24.23.485N 153.33.972W

Well this is what you aim a boat across an ocean for. VALIS has been
galloping along on the tradewinds under full main & spinnaker all day
long. All we're doing is a little tweak here and there on the sail trim
and drive through the waves. Absolutely perfect sailing.

I know I've mentioned the blueness of the water, but haven't really
expounded. The deal is that it's 12,000-15,000 feet deep (yep you read
that right) all the way across. So there's PLENTY of opportunity for
all the particulates to settle out. Add to that the fact that nearest
source of dirt or anything else to cloud the water is miles away and you
get really, really clear water. Of course, being essentially infinitely
deep, you can't see anything down there, it's just blue. The deepest,
purest, blue imaginable. That's why the term "bluewater sailing" is
used to differentiate true open-ocean sailing from that done near the
coast or in bays, gulfs, etc.

Ah well, enough of the mood setting. We continue our onslaught on
Division A with another big day, assuming the night goes well. What we
do is leave up the spinnaker (big, powerful, hard to control sail if you
remember your lesson from earlier) up until the nightly squalls blast us
over onto our side, invoking the always exciting 3:00-4:00 am sail
change. Then we switch to something more controllable till morning.
Rinse, repeat.

The squalls start about midnight and get progressively stronger till
just after dawn. The reason is that they get their energy from the
difference in the warm water and the cool air. Since the water doesn't
cool down at night but the air does, the squalls are strongest when the
difference is greatest; early morning. AS soon as the sun starts to
warm the air, it all evens out and the squalls dissipate.

So I've got my shoes, headlamp, gloves, safety harness, and foul weather
gear all hanging from the webbing that holds us in bed, ready for me to
jump in like a fireman when the fun starts.

Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
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