DAY 26

Sat Mar 31 16:43:13 2007 UTC - 2 1.35 N - 147 45.56 W

Today was a beautiful day, the wind was about 17 knots; sunny and almost no mangled, mean waves. Most of the day, we sailed into sharp half wind. Luka was majestically tilted to the right. We are going parallel to the equator, going up and down the coming waves. I evaluate the day as a good day. Also because I was able to find-out the reason why one of the GPS was sometimes working and sometimes not. Lately, it has stopped working again. It turns out, the antenna is affecting it. Luckily, I had the foresight to buy a used antenna at the junkyard before leaving dry land. I temporarily connected for now.
About noon, we caught a pretty fish. She was about 1.5m (5 feet) in length, elongated shape, the snout like ... , With lots of sharp, pointy teeth, and dark tiger stripes. All I can say is, it was very pretty, and it got off of the gaff hook... I hope it has a happy life.

After noon, I made myself a drink and listened to chant of Andrzej Korycki, they matched perfectly to the rest of the day.

DAY 25

Fri Mar 30 17:24:58 2007 UTC - 3 53.03 N - 147 2.73 W
 

Passat is holding us more tenderly. We changed the course to be more west. It would be good to cross the equator as soon as possible and go to 10 degrees of south hemisphere. It would be good to catch the passat again and run with him to the narrow and full of rock, Torres Straits. My friend from Australia, Skipolek a la Buddha, may see us through
the binoculars, because the strait is not too wide.

By accident I pushed the memory stick which I use to transfer email between computers, so it is broke.

The pump for the water desal system is also broke. I repaired it pretty quick, it at least has screws and washers. I sympathize with it.

It is getting hotter, the fish are not biting, and the beer is warmer than yesterday...

DAY 24

Thu Mar 29 16:09:06 2007 UTC - 5 31.65 N - 146 29.77 W

The day begins slow. I was leaning over from the pilot house, drinking my morning coffee, looking at the deck; when I saw something weird. Something was gone from my self-steering system. I looked closer and it turned out, the rudder was gone. The self steering system was my 'back up' plan; if I couldn't use the autopilot. I installed it myself with stainless washers and screws with teflon tape. After closer inspection, it turns out that the rod for the fin had broken. It is hard to explain what happened; we weren't in a storm. There was no scratches on the rod or the mount. ...it is laying under the deck. It's miraculous, 3.5cm of aluminum rod just broke. It was expected to handle stormy weather. The self steering was made by well-known maker 'Hydro-vane'. I'm not to be able to fix it, I would have to have a new steering fin and rod, welded to the mechanism.
 

Passat is getting weaker, mist is all around us, the fish are not biting, and the beer is warm.
 

DAY 23

Wed Mar 28 16:23:34 2007 UTC - 6 14.74 N - 144 38.44 W

Nothing new happened, plus my "writing instrument" is broke.

DAY 22

Tue Mar 27 17:19:38 2007 UTC - 7 41.31 N - 142 33.09 W

Writing today, as well as perspiring inhumanly... It is warmer and more humid, I wonder how it will affect my electronics. Wet?

In the morning, we passed a pod of dolphins 300 yards to the starboard and then they disappeared without a trace. I think they were on some kind of mission, because they didn't 'greet' me...

It has been a few days since I have turned on the diesel generator, Im using the two wind generators and two solar panels. They make enough
electricity for the always hungry autopilot. With enough left-over yesterday, I watched all 3 parts of 'THE GODFATHER' on the 20 inch TV, a gift from the "nice-ass" godmother of Luka.
 

DAY 21

Mon Mar 26 16:22:21 2007 UTC - 9 23.34 N - 140 18.50 W
 

Yesterday was no different than the day before, a plague of flying-fish. I'm not keeping-up with the cleaning of the deck. Stupid creatures, in spite of the nets on the railing, landing somehow on the deck. Wacek is entertained; playing with them. Whenever a flying fish lands on the deck, Wacek is having fun. He is running, jumping around, like he is fighting flying dragons. In a few days, I think the wind is sure to die... despite, the weather forecast. We are diagonally moving closer to the equator, we will see.

DAY 20

Sun Mar 25 16:18:10 2007 UTC - 10 57.27 N - 138 10.86 W

Last night, the wind was very brisk; above 30 knots. We were rocking less than usual with the new wind. Once again it turns out that the couch in the living room is the best place to sleep while Luka sails. On one side is the arm of the couch and the other is the edge of the table, this the boundry that keeps me in 'bed'. ( The wider the bed, the more difficult it is to sleep on... ) The arm of the couch is in my back and the edge of the table is against my knees. Sometimes I even sleep 1 whole hour before the numbness of my knees, or a sudden movement of the boat, wakes me up.

Wacek is barking at the flying fish and is showing off his white teeth to the birds gliding above us. Wacek is being a thug, defending his 'cave'...

DAY 19

Sat Mar 24 14:57:41 2007 UTC - 12 38.24 N - 136 5.92 W

The day is waking up. Beata just called to wish me a good day.

More fish are flying, they are in hordes. Flying like planes; squadrons of little fish, gliding above the surface. They fly diagonally with the wind, it seems to help them get out of the water. They use half-wind like small gliders; flying to the left and then right, to keep from bumping into the waves. They push the water with their tails to help, gliding in valleys of the waves to increase speed, disappearing into sky-blue water.

I repaired yesterday's failure of the GPS antennas. I changed the fuse in-line to the antenna, and the other is repaired on its own accord. Besides, it is lost, in my eyes, anyway I will give him a chance, it may have been GPS' hiccup..
 

DAY 18

23 marca 2007
 

For a few days now, I've had to clean the flying-fish from the deck. In my opinion, they are too small to eat. They are landing on the deck at night; the railing nets that keeps Wacek on, doesn't keep them off.

2 GPS's stopped working yesterday, they don't see the antennas. I will need to check them, but for now I am using the hand-held. My position today is:

 

 3:30  Zulu    
13’59*572 N
134’15*550 W
COG 212*
SOG 6 nm

DAY 17

Thu Mar 22 16:44:43 2007 UTC - 15 23.69 N - 132 57.77 W
 

The brown bird, which visited us a few days ago, passed.  He was probably old, and his time came.  He has chosen the deck of Luka to be at peace and go to bird paradise; where there are lots of fish and Mamma Ocean never gets mad... 

  A passat holds us in its arms.  Wind, 20 knots or more, is pushing us southwest.  With such speed, we should be crossing the equator soon. 
I have here, somewhere in my books, an envelope.  A big, sealed envelope from my German friend Paul, who I met in Ensenada.  He wanted me to open it when we cross.  I wonder what's inside...
 

DAY 16TH

Wed Mar 21 16:24:21 2007 UTC - 17 10.75 N - 131 29.77 W

Wind sings songs on the shrouds …it is blowing 25 knots or more. We are sailing with two reefed down foresails. I could point them more into the wind but this is not a regatta. Besides, Chay Blyth was going as fast as possible for his ‘sponsor’s’ benefit. I’m interested in the most comfortable way. So, we are sailing slowly, looking out through the window at Mother Ocean. We have had a guest for the last two days. It is dark brown, even the beak. It is not afraid of people at all but when I try to pet it, it just gets upset and moves away. Wacek doesn’t take his eyes of it at all. Sometimes I have to remind this ‘genetic bandit’ to stop acting true to type; a Jack Russell terrier.

DAY 15TH
Tue Mar 20 17:11:02 2007 UTC - 18 35.44 N - 130 33.84 W

A day and night of sailing with the Passat. Two foresails are pulling us along. I feel like a Greek warrior riding a chariot being pulled by two white horses. Soon, I will have to reef down both genoas. The wind is blowing beautifully. The weather is forecasting 25 knot winds and we like it. We are going too far west, far too early.

DAY 14TH
Mon Mar 19 15:49:39 2007 UTC - 19 33.07 N - 128 58.87 W

Still waiting for a Passat. Yesterday the wind blew from the southwest. We only have one pole. If we had two I could fly twin genoas…

It is warmer now. We are waiting to fish. We can catch some if the wind gets above 5 knots but the wind doesn’t seem to care. Maybe tomorrow some tasty and tired-of-life dorado will bite. I took some pictures too and will compress them for sending. Iridium is slow so it will eat a few minutes.

DAY 13TH

Sun Mar 18 15:55:06 2007 UTC - 20 29.57 N - 128 6.68 W

Today we are sailing slowly southeast. Still only using the genoa. There just isn’t enough wind for any more sail. The other sails just flog and chafe when they are not full. Occasionally, there is the noise of the waves bouncing off the boat. Today I found that the batteries were almost drained instead of being closer to half-full. After investigating, I found the inverter to still be on. Turns out the inverter uses almost as much power as the autopilot.

DAY 12TH

Sat Mar 17 15:47:13 2007 UTC - 21 9.14 N - 127 24.46 W

Yesterday afternoon the wind awoke. I put up all the sails. Luka looks like she is in a parade…I sat on the deck listening to a book, sympathizing with the main character and at the same time enjoying looking at my horse with a full mane. Luka is riding the waves like a galloping stallion. The ride ends as the wind dies at night. We are back down to the genoa and a turtle’s speed. Wacek had a big shit in the engine room and I am assuming that, being the well-behaved dog he is, he didn’t want to disturb me at night…

DAY 11TH

Fri Mar 16 17:25:27 2007 UTC - 21 42.42 N - 126 43.80 W

The wind came out of its hole today and is blowing. We will see if the wind stays with us. If so, we will put up all the sails. At the moment we are just using the genoa. I have just discovered that I don’t have to wash up the plates after eating. I can just put them down and my personal dishwasher, Wacek, does the job for me. I am so pleased with the MP3 player from my beautiful wife.  I am also grateful for the audio books from my friends from paltalk: max, killer, promyk and Przemek-sailor from Poland. Thanks to them I can take myself to anywhere in the world from the deck of Luka. 

DAY 10TH

Thu Mar 15 14:59:08 2007 UTC - 22 44.86 N - 126 13.30 W

Today we are travelling south at a turtle’s speed.

Yesterday, Bohun was pissed off and burned Rozlogi because someone else was with his woman . He needs to find a new woman. I got this audio book and hundreds more from my sailor-friend from Poland. He is blind but this does not bother him as he lives life to the full.  He is also planning to sail around the world and if he doesn’t listen to his fears telling him he can’t…

DAY 9TH

Wed Mar 14 16:56:40 2007 UTC - 23 16.28 N - 125 46.27 W

The wind has vanished. Gone. If we could get just a little wind from the NE, we’d be able to head in the right direction. I now understand what the doldrums are. I don’t have to beat a speed record, my ‘sponsor’ doesn’t care how fast we go, I don’t have to have latex condom stickers everywhere because my ‘sponsor’ wants me to, I don’t have any desire to beat a record or answer to a ‘sponsor’. Nothing gets in the way of my feeling happy today. We decide what makes a good day and what makes a bad day. Today, we decide how we feel.

DAY 8TH

Tue Mar 13 15:55:02 2007 UTC - 23 43.81 N - 125 27.25 W

The wind has been very weak the last few nights and last night the wind finally died altogether. The boat was beam on to the waves and I couldn’t sleep in the pilothouse. I slept in the cockpit. Wacek doesn’t seem to mind the waves; he just keeps chewing on the bones Beata gave to him before. Wacek has also been busy barking at the dolphins ‘warning’ me of the ‘danger’. Finally he left them alone to finish chewing his bones.

DAY 7TH

Mon Mar 12 16:34:30 2007 UTC - 24 2.34 N - 125 18.79 W

Tragedy. I cannot stop thinking about it. It is not directly related to me but I feel as though fate took something precious away. I feel so sorry for my good friend Benek. We were close neighbours in Ensenada. He was refitting a Morgan 52 and was intending to move to the Sea of Cortez next month. Yesterday, chemical supplies such as acetone, epoxy resin and solvent filled the yacht with fumes while he was on deck mixing epoxy and a fire started. The boat burned to the waterline in ten minutes. Somebody’s dreams just died.

Benek's yacht

DAY 6TH

Sun Mar 11 17:11:33 2007 UTC - 24 42.84 N - 124 15.68 W

Today was like yesterday. I was able to talk to Robert Krasowski on the radio. He has guided many sailors including Christopher Baranowskiego on his recent trip around the world as well as the crew of Nekton sailing the Northwest Passage. It turns out that I can talk to people through this little black box; sure there were bangs and whistles…we cannot expect miracles, at least not every day…

I haven’t changed sails for two days. Luka is sailing on autopilot. The weather forecast for the next three days looks good…maybe I will dare a pour from the flask...it would only be bad if I have to change sails at night…what are the odds? At night I set a gybe preventer (for the non-technical, this is a tether that stops the boom from moving from one side to the other). I wonder if it will hold until the morning but I imagine the devastation if the boom was to slam across the boat as well as being hit by it. I turned on the deck lights and the boat lit up like an airport. I put on the harness and crawled along the leeward side of the boat and undid the preventer. I will re-rig it tomorrow; I don’t trust it anymore. I care for balance but sometimes it’s hard…I miss…it hits me that the voyage has just begun and I am going to be in “exile” for the next year…

Luka is sailing beautifully. I am sure that I will return without having too many problems but I wonder if I will still think the same during a storm: cold and hungry…

I assure you that I harness myself on each time, with two tethers J don’t worry.

About the dream you had about me coming home early for a new compressor: I have two, so I won’t returning any time soon J

DAY 5TH

Sat Mar 10 13:16:19 2007 UTC - 26 3.57 N - 122 8.01 W

Calm sailing today. The wind blew a fairly steady 6-10 knots from the north. Around 18.00, a huge container ship passed me around 20 nautical miles away. Once again I heard a Mayday. This time the origin was around San Diego. It is weird that a VHF call can be heard almost 400 miles away. I can hear the customs and border control talking to yachts entering the ports of San Diego or Los Angeles.

At night the wind gusted and I considered reefing down but the weather report mentioned that the wind would not exceed 20 knots. I listened to the new sounds of Luka, the flow through the water, the whirring and clicking of the autopilot.

DAY 4TH

Fri Mar 09 14:56:42 2007 UTC - 27 26.13 N - 120 32.73 W

Beautiful sailing yesterday…the wind blew at around 15 knots for most of it. (I have a hand wind gauge but it’s not very accurate).               At around 08.00 the VHF alarm started screaming. Somebody needed help. The display showed that someone had sent out a distress call but there was no position indication. I scanned the horizon very carefully and there was nothing to be seen. VHF signals are localized for a few miles around. Perhaps someone had been playing with the radio.

Before 22.00, before the moon had come up, I noticed that the boat was churning up a lot of phosphorescence around it. It creates quite a vivid spectacle. Maybe it’s the dolphins feeding off phosphorescent plankton?

Wacek barks passionately at his own reflected image; maybe he is looking for a mate?

 I kiss you dear sun. I will get mail from you after sending this one. If it isn’t going to be anything important, I will reply tomorrow.

DAY 3RD

Thu Mar 08 14:35:07 2007 UTC - 29 0.24 N - 118 43.11 W

The day begins with the failure of the bilge pump. It switches itself on from time to time, the main place for water ingress being the packing gland on the propeller shaft. This time however it didn’t switch off, it kept going. I looked down into the bilge and my ass tightened for a second. It looked like a flowing river. Thinking that it was impossible to be taking on so much water without a proper reason, I had a closer look and breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out a pump hose had come loose and was mixing with water in the bilge. I repaired and improved it. It won’t come loose again.

In the morning the winds were fluky; coming one minute from starboard and the next from port. Eventually it turned to blow from the southeast at around 10 knots.  Around 6.30 p.m. we passed the island of Guadalupe some 15 nautical miles to port. We were here some months ago with Beata and Mirek (my brother) and traded with a fisherman for lobste: one lobster for a beer. We ate them half the day, simmered in delicious melted butter.

DAY 2ND

Wed Mar 07 14:01:51 2007 UTC - 30 48.06 N - 117 19.06 W

The wind is spinning around as if it is not sure what to do with me. We are moving in the right direction though. I told you over the phone that I caught some “tuna-like” fish. I made fillets yesterday and will be eating it for the next two days. Wacek is a little disoriented; following my every step, getting used to the new reality. Today I will reorganize a few things on deck: most importantly the main preventers. I need to find an easier way to trim the main sails.

DAY 1ST

Tue Mar 6 12:28:40 2007 UTC - 31 51.23 N - 116 37.32 W

 March 6 2007, 12:28 PM

Tomasz Lewandowski - FIRST POLE - starts his trip around the world single-handed and without stopover from East to West. It is a circumnavigation of the world "the wrong way round", i.e. against the prevailing winds for the majority of the voyage