08/16/2012, 508 nm to SF
Winds have dropped to about 10 knots from just east of North as predicted. They should continue to drop further and clock around to the SW over the next half a day. Normally that would be like pulling teeth for us sailors, but we can use a little break to catch up on some things like sleep and solid meals (especially for Vince). So it'll be motorsailing for a while as this wind dies, some sort of stbd tack reaching for a while, then more motorsailing between systems before the NWesterlies kick in again for the sprint to the finish. If you look at a current weather map of the eastern Pacific and see a big "L", that's where we are right now. The big difference between now and our earlier motorsailing spells is that it's now damp, dreary and chilly. But that's ok, we knew it was coming....and thank goodness for good foulies!
Maybe we'll finally have that ahi sushi this evening...
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08/15/2012, 630 nm to SF
We're hopefully within 12 hours of getting this gorilla off our back, namely the 20+ knots of breeze and narly swell. Not much inside or out of the boat is dry at this point, so we're rearranging furniture to have everyone sleep aft where it is the most dry. Vince is swapping the dorades scoop for blank covers now, which in hindsight we should have done sooner.
Current predictions still call for a reduction in winds, but I'm thinking it'll be dawn before we're out of the woods. The upside is we've averaged over 7 knots under the #3 and double-reefed main (put that in this morning). We look forward to shaking those out tomorrow.
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08/15/2012, 630 nm to SF
There once was a man with a bucket, That could do way more than clean, From the bow to the stern, He does more than his turn, D'spite his face like his ball being green.
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08/14/2012, 785 nm to SF
To elaborate on my comment about jogging right, we had already reefed after we were first seeing some gusts of 17-18, so we turned downwind to douse the #2 and hoist the #3. I saw a puff a while ago that was 21 or so, and it's a steady 18-19 right now. This wind seems a little early, but the timing of our sail changes were planned early anyway. Good news is we've averaged over 7 knots, our course is straight down the rhumb line, and there is a light at the end of this tunnel that's only 24-36 hours away. Otto (Otto Helm) is doing a fine job keeping us headed in the right direction. Lots of swells and wind waves now, so don't expect much in the way of communications until we reach the other side - we have our hands full. Speaking of full hands, Vince's green ball is now matched by his green disposition. Dad and I had the last of the refried beans in tacos, if that sounds familiar from our first three days out of HI.
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08/14/2012, 790 nm to SF
To those following YellowBrick, do not be alarmed by the jog to the right - we reefed the main and are now under No.3 and main.
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08/14/2012, 37 20'N:139 58'W, 830 nm from SF
The last 24 hours have been all about change: - Scorpio descending in the Southern sky; - Cloud layers replacing clear skies; - Sunsets moving from the port quarter to starboard aft; - The Moon losing its race with the Sun, and shrinking in defeat; - Sunrises from starboard to port; - Winds shifting 100 degrees left and building; - The rumbling of the engine traded for the splash of waves over the rail; - Flat galleys, heads and beds for the Wacky Shack lean to starboard, and always rock and rolling; - Light foulies for heavy (I'm sure Dad will pull out something I haven't seen yet); ...and the temperature is starting to fall.
We all had a rough night last night as the wind couldn't quite figure out its direction and pressure, which wreaks havoc on Otto (Otto Helm). We traded him for Ray (Ray Marine) and sails for the engine several times over three watches starting at midnight. Perhaps it's the change in attitude and now-constant latitude that have us a heeling a bit as well.
But, all of our efforts are now producing VMG toward sanFran (about 6 knots currently), so life is good. We're expecting 10 knots building to 15 throughout today, and 20 to greet us in the morning and hold for the better part of 24 hours. The #2 will come down this evening, and the #3 will go up with an itchy trigger finger on reefing the main at the first sign of 20 knots. After paying our dues, the wind should eventually die to the point that we'll be motoring again for about a day. Then we might get a shot at a spinnaker as a low gives us gentle southwesterlies until clocking around to the NW at 15 for our home stretch. I'm receiving weather faxes over HF at the moment, as I never quite trust those pesky GRIBs...despite the apparent certainty of my game plan.
We have 40 gallons of fuel in the main tanks, and 35 gallons that's still hiking on the port rail, so no worries there (that's more than half what we started with). I can tell we have plenty of water in the port main tank as it thumps me from below while it sloshes beneath my berth.
We had breakfast pizza this morning: Boboli crust & sauce with breakfast sausage, bacon and cheddar/colby cheese - hotsauce optional. I tested the conventional wisdom that you can never have too much bacon, but the assertion stands. Our coats will be shiny, and we'll want another meal maybe sometime next weekend.
Finally, the data is pointing to a mid-day Monday arrival, but don't hold me to that. On that topic, the discussions have shifted to favorite landing drinks, and the survey says: rum and Coke.
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