It's a Long Shot II

43ft Hans Christian Ketch

Vessel Name: Long Shot II
Vessel Make/Model: Hans Christian 43T Ketch
Hailing Port: Victoria, BC
Crew: Doug & Susan Pickrell
About: Motley bunch includes Charlie, Riley & Saylor.
Home Page: http://longshot2.com
Social:
05 June 2014
31 May 2014
01 October 2013
10 September 2013 | Victoria
31 August 2013 | Deep Bay
28 August 2013 | Salish Sea
20 August 2013 | Oak Bay Marina
11 August 2013 | Oak Bay Marina
07 August 2013 | Oak Bay Marina
05 August 2013 | Downtown Victoria
03 August 2013 | Ship's Point Wharf
03 August 2013 | Juan de Fuca Strait
02 August 2013 | Day 18 Hawai'i to Victoria
31 July 2013 | Day 17 Hawai'i to Victoria
31 July 2013 | Day 16 Hawai'i to Victoria
28 July 2013 | Day 14 to Victoria
24 July 2013 | Day 9 to Victoria
22 July 2013 | Day 7 from Hawaii
18 July 2013 | Day 3 from Hawaii
15 July 2013 | One Day Out Of Kauai
Recent Blog Posts
05 June 2014

Hand Off!

31 May 2014

Are You Reading?

Hi There,

01 October 2013

Hustle & Bustle

For those of you who won't give up reading - c'mon, it's all boring now :)

10 September 2013 | Victoria

Back To Work

Doug and I enjoyed our last week of freedom while the kids got settled into their new routine at school. Saylor was pretty freaked at the idea that her parents would be going back to work soon and she might have to go with strangers to school. After three days with our new neighbours walking with us, [...]

31 August 2013 | Deep Bay

Great Time

Nice sail up the Strait but not near enough wind to really get going so it was a bit of a motor. Good to see Roger and hear the turmoil of the America's Cup and Oracle caught cheating. They'll be in for more turmoil when those crazy Kiwis make landfall in San Fran! We continued North and couldn't [...]

28 August 2013 | Salish Sea

At Sea Again

Hard to break the habit of blogging once we are out on the water so had to post something even if no one is reading anymore. We have fit right back in to life ashore although both Doug & I haven't started work yet. We've been busy getting the house back in order which should have been easy except [...]

On the Road Again

16 May 2013
Susan
We enjoyed our final days in Raro - it has to have the best market in the islands. Our highlight was meeting Puapii - the son of Apii and Mehau from Manihiki. He is charming and friendly like his parents. He runs a table at the market selling the pearls from their farm. Each one of us were given a pearl necklace so we have a part of them close to our hearts. It was a perfect way for us to remember them by. We loaded up with fresh produce from the market: pow pows (papaya), pineapple, beans, bananas, spinach, herbs, oranges, breadfruit, starfruit and coconuts. It's cheaper here than in NZ - same goes for the NZ meat that we bought. After the market we headed up the mountain for a great hike with Beth & Norm from Sarah Jean II. We did the cross island hike which had incredible views and the scenery one block inland from the main road was absolutely stunning. Very lush and tropical and not so touristy. It took about four hours to cross the island then we took the bus back around again. We then decided to eat out our last night in Rarotonga. It was kinda like when Doug takes me out at home and we end up at Costco. Can't complain as the take out restaurant 100m from the boat was really quite good.

With five metre seas in the forecast, we decided to get going. The harbour is not that comfortable if there is a swell coming in and we figured we might as well try to ride the big seas that are running North. The swell is from the big low pressure in the Southern Ocean so we hoped the wavelength would be huge making for a comfortable ride. We weren't disappointed making our biggest miles in the first few days (166 miles/day) and with Sarah Jean II nearby, it has us trying to keep up. They have left us now that it's become squally. We have to go out on deck to reef when the rain squall is coming. Usually another one is right behind the first so we don't tend to raise and lower the sails as often as we would if you could manage it all from the comfort of the cockpit. Besides, Doug was busy with a project during all this. We can start by saying, "Just buy a Honda!" We cheaped out and bought the Taiwanese knock off of the Honda genset and it's been good BUT... it's noisy as heck and the pull cord has broke off twice. It's not an easy fix either and in 3m seas, this is not Doug's favourite thing to be doing.

We are two days out of Penrhyn and hoping to make landfall before dark otherwise we will be trying to slow this girl down. Looking forward to sitting at anchor for awhile as I think we are going to have a very tough time enroute Hawaii. The ITCZ is much farther south than it was one year ago and it looks like we are going to have NE winds as soon as we leave. Not sure how the heck we can hit Hawaii, which is due North, when we can only make 50 to 60 degrees off the wind.
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