Seventeenth day out -Are we there yet?

I must admit that it has been a rather stressful last couple of days.

With all the mishaps we had over the last couple of days, coupled with a general lack of wind and the fact that we felt tantalizing close (triple digit miles) to Hawaii, I was more on edge to be done with this passage then at any other point during this trip.

Personally I’ve been getting enough rest and sleep but I’ve been laying down a lot more than usual and both George and Jean have made comments about being tired. I have to assume that hand steering is slowly taking its mental and physical toll on us.

It is not as if the hand steering is too physically exhausting as we tend to reef the sails down to keep the helm under control, but we have to constantly, and I mean constantly, look at the compass to keep us on course and keep the boat sailing fast and straight. Of course you can sail by the stars and clouds and ship shape, however I’ve found that if you don’t keep an eye on the compass 95% of the time the boat speed slows down, the boat gets off course and you end up doing “S” curves through the water.

I know I have gotten into a rhythm on my shifts. After about the first 5 minutes I settle down and can keep the boat on course within +\- 5 degrees, however keeping the course that tight requires constant motion at the helm and correction of the wheel for every wave and puff of wind.

And to top it all off we broke a lower shroud attachment point yesterday. Luckily it was the forward lower on the lee side which has the least stress of all and I was able to lash it down with some amsteel. It must have broken when we were motor sailing over the last couple days and the boom was slamming and banging about.
Oh well, one more thing to fix and be aware of!

Position update at 1200 local time April 9, 2016:
20 54.403 N
147 23.460 W
160 nautical mile noon to noon run
545 nautical miles to destination
6.8 Kt. SOG
281 COG