Thursday, April 2, 2026

Pacific Ocean, 3321NM WSW of Catalinia

In the morning we saw a sail in the horizon. Mastegot was the 15th vessel we’ve seen on this passage, but the first sailboat. We had a brief VHF conversation, and learned that our AIS wasn’t transmitting.

Some investigation later, it turned out the problem was that the transceiver didn’t have a GPS fix. Moving the antenna outside helped, but it is curious for this problem to occur now, as the particular antenna has worked fine in its original location since 2021.

At noon wind dropped substantially, so we shook the reef and rolled out the genoa. Now we’re back to the three-sail setup.

Right as we were finishing dinner, a large pod of dolphins arrived to play in our bow wave.

• Distance today: 107NM
• Lunch: pea soup
• Engine hours: 0

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Pacific Ocean, 3214NM WSW of Catalinia

At sunset a gust came through incentivising us to go to second reef. After that was set, we also went back to wing on wing. The southerly component in the wind was gone. The night was boisterous with wind gusting up to thirty. The second reef had indeed earned its setting. We also made good miles and at dawn we saw it. 999NM to destination. Mere 3 digits! Numbers so small that we had started to doubt their existence.

As the day grew older, we were at the edge of grey and blue skies. We took the staysail to starboard side and sailed slightly more to the south to secure our spot in the sun.

• Distance today: 114NM
• Lunch: chana masala
• Engine hours: 0

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Pacific Ocean, 3100NM WSW of Catalinia

The latest GRIB changed the forecast quite a bit, and we now have couple of days with stronger wind ahead of us. In anticipation to that, we rolled the genoa away for the night watches.

Unlike forecasted, the wind only picked up around midday. But at least we were ready for it, with staysail and main in 1st reef, and well-slept free watches of the night behind us.

Today’s wind has a slight southern component, meaning that we’re now on port tack instead of poled out.

• Distance today: 100NM
• Lunch: lentil soup
• Engine hours: 0

Monday, March 30, 2026

Pacific Ocean, 3000NM WSW of Catalinia

By 10pm the wind had picked up enough for a change back to staysail. The moon lights the sea even in cloudy conditions and the dark grey sea creates a calming backdrop for the watches. At around 10am the wind dropped and we changed back to genoa, staysail and main in 1st reef setup.

The watermaker ran today for laundry purposes: a set of clothes for the next week got washed and hung to pre-dry on the mainsheet before being moved to dry inside for the night. Life at trade winds is a repetitive task only punctuated with occasional sail changes.

• Distance today: 115NM
• Lunch: tofu curry
• Engine hours: 0

Sunday, March 29, 2026

Pacific Ocean, 2885NM SW of Catalinia

This weekend the HF radio net has worked quite poorly due to interference from an amateur radio contest on a nearby frequency. Hopefully radio conditions clear up.

The wind has been remarkably steady for days now, but in the morning it dropped a bit. To keep the boat moving comfortably, we rolled out the genoa at noon. This means that we now are flying a three-sail setup: main, poled out genoa, and staysail to the lee. The staysail helps with the rolling, and means we can go back to heavy weather setup quickly by just furling the genoa.

• Distance today: 111NM
• Lunch: navy bean soup
• Engine hours: 0

Saturday, March 28, 2026

Pacific Ocean, 2774NM SW of Catalinia

The night fell in the same conditions, wind around 20 knots from a steady direction. Lille Ø sails itself beautifully on first reef and staysail.

The big event of the day was changing to UTC-8. Only 1.5 hours till Marquesas and UTC-9.30! We have now been at sea for a month, and have done three time zone changes during that.

• Distance today: 120NM
• Lunch: mushroom risotto
• Engine hours: 0

Friday, March 27, 2026

Pacific Ocean, 2654NM SW of Catalinia

High winds and a bumpy ride continued throughout the night. Sky was mostly clear, and progress was good. At noon winds had subsided a bit, and we shook out the reef.

In the morning we noticed that the starboard deck drain was leaking, right into the main electrical cabinet (great design, Amigo). Caulking was applied.

• Distance today: 108NM
• Lunch: spaghetti with tomato sauce
• Engine hours: 0

Thursday, March 26, 2026

Pacific Ocean, 2546NM SW of Catalinia

The half moon illuminates the ocean pleasantly. No more second guessing where the sea ends and sky begins. The separation of the two halves is now visible again. In the cloudless night the wind kept picking up, so at midnight watch change we put the main in second reef. That led to the inevitable decrease in the wind speed also. Well, at least the ride was more comfortable now.

During the day we did some important snack maintenance and dug into the long time storages to get more watch cookies and sweets.

• Distance today: 113NM
• Lunch: pea soup
• Engine hours: 0

Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Pacific Ocean, 2433NM SW of Catalinia

After dinner we had some rain, but otherwise the conditions have remained the same as yesterday, puffy clouds and wind in the low 20s. Lumpy seas.

At night we almost got our 13th vessel spotting. A Japanese fishing boat stayed just below the horizon, only visible by a slight glow in the sky. And of course AIS. Feels we’re pretty far when the fishermen are from Japan!

In morning Suski saw a tropicbird circling the boat. These long-tailed birds we haven’t seen since our Atlantic crossing.

• Distance today: 115NM
• Lunch: peanut butter lentils
• Engine hours: 0

Tuesday, March 24, 2026

Pacific Ocean, 2318NM SW of Catalinia

The clouds slowly dissipated during the night revealing the stars. With the clouds gone, the wind also stabilized itself and Lille Ø was again in full control. The dawn rose with only small puffy clouds in the sky, so our solar panels had work cut out for them filling the batteries after couple of grey days.

The wind has been staying at 15 to 20 knots and from a constant direction. The swell is still big, but we have managed to start cutting the first half of the passage into a video. It is nice to be able to introspect the beginning of the journey while still on it.

• Distance today: 106NM
• Lunch: spaghetti aglio e olio
• Engine hours: 0