We've kept the wind so far. Though it hasn't gotten back to it's peak of 18 kts on the first afternoon it has cooperated very nicely.
We are thinking about making a stop at Isla Sacorrow. I think this is supposed to be a Navy Base/Wildlife Refuge, so I'm not sure if they will let us stay. But if the wind dies as it's forecast to and they let us anchor in the bay for a couple days it may be a good way to wait for wind. If anyone has made a stop at this island please send us email and let us know how it went.
The tow generator has worked well. A little too well as it happens, I had to pull it out of the water this morning because we were already at 100% charge and with bright sunshine the solar panels are ready to contribute their part to keeping the batteries up. The tow generator is basically a propeller attached to a permanent magnet motor via a long rope. You put the propeller in the water and the boat moving through the water makes it want to spin. The rope transfers the spinning to the motor and the motor acts like a generator. The problem is it does not have a regulator, that's an option I didn't buy. If the batteries are completely charged when it's spinning it can easily over charge them. Last night to keep that from happening we; charged all the computer batteries, ran virus scans on all the computers and ran the radar for a couple hours. After going through the hassle to get the propeller out of the water I think I'd rather find ways to use up the extra electricity.
The other huge addition to our equipment on this passage is the memory foam topper we bought second hand in Mazatlan. A NOB (North of the Border-er) had brought one down to put on the mattress in his rental. When he arrived he found the owner of the rental had already installed one. He put it up for sale on the local radio net and I bought it. We put it on our main bed and found it very comfortable, but the real reason we bought it was for the quarter berth which we use as our bed while we are on passage. The mattress on that bed is just regular foam, extra, extra firm. Not good for sleeping in any conditions, let alone on a rolling sailboat. Before we left PV we put the memory foam topper on the quarter berth mattress and, since the topper is queen size and the mattress is full, we folded it over on the edges. What a incredible difference it made. No more waking up with soar joints from sleeping on what is basically a piece of plywood.
That's all for now.
{GMST}19|23|N|109|28|W|Mexico to Marquesas Day 2|Day 2{GEND}
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