The Sailing Shipleys

My real log is written in the sea and sky; the sails talking with the rain and the stars amid the sounds of the sea, the silences full of secret things between my boat and me.

Bernard Moitessier

Jimmy is sailing from Mexico to the Marquesas Islands. Check in here to see what life has been like at sea during this 20+ day passage!

Note: This is Jimmy’s unedited passage log. We share a Google doc, and thanks to Starlink, I (Tory) can see his updates and musings, then copy them here for your viewing! I’ve posted them in chronological order. Click on the day below for faster navigation!

(1) Underway; (2 & 3) At Isla San Benedicto; (4) Fish on!

Day 4

1200-0300

Winds are very low. Maybe as low 6 knots at sometimes and the behind it is large. Put those two together and you get slow and very rolling days. The boat feels slow. Life is better with the whisker pole up but still not great. A lot of sail flapping because there’s just not enough wind to keep it full against the roll and pitch of the boat. 

Position. 

15’41.00 N 117’8.00 

24hr run: 139Nm 

Not a great run. Our worst yet. We fear the wind will be like this all the way to the equator, which means for a slower passage than desired. 

0900 Alex comes up on deck. “We are too slow, we need to do something about it.” It’s time for the ballooner. That’s what he calls the spinnaker. 

(A good way to imagine it in your head) From the movie wind: “Get out the Whomper!… the what?!?! THE WHOMPER!!!” 

This Amel has a complicated system for raising a spinnaker which should otherwise be a very routine and easy task. Also it is only designed to be used when going wing on wing, downwind. Silly, no broad reaching with your spinnaker on this boat. Still possible but would require a different sail. Here the spinnaker feeds up the forestay track on the opposite side of the Genoa. And there’s a plastic piece on the top of the spinnaker that clips into a bell at the head of the forestsy, then to drop it a different plastic piece is raised on a third track on the fore stay to release the sail and let it come down. Why so complex? Idk. But it does allow you to roll up both sails together if you want to or things get to windy. 

All that to say it took three of us on deck 2-3 hours and 3 different hoists to get it right and set. I was very glad to have Steve onboard who has a significant amount of foredeck experience on fast race boats. He was kind and throughout and did the hard work of sitting in the bow pulpit and making sure the sail fed right and didn’t drop into the water on more than one occasion, if it dodged go into the water we would’ve been in really bad luck. The Pacific Ocean is not the place to go shrimping with your spinnaker. I sat at the mast and winched the whole sail up, that alone took a while. 

Anyways spinnaker is up and the boat is much faster and much more happy. Much less rolling. 

Now I sit in the cockpit and watch us fly down waves as we flutter around the boats top speed. This is much better. 

1600

Sitting in cockpit alone. Steve and Alex are both on their daily ciesta, aka nap. We all nap randomly throughout the day, mine was 1200-1430. 

It’s very peaceful now with the spinnaker up. The max speed I’ve seen flash in the screen was 9.8, must have caught a wave just right. Running wing on wing the boat is balanced very well and she is happy, and her crew is also very happy. Happy for the speed, reduced noise as sails flop and smack less (Steve says he’s looking forward to his sleep tonight, the noisy sails kept him up the last two nights). Happy because the motion is so improved. 

Peaceful. Sitting in the cockpit looking at my kindle and watching the flying fish gracefully leap out of the water and humming over the surface just 6 inches. Seabirds swooping around, I can’t identify them, they look like boobies but are smaller than the boobie and have white underbellies and brown/black backs. They go this way and that so easily. Amazing that this is their home or at least their playground or feeding ground. Here 600nm from any mainland, maybe just a small island to land on about 200nm away. Incredible isn’t it? 

***clarification note: I’ve been getting me true and apparent wind mixed up. Because the gage in the cockpit simply reads apparent wind. 

We are moving speed over ground (SOG) at 7.5 knots and the gage might read 10 knots of wind. We are going straight down wind moving with it. The true wind is 17.5 knots of wind. Not just 10. This makes more sense.***

Day 5

0300-0600 watch. Another night with little to no wind, not sure why it dies off so much each night but it does. Painful to listen to everything bang and thrash/ripple loosely in the light waves and zero wind. 

Position: 

13’38.50 N 118’31.00 W 

24 hour run: 147Nm 

Slightly better, noticeable difference with the spinnaker up by midday yesterday, but clearly wind speeds didn’t hold into the night which hurts the average when you do 3-5 knots through the night instead of 6-9. 

1200 bread loaf take #2 is in the works. And the clouds have burned off and the heat is returned. I suppose it will only get hotter from here forward. That’s what we get for heading to the tropics. Equator bound! 

Loaf #2 turning out great. Even better than the first. Call me butter because I’m on a role 😉 

1830: all sitting in cockpit and finishing up the tasty Mexican bowls I made for us. Using up some of the last of our fresh veggies. We were all happy clams when we look forward to see the spinnaker dropping, floating down to the deck and into the water. 

Steve and I quickly ran forward to get the sail under control and Alex rolled up the forestay so that at least part of the spinnaker would get rolled on board. We were able to pull the rest of it out of the water fairly quickly and without much fuss. This was surprising as Steve and I both thought as we watched it fall into the water that it was going to get damaged or be very challenging to recover. 

We opened the forward locker hatch and began unwrapping the wet mess of a sail into the locker. There was nothing more we were going to do to the sail at this late hour just before dark. We had it all cleaned and stowed in a few minutes and went back to the cockpit to commiserate about our bad luck and how that was our last spinnaker mouse (a plastic piece, lashed to the head of the sail and attached the sail to a drum at the head of the forestay) 

Feeing defeated and unhappy to return to slow speeds and an awkwardly rolling boat.

Day 6

Position: 11’49.00 N 119’56.00 W 

24 hr run: 138Nm 

Alex has another mouse for the spinnaker set up. Yay! The last last last one in the supply box. 

Also in the morning, Alex says he’s been making water with the water maker every night this week. We now have full tanks again. A whole 900 liters, I have no idea what that is in gallons but it’s a lot. 

So he says we can take showers again! Haha I asked if we were starting to smell and we laughed and said of course that’s not it. Anyways, Steve and I both took showers on the stern with the wash down hose after the spinnaker work was done. There’s nothing like your first shower in over a week, I wasn’t expecting any during the crossing so this was a treat. 

1100 we went forward to figure out the spinnaker just one more time. The whole thing was still in the locker in the bow where we left it wet and disappointed the previous evening. We felt very confident in the process of running the lines, running the tapes on the spinnaker (a technique used to make sure there is no twist in the sail when you hoist, took me back to my foredeck days on Epiphany and how I miss it) 

Steve having racing foredeck experience and myself made quick work of the set up. The sail went up without any fuss and we were pleased with ourselves. 

This time however we then rolled up the forwstay just a little so that the Genoa and spinnaker pinch one another on the stay. Hopefully this way even if the mouse (plastics piece holding spinnaker at the top of forestay) breaks the sail won’t come crashing down. 

1620 The rest of the day has lazy and relaxed full of naps and a little fussing with fishing poles. With both sails up we make better time and get much less roll from the sea.

Day 7

1230 – stars and bioluminesces at night never gets old. 

We’ve made it to 10 N 120 W. The mark they always talked about in the weather briefings. So now we go south and to the pacific islands 

Position: 9’59.00 N 121’29.00 

24 hr run: 139Nm 

Slow easy day. No sail change, consistent light but steady wind. 

Day 8: Saturday April 13th 

Position: 7’59.500 N 122’53.00

24 hr run: 149Nm 

(Taken at 0630 each day) 

0530: we just rain. The first we’ve had this whole trip, we’ve seen it on the horizon a few times while at sea but never lucky enough to get any. I’m learning that this cockpit is not very water tight, you get dripped on in almost every spot except if standing in the companionway. That’s less than ideal for standing watch. Good thing the rain only lasted 10 minutes. 

0625: Single digit latitude numbers now, as we count down to the equator. 

2130: latitude 6’ N 

wind dying off completely now and the sea starting to lay down more flat. 

Throughout my watch rain and clouds came and went. It down poured for 20 minutes at 2200. Then it left and the sky opened up again to many stars. But by 2330-0000s dark clouds starting to form around the boat again. Hard to tell what anything is at night. Such quick systems and variable winds lends itself to say maybe this is the doldrums we’ve been anticipating, but they would be unfortunate as we are still a good 360Nm from the equator and where we really expected to find them. 

Day 9: Sunday April 14th

Position: 5’41.9 N 123’10.95 W 

24 hr run: 139Nm 

The wind continued to head us and build over night. Alex wanted to motor so we did but it was rough moving at dawn against wind and waves. This morning at 0730 Alex and I brought out the stay sail mizzen and slowly Alex decided to also use the main since the wind felt so light. We can’t use Genoa as we left it rigged up to the pole last night. We end up using the stay sail instead and it’s nice to have so many sails and so many options. 

It’s funny you’d think this close to the equator we’d either be in the trades or in the doldrums. Instead we are headed dead south but sailing close hauled up wind against a steady breeze and good sized waves. So confusing. 

A blue plastic bottle just passed by. Crazy this far out and in middle of no where and man’s trash is still here. Good reminder. 

Day 10: Monday, April 15th

0130 – a sporty start to the day. Watch started off uneventful and no wind motor sailing in the dark. Good sized squall came through and brought a lot of wind with it. Our wind indicator stopped working a few days ago all of the sudden, so there’s no way to tell exactly what the wind got to and hard to know in the dark as well. 

A solar panel almost got blown off up forward which we’ve noticed can happen at 25+ knots of wind. I woke Alex up so somewhere else would be in cockpit while I went forward to secure the panel. It was quick. This is truly the squally doldrums I’ve read so much about. 

Position: 4’ 4.9 N 124’5.00 W 

24 hr run: 111Nm 

Wind is still strong and coming out of the SW we are finally sailing and saving our diesel again. But we’ve been headed far off course and are going WSW at about 240. Not really what we want right now. I hope we are able to tack and correct more towards our destination. 

1055 April 15th 2024. 

Position, 3’48.00 N 124’27.50 W 

Today I sprinkled some of my Dad’s ashes in the North Pacific Ocean. In a few days we will cross the equator and I will put more of him in the South Pacific as well. I know he never dreamed beyond the Chesapeake Bay but this way he gets to swim with more than just catfish. I pray the whales, sharks and Manta Rays we’ve seen out here don’t mind his company too much and he finds rest. 

1245 wind slowing in the doldrums. Maybe we can turn to the south soon or motor again. Only the patient sailor can make it through the doldrums haha 

All in all a slow and calm day. The wind varied from strong to light all day but always out of the south. Technically we are pointed directly at the Marquesas Islands so that’s good. Our speed various with the wind, as low as 3 knots to as high as 6.5 knots. 

It was the first day in three that we had mostly clear and blue skies, a good break from the grey clouds, mist, rain and threatening storms we were getting used to down here. A fair breeze and a fair day is nothing to complain about. We walked the deck to clean the solar panels and check the forestay bolt that we’ve been keeping an eye on. As we are using staysail instead of Genoa the forestay bolt didn’t work lose any so that was good as well for today. 

I’m almost done with my book Two Years Before the Mast and am in aw of how hard life was for a sailor in 1830. Forecastle men worked and treated like dogs, hard service. 

We are past the halfway point but that is always hard to tell on such a journey. Yet the islands lay only 1100nm away as the crow flies. 

Day 11: Tuesday, April 16th

Position: 2’54.95 N 125’22.00 W 

24 hr run: 105Nm 

Our new shortest run, which I guess isn’t bad considering where we are in the sea, what does one expect of the doldrums. 

0300-0600 watch went by smoothly. Same light winds from the south are holding. We move slow and steadily through the doldrums just inching closer to the equator. 

The clear sky day previous yielded a wonderful night for star gazing. I made out many constellations, admiring the faint view of three Milky Way and watching Scorpio slowly move across the sky as the hours ticked by. Saw one shooting star as well. Slow and peaceful. 

1045 we had a visitor. I could hear the squeaking and echo sounds from my bunk in the forepeak and rushed out to see. Up at the bow there it was, just one big dolphin that we did not recognize and were unable to identify. I say dolphin but he was twice the size of the normal dolphin and had a round head with no sharp nose, he stayed a while and swam up and down the starboard side of the boat which currently our leeside. It was fantastic and large and cleared his blow hole often letting us see him up close. 

Day 12: Wednesday, April 17th

Another very slow day in the doldrums, but happy to be moving. 

Position: 01’ 52.63 N 125’ 56.93 W 

24 hr run: 72Nm 

0630 we must be too slow as Alex turned on the motor, the first we’ve really used it in 3 or 4 days. 

1200 we decided that we are far enough west now to dictate another time zone change. The sun seemed to be out of time with what we had set our ships clock to. So at midday we set the clocks back one hour. 

1600 we are in the last degree of latitude before the equator. We are motoring since the wind has died almost completely off just like it was early in the morning. Motoring at 5-7 knots we’ve made good progress today. This is exciting. 

Latitude: 00’ 46.5 N 

Less than 50 miles to go!

We will cross sometime tonight. 

2000 We are also officially now less than 1000nm from our destination. Of course that is a straight line distance which we will never take but still it’s very nice to feel this close. 

Day 13: Thursday, April 18th 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TORY SHIPLEY!!! 

I hope your 31st birthday is spent joyfully with family and friends, know you are loved. 

Approximately 0105 we crossed the equator!!! 

Position: 0’30.0 S 126’ 45.0 W 

25 hr run: (we added 1hr to the day) 151 Nm 

1021: Ahoy sailors! Ahh the seas and how to describe them…. Mystical really. 

Currently the conditions are flat and glassy. The light winds we had left us 2 days ago and we’ve been motoring since yesterday morning. Before that we were hardly making way with only 2-3 knots of boat speed. 

Last night we crossed the equator, which was awesome if only symbolic. My shipmates were lame and only interested in drinking the champagne, no shenanigans. They had little care or desire for the lore of old and only laughed at me for caring about it. Strange really. Why be a sailor if you have no love for the rich history which makes it so vibrant and interesting even still today? 

So by myself I poured some champagne out for good ol’ Neptune and then dumped a bucket of salt water on my head to baptize myself with the South Pacific. Neptune requires his penance. The only thing I forgot to do was to yell across the line at the previous side of the equator, the northern hemisphere. But as the northern hemisphere has always been kind to me (both Atlantic and now Pacific) I did not feel the need to yell at it, instead I thanked it privately while pouring out the champagne for the pleasant passage across its great waters. 

To reflect momentarily, the wildlife has been impressive. Even just the birds and flying fish. Example, This morning sitting in the cockpit by myself watching the fish float over the glassy water and their ripples being the only thing moving on the surface. They seem to be able to go much further since they don’t have large wave peaks and valleys to transverse. Also two small swallows have been with the boat for 2-3 days. They always flutter on either side of the boat, always staying at least 10 fathoms away, a cable length perhaps the old sailors would say? They flutter low and swoop around the water on a mission only they seem to know, stopping rarely and only momentarily at the surface of the water and then immediately take off again. 

The swallows are so small, how do they keep up? They never land but for a moment on the water just to immediately take off again. How did they get here? What do swallows eat at sea? Steve and I thought they ate bugs but there aren’t any of those out here. They must eat fish of some kind or plankton or something. Either way they are very impressive little guys. And I see why people get swallows as tattoos for sailing the ocean, the are beautiful little birds. But how did that tradition start as well? Is it because a swallow simply looks better than the gulls or boobies that we’ve also seen flying out here to meet us? Maybe. 

1625 we are 02’ S in the middle of no where, haven’t seen another boat (even a tanker) in over 5 days. Thousands of miles off shore in all directions. At a certain point when the International Space Station passes overhead at night the humans in that are the closest of any humans to us. Yet even out here, we just passed a plastic water bottle. If anyone still uses these for anything other than an emergency supply please don’t. Please use a reusable water bottle instead. That is all. Thank you. 

Also I just finished making cookies and they are delicious, maybe more so because they are South Pacific Cookies 🍪 

Day 14: Friday, April 19th 

0507: Every night that I sit watch I look for the southern cross in the night sky, they say it is a unique constellation to being this far south and it may be as I don’t remember seeing it before, but maybe I was over looking it. Similar to the North Star it doesn’t sit at exactly due south and moves across the sky as the hours in the night progress. But it moves from about 150’ – 230’ each night so if headed south was your goal and you only had this star to guide you then it would take you south eventually. That’s what we did for navigation before we had iPhones and it should not be lost now just because we have other resources. 

Position: 2’ 50.50 S 127’ 37.90 W 

24 hr run: 151 Nm 

0730 Motor off! I watched the full k. Slowly all my watch from 0300-0600 and by 0600 I was feeling ready to sail. Alex was up at 0700 and we set about setting all the sails again. We are now full sail again with no motor running and going a good 6 knots. This means the wind filled in a full 12hrs before the weather models said it would. We hope it holds and our luck continues.  

1330 Wind lessened a little and slowed to below 4 knots for a little while and Alex turned the motor on. Saying we are going too slow. He’s expecting the wind to come more in the evening and maybe feels more confident in using our fuel now that we are past the equator and should be exiting the doldrums. 

1445 motor off again as small rain clouds (cumulous nimbus) bring a little more wind with them. 

1515 wind too light agains an the motor goes back on. 

2000 motor back off for the evening, hoping some more wind will fill in. At the moment it remains light. 

Day 15: Saturday, April 20th 

Position: 4’ 14.00 S 129’ 7.00 W 

24 hr run: 123Nm 

Light wind all evening and into the morning. Did 2-3 knots my whole watch and then they turned on the motor again some time in the night. 

0600 motor off and 0630 we were able to pull the spinnaker back out. Broad reaching toward our destination at about 5 knots 

1620 it’s hot on the boat. Gas room weather days it’s 83 but feels like 93 after humidity, since we turned down wind we don’t get much breeze inside the boat to circulate air. 

But good news the wind filled in and we are flying fast. Genoa out and beam reaching at 8-9 knots SOG. 

We are now just over 600 Nm to Nuka Hiva and we are about to see our first tanker ship in over two weeks. That’s exciting, there is other human life out here. 

Day 16: Sunday, April 21st 

Position: 05’ 40.0 S 131’ 57.0 W 

24 hr run: 191 Nm 

The wind has stay strong, the only downside being the swell that hits our port stern corner and sometimes rolls the boat onto its beam end. Practicing my guitarlele last night I had to find a corner that I could wedge my back into so I could keep both hands on the instrument and one leg proped up to play and not roll off the cockpit seat. Cooling dinner last night was also more shooting moving targets but the meal came together quickly. We are out of fresh vegetables and have resorted to the frozen and canned stuff, still tasty. I made broccoli and brussel sprouts over rice with a Thai spice peanut sauce. Love that sauce.