Day 4, Passage to Easter Island

1245Z 31AUG19, Day 4, Ecuador to Easter Island. We continue to make steady progress. Yesterday was a complete mixed bag of conditions. There was sun, there was drizzle, there was close hauled, there was beam reaches, there was some wind, there was no wind and all cycled through in about 30-45 minute sets! Overnight the wind has become more consistent and gained strength.

Current Position: 05 17S 088 03W
24 hour progress: 128nm, 5.3kts avg SOG, with about an hour of motoring, approximately 1790nm to go on the great circle route. We have been able to fall off to a close reach and are making a good course and speed. Winds are around 15-20kts and we have a reef in the main. The seas are calm but are expected to start building. We started moving well about 6 hours ago and saved our slow daily average by pulling down 7kts average SOG for the last 6 hours.

The crew is well and we are all well rested. Our refrigerator is still working and the meat has stayed well frozen so the fishing line was out again. We had 2 strikes that didn't catch and then we snared another mahi but he got away as we were setting him on deck. Jon was very, very sad and had trouble letting go of the fish that got away. Apparently he really wanted fish tacos! Not to worry too much though, we thawed some ground beef and had a delicious pasta with red sauce, meat and cheese meal. Everyone was well fed.

Perhaps the automatic sensor pump for the head sink is back in order. The sink stopped draining manually yesterday, so we plunged it, waited a little while pondering the next step, and then it all seems to have (somewhat magically) started working again. So perhaps we have cleared the issue. Time will tell, and in all likelihood that headache will be back at some point, but for now it seems ok so we'll simply enjoy it.