| Lat | Lon | Boat name ▼ | Note | Created at | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27º 5.586' N | 142º 11.514' E | Pino | The winds did lessen, in the morning but we had to do long east to west tacks to beat to our destination. We could see Hahajima to our right, but it took some time before we could glimpse Chichijima. We only did in late afternoon, when the wind died... At this point in time we were both tired, and decided to try and enter Futami Port at night. The moon was round and bright, and we figured the port itself would be well-lit. We were right. We arrived in port at 9pm, and found the dock with ease. We are here, we can rest — WE'RE IN JAPAN!!!! | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 25º 52.122' N | 142º 9.672' E | Pino | Winds were non-existent this morning but gradually returned throughout the day. We made very goo speed and thought we'd arrive in port tomorrow, but then at 9pm the winds picked up from the north in the 20-25 knot range and we found ourselves going in the opposite direction. We spent the night doing long tacks, easts to west, and west to east, not doing any real progress at all. The wind was blowing too strongly, and our northward progress made impossible. This always happens when we are just a day, or a few hours short of our goal. The weather throws a tantrum, making our lives difficult. We spent hours bucking in mounting seas, riding the backs of angry wet bulls, sleeping little and hoping it would all just stop. We were confident that we could arrive tomorrow, but now we're not so sure we can make it. It's disheartening. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 24º 14.016' N | 142º 14.754' E | Pino | Winds dropped to a 10-15 knots today, from the N and then the NE. Then, as is typical of this area the winds steadily lessened. The good news is that this gives us a window to go directly northward, COG 0 at 4 knots. Less eventful day than yesterday, slept a whole lot because we both slept badly last night and finally got around to cutting that pumpkin – our last good veggie. Made some Japanese curry for dinner with it. Not much else is going on, we're down to about 170NM to Chichijima. We're motoring to go forward since the wind, as of this evening, has vacated the area entirely. We're going slow, dreaming of land and Japanese food. Possible arrival on Saturday morning, maybe Friday late afternoon if the wind returns from a favourable direction. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 23º 41.514' N | 142º 44.532' E | Pino | Today started out slow, with weak winds coming out of the north. The grib files aren't very helpful most times, yesterday called for NE but that's not what we got. We were forced to go further west. Then later, the wind picked up blowing 18-25 knots out of the north and gusting to 26-27 knots — all from the direction we need to go. We beat into the waves, bow buried into the sea at times, unbeknownst to us the bilge filled with water and because of the angle of heel our inverter got salt water splashed onto it and it died. Wish we had secured it better. Now we've got no simple way to charge our laptops. A lot of waves come through the anchor locker, which we believe has a leak, same for the windlass chain hole. Our bilge is small and fills up quickly and we realized it too late. Sigh, not a good day on Pino. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 22º 11.772' N | 144º 58.698' E | Pino | The wind returned, blowing 10-15 knots out of the north. We're expecting the wind to increase and to shift to the NE tomorrow. Our COG is still 330, and we're cruising at a speed of 3-4 knots into the wind We had a bout of 15-20 knot winds which stirred up a few good waves, our bow diving into the water at times. We are down to 340NM to Chichijima. No ships sighted today. Temperature is cooler, we're wearing more layers and sleeping with a heavier blanket. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 21º 11.202' N | 145º 55.674' E | Pino | Another slow day. Woke up to a sea of liquid metal, barely a ripple. Can't say we made much progress, although we did use the iron wind to get us through this quiet patch. Wind is supposed to return tonight in force and should stay with us till we get to Chichijima. Making slow progress when you're so close is frustrating. We are under 420NM. We've got an unexpected contrary current to contend with, if the wind isn't strong enough it feels like we're sailing through jello. Not much else to report, aside from the fact that our wind meter's needle is stuck again. We think the weak winds are to blame. Hopefully it'll spring back to life soon. Looking forward to arriving. Devine is good at making interesting meals from cans, but we're both dreaming of raw greens and crunchy vegetables. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 20º 5.778' N | 146º 51.912' E | Pino | The wind left us early this morning. A 200NM gap of no wind lies ahead, and so we decided to spend the day bobbing on the water pointing in our desired destination. The waves and weak winds carried us at a slow, but steady 1-2 knots. A few more ships moved past us today, we've noticed that they do alter course to avoid us. We really appreciate that. We feel like a turtle on a highway, moving along, slow-like, with the cars speeding past. We baked bread yesterday and had it for dinner with hummus and a glass of wine. It's our first time drinking on this trip, a small glass to celebrate arriving under 500NM. I saw our resident gecko for the first time in 2 months today, casually walking on deck - like it owns the place. I'm happy Percival is alive. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 18º 53.976' N | 147º 31.482' E | Pino | Another calm and smooth day, soaking on flat seas at 5 knots in 15-20 knots out of the NE. Still encountering ships out here. We see targets on AIS that are 100nm away sometimes, and make a game of guessing it's name. Needless to say we're always wrong. Hard to guess a name like "Forestal Pacifico". One ship came by that wasn't on AIS, a reminder that it's important to remember to look around once in a while. Tomorrow the winds are supposed to die completely, and will return shortly after from the north. This is good for us, we'll be close reaching and Pino handles that well enough. Still skirting the Marianas, our target lying ahead, getting closer by the day. We're planning to wait for wind, and to motor at night if the wind isn't back by then. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 17º 5.538' N | 148º 34.56' E | Pino | Ahh what a lovely day! Winds are down to a nice 15-18kts, sea is calm and after 5 days of rough weather we can relax a bit. We're pointing a bit more north today COG 330 at a comfortable 5 knots, following the Marianas. We're not the only ones out here, lots of traffic going both south and north to various destinations. Right now I have 5 targets on AIS, all cargo ships, different than from seeing fishing boats. Many have Japanese names. Did not expect this level of traffic here, but I guess it makes sense for boats to make their way along this island chain. Not much to say, we had mapo tofu for dinner and poked fun at a masked booby that we saw surfing the waves on an old plastic crate, earlier it was circling our boat looking for a perch and decided that it preferred the water logged crate. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 16º 7.428' N | 150º 29.502' E | Pino | Winds 22-25 kts, gusting 28-30. Pino's cockpit is so welcoming that waves are frequent visitors. We're nearing Saipan, and the northern Mariannas, as well as the end of what seems to be the NE tradewind area. Soon we'll turn the bow northward to Chichijima. We reduced sail even further at night, adding a 3rd reef for peace of mind. The last few nights have been very squally, and with the strong trades the squalls too are made stronger. We also wanted to practice putting the 3rd reef in cause it isn't something we've used before, although we did practice it in calm seas. Today we made many mistakes and it look a lot longer than it was supposed to. In big seas it's not easy to set up, wrestling a billowy sail as the boat keeps trying to turn away from the wind, wth sea water licking at your heels, by the end of it we we're both terribly exhausted. We had bread and hummus for dinner, and because of the deliciousness of the meal we both felt better about our failures with the reef. Next time will be better. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 15º 24.42' N | 152º 55.512' E | Pino | Today was more pleasant,winds and seas calmed a little. Winds 18-22. We reached our halfway mark and had delicious pancakes with fizzy maple syrup, yup, our maple syrup fizzed when I opened it "tssst". "Um" I wondered, putting my nose to it. "I think it's alcohol now." That's what happens when you try and ration a good thing. We had it anyway, and it was delicious. The night was more boisterous, winds 25-33kts, high and fast seas. We're edging along a corridor of foul weather, hoping to get out of it today. All our foul weather gear is drenched in sea water, not very pleasant to slip into. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 14º 12.492' N | 154º 41.55' E | Pino | Wind still strong, 20-25kts. We're still stuck in a patch of not so fun squally weather. Haven't found out why tachometer (yes I know what it's called now) isn't working. Not a big deal tho. We'll have a look at the panel in calmer seas (if ever that happens), seems fine on the engine side. We're nearing the halfway point, will be having pancakes for dinner to celebrate! Yasss! The night was rough, non-stop squalls and waves wetting us in the cockpit. Wind, too, was high, blowing consistently at 28-31kts. Hoping to reach the end of this bad patch of weather. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 13º 25.488' N | 156º 56.46' E | Pino | Winds blowing 20-25 knots out of NE, gusting at 30-35 knots at times. Not super pleasant. The waves make it hard to do anything inside. Today we were going to give our batteries a charge using the engine, but the alternator belt broke. Wanted to change it but sea is too bumpy and it will make me sick. To make things worse, the speed indicator for the engine doesn't work anymore. Sigh. Things always break in pairs. It's the original panel, may be time to change it. We think it's an electrical issue. Will have a look tomorrow. Cruising at 5-6 knots, sometimes 7-8, rain clouds in the horizon. That night came a ballet of squalls, one after the other. Not a relaxing day that's for sure. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 12º 52.152' N | 158º 58.542' E | Pino | Today the weather was perfect, wind between 10-15 knots NE, all was good, until I spotted a fishing vessel on AIS. We were heading toward it, so I decided to round it from the rear as it's speed was grander than ours. At this point I could see just one boat, but as tacked south, more and more came into view. As it turns out, this was a long line fishing boat, with an endless line of buoys and nets that extend far beyond what I thought possible. Each buoy had an AIS but were only visible up to 6NM, at first I saw 5 and figured that was all there was, and continue on south, but then came another.. and another... and another! 40-50 in all, forming a line nearly 40 nm long - i shit you not. We liked to think they weren't happy we were there either. We spent the day finding the end of the buoy line so we could continue going west, it took us all day. We crossed paths at 9am, and passed the tail end at 9pm. Needless to say, we were in a shit mood. One thing happened though that lifted our spirits. 3 masked boobies spent the evening fighting for the spot atop our mast - prime real estate you see. After many failed attempts one succeeded, and also brought our faulty wind meter back to life...! Another bird landed up there a few days ago and we now think that it was responsible for getting the little propeller stuck in the first place. It seems a boobie (maybe the same one) returned to fix it :>. How kind. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 12º 50.802' N | 160º 55.608' E | Pino | Had a very eventful night. Wind freshened, blowing 20 knot plus, gusting in the 30s at times. The wind wasn't a problem though, we had a good angle and were ready. We had 2 reefs in the main and reduced the size of the jib, we did this to help reduce our speed which was in the 8 knot range - kind of fast for Pino. The waves were large, it's been a long time since we've seen waves this big. The weather in the north is to blame we suspect. Even with a tiny jib and reefed main, we still moved at 5-6kts. Woke this morning to a messy sea, it was un recognizable. The ocean like liquid mountains, angry peaks smashing into one another. Pino did well, and we, got wet. Large puffy clouds came in succession, keeping us thoroughly moistened. The wind, seas and rain did lessen later in the day, the ocean returned to normal, moving in an organized fashion. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 12º 11.478' N | 162º 23.322' E | Pino | Winds returned in force, averaging 15-20kts from the NE. Pino is flying! In fact, we fear we'll be arriving very early if this keeps up. Arriving earlier just means it'll be much cooler in Japan. Oh well, once we start encountering NW winds it should slow us down a bit. The wind meter is still faulty, ever pointing right, GFS model is not very accurate we've found, but we adapt. Devine's dad is also helping out, giving us the predictions of another model, Our Majuro veggies did not fair so well, we ate most but did lose a potato. Looking forward to being somewhere with better veggies, | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 11º 21.39' N | 163º 51.288' E | Pino | Slow day today. Winds are very light, suffered the flogging of our main for some time. The wind never left, but is quite timid. Despite this, we're cruising at a good speed, averaging 3 knots. The current is helping us a lot. The bananas we bought have all conspired to brown on the same day, and so I baked a banana bread. I was reminded then of the transit between nuku Hiva and rangiroa, when we left with a great big stalk of bananas, and that they too, thought it a good idea to grow spotty all at once. Been in contact with the Ogasawara (Japanese) coastguard, sending them corrections to the pre-arrival documents I've sent. They are very polite, patient, and persistent. We don't usually get replies for advance arrival notices, it's kind of great that they are communicative like this. Late in the evening, the wind left us, and we bobbed about for most of the night. The wind meter's needle also seems stuck, pointing north. This has never happened before, we've had trouble with the wind speed but never with wind direction. Hope this is a temporary thing. In the meantime, I've installed little ribbons to help us gauge wind direction without it. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 10º 31.572' N | 165º 21.9' E | Pino | Winds did not lighten as forecasted, and were in the 15-25kts range. The wind is at our backs, making it a comfortable ride. Sky is unbelievably clear, and our seabird friends have not abandoned us yet. We're passing Bikini atoll at the moment, in darkness, and exiting the military zone soon too. We listened for broadcasts for announcements of possible military activity in the area, but heard nothing. Making good progress, cruising at 5-6 knots, a change from the slow passage from Fiji to Majuro. We started doing readings to each other in evenings after dinner, and rly enjoying it! | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 10º 7.698' N | 167º 18.408' E | Pino | Wind lightened last night, but the current helped us along. Wind returned with the sun, convenient. Had a day of pleasant downwind sailing, terns followed us, catching the fish the bigger fish scared up to the surface. A frigate bird also showed up, stealing the catch of other birds. Quiet day, winds supposed lighten further tomorrow before picking up a lot the next day. I'm rereading box wine sailors, and missing Mexico and cheap margaritas. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 8º 47.418' N | 169º 27.27' E | Pino | Good first day! We went real fast, helped by good wind averaging 15-20kts and fast seas. Sunny day. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 7º 7.44' N | 171º 18.318' E | Pino | Test. | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 0º 0.0' N | 0º 0.0' E | Pino | This is a test entry for Pino! We made a short sail away from downtown to a nearby anchorage. Very idyllic. We're going to dive under the boat today to give it a good clean before we head out tomorrow! | almost 6 years ago | Show |
| 7º 6.282' N | 171º 22.302' E | Pino | Figured we should try and keep this updated, we've arrived in Majuro , yet
another stop on our way to Japan. This is what Pino is up to :), we'll try and update this more in the future, if only we stopped forgetting about it. | about 6 years ago | Show |
| 16º 48.72' S | 150º 59.442' W | Pino | Been anchored in Avea bay for 2 weeks now, it's wonderful here. The swimming is great, anchorage is quiet. Also, we can get wifi on the boat! | over 7 years ago | Show |
| 8º 54.528' S | 140º 4.44' W | Pino | Didn't update our route at all, sorry about that. We arrived safely in Nuku Hiva after spending 28 days at sea. | over 7 years ago | Show |
| 24º 9.36' N | 110º 19.428' W | Pino | almost 8 years ago | Show |
