Day 4 to Hawaii

Noon position 4/6/16: 19 09.9380 N 113 20.2755 W
Noon to noon distance travelled: 129 nm
Total distance travelled: 484 nm

We spent most of yesterday afternoon reaching, which this boat loves. The swell was low, and the wind was brisk which led to a very comfortable, very fast afternoon. 50 of the miles covered were in the first 8 hours of 24. Speedy!

Around dark we decided to reduce sail, the wind picked up and it was feeling just on the edge of comfort. With a 6 foot long bowsprit with our jib hanked on to the end of it, we've learned it's not much fun to try and take down in any sort of a sea state, or when the wind is really piping. So we got the jib down and were running under reefed main and mizzen alone. It was getting dark and boys were ready for bed, so we decided not to hank on the stays'l. We were sailing along just fine, Tor on deck and the boys and I down below reading the BFG by Roald Dahl (great book!). About a chapter in, the seastate picked up and was confused and really uncomfortable. We were bouncing around a lot. It felt pretty chaotic on deck, so Tor decided to let me keep sleeping below with the boys, and he stayed up on deck all night. He caught sleep here and there by laying down in the hard steel deck, whatta guy!

This though is where our decision to not hank on the stays'l proved to be unfortunate. With just the main and the mizzen flying, the rig was a bit unbalanced. Twice in the night the seastate tossed us about so much that the windvane was overpowered and we found ourselves pointed directly into the wind, in irons. We were stuck so well that we had to turn the engine on to give us enough maneuverability to fall off and keep sailing. With a headsail, we probably wouldn't have run into that problem, but hey, we are always learning!

This morning we are still sailing along (yes, with a headsail) and playing catch up. Things are still pretty bouncy so the boys are choosing to stay in our berth looking at Where's Waldo books and Tor is sleeping. The wind has moderated, so hopefully the seastate will follow suit and we will all feel a bit better soon.