Day 4 - What a difference a day makes
16 August 2014 | 42 40.46'N:125 9.60'W, Offshore Cabo Blanco, Oregon
Mark
439 miles covered, 315 more to go.
Finally, the Pacific High has re-established itself and it is about time! We have motored nearly 70 hours over the first several days of this trip which, even though comfortable, was quite enough!
We had our first taste of the wind overnight last night. We put up the kite (asymmetical spinnaker) just before midnight and, although we carried it through the night, it was slow in the light air. Early this morning, as I started my watch and replaced Tom, we went back to motoring. About noon the wind filled in quite quickly and has been blowing 14-23 knots since then. We flew the kite again as we headed directly down wind and had a great sail all afternoon in the warm sun!
As the dinner hour approached, the waves started to grow to which, when combined with 20 knots of wind, started to show us that we were carrying too much sail. Speed was good at 7-10 knots, but the autopilot was working very hard to keep us on course. Other than that, it was still very comfortable & dry in the cockpit.
We dropped the kite and replaced it with our jib and triple reefed main. Yes, we are a little uncanvased now and could definitely carry a double reef main, but the steering is easy and the boat is nice and stable for dinner. This is very important as Dee has cooked up an amazing meal every night that we all look forward to.
After dinner Tom goes back on watch, I will take the 9-midnight shift. Bruce comes on from 12-3, Tom again from 3-6, and then I am back up for the morning 6-9 shift. After that, our trip is getting close to ending with an estimated arrival in Drakes Bay outside San Francisco Monday night with entrance into the bay on Tuesday morning - hopefully! (knock on wood!!)