25.56.721N 150.51.992W

Another great dinner, this time ribs. We've got a gimballed stove,
which means it is on hinges both fore-aft and side-side so that it stays
level, even though the rest of the boat is heeling over and pitching at
times 30-40 degrees in each axis, sometimes fairly violently. Those of
you who haven't experienced it would likely think it to be like really
bad airplane turbulence, if the plane rolled side to side just as much
as it went up and down. So cooking is obviously challenging. Thus the
gimballed stove. Roughly half the time it's too rough to do anything on
top, even with the pots that clamp on, so it's bake in the oven only.
So we've had lasagna, ribs, chinese food, etc. that can be easily
pre-made, frozen, packed with dry ice, and reheated at sea. Works
great. The only meal cooked is supper, at about 6:00. Everything else
is just grab as you go on or off watch. Lots of Cliff bars, etc.

Got some email from Lydia and it sounds like she & the kids are all
having a big time in their big adventures, so I'm looking forward to
hearing all about that. Obviously I've got some for them too.

So, last night was a big one. We flew a chute all night, through at
least 3 pretty good squalls with high wind and hard rain, one with
lightning. Steering through the squalls brought to mind the scene in
Apollo 13 where Tom Hanks has to steer the ship through a rocket burn
with no guidance computer. They hit the rocket and he's just hanging on
for dear life, trying to aim the thing as it swerves and bucks through
the darkness. That was us last night. Just keep it together with the
big sails up so we can keep driving hard during the soft spots. As
dedicated readers know by now, it worked. VALIS leads the division
going into the home stretch.

So today we were doing what runners would know as "striding out", I
guess. We're keeping the pace up, moving well under spinnaker all day
long, but we reduced the size of the mainsail (called reefing) when the
wind came up just to make the boat easier to handle. We're at 85%
throttle, if you will. The last few days should be similar weather,
which VALIS is well suited for, so if today's effort holds up well we
know we are in really good shape. Our competition will undoubtedly have
put the pedal down today and if we hold our own in this comfortable
mode, with more speed still in our pocket if we deem it worth the risk
of damage to dial it up, that's good news for the good guys.

I'm WAAAY behind on sleep and running in zombie mode, so better go.

(By the way, in case I haven't explained the sign off, it's related to
the SSB radio, which is what is used for communication between boats.
VALIS is the communications boat for the fleet, meaning we take position
reports, roll calls, distress messages, etc. so the radio is omnipresent
in VALIS life. VALIS' call sign is WDB2898, so every time we end a
broadcast, we are required by Federal Law to broadcast our call sign,
thus...)

Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out






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