: 113 Distance to the Marquesas: 956 NM Distance from Punta de Mita, Mexico: 2010 Weather: 30% cloud cover with Winds: Southeasterly Trade Winds at 10.5 knots Sea State: .5-1.0 meters Barometer: 1014 Crew’s Mood: I get tire of saying Awesome all the time. Ha ha ha. Not!
Dull Drums
With the song from the circa 1970’s movie Voyage of The Yes, reverberating in my head…. I’d rather be a hammer than a nail, yes I would, if I could, I surely would….. we are crossing the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Commonly referred to as the doldrums. The place where the northern and southern trade winds converge. It is also where the northern and Southern Hemisphere ocean currents and high pressure systems duke it out. A few days ago we monitored the water temperature and watch it go from 86°F, down to 74°F and then up to 96.7°F. That is crazy! We haven’t seen water temps like that since Puerto Peńasco in the northern Sea of Cortez. But even crazier was the wide swing of temperature.
I had to laugh yesterday because we saw a fishing vessel called the Fu Yuan Yu. If you say it real fast it sounds like Fooie on You. I’m still laughing about it. We drug lines for another day with no results. Jilly says she has seen a few large fish swim by the boat, but she could not I’d them. Maybe they are acquainted with the Fooie on You fishing boat. LOL We are still hopeful. I’d like to see the water temps drop to about the mid eighties though.
Looking at the down loadable Predict Wind weather source yesterday morning it looks like we should be into the influence of the southeast Trade Winds soon. But wait! Where were the doldrums at? Yes we had to motor in light or no winds for several hours, but it wasn’t none stop. We had a very leisurely sail the day before with 9-11 knots of breeze from the NE and sailed for about 6 hours before it died out. Then yesterday morning after walking up, we had 10 knots of breeze from the NE. Motor off sails up and away we go again. Sailing in the ITCZ. It’s not so bad. The day before yesterday while sailing in the afternoon, the vistas of 360° ocean view with fluffy white and grey clouds dotting the sky was amazing. The sky was so blue and the water. Well, the water is very clear, but it doesn’t have that ice clear blue look here. I’m guessing it may have something to do with the water temperature and the convergence of several different ocean currents. We haven’t seen that many flying fish in these really warm waters either.
The sunrises and sunsets here are breath taking. The blue gray hues along with the orange red glow resting on the horizon as the sunlight peaks through the openings between the clouds huddled near that well defined line between heaven and earth. As the sun gradually lifts closer to that line, the colors gradually change giving way and blending into light blue shading to darker blue farther away from the horizon. The night is losing its dominant grip to the overpowering of the sun. All without a struggle as if this where the description of the word Harmony came from. Nature in a private concert and being played out before our eyes where only those here at this moment and at this time are fortunate enough to behold and take it in.
Doldrums? Is say not at this time or on this voyage. Definitely an experience to behold. Then a twist of a few degrees to change the heading and Dazzler increases her speed and by God we’re sailing along at 5 knots. Shazam!
Okay folks, until next time, will this be the end of Batman and Robin? Will the Joker finally foil Gotham’s crime fighting duo? Tune in tomorrow, same Bat time, same Bat channel. Where the H-E-double hockey sticks did that come from? Tha tha that, tha tha tha that’s all folks. Sorry my 60’s 70’ flashbacks just took over. Ha ha ha. Maybe too much touchy feely stuff in this post.
Cheers!
Captain Dan
PS Jim H2O temp 96.1. Crazy!

4.11.18@ 1700 Zulu Day #16 Latitude: 04°40 N Longitude: 128°43 W Covered Distance Last 24 Hours: 132 NM Distance to the Marquesas: 1054 NM Distance from Punta de Mita, Mexico: 1894 Weather: 30% Cloud Cover Winds: NE 13 Knots Sea State: NE 3’ Sea Temp: 98.2° Air Temp: 84.3° Course: 192°T Speed: 5.5 Knots Barometer: 1014° Crew’s Mood: Loving sailing through the ITCZ with NO MOTOR!
All that’s been happening with SV Aftermath has had me thinking about how people asked me over and over if I was afraid to take this journey. Hmmm. I had to really sit and ponder this a while. Why? Well, fear is clearly different for everyone. Some people are afraid to step outside of their own homes while others hardly fear anything at all. Me, I guess I fall somewhere in the upper middle. I’m not scared of everything but I do have a healthy respect for many things. And honestly, in my humble opinion, I believe anyone who approaches something like this without a certain amount of fear is crazy. After all, Mother Nature and King Neptune can be your best friends yet both can turn on you like a snake in a matter of seconds. So is my respect for the dangers that surround us a form of fear? Maybe. But, it obviously isn’t something that kept me from embarking on the journey. After all, I could just as easily meet my demise in a parking lot in Florida during terrorist, I mean tourist season. So, really, what’s more scary?
Out here we take nothing for granted. Why do you think we don’t drink alcohol underway? What if one of the Gods gets their bustle in a ruffle? We need to have our brains firing on all cylinders to handle whatever they decide to throw at us. Yes, we take this very seriously.
Here’s a great example. We were dousing the spinnaker and it was pretty calm. The only reason I am on deck is to let out the halyard while Dan pulls down the shoot. Did I really need to put on my life jacket and clip into the jack line? Probably not. I’m sure I would have been fine but what if…I mean what if a rogue swell came out of a different direction and knocked me off balance? That’s all it would take to possibly send me overboard without any flotation device whatsoever. Now I’ve put my life in serious danger and for what? To save a minute or two and the minute hassle of clipping and moving my tether as I move up the deck. No. I assessed that it was not worth it so I went below and got my safety gear. Does that make me afraid or does it simply mean I’m using good judgment? I believe it’s the latter.
When weather gets a bit nautical and all hell is breaking loose like it did during the chubasco in La Gringa last summer, was I scared? No, not really. Was it stressful? Oh heck yeah! But the fact is there wasn’t really time to be afraid. There were orders being given and I had to react with strict precision. Any deviation from that could have resulted in the loss of our beloved Dazzler and even possibly our lives. By the time it even dawned on me that I should have been afraid, the danger had past and we were safely anchored down in Bahía de Los Angeles.
Because of Dan’s Highway Patrol background we constantly discuss “what if” scenarios. What if someone falls overboard? What if we have to abandon ship? What if someone gets hurt? What if? What if? What if? Because, when the bad stuff happens your mind won’t function normally so you have to have practiced what you would do in an emergency. This way your mind goes right to that training and you react quickly instead of hesitating which could lead to disaster. Yes, we’ve prepared and practiced everything. We’ve even taken CPR and first aide classes where we learned how to suture on a hog leg. Really…I’m serious!
We also practice something out here that we call situational awareness. It simply means that you need to constantly assess the dangers around you. Are you standing in a stack of lines that could pull you overboard? When walking on deck, are you on the high side or low side of the boat? If you are on the low side you risk falling out of the boat whereas on the high side you would fall into the boat. Are you watching every step to be sure something didn’t fall on deck that you could slip or cut yourself on? Is there a strange part lying on deck that doesn’t belong there? If so, you need to find out where it came from. It could be a really important part off the rigging. Yes, these are all potentially dangerous things that one could be afraid of but by employing situational awareness you limit the possibility of accident or injury.
When I look at the situation on SV Aftermath I can’t help but think they would have benefited from some of the practices we employ each day. Situational awareness would have made them look at everything needed to keep them afloat and alive. They wouldn’t just today have realized they are about to face a water shortage because they would have assessed that in the beginning of their crisis. When Dan and I see an issue, we don’t just micro focus on that one thing. We look at the big picture to see how that one thing can affect everything around it. In their case it appears, at least from our viewpoint, that the captain is micro focused on the repairs and isn’t seeing what else needs to be addressed which honestly, could lead to disaster. Maybe that’s because he isn’t prepared or maybe it’s because fatigue has set in and his mind is not functioning at peak performance. Either way, consistently practicing “what if” scenarios could have helped him to make better, wiser decisions as to the safety of himself and his crew. Better planning and looking at the big picture could certainly have helped as well.
So you see, it’s hard to say whether or not I was or am afraid as that all depends on your definition of fear. For me, I don’t think fear has played any big role in how I feel out here because of the fact that we have prepared for this journey to the nth degree and we practice safety each and every moment on board. And, as a matter of fact, the longer we are here, the less fear plays any part at all in how I feel. You see, once you are here and you see and face whatever fears you had, they diminish in size exponentially.
Would I recommend this type of adventure to everyone? No! It takes a certain kind of person to do this, stay safe doing it and to enjoy the ups and downs of the trip. Not everyone can handle the stressful moments and many would simply be too afraid to try or would freeze up in the times of crisis. As for me, my body is sore, I’m tired and I’m looking forward to a nice long walk on a white sand beach with a fruity cocktail. Oh, and I can’t wait to go out to dinner somewhere and have someone serve me dinner on a stable surface where I don’t have to hold onto my plate for fear of it being launched into next week. But you know what? I’m having the time of my life; I wouldn’t change a thing and fear is nowhere in sight!
Until next time…
Jilly
P.S. Having the best, most prepared Captain in the fleet on board gives me a whole lot of comfort as well!