08/18/2012, 37 45'N:126 30'W, 192 nm from SF
Let this pic serve as notice to competition...
Actually, Vince caught another tuna (or close relative) this morning! I'm carrying the wasabi on my person, as I never got my sushi out of the last one. The fish is chillin in the fridge at the moment....figure I'll wait until lunch.
The wind has all but died now, but is showing signs of the Northwesterlies that should carry us through the Gate. The forecast has moderated a bit with peak winds between 15 and 20 knots, so we might be adventurous enough to fly the A6 to/through the Gate if it holds that long. ....that'd make it easy for Liz to spot us (the a6 is a pretty, aqua blue with 33 on it and black chevrons on the luff).
I'll wait until the wind fills to wager an ETA, but currently we're making 6 knots over the ground and have 192 nm to go at 10:45 PDT. I expect our boatspeed to go up as the breeze fills in...
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08/18/2012, 203 nm to SF
There's two meanings for the title:
1) we're about to break the 200 nm to go mark!
2) last night my diligence watching the radar paid off when I noticed a set of correlated tracks racing toward the boat from about 1/4 mile out at our 2 o'clock. I'm thinking (at 1:00 am), what the... So I start scanning for a bird that maybe saw us and decided to check us out when I notice incoming torpedoes given away by the phosphorescence - about that time one of three small dolphins breached/blew and startled me half to death! They play around the boat for about 10 minutes, and while I could barely make them out, I think they were Pacific White-sided dolphins. We can add dolphin tracking to our capabilities. Wish we had known that when we were surrounded by whales by the Farrallons...
Damp/dreary this morning, so I'm off to relieve Dad from watch...
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08/17/2012, 37 36'N:129 23'W, 330 nm from SF
This should give you an idea of the dampness factor on board, as the throwable "Rescue Stick" self-inflated under the dodger. It has one of the dissolving auto-inflation mechanism, so it really could have been any time ago that moisture started to get in - the velcro strap holding it to the dodger disappeared in the last 24 hours, and the stick was laying up near the halyards.
We're back up to speed under sail now, doing between 6.5 and 7.0 knots with about 10 true from 160. The A6 has come up more than once, so I don't doubt that we'll see it before all is said and done. Especially since the wind is supposed to come around our wake on its way NW over the next 24 hours. Maybe we'll fly it all the way under the Gate! ....probably not. We'll take pics of it so the rest of the Tiki J crew knows what it looks like ;-)
It's Jack Daniel's pulled pork, mashed red potatoes and steamed veggies for our big meal today. I spoke too soon on being tired of fishing, as Vince is still gunning for a big tuna. Water temp is now 63 degrees.
Well, it's after our big meal now, and I have some corrections to make: it's actually sunny, pleasant and warm out at the moment. Nice timing for me, as I'm about to go on watch. Suncreen is the big question...
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08/17/2012, 358 nm to SF
It's hard to believe we were moving over 7 knots this morning when I came on shift with 12-15 knots of breeze from about 190 degrees. It didn't take long for that to peter out, but regardless we're motorsailing almost that fast now. Vince has a heavy foot on the gas pedal given our fuel load. The forecast has remained consistent, whereby we're expecting the wind to clock from 190 to 300-something degrees and freshen over the next 24+ hours. With luck, we'll be broad reaching (on port tack) with 15-20 knots for our last 150 miles. Maybe we'll breakout the A6, just to make sure the seams are actually sewed (inside joke).
There's a lot less to comment on when I can't see the sun, we're tired of fish (and fishing), there's no interesting flotsam passing by, and nothing really remarkable is going on. Guess that means I'm done for the moment...
P.S. Spellbound reported passing near an overturned motorboat of about 20 feet...said it looked like it had been that way for a while. No markings to associate it with the Japanese tsunami.
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Drop a line when you get back to the DC area.
08/16/2012, 37 25'N:132 18'W, 468 nm from SF
This is a frame grab from yesterday's adventure course. That's me ducking under the dodger, and on the left edge you see Otto (Otto Helm), unfazed by the whole thing.
Does anyone know why the Cape Horn windvane is branded Cap Horn? Did they lose some sort of trademark battle and have to drop the "e"?
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08/16/2012, 475 nm to SF
Did you get the Zoolander reference?
Well, we're happy to have rid ourselves of some moisture (and beauty?!) today, as the humidity seems to be lower, the sun's presence was at least discernible for a while through the overcast, and we took advantage of both to hang out foulies and take feet out of boots. The leather on the outside of my Durbarry boots is not dry (is it ever?), but the woven tops and insides are. The dorade scoops are back on for a while, but the interior still hasn't quite recovered yet. The wind is getting variable as predicted, though I'm surprised that it's still registering 9ish knots as it looks to be swinging over our left shoulders on its way to SW. Impatience has us motorsailing, with Ray (Ray Marine) doing the driving now. Can you believe that we've barely touched the helm in over a week? Even through the worst of the wind and swells, Otto (Otto Helm) hung in like a trooper and kept us pointing in the right direction. Vince talked me off the ledge as I threatened to hand steer through the gusts over 25 knots, and it turned out not to be necessary.
We've crossed both the 3/4 way point and the 500 mile post today, and I'm starting to feel like a horse to a barn. Kim can attest to the fact that I got the same way toward the end of the PacCup. Never say never, but I feel like we're over the major humps, so now it's a matter of clocking the miles and punching the clock. We still have at least one sporting leg left, but I don't see that damping our spirits as we'll be on the home stretch. Current predictions are pointing to a Monday morning arrival, but we have a lot of dead air to traverse too.
We had oatmeal for breakfast as the receding swell made everyone more adventurous, and topped that off with fish tacos for lunch. Now it's time to clean up for another two-day stretch....
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