37.26.824N 123.24.825W 1:45 pm pacific time

Howdy everybody. Here's the first of what will be several comments from
the deep blue sea. We're just over a day into it, and so far it's been
a pretty good run. We were second off the line and second under the GG
bridge in about 20 knots of wind, fog, mist, and gloom. Several of the
boats starting with us could point higher, so we lost a little ground
getting out, but we kept moving well and had put the Farallon Islands
behind us before sundown.

All the weather models show a huge area of no wind developing all along
the coast out to a couple of hundred miles or so. So the challenge is
to get out to the gradient wind before you get caught by the lull.
Right now, and for most of today, we've been sailing in a light but nice
5-8 knot breeze, With a very long, gradual swell topped by wind ripples.
But we spent several hours last night bundled against the cold,utterly
motionless, except for the slatting around on the leftover waves.
Hopefully we've hooked into the edge of the real thing and are putting
some time between ourselves and today and tomorrow's starters.

The notable animal sightings have included several dolphins, a couple of
which played alongside for a while. Lots of seals, too. There have been
countless sea birds, the type of which changes continuously the farther
you get from land. There was a pretty big shark about 100 yards behind
the boat a couple of hours ago, but he sensed our awesomeness and gave
up quickly.

My first sighting of phosphorescence this trip was actually in the
toilet bowl. It flushes with sea water and since phosphorescence is
just some plankton that glows when agitated, pumping water through the
bowl fills it with green glowing sparkles. It was cloudy/rainy/foggy
all night so you could really see it in our wake.

So, that's it for now. Boring post, I realize, but we're just getting
started. We've left all signs of land behind, passed over the edge of
the continental shelf where the bottom falls away thousands of feet,
turning the sea to a really nice dark shade of blue. No other boats in
sight. No ships since about 4:00am. We're having a nice peaceful sail
out to hopefully hook into the real offshore wind soon. The crew is a
great bunch, lotsa good food on board, nobody sick, and we've settled
into our watches (I'm 0300-0600, 1030-1330, 1800-2100). So I guess I
better get a nap before I'm on duty again. I'm not sure if the comments
section on this thing is open, but if it is, fire away!

So after four years of wanting to be back out here on this beautiful
boat with my friends, I finally get to say:

Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out.

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