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