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Showing posts from August, 2009

Burr... It's getting cold

As Meshach heads into the northern latitudes and colder weather the crew have now started to put on their socks and shoes for their night watches. The winds have picked up and the seas were a bit bumpy last night. They reefed down the sails last night , but are now under full sail doing 5 knots in 15 knots of wind from the NE. They are headed north and the seas have flattened a little this morning. Their position is 35.40 North 148.33 West (see map) As far as entertainment they are all getting a lot of reading in. Thor says mahalo to Candice and Mark for the books, he finished the Book Thief and Life of Pi

Aug 30 Scooting Along

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Same story different day... The boys are scooting along nicely doing 8 knots in 10-15 knots of wind from the NE. They are headed to a waypoint of 36 north 144 west. Today they are at 35.16 N 149.44W . Meanwhile we are enjoying our last days at home. Having lots of fun!

We Need 240 Mile Days

With 1700 miles to go the boat would need to maintain a steady speed of ten knots in order for the boat to reach Santa Babara by September 6th. (That's when we are scheduled to arrive) Not looking promising. Meshach has no problem sailing those speeds, but you need wind and well that has not been the story, until now. Right now they are sailing a speed of about 10 knots in 10 to 15 knots of wind from the south east. So even if they maintain this speed over the next week, which is unlikely they will still be short of the coast by about 100 miles. So it looks like we might just stay put a few extra days. They are expecting more wind according to the router, but we will have to wait and see. Aug 29 07:30 Don't they know it's Saturday and I was sleeping in. NOT!! 35.17 North 151.49 West winds 10-15 SE Till Tomorrow!

Finally Some Wind

Aug 29 33.53 North 152.12 North 10 knots of wind from the SW doing 6 knots After 20 hours of the running the engine they have finally found the pocket of wind they need. According to the weather maps and the weather router they should be getting NW winds later today and start putting some miles behind them. Not much to report other than, Espressos and Biscotti for breakfast,they are hoping to catch a fish for lunch, and Steve spotted a ship on his night watch passing them and headed to Hawaii. Ooh Exciting! I am being sarcastic. Thor was hoping to catch up on reading. In the last few years it's been nothing other than how to books or operation manuals. No excuses now. At day ten they are still not at the halfway point. So all those nice halfway presents are still sitting to be opened. I might just have to stay a few days longer and enjoy some Kauai beach time with friends and family.

One week and counting

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Aug 27 Weather Map Meshach is at 33.14 N 153.28 W They are in 8-10 knots of wind steering a course of 50 degrees. Today marks one week since they left Kauai and they are not quite half way across. They are experiencing what Thor called a HUGE groundswell from the north. They will contact the weather router today to see what they need to avoid. They have enjoyed receiving the text messages and say hi back to all who have written. All is well.

Clean Sheets and Showers

Yeah! I was finally able to add the map that will allow everyone to follow the boats position across the Pacific. Aug 26 @ 07:30 their position was 32.23 North 155.41 West. Not many miles were covered yesterday as they crawled along at two knots in flat seas, but they are now a much cleaner crew. Calm seas and a slow moving boat allowed them to do laundry, make water and have a much needed hot shower. Wow! Now that is luxury! Nothing like fresh sheets after six nights of salt scrubs. Hey people pay big bucks for that kind of treatment! On Tuesday they sailed through a cold front and are now in 20 knots of wind from the WNW. They are sailing along at 8 knots in 6 foot seas. They sound good and are enjoying being out there . I asked them if they have started estimating an arrival time. Not so much as they are still trying to get north and into some favorable winds. They have been using Commander Weather, a weather routing service that helps them determine the best point of sail to get th

Day 5 180 Miles

Just got the update from Kara (Adams Wife) I am glad she got the call but missed hearing Thor's voice, even though it's only for a millisecond and we only talk about the weather. Aug 25 @ 0:700 30 degrees 51 minutes North 156 degrees 33 minutes West They are doing 4.5 knots right now but were averaging 7-8 during the night. They did about 180 miles in 24 hours which is pretty good. On day two out they did catch a baby Mahi Mahi that was just big enough for lunch for the three of them. I hoped they used the tortillas for fish tacos. Yes! that's me micromanaging. A cold front was approaching that should bring a southwesterly breeze that will be favorable for them. Kara was happy to hear his voice and said Adam was pretty sure at this rate he would miss a bachelor party in Tahoe, but it is still early in the trip so you never know. Other than a Tropic Bird they haven't seen much sea life, and have only spotted two ships. The Keiki and I are counting the days and checkin

Aug 24

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OK All is well. Today's position is 28.24 North 157.12 west Winds 15 ENE Boat Speed 8-9 knots Skies are partly cloudy and squally conditions Barometer reads 1018 This is an image of the wind direction and speed for today. Imagine the lines are flags and the tails show the direction that the wind is blowing. Every tail represents 10 knots of wind and 1/2 a tail is 5 knots. So based their position, they better take a right hand turn and head east. They where in good spirits and eating a deluxe omelet that Steve whipped up. They weren't complaining about the food weight now! They were very thankful for their gourmet eats...

Seas Calming

UPDATE! All is well on the high seas. The seas have calmed down and they are sailing in 2 foot seas with the ENE wind blowing a nice 15 Knots. The boat speed in 8-9 knots and they are all feeling great. The boats position @ 08:00 was 26.36 north 157.54 west. Track the boat here h ttp://earth.google.com/ Our phone calls are to the point. Where are you? Are you ok? How far have you traveled? Not much material to add to the blog. I am sure there will be plenty of fish tales on the other side. For now the land based Temme clan is busy finishing up "THE LIST" to transition into boat life. Wow ! It wasn't this hard last time around. I am looking forward to the simple life.

Day Two

Good Morning 08:11 Just heard from the crew and all is well. There position is 25.12 north 157.57 west The ocean is ugly and confused 5-6 foot swell. The winds are at 15 knots and they are reefed down after a night full of squalls. The boat is slogging along at 4 knots... That is really slow and does not sound fun. They are in contact with a weather router who is calling for the winds to lighten up. I don't know if that is good or bad. Mal De Mar is present but subsiding. They sound in good spirits and say Hi. I am working on an interactive map for the sight so we can see and plot there daily progress.

Meshach Location 08:15

I just got the first Satellite phone call from the crew. Their position is 23 degrees 27min north 158 degrees 25 min west. They are sailing along at a good speed in somewhat bumpy seas. All is well. The watch schedule will be 4 hours on 8 hours off. Thor will be from 6-10 Steve will do 10-2 Adam will do 2-8... I can text them a message. So if you want to leave a message let me know! Not much more to report as we are keeping the calls short. Off to my Birthday Massage.. Thank you Thor..

Meshach Departs

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After four years of hard work refitting Meshach and months of preparing her and our family for this exciting adventure Meshach , has finally lifted her sails and presently charges northbound into the vast Pacific. Thor, Steve and Adam left this afternoon at 1:58 pm from Nawiliwili , Kauai. With overcast skies, a dampness in the air and white capped seas they sailed under reefed mains as family and friends watched from the dock. Tristan and I drove to the Ninini Lighthouse and arrived just as they were clearing the headland of Ninini Point. We called to say our final farewells and their spirits seemed as lively as the seas. There were tears of joy for so much accomplished, joined with tears of sadness as my best friend and our home for the next year set off into the vast Pacific. I am comforted by the combined knowledge and experience of the crew, the dedication to a long project and knowing that Thor is with two amazing friends. At 6:00 we received our last call as they sailed ou

Bon Voyage Party

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What a fun evening full of laughter, music, great food, fun drinks and wonderful friends. Thank you for such a great send off for the crew and our family. We will miss our Kauai home and Ohana but look forward to some wonderful adventures. For those who loved the Sangria here is the recipe: We need to come up with a good name. Any Suggestions? Signature boat drink! This is for 20 servings I tripled it... 1-2/3 cups brandy 3/4 cup and 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1 cup and 2 tablespoons frozen lemonade concentrate 3 cups orange juice 3- (750 milliliter) bottles dry red wine any wine dry and fruity works good 1-2/3 cups triple sec 3-1/4 lemon, sliced into rounds 3-1/4 orange, s

Transisition

We are officially homeless. Our tenants moved in and we are now in transistion mode. We are living with Grandma and Grandpa until we fly to Cali to catch up with the boat. Leaving now will be the harder on the kids. Living with the G's is heaven for Tristan and Sienna . The built in babysitters are not too shabby for mom eaither. The hard part is finding some routine. Well now it's all being thrown to the wind.