Helia 44: Helia 44 Pacific Crossing Data

[StarryHorizons]

Hey Everyone,

Starry Horizons just completed the big jump across the Pacific, and since I'm a data junkie, I figured I'd share some of the numbers we tracked. I was pretty jealous of some of our friends on an Antares who had crossing times from several other Antares that they could use to plan, and if we're being honest, race against. Hopefully, this thread will be the start of something similar for the Helia.

With this being an El Nino year, we got pretty lucky with our winds. We had to head further south to get out of the doldrums than I'd hoped, but once we found the trades, they were pretty good and consistent (15-18 knots AWS, typically out of the SE) and we had some good speeds. In fact, up until about day 13, we were on pace for a 17 day passage. Unfortunately, the winds then died and shifted to come almost from due East (right behind us) and we struggled with TWS that was between 7-11 knots for most of the rest of the trip, with some periods of so little wind that we chose to just motor.

If you are interested in seeing our track, we have a location page on our website (Our Location - Out Chasing Stars) and you can see where we've been (Menu in the Upper Right, then find 'adjustments'), all the way back to our start in France.

Here is the data:

Total Days: 18.99 if you count favorable time zone shifts, 19.15 if you go by hours
Total Nautical Miles: 3,142
Avg SOG: 6.84
Avg NM/Day: 164.1
Total Engine Hours: 110.7(charging batteries + motoring)
Total Generator Hours: 21 (for making water on our 110v watermaker)
Diesel Used (calculated): 112 gallons
Total Diesel at Departure: 175 gallons
Departure From: Santa Cruz, Galapagos
Arrival At: Bay of Vigins, Fatu Hiva



A couple explanations of the data:

1) I do 24 hour calculations from 7am-7am, ending on the date in the left column. So we left the Galapagos on 4/7 at 1340, which meant that at 7am on 4/8, we had been sailing for 17.33 hours.

2) Days that have 25 hours are days we decided to do time zone shifts. The last day had an hour and a half time zone shift which meant we arrived at 1330 local Marquesas time.

I would love for other Helias to chime in and share whatever info they have as well. I know that Ryan and Tasha on Cheeky Monkey are headed this way, so hopefully we'll at least have info on 2 Helia crossings soon. As for now, we're enjoying the Marquesas (and the almost non-existent wifi!) soon to be heading to the Tuamotus so I'll check in as often as I can.

Cheers,

David

s/v Starry Horizons

[ZipTie]

You guys are AMAZING. Pretty impressive when you look at the overall miles you have sailed from your website.

Its great to follow along.

Our Helia just left La-Rochelle France on May 11-2016
Should stop in A Coruna Spain today May 14 for fuel.
Not much wind in the Bay of Biscay, only around 7 knots for the 400 mile crossing.

[barnakiel]

David,

Congrats! Thanks for sharing the data!

And now it is all coconuts, black pearls and Hinano for you! Hurrahhh!!!!!

Take care, have fun,
Cheers,
b.

[Cheeky Monkey]

Congratulations, guys! I love this! Now it gives me something to shoot for as we follow in your wake and prepare to cross the Pacific in a few weeks' time!

-Tasha

[SailRedemption]

Awesome sauce to all three of you! Very impressive indeed!

One question I have for Ziptie, what program are you using for your map logging/drawing for your track? Very cool.

Originally Posted by ZipTie

You guys are AMAZING. Pretty impressive when you look at the overall miles you have sailed from your website.

Its great to follow along.

Our Helia just left La-Rochelle France on May 11-2016
Should stop in A Coruna Spain today May 14 for fuel.
Not much wind in the Bay of Biscay, only around 7 knots for the 400 mile crossing.

See more @ redemptiverepair.com

[onthehook17]

You guys are my heroes!!

[StarryHorizons]

We just arrived in Tahiti after an amazing time in the Tuamotus. Seriously, it was perhaps the most picture perfect place I've ever been. I'm going to attach a photo to help entice other Helias to make the Pacific crossing and then share their data. :-D You'll get to see a little slice of paradise and we'll get to be the beneficiaries of your information. It's a win win.


SailRedemption - I know your question was directed at ZipTie, but the track that was posted is actually the path we've sailed since we left France in November of 2014, so I'll share our set up. We use a DeLorme inReach GPS tracker and pair it with the SpotWalla mapping service. The setup was easy and has worked pretty much flawlessly for almost 17,000nm. Hope that helps!

David

[PapaLulu]

Thanks for sharing, David! Hope those Helias right behind you do the same. While we're 2 - 3 years behind you, we really appreciate the data!

BTW, do you wish you had added another fuel tank?

Allen Dobbs
S/V Big Papa Lulu

[StarryHorizons]

Originally Posted by PapaLulu

Thanks for sharing, David! Hope those Helias right behind you do the same. While we're 2 - 3 years behind you, we really appreciate the data!

BTW, do you wish you had added another fuel tank?

Allen Dobbs
S/V Big Papa Lulu

To be honest, I'm quite happy with the one fuel tank. We have a 50 gallon, flexible fuel bladder that we keep on board and fill up when we do long passages. We did the whole Atlantic Crossing (26 days Canaries to Miami) just fine with a full tank and the bladder.

Now that we're cruising, our diesel usage is pretty minimal. We try to sail as much as possible, and we do a passable job of energy management with our solar panels. We use the genset every 3-5 days or so to make water and top up the batteries. If we needed AC constantly, then I could see the advantage of more fuel, but we do okay with out it.