1300 miles to go, that is. We capitulated at 1600PDT on Friday, 8/10/12 - the 48 HP diesel gennie has been deployed. Wind speeds had dropped to 4-5 knots, and angles were left of 20 degrees for long enough that we made the call to point and go. Mind you, Otto was still managing 4+ knots of boatspeed, but the direction was just too variable and generally too North. And wouldn't you know that the neutral switch on the throttle quadrant stuck (in neutral) at the very time we needed it to go forward! Vince and Dad dodged the oscillating wheel taking out the mounting screws for the pedestal-mounted chart plotter so Vince could dislodge the neutral lock. We're now doing 5 knots SOG at 46 deg COG toward 37 30N/140 00W (my revised waypoint for our hopeful exit of the high) at 2000 RPM. We'll be keeping a close eye on favorable wind speed and angles to sail again, but I'm afraid this is our plight for the next several DAYS. I guess at some point every boat is a trawler (yes, I'm still rationalizing our GB36). The silver lining is being able to use the SSB for sailmail at will, rather than having to wait until the next engine/charge cycle. Oh, and I just created a spreadsheet log to try and get a handle on our fuel usage early in the process.

I'm expecting Vince's fish tacos for dinner, and the break in galley duties is also welcomed - though I'm happy to sling hash as long as it's eaten. It'll be like a treasure hunt to find things after having someone else in the galley ;-)