Coming off midnight watch yet again. Something different to watch, tonight, though. The glow of the Eastern and North shores of Oahu towns of Kaneohe and Hau'ula are clearly visible and we can see the beacons on top of the ridge. We're about 25 miles out, sailing a really nice close reach in fairly smooth seas with great phosphorescence! If we can keep close to our present 7 knots, we're looking at another 3.5 hours or so. Some lightning in the distance promises maybe one more little shot of excitement before we shut it down. One more nap for me, then a Mai Tai, a Lei, and a hug from Lydia and the kiddos. Can't wait!
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
Yep, I'm sailing the PacCup again for 2014. We'll be covering over 2,000 miles and two weeks in Paul Elliot's beautiful VALIS, starting in San Francisco Bay and ending up in Kaneohe, Oahu. Our only connection to you will be via a puny satellite connection, so I can't send pics till we hit land, but if it all works right I should be able to update this blog once in a while. I look forward to reading your comments when I get back. Aloha! -Other Paul
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Monday, July 21, 2014
22.18.700N 157.16.560W
Yep, we're pretty close. About 57 nautical miles to be exact. Everybody looking for land.
So here's the deal with Sweet Okole. It's an absolutely legendary icon of ocean racing. One of the first successes for designer Bruce Farr, and a boat that forever changed the shape of offshore yachts. I had a picture of it on my bedroom wall as a youth. And here I was this morning, rendering assistance to the one and only Sweet Okole, disabled in the Pacific just North of Hawaii. We sailed an intercept course all night and tracked down the wounded vessel, despite their lack of radio. We improvised a method of collecting diesel from out own tanks into one gallon water jugs and transferred them to Sweet Okole in fairly rough seas. We also gave them our spare rudder and they were in high spirits when we left them some 5 hours after we found them. All of this obviously significantly delayed our finish, and we'll be given an adjustment by the race committee for our troubles.
But it's not about race results any more. It's all about wrapping up another adventure on the Pacific and joining my family on Oahu in the next few hours. We're tired, and smelly, but my wife & kids are getting a huge hug shortly whether they like it or not. I'm going on deck to look for land. Will probably NOT have my head wedged against a pad to keep my eyes in sync with the motion of the room next time I send one of these entries. I hope to get some pictures and videos up, and hear from all of y'all real soon.
For(hopefully) the last time at sea for PacCup 2014; Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out.
So here's the deal with Sweet Okole. It's an absolutely legendary icon of ocean racing. One of the first successes for designer Bruce Farr, and a boat that forever changed the shape of offshore yachts. I had a picture of it on my bedroom wall as a youth. And here I was this morning, rendering assistance to the one and only Sweet Okole, disabled in the Pacific just North of Hawaii. We sailed an intercept course all night and tracked down the wounded vessel, despite their lack of radio. We improvised a method of collecting diesel from out own tanks into one gallon water jugs and transferred them to Sweet Okole in fairly rough seas. We also gave them our spare rudder and they were in high spirits when we left them some 5 hours after we found them. All of this obviously significantly delayed our finish, and we'll be given an adjustment by the race committee for our troubles.
But it's not about race results any more. It's all about wrapping up another adventure on the Pacific and joining my family on Oahu in the next few hours. We're tired, and smelly, but my wife & kids are getting a huge hug shortly whether they like it or not. I'm going on deck to look for land. Will probably NOT have my head wedged against a pad to keep my eyes in sync with the motion of the room next time I send one of these entries. I hope to get some pictures and videos up, and hear from all of y'all real soon.
For(hopefully) the last time at sea for PacCup 2014; Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out.
23.25.834N 155.55.300W
We're inside of 200 miles, but Astute observers will note that we've veered oddly to the West. Well, here's why: Unfortunately, Sweet Okole has lost their rudder 200 miles short of Oahu and require assistance. We are the closest boat, so it's VALIS to the rescue. We've diverted to intercept them in approx. 6 hours. No idea how long we'll be with them, so really don't know how it affects our ETA.. If they've turned the delay off on the tracker, you should be able to see both us and them in real time.
Lots happened today, but we need the computer otherwise, so here's the very quick Cliff's notes:
Was visited by a Pilot Whale. About 20' long, swam right beside the cockpit of the boat for maybe 10 minutes, I could've hit him with a broom. We've got an Albatross sitting on the solar panel. Apparently he's pooped, and wanted a ride. Been there for 3 hours, looks like he plans to stay all night. More later...
Lots happened today, but we need the computer otherwise, so here's the very quick Cliff's notes:
Was visited by a Pilot Whale. About 20' long, swam right beside the cockpit of the boat for maybe 10 minutes, I could've hit him with a broom. We've got an Albatross sitting on the solar panel. Apparently he's pooped, and wanted a ride. Been there for 3 hours, looks like he plans to stay all night. More later...
Sunday, July 20, 2014
25.26.329N 153.43.233W
Midnight watch again.
It's odd to call it midnight because there was still light in the sky at 10:45. We'll go on Hawaiian time when we get there, but we stay Californian till then, so our clock and the sun are getting really out of whack.
Nice day today. Spent most of the day on an easy reach with the spinnaker up. Yep, you read that right. The skipper caved and we got to pick it up a little. Actually, I waited till he was occupied on the radio (we're the communications boat for the fleet, coordinating assistance, doing rollcallls and position reports, etc.) so he spends a LOT of time working on that. So I let him get all tied up in that, then real sneaky like put the chute up so that it was all flying nice when he poked his head out, so what could he say? "Keep up the good work," We got to use it till late agternoon when a mini-squall encouraged us to not push our luck, so down it came.
Picked up 3 flying fish off the deck this morning. Saw scads more of them through the day. No other boats or wildlife of note. Awesome sunset. & best stargazing yet. Milky Way looks painted on. Had some good tunes on the cockpit speakers. Swells might have gotten to 10 feet today, but long easy ones. Not over 5 feet right now but a little confused, so I'm probably making all kinds of typos. Jogging along now in 12-15 knots on a loose reach going about 8 knots. Should be a nice sleep, which I'm gonna hit real quick.
Getting excited about seeing Lydia and the kids. If all goes according to plan, they'll be on the dock when we hit Kaneohe Yacht Club. Looks like that'll be about 2 more days.
P.S. I gave AIS a final check before signing off and it showed an unidentified craft 30 miles away on a collision crossing course going 15 knots which puts them in our lap in 2 hours. Either one of the big fast racers or a fishing boat, no doubt. So I warned the crew on deck to keep an eye out for em. First boat contact all day.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
It's odd to call it midnight because there was still light in the sky at 10:45. We'll go on Hawaiian time when we get there, but we stay Californian till then, so our clock and the sun are getting really out of whack.
Nice day today. Spent most of the day on an easy reach with the spinnaker up. Yep, you read that right. The skipper caved and we got to pick it up a little. Actually, I waited till he was occupied on the radio (we're the communications boat for the fleet, coordinating assistance, doing rollcallls and position reports, etc.) so he spends a LOT of time working on that. So I let him get all tied up in that, then real sneaky like put the chute up so that it was all flying nice when he poked his head out, so what could he say? "Keep up the good work," We got to use it till late agternoon when a mini-squall encouraged us to not push our luck, so down it came.
Picked up 3 flying fish off the deck this morning. Saw scads more of them through the day. No other boats or wildlife of note. Awesome sunset. & best stargazing yet. Milky Way looks painted on. Had some good tunes on the cockpit speakers. Swells might have gotten to 10 feet today, but long easy ones. Not over 5 feet right now but a little confused, so I'm probably making all kinds of typos. Jogging along now in 12-15 knots on a loose reach going about 8 knots. Should be a nice sleep, which I'm gonna hit real quick.
Getting excited about seeing Lydia and the kids. If all goes according to plan, they'll be on the dock when we hit Kaneohe Yacht Club. Looks like that'll be about 2 more days.
P.S. I gave AIS a final check before signing off and it showed an unidentified craft 30 miles away on a collision crossing course going 15 knots which puts them in our lap in 2 hours. Either one of the big fast racers or a fishing boat, no doubt. So I warned the crew on deck to keep an eye out for em. First boat contact all day.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
Saturday, July 19, 2014
27.15.290N 151.47.663W
Coming off midnight watch.
Quite a bit of stuff going on out here on the general intersesting experiences front, not so much on the race front, since your last update. Let's just get the race stuff out of the way. The boss has pulled the plug on the race. No official announcement has been made, but today was a stunning sunny day with wind on the aft quarter at 10-15 knots. Absolutely perfect spinnaker weather, but we sort of rolled along underpowered under main and #1 genoa all day.For my non-sailing friends, that's tooling down the racetrack at maybe 2/3 throttle. Not sure why the extreme conservatism, but it's his boat, so his call.
On the upside, and the upside is huge, we spent all day in glorious sunshine on one heck of a nice boat. During last night it became obvious that we were passing some underwater feature of note, because the previouslyt empty sea suddenly had fishing boats on it. We passed within a mile or so of two different ones durning the night, saw another in the morning, then finally came within a couple of hundred yards of being run down by one around midday. Had to call the guy on the radio and get him to change course. Coming straight at us at a range so close we could see him looking out the door of the bridge when we hailed. Yikes! Would've felt stupid having a collision with the only other boat in sight over 600 miles from land. Looking at the chart, we were passing over a series of seamounts that no doubt caused an upwelling that made the fishery. The sea floor for hundreds of miles has been around 12,00-14,0000 feet deep, and these mounts cut it down to more like 3,000. So not exactly a shoal, but a pretty signigicant bump in the bottom Speaking of fish, two huge Mahi Mahi came alongside and zoomed along with us about 8 knots for roughly a half hour. They were chasing flying fish and using us to help herd them, I think. Gorgeous fish with unbelievably effortless speed.
Flying fish all over the place, by the way The sea, even though it's all just water, really has a different look in different areas. We are solidly in the bluewater tropics. Tradewinds, flying fish, bnig bright gamefish, sparkling blue sky and water. It's a different look completely from the albatrosses and scuddy clouds of a few days ago, and the foggy California coast seems a world away.
Well I gotta be on deck again in a few hours.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out.
Quite a bit of stuff going on out here on the general intersesting experiences front, not so much on the race front, since your last update. Let's just get the race stuff out of the way. The boss has pulled the plug on the race. No official announcement has been made, but today was a stunning sunny day with wind on the aft quarter at 10-15 knots. Absolutely perfect spinnaker weather, but we sort of rolled along underpowered under main and #1 genoa all day.For my non-sailing friends, that's tooling down the racetrack at maybe 2/3 throttle. Not sure why the extreme conservatism, but it's his boat, so his call.
On the upside, and the upside is huge, we spent all day in glorious sunshine on one heck of a nice boat. During last night it became obvious that we were passing some underwater feature of note, because the previouslyt empty sea suddenly had fishing boats on it. We passed within a mile or so of two different ones durning the night, saw another in the morning, then finally came within a couple of hundred yards of being run down by one around midday. Had to call the guy on the radio and get him to change course. Coming straight at us at a range so close we could see him looking out the door of the bridge when we hailed. Yikes! Would've felt stupid having a collision with the only other boat in sight over 600 miles from land. Looking at the chart, we were passing over a series of seamounts that no doubt caused an upwelling that made the fishery. The sea floor for hundreds of miles has been around 12,00-14,0000 feet deep, and these mounts cut it down to more like 3,000. So not exactly a shoal, but a pretty signigicant bump in the bottom Speaking of fish, two huge Mahi Mahi came alongside and zoomed along with us about 8 knots for roughly a half hour. They were chasing flying fish and using us to help herd them, I think. Gorgeous fish with unbelievably effortless speed.
Flying fish all over the place, by the way The sea, even though it's all just water, really has a different look in different areas. We are solidly in the bluewater tropics. Tradewinds, flying fish, bnig bright gamefish, sparkling blue sky and water. It's a different look completely from the albatrosses and scuddy clouds of a few days ago, and the foggy California coast seems a world away.
Well I gotta be on deck again in a few hours.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out.
Friday, July 18, 2014
28.52.381N 149.33.901W
Coming off midnight watch.
The time thing is getting weirder. As I explained before, we stay on California time till the race is over, but that means our clocks get further ahead of the sun the further west we go. So the sun went down tonight at 10:30 our time.
Beautiful sunny day clouded over rigfht at sunset to turn into a hell of a gloomy dark night. We collide with a squall every 90 minutes or so and our wind goes from20 to low 30's, changes direction (20 degree header for sailors) and it rains for about 10 minutes, then it all goes back to like it was. You are pretty much on instrument flight rules because it's too dark to see anything else. Eyes glued to the True Wind speed, apparent wind speed and direction, boat speed, and heading. You gotta quickly but without overreacting spin the big wheel to keep all those gages in the right ranges. It's hectic for 3-5 minutes,each time a squall cranks up, then it settles down.
Really good bioluminessence tonight. Bright green sparkles trailing off in our wake like a twin tailed comet. You can see the bursts of green light all out in the gloom where waves are breaking on the surface of the sea. Once in a while, we hit a kind of jellyfish that makes a bright green explosion about the size of a volleyballl. It's pretty neat.
Please excuse my typos. I'm not siure if i've explained it, but I'm typing on a smallish screen at the nav station. There's a pad on the wall next to my head that I have to press against to keep my eyes in sync with the boat movement well enough to see what I'm typing. Right now, we're rolling through about 20 degrees on an axis already tilted about that much, and lurching up and down roughly 8 feet every few seconds, so my typing is going to suffer.
Plus my eyes are tired, so I'm gonna go ride the bucking bunk for a couple of hours.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
The time thing is getting weirder. As I explained before, we stay on California time till the race is over, but that means our clocks get further ahead of the sun the further west we go. So the sun went down tonight at 10:30 our time.
Beautiful sunny day clouded over rigfht at sunset to turn into a hell of a gloomy dark night. We collide with a squall every 90 minutes or so and our wind goes from20 to low 30's, changes direction (20 degree header for sailors) and it rains for about 10 minutes, then it all goes back to like it was. You are pretty much on instrument flight rules because it's too dark to see anything else. Eyes glued to the True Wind speed, apparent wind speed and direction, boat speed, and heading. You gotta quickly but without overreacting spin the big wheel to keep all those gages in the right ranges. It's hectic for 3-5 minutes,each time a squall cranks up, then it settles down.
Really good bioluminessence tonight. Bright green sparkles trailing off in our wake like a twin tailed comet. You can see the bursts of green light all out in the gloom where waves are breaking on the surface of the sea. Once in a while, we hit a kind of jellyfish that makes a bright green explosion about the size of a volleyballl. It's pretty neat.
Please excuse my typos. I'm not siure if i've explained it, but I'm typing on a smallish screen at the nav station. There's a pad on the wall next to my head that I have to press against to keep my eyes in sync with the boat movement well enough to see what I'm typing. Right now, we're rolling through about 20 degrees on an axis already tilted about that much, and lurching up and down roughly 8 feet every few seconds, so my typing is going to suffer.
Plus my eyes are tired, so I'm gonna go ride the bucking bunk for a couple of hours.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
Thursday, July 17, 2014
29.05.6312N 148.30.501W
4:45 pm
First things first; Tiburon, you'll remember, was struggling when we left her. It turns out that Michael Morezadeh and his merry crew aboard Cayenne were in a position to help. They diverted to Tiburon and gave her their emergency water and a better emergency rudder. So, everybody's back on course to Kaneohe.
In other news, it's a magnificent day in the middle of the Pacific! Warm and sunny 15-20 knot breeze 6 foot seas, still sort of confused and lumpy, but a brilliant blue sea in the sunshine. Unfortunately, our fearless leader is a little less fearless in the wake of our rather spectacular gymnastics a couple of nights ago, so we've been toodling along rather sedately under main and winged out genoa, instead of blasting along under chute like we should. We're probably losing at least 20-30 miles a day with the super conservative approach. Oh well, no trophies this year, but there's worse places to be.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out.
First things first; Tiburon, you'll remember, was struggling when we left her. It turns out that Michael Morezadeh and his merry crew aboard Cayenne were in a position to help. They diverted to Tiburon and gave her their emergency water and a better emergency rudder. So, everybody's back on course to Kaneohe.
In other news, it's a magnificent day in the middle of the Pacific! Warm and sunny 15-20 knot breeze 6 foot seas, still sort of confused and lumpy, but a brilliant blue sea in the sunshine. Unfortunately, our fearless leader is a little less fearless in the wake of our rather spectacular gymnastics a couple of nights ago, so we've been toodling along rather sedately under main and winged out genoa, instead of blasting along under chute like we should. We're probably losing at least 20-30 miles a day with the super conservative approach. Oh well, no trophies this year, but there's worse places to be.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out.
29.44.577N 146.26.210W
Coming off midnight watch.
A few stars, but mostly cloudy with scattered squalls. One had a little over 30 knots in it about a half hour ago. I suspect our conservative sail choices today will lose a bunch of time, but we'll find out in the morning positions. It's been a nice day of sailing whatever the production.
The big news at the moment is happening about 100 miles North East of us. The Santa Cruz 37 Tiburon has struck something, disabling her rudder. She is taking on water, but in manageable amounts. The emergency steering is proving ineffective and she's drifting roughly toward Oahu at only 1.3 knots. The dramatically reduced speed means that they will run out of fresh water long before arriving. More well- placed boats are being notified so that they can provide extra water and any assistance possible. This is one of those cases where sailors just have to look out for each other, because there's nobody else out here.
Good luck to those guys and we'll update you on how they're getting along when we have something different.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
A few stars, but mostly cloudy with scattered squalls. One had a little over 30 knots in it about a half hour ago. I suspect our conservative sail choices today will lose a bunch of time, but we'll find out in the morning positions. It's been a nice day of sailing whatever the production.
The big news at the moment is happening about 100 miles North East of us. The Santa Cruz 37 Tiburon has struck something, disabling her rudder. She is taking on water, but in manageable amounts. The emergency steering is proving ineffective and she's drifting roughly toward Oahu at only 1.3 knots. The dramatically reduced speed means that they will run out of fresh water long before arriving. More well- placed boats are being notified so that they can provide extra water and any assistance possible. This is one of those cases where sailors just have to look out for each other, because there's nobody else out here.
Good luck to those guys and we'll update you on how they're getting along when we have something different.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
30.08.200N 145.29.216W
(asleep)
BANG! woooooooOOOOOOSSSHHHHH!!!!! POPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOP...
That combination of noises, at deafening volume, accompanied by the guy in the next bunk landing squarely on top of you, and everything else in the boat landing on top of him as you become the bottom layer of the salad of stuff in a boat will wake you up, no matter how tired you are.
In our case, we had been blasting along through a mixture of starry skies (couple of huge shooting stars) and squalls with winds over 30 knots under the sturdy little #3 spinnaker since about 7:00 pm. I was to discover later that the wake up call came about 5:30 AM. So I'd even been sleeping nervous, if you know what I mean, when fatigue finally got the best of me around 2:30. The noises were instantly identifiable to a sailor's mind that had been halfway expecting them for a while. The BANG! was something with a huge load on it breaking or letting go (the shackle on the guy for my sailing friends). The woooooooOOOOOOSSSHHHHH!!!! was the roar of water that had been pouring more or less evenly down the sides of the boat violently shifting to the port (left) side, and more alarmingly, the deck of the boat as it spun and crashed from the suddenly asymmetrical thrust and drag profile. And finally the POPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOP... was the poor spinnaker, now streaming to leeward from the masthead which was fairly close to wavetops, thrashing itself to bits. Rather than a blow by blow of the shouted instructions and clambering lunges in the dark, I'll just leave it at we finally got everything harnessed, doused, and/or lashed in a position that would hold till morning, and limped along under much reduced sail with all aboard unharmed and tired.
Daylight revealed that the only real casualty had been the sail itself, and a new kink in the reaching strut. The main was unreefed and genoa set wing and wing while we rerigged for another stab at flying the chute after all had rested until late morning. Unfortunately, it was just about this time that we discovered freshwater in the bilge (the very bottom, basement if you will, of the boat). Not really good when you are sailing in salt water, because it could only have come from the tanks. In fact, it was from the tanks, and the news grew even less upbeat when it was discovered that the watermaker wasn't. Making water, I mean. So, fresh water leaking, watermaker not, means considerable time with a head in the bilge working on it. Huge thumbs up to our fearless leader for both tackling and overcoming the challenge of restoring our water supply. The main concession in terms of our race is that we spent the day under white sails, which is to say running at somewhat reduced speed, to make it possible for the work to be done. So, we'll no doubt lose some ground, despite having had a glorious sunny day with following winds and 6-8 foot seas.
The plan is to keep jogging along through the night to let the skipper regain his wits, then back on it tomorrow AM.
On a side note, we were passed during the afternoon by both a huge container ship, and the magnificent 92' "Locura", one of the much faster later starters. That makes this one of the more crowded days at sea.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out.
BANG! woooooooOOOOOOSSSHHHHH!!!!! POPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOP...
That combination of noises, at deafening volume, accompanied by the guy in the next bunk landing squarely on top of you, and everything else in the boat landing on top of him as you become the bottom layer of the salad of stuff in a boat will wake you up, no matter how tired you are.
In our case, we had been blasting along through a mixture of starry skies (couple of huge shooting stars) and squalls with winds over 30 knots under the sturdy little #3 spinnaker since about 7:00 pm. I was to discover later that the wake up call came about 5:30 AM. So I'd even been sleeping nervous, if you know what I mean, when fatigue finally got the best of me around 2:30. The noises were instantly identifiable to a sailor's mind that had been halfway expecting them for a while. The BANG! was something with a huge load on it breaking or letting go (the shackle on the guy for my sailing friends). The woooooooOOOOOOSSSHHHHH!!!! was the roar of water that had been pouring more or less evenly down the sides of the boat violently shifting to the port (left) side, and more alarmingly, the deck of the boat as it spun and crashed from the suddenly asymmetrical thrust and drag profile. And finally the POPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOP... was the poor spinnaker, now streaming to leeward from the masthead which was fairly close to wavetops, thrashing itself to bits. Rather than a blow by blow of the shouted instructions and clambering lunges in the dark, I'll just leave it at we finally got everything harnessed, doused, and/or lashed in a position that would hold till morning, and limped along under much reduced sail with all aboard unharmed and tired.
Daylight revealed that the only real casualty had been the sail itself, and a new kink in the reaching strut. The main was unreefed and genoa set wing and wing while we rerigged for another stab at flying the chute after all had rested until late morning. Unfortunately, it was just about this time that we discovered freshwater in the bilge (the very bottom, basement if you will, of the boat). Not really good when you are sailing in salt water, because it could only have come from the tanks. In fact, it was from the tanks, and the news grew even less upbeat when it was discovered that the watermaker wasn't. Making water, I mean. So, fresh water leaking, watermaker not, means considerable time with a head in the bilge working on it. Huge thumbs up to our fearless leader for both tackling and overcoming the challenge of restoring our water supply. The main concession in terms of our race is that we spent the day under white sails, which is to say running at somewhat reduced speed, to make it possible for the work to be done. So, we'll no doubt lose some ground, despite having had a glorious sunny day with following winds and 6-8 foot seas.
The plan is to keep jogging along through the night to let the skipper regain his wits, then back on it tomorrow AM.
On a side note, we were passed during the afternoon by both a huge container ship, and the magnificent 92' "Locura", one of the much faster later starters. That makes this one of the more crowded days at sea.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
31.22.908N 141.40.021W
The navigationally gifted among you will immediately recognize that we are about 15 miles from halfway, which we will no doubt pass during my next watch. So the nearest patch of dirt from here is about 1,100 miles away. We've had good wind, sometimes a little too good, spectacular sunrises and sunsets, and a moon so bright you can see colors at night. Then a squall comes and it gets so dark you can't see anything beyond the little cloud of glow around the instruments.
I got really tired from staying on deck too much the past day or so, so am not sure what all I've updated you on. We've seen some flying fish, always a marker of a happy tropical voyage. I think I told you about the dolphins. We changed from a lightweight spinnaker to a heavier one, which we then wrapped around the forestay in a classic hourglass form at 1:30 in the A.M.. Sprang from my bunk to rectify that situation without having to take anything down. I was sort of proud of that one. Same chute was layed flat on the surface of the sea, along with the rest of the mast and rigging, in a 35 knot blast in a squall. This time I was at the helm, so am currently atop the crew leaderboard for best wipeout. Don't worry, the mast wasn't broken, it was still attached to the boat in the conventional manner, the boat was just realigned so that horizontal surfaces became vertical, and vice versa, for maybe 30 seconds or so. No problem in the long run though. VALIS is sturdy and resumed a semi-upright plod toward paradise as soon as I was able to return the rudder to the water.
So, in summary, we're smelling bad, sailing well, having fun, and getting a wierd looking tan due to the deck harness.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
I got really tired from staying on deck too much the past day or so, so am not sure what all I've updated you on. We've seen some flying fish, always a marker of a happy tropical voyage. I think I told you about the dolphins. We changed from a lightweight spinnaker to a heavier one, which we then wrapped around the forestay in a classic hourglass form at 1:30 in the A.M.. Sprang from my bunk to rectify that situation without having to take anything down. I was sort of proud of that one. Same chute was layed flat on the surface of the sea, along with the rest of the mast and rigging, in a 35 knot blast in a squall. This time I was at the helm, so am currently atop the crew leaderboard for best wipeout. Don't worry, the mast wasn't broken, it was still attached to the boat in the conventional manner, the boat was just realigned so that horizontal surfaces became vertical, and vice versa, for maybe 30 seconds or so. No problem in the long run though. VALIS is sturdy and resumed a semi-upright plod toward paradise as soon as I was able to return the rudder to the water.
So, in summary, we're smelling bad, sailing well, having fun, and getting a wierd looking tan due to the deck harness.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
Monday, July 14, 2014
32.17.020N 136.39.133W Dolphins!
Midnight
Well that's more like it! Pretty good day today, compared to the last 2. Had at least a little wind and kept moving all day. Then got escorted directly into a gorgeous sunset by a pod of dolphins! About 8 or so of the dark gray kind with a bunch of white on the sides jumped, dove, shot under the boat, then did it again, crisscrossing side to side for probably 20 minutes. Laying on the bow trying to take a picture, I was no more than 4 or 5 feet from them at times. We've been sliding along at 6-8 knots running deep under spinnaker ever since. They say those things are a good omen.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
Well that's more like it! Pretty good day today, compared to the last 2. Had at least a little wind and kept moving all day. Then got escorted directly into a gorgeous sunset by a pod of dolphins! About 8 or so of the dark gray kind with a bunch of white on the sides jumped, dove, shot under the boat, then did it again, crisscrossing side to side for probably 20 minutes. Laying on the bow trying to take a picture, I was no more than 4 or 5 feet from them at times. We've been sliding along at 6-8 knots running deep under spinnaker ever since. They say those things are a good omen.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
Sunday, July 13, 2014
32.16.744N 136.01.448W
6:50 pm VALIS time.
That time thing is just starting to get weird. Since we're sailing West, the sun is in the sky later in the afternoon. Since we don't change the clocks on VALIS until after we arrive in Hawaii, we stay on Pacific Time. So by the time we get there, our clock will be fully 3 hours out of whack with the sun. We're just starting to see the effect, with the sun not setting until into my 9:00-12:00 watch.
Speaking of the sunset, last night's was spectacular. Often sunsets at sea are a bit of a letdown, because maritime clouds are low and there isn't any dust or anything in the air to make dramatic colors. But last night really was something. The low clouds made it brief, but for some reason the cloud bottoms really went through a vivid series of orange, pink, red, purple. The effect was made more dramatic by the absolutely glassy sea surface. No wind at all. Not good for sailing.
But then the moon came out and it was HUGE! Full moon, must be close in its orbit because it just physically looked big. Still the glassy sea surface, so plenty of time to admire it while not going anywhere in a sailboat. Then we had a really good sunrise. Not sure what it says that I saw all of it.
Good day today. 5-8 knot breeze most of the day and the chute was up. VALIS making 4-5 knots much of the day in the general direction of Hawaii. Still seeing way too much plastic. Looks like a Wall Mart blew up out here. Seriously folks, cut down on that stuff.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
That time thing is just starting to get weird. Since we're sailing West, the sun is in the sky later in the afternoon. Since we don't change the clocks on VALIS until after we arrive in Hawaii, we stay on Pacific Time. So by the time we get there, our clock will be fully 3 hours out of whack with the sun. We're just starting to see the effect, with the sun not setting until into my 9:00-12:00 watch.
Speaking of the sunset, last night's was spectacular. Often sunsets at sea are a bit of a letdown, because maritime clouds are low and there isn't any dust or anything in the air to make dramatic colors. But last night really was something. The low clouds made it brief, but for some reason the cloud bottoms really went through a vivid series of orange, pink, red, purple. The effect was made more dramatic by the absolutely glassy sea surface. No wind at all. Not good for sailing.
But then the moon came out and it was HUGE! Full moon, must be close in its orbit because it just physically looked big. Still the glassy sea surface, so plenty of time to admire it while not going anywhere in a sailboat. Then we had a really good sunrise. Not sure what it says that I saw all of it.
Good day today. 5-8 knot breeze most of the day and the chute was up. VALIS making 4-5 knots much of the day in the general direction of Hawaii. Still seeing way too much plastic. Looks like a Wall Mart blew up out here. Seriously folks, cut down on that stuff.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
Saturday, July 12, 2014
32.27.367N 134.33.375W
If there are any among the readers that are doing the math, you'll have figured out by now that this has not been the typical bash across the ocean. This has been a SLOOOWW drifting, bobbing, dawdle that just doesn't suit a big ol tank like VALIS But, if you're going to be barely creeping across the face of the Pacific, best do it in style, and that we are doing. Lasagna and salad tonight for supper was delicious. I think I'm gaining weight because Rich had a taste for chocolate when he did the provision shopping..
Last night the clouds broke a little and we got a spectacular moon on a glassy sea. Would rather have had a wave-torn chaotic maelstrom, but it was a pretty sight. Reminded me for all the world of Greer's Ferry in the wee hours after all the motorboats have gone to sleep. It was so still we dropped sails so they wouldn't drive us nuts just banging in the swell. The racers on the radio are joking about spending Christmas together in Kaneohe instead of having our big party in July.
Lots of sun today. Light breeze and the chute up most of the day means we'll likely top yesterday's record low 50 mile effort, but not by a lot. Weather is warmer, water temp is over 70 and so air temp stays up too. A couple of light showers sort of rinsed things off. I packed away the wool underwear today in a duffel that won't be opened until I get to laundry facilities, which was a gratifying little chore.
Most of y'all are probably looking at the tracker, which gives you the impression that we are a tidy little fleet chugging across the sea. In actuality, we can't see each other. Occasionally, you'll cross paths with a competitor, but for the vast majority of the time, it's just us. We saw one boat a few days ago that passed within a mile. One more was a spec on the horizon, and the final sighting was only possible at night as we could glimpse the masthead light of a competitor who was hull down in the sea over the horizon. Sitting on deck, you can see something the size of a sailboat up to maybe 3-4 miles away. A huge cargo ship, maybe 6 miles. But a 6 mile circle doesn't cover much of an ocean this big, so to our eyes, it's empty. No boats, ships, planes, nothing.
Well I've gotta go look at water for the next 3 hours and there's a nice sunset about to go off.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
Last night the clouds broke a little and we got a spectacular moon on a glassy sea. Would rather have had a wave-torn chaotic maelstrom, but it was a pretty sight. Reminded me for all the world of Greer's Ferry in the wee hours after all the motorboats have gone to sleep. It was so still we dropped sails so they wouldn't drive us nuts just banging in the swell. The racers on the radio are joking about spending Christmas together in Kaneohe instead of having our big party in July.
Lots of sun today. Light breeze and the chute up most of the day means we'll likely top yesterday's record low 50 mile effort, but not by a lot. Weather is warmer, water temp is over 70 and so air temp stays up too. A couple of light showers sort of rinsed things off. I packed away the wool underwear today in a duffel that won't be opened until I get to laundry facilities, which was a gratifying little chore.
Most of y'all are probably looking at the tracker, which gives you the impression that we are a tidy little fleet chugging across the sea. In actuality, we can't see each other. Occasionally, you'll cross paths with a competitor, but for the vast majority of the time, it's just us. We saw one boat a few days ago that passed within a mile. One more was a spec on the horizon, and the final sighting was only possible at night as we could glimpse the masthead light of a competitor who was hull down in the sea over the horizon. Sitting on deck, you can see something the size of a sailboat up to maybe 3-4 miles away. A huge cargo ship, maybe 6 miles. But a 6 mile circle doesn't cover much of an ocean this big, so to our eyes, it's empty. No boats, ships, planes, nothing.
Well I've gotta go look at water for the next 3 hours and there's a nice sunset about to go off.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
Thursday, July 10, 2014
33.14.987N 131.54.361W
7:49 pm VALIS time
Absolutely beautiful evening here! Finally the gray clouds are trying to break up for the first time in a couple of days, the water is sparkling blue, the seas and breeze are gentle and pleasant. We've made it to waters that are over 60 degrees and the effect on the air is perfect. Unfortunately the breeze seems to be heading us (causing us to gradually turn away from our target) and slackening, so at some point tonight, I suspect we'll be pulling down the spinnaker and going back to white sails.. It's one of those times when it's much more about enjoying the sail than worrying about the race. Just a beautiful place to be.
Absolutely beautiful evening here! Finally the gray clouds are trying to break up for the first time in a couple of days, the water is sparkling blue, the seas and breeze are gentle and pleasant. We've made it to waters that are over 60 degrees and the effect on the air is perfect. Unfortunately the breeze seems to be heading us (causing us to gradually turn away from our target) and slackening, so at some point tonight, I suspect we'll be pulling down the spinnaker and going back to white sails.. It's one of those times when it's much more about enjoying the sail than worrying about the race. Just a beautiful place to be.
33.31.563N 131.35.515W
4:47 pm VALIS time
This is gonna be short cause I am one tired puppy. Finally got a spinnaker up today. It's been all over the place from no wind and big lumpy seas to blowing low 20's and big lumpy seas. It's work your butt off through the light air to get to the little squalls where all the wind is, then work your butt off to go fast & keep it all upright & aimed.
I've been ignoring watches and sailing since 6:00 am, and sleeping with my boots on in case I'm called, so for now:
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
This is gonna be short cause I am one tired puppy. Finally got a spinnaker up today. It's been all over the place from no wind and big lumpy seas to blowing low 20's and big lumpy seas. It's work your butt off through the light air to get to the little squalls where all the wind is, then work your butt off to go fast & keep it all upright & aimed.
I've been ignoring watches and sailing since 6:00 am, and sleeping with my boots on in case I'm called, so for now:
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
36.20.665N 126.37.734W
12:27 AM VALIS time
Well we kept moving pretty well all day after the morning repairs. Tonight we're under reefed main and genoa, beam reaching. The winds are going through cycles of roughly 5 minutes each of dropping off to about 15 knots, then back up to 25-27.I wanted to carry a little more sail to power through the lulls, and just let it slip & live with it through the mini-squalls, but Big Paul outranks Other Paul, so it's a more conservative plan for us. Hopefully in the morning we'll learn that it worked.
The big excitement at the moment comes courtesy of Baltimore Bridge, an 876 foot cargo ship located 12 miles off our starboard bow, heading roughly our way at 22 knots.. Right now we calculate he'll cross in front of us by approximately 5 miles in about 23 minutes. All fine and routine, but the sort of thing you want to keep an eye on. I'll let you know tomorrow how it went.
WHiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
Well we kept moving pretty well all day after the morning repairs. Tonight we're under reefed main and genoa, beam reaching. The winds are going through cycles of roughly 5 minutes each of dropping off to about 15 knots, then back up to 25-27.I wanted to carry a little more sail to power through the lulls, and just let it slip & live with it through the mini-squalls, but Big Paul outranks Other Paul, so it's a more conservative plan for us. Hopefully in the morning we'll learn that it worked.
The big excitement at the moment comes courtesy of Baltimore Bridge, an 876 foot cargo ship located 12 miles off our starboard bow, heading roughly our way at 22 knots.. Right now we calculate he'll cross in front of us by approximately 5 miles in about 23 minutes. All fine and routine, but the sort of thing you want to keep an eye on. I'll let you know tomorrow how it went.
WHiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
36.39.562N 125.49.430W
Not much change here on the high seas, which is a good thing. Still chugging alt 8ish knots in 15-20 knots of wind. We've overtaken Gypsy Lady, and in a fairly rare event are passing within a half mile of her right now.
We just finished up our first hot meal, Chinese food which was frozen then rethawed for our dining pleasure. I changed out of my wet underwear, which was a treat. And we saw an Ocean Sunfish lolling on the surface like they do. Weird looking thing must've been 5 feet across.
I gotta go move, rerun, and lash down some stuff before it gets dark. More news when it happens.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
We just finished up our first hot meal, Chinese food which was frozen then rethawed for our dining pleasure. I changed out of my wet underwear, which was a treat. And we saw an Ocean Sunfish lolling on the surface like they do. Weird looking thing must've been 5 feet across.
I gotta go move, rerun, and lash down some stuff before it gets dark. More news when it happens.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
37.01.106N 124.54.230W
In case you didn't join me on earlier voyages, the numbers in the subject line are our position when I start to type. I just note 'em and put them here, so those who like to figure such things can see exactly where we are. The first is our Latitude, the second is our longitude. Plug those coordinates into any mapping app or software, and you'll see our location as of that moment.
We passed very close to the south of South Farrallon Island last night in the fog. It's just a giant jagged rock, devoid of vegetation, that pokes up out of the Pacific at the edge of the continental shelf. What Farrallon does have is birds and seals. Millions of them. So when you see it in the daytime, it looks snowcapped, but that aint snow! We passed close by on the leeward (downwind) side, and the smell and racket left no doubt we were close. Some obnoxious bird snuck up behind us in the fog, and blasted off a scream that nearly caused me to wet the inside of my foulies. Damn thing couldn't have been more than 10 feet behind me. Not sure if I mentioned the bioluminescence in the water last night. It was really, really dark out, so it showed up spectacularly. Plankton in the form of glowing sparklers a little greener than lightening bugs, that flash when excited or disturbed. It's really cool when you punp the seawater into the toilet and the water in the bowl is full of glowing glitter. Hard to get more magical than that! There are also jellyfish that blow up spectacularly when you hit em. It's a flash about the size and brilliance of someone dropping a lit lantern.
Headed for the deck for my 6:00 am watch and was told that the headsail furler was jacked up. It's a piece of equipment essential for furling (taking out of commission) or deploying the forwardmost of the two sails we use. So it's located on the very point of the bow (front) of the boat. So, chanting my best Mighty Mouse voice "'Here I come to save the day!" Sprang to the bow to fix it. Actually it'd be accurate to say i crawled, scooted, and tumbled since the wind was now sustained in the high 20's and touching 30 knots with appropriate waves, spray etc. The bow was plunging up & down through maybe a 8 foot range, requiring me to use most limbs to just hang on, and once to swat away a jellyfish that remained in my lap after the wave had subsided. My cowardly compulsion to remain on the boat caused what would have been maybe a 30 minutes to an hour repair at the dock to consume 2 1/2 hours. During most of that time, we were bareheaded, meaning we only had half our sailpower up. But in the end, the thing was made whole again and we redeployed everything to continue on our way. The only permanent damage being to our elapsed time, and to the comfort of my underwear, which absorbed whatever of the constant dunkings that my foul weather gear allowed to pass. This little episode, along with the black hole of wind we got stuck in yesterday, leaves us with a LOT of making up to do.
Things have settled down a bit. It's still overcast and gray, the effect being compounded by the way the open ocean really takes on the color of the sky. It's all steely gray as of 12:30 in the afternoon, but appears to be getting steadily lighter. Wind is 15-20, long open Pacific swells with a little wind chop on top. Every few minutes we'll get a big flush of water down the deck just to keep us on our toes. We won't dry out till Oahu now.
The crew is generally healthy, although one is eating very conservatively due to a very mild case of mal de mer that he'd rather not exacerbate. All are getting along great and having a ball. Well, that's all for now. Time to pull on the wet stuff and get on deck.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
We passed very close to the south of South Farrallon Island last night in the fog. It's just a giant jagged rock, devoid of vegetation, that pokes up out of the Pacific at the edge of the continental shelf. What Farrallon does have is birds and seals. Millions of them. So when you see it in the daytime, it looks snowcapped, but that aint snow! We passed close by on the leeward (downwind) side, and the smell and racket left no doubt we were close. Some obnoxious bird snuck up behind us in the fog, and blasted off a scream that nearly caused me to wet the inside of my foulies. Damn thing couldn't have been more than 10 feet behind me. Not sure if I mentioned the bioluminescence in the water last night. It was really, really dark out, so it showed up spectacularly. Plankton in the form of glowing sparklers a little greener than lightening bugs, that flash when excited or disturbed. It's really cool when you punp the seawater into the toilet and the water in the bowl is full of glowing glitter. Hard to get more magical than that! There are also jellyfish that blow up spectacularly when you hit em. It's a flash about the size and brilliance of someone dropping a lit lantern.
Headed for the deck for my 6:00 am watch and was told that the headsail furler was jacked up. It's a piece of equipment essential for furling (taking out of commission) or deploying the forwardmost of the two sails we use. So it's located on the very point of the bow (front) of the boat. So, chanting my best Mighty Mouse voice "'Here I come to save the day!" Sprang to the bow to fix it. Actually it'd be accurate to say i crawled, scooted, and tumbled since the wind was now sustained in the high 20's and touching 30 knots with appropriate waves, spray etc. The bow was plunging up & down through maybe a 8 foot range, requiring me to use most limbs to just hang on, and once to swat away a jellyfish that remained in my lap after the wave had subsided. My cowardly compulsion to remain on the boat caused what would have been maybe a 30 minutes to an hour repair at the dock to consume 2 1/2 hours. During most of that time, we were bareheaded, meaning we only had half our sailpower up. But in the end, the thing was made whole again and we redeployed everything to continue on our way. The only permanent damage being to our elapsed time, and to the comfort of my underwear, which absorbed whatever of the constant dunkings that my foul weather gear allowed to pass. This little episode, along with the black hole of wind we got stuck in yesterday, leaves us with a LOT of making up to do.
Things have settled down a bit. It's still overcast and gray, the effect being compounded by the way the open ocean really takes on the color of the sky. It's all steely gray as of 12:30 in the afternoon, but appears to be getting steadily lighter. Wind is 15-20, long open Pacific swells with a little wind chop on top. Every few minutes we'll get a big flush of water down the deck just to keep us on our toes. We won't dry out till Oahu now.
The crew is generally healthy, although one is eating very conservatively due to a very mild case of mal de mer that he'd rather not exacerbate. All are getting along great and having a ball. Well, that's all for now. Time to pull on the wet stuff and get on deck.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
Monday, July 7, 2014
37.46.106N 122.52.716W
Alrighty then, that's more like it. The breeze started filling in about 2 hours ago, so things are looking up. We're going 6.5 knots in about 12 knots of wind, headed almost directly at the Farralon Islands, which will be the last land we are near for a very long time. probably won't see them because it's foggy. We havent seen any other boats for a while and land is long gone. So it's just us and a bunch of little black dolphins chugging through the gloom.
Everybody's settling in to their watches ( I go back on in 15 mins) and everything is great. Gotto go for now. Need to get some wool on under the foul weather gear. I'm on deck from 9:00-12: 00 and with this fog, it's going to be chilly.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
Everybody's settling in to their watches ( I go back on in 15 mins) and everything is great. Gotto go for now. Need to get some wool on under the foul weather gear. I'm on deck from 9:00-12: 00 and with this fog, it's going to be chilly.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
And they're off!
Very easy conditions for the start this morning. Nice breeze, pretty smooth water, a nice crowd along the waterfront to see us off. Any of y'all that watched the America's Cup will remember that they finished right in front of a big rock breakwater at St. Francis Yacht Club. Well that's exactly where we started.
Made our way through the Golden Gate without issue, and headed out to sea. Unfortunately, soon after passing Polinas Point, we fell into a humongous windless patch of ocean, with tons of sloppy waves from every direction. The effect this has on a heavy boat like VALIS is that you take on a stately bobbing wallow that is so pervasive that you neither advance toward the finish, nor retain the ability to steer.
So as I type, we sit approximately 2 1/2 miles from the coast, utterly without direction or velocity, bobbing/wallowing/rolling like a semi-filled barrel in a washing machine, awaiting a breeze which isn't forecast for days. The worst part is that some of our friends on competing boats managed to miss this aquatic quicksand, and as of 30 minutes ago, were churning along at 6 1/2 knots.
Ah well, it's a long race. We'll catch 'em.
Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Test shot from afloat
If you can read this, all the stuff between VALIS, the satellite, the google servers, and your home are a 'Go' and the countdown continues.
T Minus 17 hours and counting...
T Minus 17 hours and counting...
Here we go again!
It's PacCup eve again. Most of what has to get done has been done. That which had to get done, but didn't, just isn't, and we'll all live. A hectic but lovely few days in Sausalito winds down and tomorrow we bundle up and head out. Our start is at 10:30 Pacific Time, so adjust your own clocks accordingly. Keep track of us through the tracking link to your right, and check in here for onboard commentary. The posts below this are from 2012 because in the thirty seconds I allotted for setting this up again, I couldn't figure out how to hide the old ones without deleting them, so keep that in mind.
GO VALIS!
GO VALIS!
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