05/27/2012
Now 315 miles from San Fran, John reports low wind, calm seas, and air temps balmy enough to allow them to shed the wind/rain gear. A very quiet day, other than the huge plastic float they came across that had about 10' of barnacles trailing out behind.
With seasickness long behind them, John fixed a hearty lunch of ramen with vegetables, canned chicken, and a package of mashed potatoes thrown in to thicken the pot (Dad had asked for cream of chicken soup -- I think John pulled it off rather well!)
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05/27/2012
John checked in this morning to say that it was kind of a goofy night. "Oscar" did his best, but with very light winds thru the night, John says their GPS track looked like, well, a drunken sailor's. Zigged and zagged and went every which way, but it allowed he and dad to both get some sleep, and they put another 33 miles of the California coast behind them. With all the tacking back and forth by Oscar, John finally got up in the night and pulled in the main sail to keep the boom from slapping noisily and keeping them awake.
He also says they finally resolved the alternator issue, so fired up the engine to give the batteries a good charging and turned on every light and electronic on the boat -- said they were lit up a like a floating christmas tree!
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Looking forward to seeing you both in San. Fran. Love ya! .........Mama
05/26/2012
John checked in a little later than scheduled because I was off the grid for the day (thank you, Carissa, for 'babysitting' my cell and being available to take calls from John while I was practicing ice axe arrest and crevasse rescue techniques!).
John reports the choppy waves produced by last night's storm were pretty rough - tossed him out of his bunk, even.
They're currently 200 miles off the coast of Cali, and now shed of their heavy rain gear. They deployed some tuna rigs just to see, and had three beautiful tunas show up to see what was what! Unfortunately, their appearance coincided with a "release" from the toilet, and they disappeared. Apparently, tuna don't like stink...
Now that the winds have subsided and the seas have taken on an even rolling pattern, John was able to make repairs to the disfunctional alternator and has it on-line and working beautifully. Hurray for functioning electronics!
400 miles to go, and this seadog's wife can't wait to see her hubby in San Fran!
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05/26/2012
John checked in the morning to say that it was a pretty rough night -- they hove-to about 9pm, and just rode-out/slept through the worst of last night's storm. The waves were "special" and John got tossed around a bit, but by morning, they were feet up and chillin' as they slid down the Cali coast.
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05/25/2012
(Post-script, 1900: John kindly called this evening to let me know he and Dad are in the thick of a very strong system...another gale, I believe he called it, and with 30-knot wind gusts, justifiably so! He said they are (and I quote) "having a blast, took some video he can't wait to show me in San Fran" (when I see it, I will probably have a heart attack). But they are doing great, no seasickness, and he not only repaired Oscar (the wind-vane had been damaged in an early storm system today), he said he has it working better than ever. When it gets dark, they'll heave-to, and now that they've faced several of these nasty weather cells, feels much better about how to cooperate with their fury. Humble but confident. That's my man!)
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John called in via SAT phone this afternoon to report that "If NOAA has lost a couple of gales, they're right back where we left 'em, and they can KEEP 'em!!" They had another smaller system work thru after this morning's check call ... Gusts in excess of 30 knots Unfortunately, another system is working its way north right at them, but John's got her dialed in for the wind, has main reefed down and is ready to heave to when the big winds hit again.
In the relative calm between the storms, John has the opportunity to repair the damaged wind-vane (seems Oscar sustained some damage in the big winds) and they're moving along now between 5-5 1/2 knots.
They had a very LARGE unexpected visitor today: a huge whale!! John wasn't sure if it was a humpback or grey, but he estimates it was nearly 60' and lolled up out of the deep blue sea right in front of them! Dad was at the helm and managed to avoid a collision... Can't wait to see those pics when the boys make port in San Fran!
Praying for safety as they face tonight's weather!
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05/25/2012
Well, the Gallivant plowed head-long into a pretty significant storm last night. John said it punched into them as it drove up from the south, pounding them with 20-25+ knot winds and high some pretty high seas.
(NOAA reports the wind gusts were equivalent to "gale-force," some in excess of 34 knots).
John wisely hove-to (I'm so glad he practiced that maneuver so many times out in Sound!), set the wind vane, and they rode out the stormy night at a scant 2mph. "Oscar" (their new pet name for the wind-vane) performed admirably in the thick of it.
Morning brought diminished winds, some patches of blue sky and the choppy, confused seas that often follow a big blow like that. Might be awhile before they return to more even swells, but the guys are handling it ok. There may be more weather in store, but for the moment, they've been given a bit of a reprieve.
On a personal note: this "wife-of-the-seadog gig" is very taxing! One look at those grib files yesterday afternoon, and I was nearly frantic with worry! But I shouldn't have been -- the Gallivant is proving herself to be blue-water-worthy in spades, John is a very capable sailor, and the time and effort he invested rigging the boat in such a way that she can be nearly single-handed from the cockpit, sure is paying off!
And...I am grateful for the prayers of many good friends all through the night on their behalf (you know who you are -- thank you!!)
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