From Becky
On our way again this morning. Hope to be in the marina between noon and one. Still fighting major currents!! Hope the river is low enough to let us under the I-5 bridge without having them open it!!
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Slogging along
Wow!! We are on our way but at a snails pace. Fighting almost a 3 knot current makes for slow going!! But we have been shedding layers and it is a BEAUTIFUL day on the river!!
*Update: still almost five miles from Longview may have to arrive in St Helens after dark or just run through the night. Fighting a 3+ knot current is the pits. Coming through some of the narrow channels we are down to 2.5 knots or less. Sauntering speed. Wait Bob just said we are going to stop in behind Walker Island and be on our way again by 5 in the a.m. So there you have it!! Two miles from Walker. No place else between here and SH.
**Belay that last update!! We are now continuing. Not sure for how long or to where. Bob wasn't kidding when he said, "for the first time I don't have a plan.". And a once again Ian along for the ride!!
*Update: still almost five miles from Longview may have to arrive in St Helens after dark or just run through the night. Fighting a 3+ knot current is the pits. Coming through some of the narrow channels we are down to 2.5 knots or less. Sauntering speed. Wait Bob just said we are going to stop in behind Walker Island and be on our way again by 5 in the a.m. So there you have it!! Two miles from Walker. No place else between here and SH.
**Belay that last update!! We are now continuing. Not sure for how long or to where. Bob wasn't kidding when he said, "for the first time I don't have a plan.". And a once again Ian along for the ride!!
July 24
From Becky:
Stardust and crew are on their way up river to Portland. Left Astoria at 6 this morning. We should be able to get to St Helens before dark. Then it will be...knock wood...an easy run to Salspar Marina on Hayden Island. Stardusts new home for at least a year!! Thanks Ian for the ride to Astoria yesterday!! Paul, thanks for crewing!! And Alli for celebrating with us.
Stardust and crew are on their way up river to Portland. Left Astoria at 6 this morning. We should be able to get to St Helens before dark. Then it will be...knock wood...an easy run to Salspar Marina on Hayden Island. Stardusts new home for at least a year!! Thanks Ian for the ride to Astoria yesterday!! Paul, thanks for crewing!! And Alli for celebrating with us.
Home - July 23
We arrived at the docks at about 2:30 Monday. We were met by a couple of my friends and sailing partners, Mike and Rob, to help tie up. A few minutes later my shift from work showed up in the fire engine and brought me cheetoes. :) Alli had brought my truck down and left it at the marina for me and had a 4 pack of my favorite local beer (Fort George - Vortex)in a cooler waiting on the front seat. Perfect! A nice little celebration beer for Bob and I. After a little clean up time and hopefully a short nap for Bob, his wife Becky and son Ian showed up from Portland. We all went out for dinner and then it was back to the boat for Bob and Becky, with Ian driving back to Portland. Bob and Becky are leaving again first thing Tuesday morning to start the trip up river back to Portland. I am sure that this feels "right" to Bob. After all the years and countless miles (well over 40,000 for this trip alone) of cruising, this trip from Hawaii is the first leg that he has not had Becky on board with him. I'm honored that I was able to assist so she could stay home and play grandma.
Monday, July 23, 2012
In the river!
We are over the bar and in the river. Nice flat water and a bit of current pushing is now. Just passed buoy 12.
At the bar... Kind of.
July 23, 1200. Well, we are almost to the bar. Currently we are coming up on buoy 3. The ebb tide has been especially strong and even though it should be the start of the flood we are still fighting about 3 knots of current. Will update later.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
July 22
July 22, 1830 hrs. Position N 46.21 / W 125.43 128 miles over the previous 24 hrs. 60 miles to the Columbia River Entrance.
We are getting close! And of course when we are ready to slow the boat down because we have time to kill before our flood tide in the morning, the wind is good and we have great sailing conditions. Go figure. :) Our plan now is to get about 20 miles off and a bit north and just lay to for the night. We'll head towards the bar at daylight and try to time the morning flood tide.
We are seeing much more shipping traffic now, as we expected. As I write this I am keeping an eye on the AIS, we have two ships coming down from the north and one of them looks like it will be pretty close to us, so we'll be keeping an eye on them for the next hour. Saw a fishing boat headed out earlier today. First signs of human life in quite a while. The sun came out today and it was warmer than it has been. The wind still has a bite to it, but the sun sure felt good. We were just discussing our dinner options and were very happy to note that this will be the last night of cooking for the trip. Tomorrow night will involve a menu and a beer I'm sure. YES!!
We are getting close! And of course when we are ready to slow the boat down because we have time to kill before our flood tide in the morning, the wind is good and we have great sailing conditions. Go figure. :) Our plan now is to get about 20 miles off and a bit north and just lay to for the night. We'll head towards the bar at daylight and try to time the morning flood tide.
We are seeing much more shipping traffic now, as we expected. As I write this I am keeping an eye on the AIS, we have two ships coming down from the north and one of them looks like it will be pretty close to us, so we'll be keeping an eye on them for the next hour. Saw a fishing boat headed out earlier today. First signs of human life in quite a while. The sun came out today and it was warmer than it has been. The wind still has a bite to it, but the sun sure felt good. We were just discussing our dinner options and were very happy to note that this will be the last night of cooking for the trip. Tomorrow night will involve a menu and a beer I'm sure. YES!!
Saturday, July 21, 2012
July 21
July 21, 2000 hrs, Position N 46.32 / W 128.36 145 miles traveled in the previous 24 hrs. 180 miles to go to the Columbia River Entrance
We have been making great time the last couple of days. Another 145 mile day yesterday, the river entrance is coming up fast. We are now looking at timing for the flood tide / low slack and may have to slow the boat down or heave to off the coast a ways Monday morning. We are hoping to catch the morning flood tide at about 11:00 and be in to the dock around 1:00 pm.
Today we broke the monotony a bit, I finally shamed Bob into throwing a fishing line off the stern. Mid-afternoon it was fish on. Bob got to channel his hunter side and was soon covered in blood filleting it in the cockpit. What this really meant was fresh albacore tuna for dinner!!! Yum! However it was subject to my cooking, and I only cook fish on a BBQ, so it was a little dry. Flavor was still good though. It was a nice small tuna so it was perfect sized for us. That was the only real excitement for the day. Bob gave his report on the Pacific Seafarers Net and listed the cloud cover at 90%. This was the first day in about 9 days that we haven't had 100% cloud cover. What happened to that nice Hawaiian sun?!?!
We are both looking forward to getting in to Astoria on Monday. Becky wants Bob to turn around and leave for Portland on Tuesday, weather permitting. Derek, you mentioned wanting to ride up to Portland? Contact Becky and see if you can make it work. Bob says that your ticket price will be to bring your stones and sharpen some knives for him. :) (I may have volunteered you for that duty)
We have been making great time the last couple of days. Another 145 mile day yesterday, the river entrance is coming up fast. We are now looking at timing for the flood tide / low slack and may have to slow the boat down or heave to off the coast a ways Monday morning. We are hoping to catch the morning flood tide at about 11:00 and be in to the dock around 1:00 pm.
Today we broke the monotony a bit, I finally shamed Bob into throwing a fishing line off the stern. Mid-afternoon it was fish on. Bob got to channel his hunter side and was soon covered in blood filleting it in the cockpit. What this really meant was fresh albacore tuna for dinner!!! Yum! However it was subject to my cooking, and I only cook fish on a BBQ, so it was a little dry. Flavor was still good though. It was a nice small tuna so it was perfect sized for us. That was the only real excitement for the day. Bob gave his report on the Pacific Seafarers Net and listed the cloud cover at 90%. This was the first day in about 9 days that we haven't had 100% cloud cover. What happened to that nice Hawaiian sun?!?!
We are both looking forward to getting in to Astoria on Monday. Becky wants Bob to turn around and leave for Portland on Tuesday, weather permitting. Derek, you mentioned wanting to ride up to Portland? Contact Becky and see if you can make it work. Bob says that your ticket price will be to bring your stones and sharpen some knives for him. :) (I may have volunteered you for that duty)
Friday, July 20, 2012
July 20
July 20, 1700 hrs. Position N 46.36 / W 132.28 145 miles in the previous 24 hrs. 340 miles to the Columbia River Bar
The winds have been kind to us the last couple of days. Yesterday's distance was the biggest day of the trip so far. The wind was blowing right up our backside so we were wing and wing most of the night. It makes for a rolly ride but we were making great speed. This morning we switched to a reach. The seas had really built up and we had about 3 meter following seas. Eventually we dropped the main and have been sailing Jib only and still holding 6 - 7 knots. It is good to see those miles clicking off since we are pointed straight at the river. It has been another laid back day. The fog is gone which makes us happy. We've seen the sun peak out a few times, also a good thing. We've been surprised by the lack of ship traffic. We had one come up within a mile and a half behind us a couple of days ago but haven't had any show up on the AIS since. We expect that to change as we get closer to the river entrance. We crossed another time zone line, we are now in Pacific time. We are still operating on a one hour difference though. Hawaii does not use Daylight Savings time so there was a 3 hour time difference when we left there and only 2 time zones to cross. Our tide book uses standard time so Bob decided that it would be easiest to leave the difference until after we enter the river.
The winds have been kind to us the last couple of days. Yesterday's distance was the biggest day of the trip so far. The wind was blowing right up our backside so we were wing and wing most of the night. It makes for a rolly ride but we were making great speed. This morning we switched to a reach. The seas had really built up and we had about 3 meter following seas. Eventually we dropped the main and have been sailing Jib only and still holding 6 - 7 knots. It is good to see those miles clicking off since we are pointed straight at the river. It has been another laid back day. The fog is gone which makes us happy. We've seen the sun peak out a few times, also a good thing. We've been surprised by the lack of ship traffic. We had one come up within a mile and a half behind us a couple of days ago but haven't had any show up on the AIS since. We expect that to change as we get closer to the river entrance. We crossed another time zone line, we are now in Pacific time. We are still operating on a one hour difference though. Hawaii does not use Daylight Savings time so there was a 3 hour time difference when we left there and only 2 time zones to cross. Our tide book uses standard time so Bob decided that it would be easiest to leave the difference until after we enter the river.
July 19
July 19, 1930 hrs. Position N 46.26 / W 135.34 134 miles traveled yesterday. 468 miles to go to the entrance of the Columbia River.
Another day, another 134 miles down. It has been another uneventful day, cloudy and cold, lots of time spent down below. We did get up to the cockpit for a while today, always a good thing. We have changed sail configuration several times, we are currently back to wing and wing, pointing well and making good time. No complaints. The big news for today is that we have determined that Monday is our probable day of arrival. Lots of variables can change that, but right now that's what we are looking at.
Wish I had something fun or exciting to report. I don't think anyone is interested in what books I've read on this trip (many) or what tricks I have taught my new pet cockroach. I owe Bob lots of money now after a couple nights of betting on the cockroach races. I'm starting to suspect steroid use. It is official that Albert Ross (for those of you still scratching your heads, say the name together and think bird) has parted company with us. I think he decided we were nuts continuing on voluntarily into this cold weather. That's it for today, tune in tomorrow for another installment of "Have they lost their minds yet?"
Another day, another 134 miles down. It has been another uneventful day, cloudy and cold, lots of time spent down below. We did get up to the cockpit for a while today, always a good thing. We have changed sail configuration several times, we are currently back to wing and wing, pointing well and making good time. No complaints. The big news for today is that we have determined that Monday is our probable day of arrival. Lots of variables can change that, but right now that's what we are looking at.
Wish I had something fun or exciting to report. I don't think anyone is interested in what books I've read on this trip (many) or what tricks I have taught my new pet cockroach. I owe Bob lots of money now after a couple nights of betting on the cockroach races. I'm starting to suspect steroid use. It is official that Albert Ross (for those of you still scratching your heads, say the name together and think bird) has parted company with us. I think he decided we were nuts continuing on voluntarily into this cold weather. That's it for today, tune in tomorrow for another installment of "Have they lost their minds yet?"
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
July 18
July 18, 2000 hrs. Position N 46.41 / W 138.54 140 miles traveled in the previous 24 hrs.
VERY uneventful day today. We sailed beautifully all night, hitting 7+ knots many times. The wind died down some today and we were going about 5 knots. It has been very foggy for the last couple of days with very limited visibility. The fog just cleared off this evening about an hour ago. I think we lost Mr. Ross, our tail, in the fog. I haven't seen him at all today which is kind of sad, I have enjoyed watching him. Al was some of the only entertainment out here. I have had no luck at getting Bob to sing and dance for me so I guess I'll have to keep an eye out for other entertainment options.
We sailed wing and wing most of today. The wind was steadily getting lighter so Bob has fired up the engine for a bit, we hope to find a little more wind a couple hours away.
Not much else to report. We had a late dinner tonight so I'm a bit late getting this report out. It is funny how meals have become more about fuel for the body and not so much about flavor. I guess that says something about our cooking. :)
VERY uneventful day today. We sailed beautifully all night, hitting 7+ knots many times. The wind died down some today and we were going about 5 knots. It has been very foggy for the last couple of days with very limited visibility. The fog just cleared off this evening about an hour ago. I think we lost Mr. Ross, our tail, in the fog. I haven't seen him at all today which is kind of sad, I have enjoyed watching him. Al was some of the only entertainment out here. I have had no luck at getting Bob to sing and dance for me so I guess I'll have to keep an eye out for other entertainment options.
We sailed wing and wing most of today. The wind was steadily getting lighter so Bob has fired up the engine for a bit, we hope to find a little more wind a couple hours away.
Not much else to report. We had a late dinner tonight so I'm a bit late getting this report out. It is funny how meals have become more about fuel for the body and not so much about flavor. I guess that says something about our cooking. :)
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
July 17
July 17, 1900 hrs. Position N 46.22 / W 142.13 135 miles in the previous 24 hrs.
Uneventful day so far today. We have had good wind since about 1800 last night, about 10 - 15 knots. We have been sailing along nicely, right now at about 6.5 knots on a beam reach. It is very chilly out here, down right cold at night. We currently have a heavy fog, visibility is only about 200 ft. The AIS is doing it's job though. We had a ship coming up behind us, passed behind and to starboard of us about 1.5 miles away. Never saw it except on the the screen. Very handy device. I've been harassing Bob about having this nice diesel heater in here that we can't use. He has been freezing even more than me. He robbed the fuel line from the heater to go to his little diesel generator. He keeps telling me "We've been in the tropics for nine years, we didn't need a heater!" It's not too bad though, nothing an extra layer of clothes won't fix. It would be better if the fog would burn off and let the sun do it's part to help. It is getting darn cold as it gets later today. I just tried to convince Bob to turn the boat around and head back to Hawaii where it was warm. He didn't seem to like that idea.
We are scooting right along, our latitude in now a little north of the Columbia River and we are about 750 miles offshore. The miles are ticking off in a hurry now that we are pointed pretty much straight at our waypoint. We are crossing our fingers that the wind stays good for the week, if so we might make it in early next week.
Uneventful day so far today. We have had good wind since about 1800 last night, about 10 - 15 knots. We have been sailing along nicely, right now at about 6.5 knots on a beam reach. It is very chilly out here, down right cold at night. We currently have a heavy fog, visibility is only about 200 ft. The AIS is doing it's job though. We had a ship coming up behind us, passed behind and to starboard of us about 1.5 miles away. Never saw it except on the the screen. Very handy device. I've been harassing Bob about having this nice diesel heater in here that we can't use. He has been freezing even more than me. He robbed the fuel line from the heater to go to his little diesel generator. He keeps telling me "We've been in the tropics for nine years, we didn't need a heater!" It's not too bad though, nothing an extra layer of clothes won't fix. It would be better if the fog would burn off and let the sun do it's part to help. It is getting darn cold as it gets later today. I just tried to convince Bob to turn the boat around and head back to Hawaii where it was warm. He didn't seem to like that idea.
We are scooting right along, our latitude in now a little north of the Columbia River and we are about 750 miles offshore. The miles are ticking off in a hurry now that we are pointed pretty much straight at our waypoint. We are crossing our fingers that the wind stays good for the week, if so we might make it in early next week.
Monday, July 16, 2012
July 16
July 16, 1915 hrs. Position N 45.57 / W 145.28 About 130 miles traveled the last 24 hrs.
We dropped under 1000 nautical miles to go last night at about 2100. Big milestone! I got to open up my special bag of Cheetos Puffs that we brought along, my favorite! I had decided that I wouldn't open them until we got under 1000 miles. Yum! We are now at 882 miles to go and our latitude is about even with Tillamook Head. We are hoping that the winds will cooperate and we can reach in straight to the Columbia River. We had motored for 34 hours trying to get through the North Pacific High and out to the NW winds on the backside. We shut the engine off at about 1800 this evening. The winds are from the NW at about 10 knots and we are reaching at 5 - 5.5 knots. Very calm seas at the moment so it is smooth sailing and so very quiet after having the motor droning on for so long.
We have had a couple more whales nearby today, very fun to see every time. Our mysterious follower must have sensed that I was watching for him because he is being more covert today. I've seen him several times but he disappears much more quickly now. I have figured out his name, he goes by Mr. Ross, first name Albert. He is a pretty gangly fellow and pretty fun to watch. I will be sad when he decides not to follow us anymore.
It was very dark last night with no moon to speak of. The bioluminance was pretty bright last night and our prop was throwing a glowing wake for a long ways behind us. We had something pretty big swim up to check us out last night but all I could see was the green glow from where it was disturbing the surface then it swam away. We also had what I now refer to as "demon birds" around us all night. These evil little suckers surround us by night, I think attracted to our navigational lights and make a creep chirping/clicking noise. The first time I heard them it was too foggy to see them but last night I spotlighted them with a flashlight. They were everywhere. One of them must have liked the flashlight though and came straight at me, hovering about 3 ft. away and lunging towards me. Evil little demon bird, I have decided that I really don't like them.
We dropped under 1000 nautical miles to go last night at about 2100. Big milestone! I got to open up my special bag of Cheetos Puffs that we brought along, my favorite! I had decided that I wouldn't open them until we got under 1000 miles. Yum! We are now at 882 miles to go and our latitude is about even with Tillamook Head. We are hoping that the winds will cooperate and we can reach in straight to the Columbia River. We had motored for 34 hours trying to get through the North Pacific High and out to the NW winds on the backside. We shut the engine off at about 1800 this evening. The winds are from the NW at about 10 knots and we are reaching at 5 - 5.5 knots. Very calm seas at the moment so it is smooth sailing and so very quiet after having the motor droning on for so long.
We have had a couple more whales nearby today, very fun to see every time. Our mysterious follower must have sensed that I was watching for him because he is being more covert today. I've seen him several times but he disappears much more quickly now. I have figured out his name, he goes by Mr. Ross, first name Albert. He is a pretty gangly fellow and pretty fun to watch. I will be sad when he decides not to follow us anymore.
It was very dark last night with no moon to speak of. The bioluminance was pretty bright last night and our prop was throwing a glowing wake for a long ways behind us. We had something pretty big swim up to check us out last night but all I could see was the green glow from where it was disturbing the surface then it swam away. We also had what I now refer to as "demon birds" around us all night. These evil little suckers surround us by night, I think attracted to our navigational lights and make a creep chirping/clicking noise. The first time I heard them it was too foggy to see them but last night I spotlighted them with a flashlight. They were everywhere. One of them must have liked the flashlight though and came straight at me, hovering about 3 ft. away and lunging towards me. Evil little demon bird, I have decided that I really don't like them.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
July 15
July 13, 1930 hrs. Position N 45.14 / W 148.17 130 naut. miles in the previous 24 hrs.
Good evening! We are in a new time zone as of last night. There is now only a two hour time difference from home. I'm a little sad about the change, this morning was the first time I got to watch the sunrise on my watch. Now it will be dark when I go down again. The sunrise was beautiful this morning and I got several pictures.
Very little excitement today. Nothing broken, no repairs. Bob fired up the engine at about 0800 and we have been motoring ever since. We are in the high. The wind is gone, the water is glassy, still cool and 100% cloud cover. Spent most of the day in the cockpit, or "on the lanai" as we have been referring to it. We had two whales cross about 50 yards in front of us and pass by us heading south. Looked to be a momma and a calf. Another came along about 10 minutes behind them heading right down their path. We've also had a mysterious visitor following us somewhat covertly for the last several hundred miles. He appears as though he is just going about his business, but he keeps popping up, sometimes ahead of us and watches us go by, sometimes behind us. We're not exactly hard to spot, from a birdseye view we are the only thing above the waterline for miles and miles. I'm going to attempt to figure more out about this guy if he is still around tomorrow.
The big news for today is that in just under an hour we will drop below 1000 nautical miles to home. Yahoo! Looking at the chart today it is hard to believe that right now we are much closer to Kodiak Alaska than we are to home. Kodiak is only about 700 miles away, don't think we'll stop in though.
Good evening! We are in a new time zone as of last night. There is now only a two hour time difference from home. I'm a little sad about the change, this morning was the first time I got to watch the sunrise on my watch. Now it will be dark when I go down again. The sunrise was beautiful this morning and I got several pictures.
Very little excitement today. Nothing broken, no repairs. Bob fired up the engine at about 0800 and we have been motoring ever since. We are in the high. The wind is gone, the water is glassy, still cool and 100% cloud cover. Spent most of the day in the cockpit, or "on the lanai" as we have been referring to it. We had two whales cross about 50 yards in front of us and pass by us heading south. Looked to be a momma and a calf. Another came along about 10 minutes behind them heading right down their path. We've also had a mysterious visitor following us somewhat covertly for the last several hundred miles. He appears as though he is just going about his business, but he keeps popping up, sometimes ahead of us and watches us go by, sometimes behind us. We're not exactly hard to spot, from a birdseye view we are the only thing above the waterline for miles and miles. I'm going to attempt to figure more out about this guy if he is still around tomorrow.
The big news for today is that in just under an hour we will drop below 1000 nautical miles to home. Yahoo! Looking at the chart today it is hard to believe that right now we are much closer to Kodiak Alaska than we are to home. Kodiak is only about 700 miles away, don't think we'll stop in though.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
July 14, Who turned off the heat?!?!
July 14, 1900 hrs. Position N 43.55 / W 150.27 117 nautical miles the last 24 hrs.
Holy cow! Somebody forgot to pay the heating bill!! Yesterday I was lounging in the cockpit in nothing but a pair of shorts all day long. Today it's sweats and a fleece. Wow what a difference. Brrr.
Bob woke me at 0700 this morning for a whale sighting. We had a whale who came to check out the boat I guess. It was swimming right next to us about 5 feet away. It stuck around for a minute then slowly swam off at an angle. It was a nice way to start the morning. Today we had NO repairs! (knock wood). :) The wind has been pretty good and we have been on a beam reach all day holding over 6 knts. Making good progress today, we are approaching W 150 deg and our first time zone change. We'll move the clocks forward in the morning. We hope to start making more of an easterly direction in the next day or so and start seeing those miles click off. So far most of our effort has been to get north and we have more than doubled our latitude since we left Honolulu. We can tell the difference, it is cooler and it gets light earlier and stays light later into the day.
Bob just called me up to the cockpit. We had a car tire, complete with rim, floating by. I would guess from the tsunami on that one. We have had very little debris today but this one was worth looking at. That's about it for today, we're happy we are moving and are trying to study where the high will be so we can set our course hopefully over the top of it.
Holy cow! Somebody forgot to pay the heating bill!! Yesterday I was lounging in the cockpit in nothing but a pair of shorts all day long. Today it's sweats and a fleece. Wow what a difference. Brrr.
Bob woke me at 0700 this morning for a whale sighting. We had a whale who came to check out the boat I guess. It was swimming right next to us about 5 feet away. It stuck around for a minute then slowly swam off at an angle. It was a nice way to start the morning. Today we had NO repairs! (knock wood). :) The wind has been pretty good and we have been on a beam reach all day holding over 6 knts. Making good progress today, we are approaching W 150 deg and our first time zone change. We'll move the clocks forward in the morning. We hope to start making more of an easterly direction in the next day or so and start seeing those miles click off. So far most of our effort has been to get north and we have more than doubled our latitude since we left Honolulu. We can tell the difference, it is cooler and it gets light earlier and stays light later into the day.
Bob just called me up to the cockpit. We had a car tire, complete with rim, floating by. I would guess from the tsunami on that one. We have had very little debris today but this one was worth looking at. That's about it for today, we're happy we are moving and are trying to study where the high will be so we can set our course hopefully over the top of it.
Friday, July 13, 2012
July 13
July 13, 1900 hrs. Position N 42.03 / W 151.57 Covered 113 miles in the previous 24 hrs.
Big day today, at least in my mind. Measuring on the GPS, as the crow flies, we are now closer to the Columbia River than we are to Honolulu! Measured in a point to point straight line we have covered 1280 miles. We have actually sailed much more than that, but we are not tracking the measurement of our actual tracks. As of right now the GPS shows 1216 nautical miles to the entrance of the Columbia. Once again, we will sail much farther than that to get there, but its a reference.
It was a fairly benign day today. We had a little excitement when I heard something metal land and then bounce across the deck. I call Bob up and we started searching. I found an about 3" long pin lying behind one of the jerry cans. We spent a bunch of time looking up into the rigging, checking the mast, boom, shackles, etc and couldn't figure out where it came from. We didn't think it was a majorly critical piece based upon it's thickness, but it was a bit disconcerting non the less. Bob finally looked down instead of up and noticed the problem. One of the jib cars had basically exploded and the only piece left of the roller was the pin we found. Mystery solved. We just slid the rear car up forward so we had the right angle for the jib sheet and continued on.
We started seeing a bit more tsunami debris today, and a little larger stuff. We had a gas cylinder pass about 200 ft. to starboard of us. We have seen a few what appear to be big timbers. Not sure if they are logs or building material. We don't want to get close enough to figure it out either. That's about it for today. The winds have been pretty light, about 10 knots but the seas have been fairly smooth so we are still making in the 4 - 6 knot range for the day.
Big day today, at least in my mind. Measuring on the GPS, as the crow flies, we are now closer to the Columbia River than we are to Honolulu! Measured in a point to point straight line we have covered 1280 miles. We have actually sailed much more than that, but we are not tracking the measurement of our actual tracks. As of right now the GPS shows 1216 nautical miles to the entrance of the Columbia. Once again, we will sail much farther than that to get there, but its a reference.
It was a fairly benign day today. We had a little excitement when I heard something metal land and then bounce across the deck. I call Bob up and we started searching. I found an about 3" long pin lying behind one of the jerry cans. We spent a bunch of time looking up into the rigging, checking the mast, boom, shackles, etc and couldn't figure out where it came from. We didn't think it was a majorly critical piece based upon it's thickness, but it was a bit disconcerting non the less. Bob finally looked down instead of up and noticed the problem. One of the jib cars had basically exploded and the only piece left of the roller was the pin we found. Mystery solved. We just slid the rear car up forward so we had the right angle for the jib sheet and continued on.
We started seeing a bit more tsunami debris today, and a little larger stuff. We had a gas cylinder pass about 200 ft. to starboard of us. We have seen a few what appear to be big timbers. Not sure if they are logs or building material. We don't want to get close enough to figure it out either. That's about it for today. The winds have been pretty light, about 10 knots but the seas have been fairly smooth so we are still making in the 4 - 6 knot range for the day.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
July 12
July 12, 1900 hrs. (Hawaii time) position N 40.17 / W 152.52
Hello civilization! :) Today has been a decent day, not wonderful sailing, but ok. We motored for a couple of hours and finally decided that there might just be enough wind to fly wing and wing. We gave it a go, sailed a couple hours that way but there wasn't enough wind for the wind vane to steer the boat. So, we fired the motor up again for a bit. Then out went the sails again. We are currently flying the main and jib wing and wing. The wind is light, maybe about 10 knots, but with a little bit of a current push we are doing 5 knots. We are sailing home, just not quickly. Bob fixed a small oil leak on the small generator today so we had our daily dose of repair. The weather has been beautiful today, which made the slow sailing far more tolerable, especially with calm seas. I did a mental calendar check and believe that I am supposed to be on duty today so that made the nice relaxed pace and nice weather even that much better! :) We are hoping that we can keep moving along even at this pace, the weather report looks like we might not have much wind the next couple of days. During our nightly check in with the Pacific Seafarer's Net we got a nice surprise. Bob Johnson, who I work with at Astoria Fire, hailed us from home on his HAM radio and sent us a "hi from Astoria". It was pretty cool to hear a familiar voice after 11 days out here. Thanks for that Bob!
Not much else to report. We are heading north again (still) trying to get enough latitude to try to get over the North Pacific High. Right now we are about equal with Eureka California on the mainland. Still a long way to go but considering where we started it looks like pretty good progress.
Hello civilization! :) Today has been a decent day, not wonderful sailing, but ok. We motored for a couple of hours and finally decided that there might just be enough wind to fly wing and wing. We gave it a go, sailed a couple hours that way but there wasn't enough wind for the wind vane to steer the boat. So, we fired the motor up again for a bit. Then out went the sails again. We are currently flying the main and jib wing and wing. The wind is light, maybe about 10 knots, but with a little bit of a current push we are doing 5 knots. We are sailing home, just not quickly. Bob fixed a small oil leak on the small generator today so we had our daily dose of repair. The weather has been beautiful today, which made the slow sailing far more tolerable, especially with calm seas. I did a mental calendar check and believe that I am supposed to be on duty today so that made the nice relaxed pace and nice weather even that much better! :) We are hoping that we can keep moving along even at this pace, the weather report looks like we might not have much wind the next couple of days. During our nightly check in with the Pacific Seafarer's Net we got a nice surprise. Bob Johnson, who I work with at Astoria Fire, hailed us from home on his HAM radio and sent us a "hi from Astoria". It was pretty cool to hear a familiar voice after 11 days out here. Thanks for that Bob!
Not much else to report. We are heading north again (still) trying to get enough latitude to try to get over the North Pacific High. Right now we are about equal with Eureka California on the mainland. Still a long way to go but considering where we started it looks like pretty good progress.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
July 11
July 11 1900 hrs. Position N 38.16 / W 153.07 100 miles made good.
As predicted the winds died last night and we fired up the motor. The good part was we were able to steer north. We sailed a big dogleg course yesterday, not sure of actual miles sailed but for the 24 hr. period, point to point it was 100 miles. We've come over 1000 miles from Hawaii and the GPS shows about 1350 miles to the Columbia River. Of course as with our course yesterday, that is as the crow flies and our actual distance will be greater. The seas have been nice and calm with this lull in the wind. We've seen all kinds of little stuff floating by but still nothing significant. At 6 am this morning Bob woke me up (something about that time in the morning with him). We had a piece of rope on the prop and needed to shut down and get rid of it. There was zero wind but we dropped the main just in case and shut everything down. Bob got out his gear and went for a little swim, luckily it came right off, didn't even need to cut it. The rest of the day was spend working our way through misc. maintenance items. Dropped some diesel into the tanks to get the Jerry cans off of the deck, moved the chafe points on the wind vane and drained some water out of the fuel water separators. We are still motoring along at about 5 knots. There is a big, ugly rain cloud ahead so it looks like we may get a little wet tonight. Bummer, I really enjoy doing my middle of the night watches in the cockpit. Maybe I'll get lucky and we'll be through it before midnight.
As predicted the winds died last night and we fired up the motor. The good part was we were able to steer north. We sailed a big dogleg course yesterday, not sure of actual miles sailed but for the 24 hr. period, point to point it was 100 miles. We've come over 1000 miles from Hawaii and the GPS shows about 1350 miles to the Columbia River. Of course as with our course yesterday, that is as the crow flies and our actual distance will be greater. The seas have been nice and calm with this lull in the wind. We've seen all kinds of little stuff floating by but still nothing significant. At 6 am this morning Bob woke me up (something about that time in the morning with him). We had a piece of rope on the prop and needed to shut down and get rid of it. There was zero wind but we dropped the main just in case and shut everything down. Bob got out his gear and went for a little swim, luckily it came right off, didn't even need to cut it. The rest of the day was spend working our way through misc. maintenance items. Dropped some diesel into the tanks to get the Jerry cans off of the deck, moved the chafe points on the wind vane and drained some water out of the fuel water separators. We are still motoring along at about 5 knots. There is a big, ugly rain cloud ahead so it looks like we may get a little wet tonight. Bummer, I really enjoy doing my middle of the night watches in the cockpit. Maybe I'll get lucky and we'll be through it before midnight.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
July 10
July 10, 1900 hrs. Position N 36.40 / W 153.46 115 miles over the last 24 hrs.
Today was a pretty good day. We lost wind last evening and fired up the motor at about 2200. We motored about 5 hours, then it was my turn to wake Bob up. The wind had come up at about 14 knots and was holding but was square on the nose. We put up sail and changed point to a more easterly heading. When I got up later this morning Bob was grumbling about going the wrong way and no relief was in sight. We played with the sails, ending up with all 4 sails flying, the jib, the staysail, the main and the mizzen. After some tweaking we gained about 15 deg in heading then had a bit of a wind shift to bring us up another 10 - 15 degrees. We have had a beautiful day of sailing since, holding anywhere from 15 - 30 degrees, calm seas and 5 - 6 knot average. Just really nice sailing conditions. I spent most of the day just hanging in the cockpit, did some reading and played with sail trim. Bob ended up in a much better mood and, as I said, it was a pretty good day. We have lost a little heading this evening but feel pretty good about the progress we are making. We would really like to be going more north and get up towards 40 deg. but we'll take what we can get for now. We expect to hit a hole sometime in the next day or so and will motor due north when that happens. All else is good out here and we are both in good spirits and our bellies are full after Bob made chicken fajitas for dinner. I think he may have been holding out on Becky all these years. ;)
Today was a pretty good day. We lost wind last evening and fired up the motor at about 2200. We motored about 5 hours, then it was my turn to wake Bob up. The wind had come up at about 14 knots and was holding but was square on the nose. We put up sail and changed point to a more easterly heading. When I got up later this morning Bob was grumbling about going the wrong way and no relief was in sight. We played with the sails, ending up with all 4 sails flying, the jib, the staysail, the main and the mizzen. After some tweaking we gained about 15 deg in heading then had a bit of a wind shift to bring us up another 10 - 15 degrees. We have had a beautiful day of sailing since, holding anywhere from 15 - 30 degrees, calm seas and 5 - 6 knot average. Just really nice sailing conditions. I spent most of the day just hanging in the cockpit, did some reading and played with sail trim. Bob ended up in a much better mood and, as I said, it was a pretty good day. We have lost a little heading this evening but feel pretty good about the progress we are making. We would really like to be going more north and get up towards 40 deg. but we'll take what we can get for now. We expect to hit a hole sometime in the next day or so and will motor due north when that happens. All else is good out here and we are both in good spirits and our bellies are full after Bob made chicken fajitas for dinner. I think he may have been holding out on Becky all these years. ;)
Monday, July 9, 2012
July 9
July 9, 1800 hrs. Position N 35.42 / W 155.48 123 miles the last 24
Not much to report today. Conditions have been sloppy all day. We have winds from the North/Northwest so we are on a Easterly heading of 55 deg. Things are pretty "blah" today, gray skies and big rollers on the beam. I Got to do some hand steering today while Bob made repairs on the wind vane again. He has decided that he is tired of fixing things on this trip already. Sorry for the boring report, it has just been one of those days so far. :)
Not much to report today. Conditions have been sloppy all day. We have winds from the North/Northwest so we are on a Easterly heading of 55 deg. Things are pretty "blah" today, gray skies and big rollers on the beam. I Got to do some hand steering today while Bob made repairs on the wind vane again. He has decided that he is tired of fixing things on this trip already. Sorry for the boring report, it has just been one of those days so far. :)
Sunday, July 8, 2012
July 8
July 8, 1915 hrs. Position N 34.55 / W 157.57 120 miles for the last 24 as of 1000 am
Last evenings calm held steady all night. We had a beautifully calm night, the ocean was like glass and the stars were out in full. We even had a little bioluminous over night. The break off of the bow had a nice green and sparkly glow, made for pretty night on watch. We motored all night, a total of about 16 hrs straight. It was the first night that we took our full watches in the cockpit. All of the other nights it has just been too wet with all of the spray coming into the cockpit.
I'm beginning to see a disturbing pattern in our routine. I stand watch from midnight until 4 am. Bob gets up and takes over and I hit the sack. For some reason the last two mornings at 5:50 am Bob has decided that it is time to do something with the sails. This morning he determined there was enough wind and went to roll out the jib. No big deal normally. This morning, however, the jib sheet decided it didn't want to stay attached to the jib so when he pulled it just fell loose. This of course meant it was time to wake Paul and drop the jib part way so we could reattach the sheet. I told him afterwards that tomorrow morning at 5:50, if he has an urge to make a sail change or adjustment, to pour himself another cup of coffee and think about it for another couple of hours.
The big news for today is that we are no longer on a starboard tack! We are still pointed pretty much north, with just a little easterly heading, but we are now on a port tack. This is a big deal because that means we have hit westerly winds, the one which will push us home.
We had a nice 12 - 14 knot wind today and smooth seas for much of the day so we were making very good time, about 7+ knots for most of it. The wind and seas started picking up this afternoon and I called Bob up from below to reduce sail a bit. Just was we were working on that the windvane decided to snap a line. Oh joy, everything at once. We got it all straightened out, the line repaired and continued on. We are settling in for the night. We still haven't seen anything significant as far as tsunami debris but lots of little stuff floating by. I did see a sandal float past the boat, it made me stop and think for a moment. We have shortened sail and slowed the boat up for the night just to be prudent. (That's for you Mom and Becky, want you to know that we are thinking about safety)
That's about it for tonight. The boat is rocking and rolling on the new tack and we are finding all of the loose items that seemed fine when we were leaned the other way. I wouldn't mind another smooth night to spend in the cockpit, not looking real likely at this time though.
Last evenings calm held steady all night. We had a beautifully calm night, the ocean was like glass and the stars were out in full. We even had a little bioluminous over night. The break off of the bow had a nice green and sparkly glow, made for pretty night on watch. We motored all night, a total of about 16 hrs straight. It was the first night that we took our full watches in the cockpit. All of the other nights it has just been too wet with all of the spray coming into the cockpit.
I'm beginning to see a disturbing pattern in our routine. I stand watch from midnight until 4 am. Bob gets up and takes over and I hit the sack. For some reason the last two mornings at 5:50 am Bob has decided that it is time to do something with the sails. This morning he determined there was enough wind and went to roll out the jib. No big deal normally. This morning, however, the jib sheet decided it didn't want to stay attached to the jib so when he pulled it just fell loose. This of course meant it was time to wake Paul and drop the jib part way so we could reattach the sheet. I told him afterwards that tomorrow morning at 5:50, if he has an urge to make a sail change or adjustment, to pour himself another cup of coffee and think about it for another couple of hours.
The big news for today is that we are no longer on a starboard tack! We are still pointed pretty much north, with just a little easterly heading, but we are now on a port tack. This is a big deal because that means we have hit westerly winds, the one which will push us home.
We had a nice 12 - 14 knot wind today and smooth seas for much of the day so we were making very good time, about 7+ knots for most of it. The wind and seas started picking up this afternoon and I called Bob up from below to reduce sail a bit. Just was we were working on that the windvane decided to snap a line. Oh joy, everything at once. We got it all straightened out, the line repaired and continued on. We are settling in for the night. We still haven't seen anything significant as far as tsunami debris but lots of little stuff floating by. I did see a sandal float past the boat, it made me stop and think for a moment. We have shortened sail and slowed the boat up for the night just to be prudent. (That's for you Mom and Becky, want you to know that we are thinking about safety)
That's about it for tonight. The boat is rocking and rolling on the new tack and we are finding all of the loose items that seemed fine when we were leaned the other way. I wouldn't mind another smooth night to spend in the cockpit, not looking real likely at this time though.
July 8
July 8, 1915 hrs. Position N 34.55 / W 157.57 120 miles for the last 24 as of 1000 am
Last evenings calm held steady all night. We had a beautifully calm night, the ocean was like glass and the stars were out in full. We even had a little bioluminous over night. The break off of the bow had a nice green and sparkly glow, made for pretty night on watch. We motored all night, a total of about 16 hrs straight. It was the first night that we took our full watches in the cockpit. All of the other nights it has just been too wet with all of the spray coming into the cockpit.
I'm beginning to see a disturbing pattern in our routine. I stand watch from midnight until 4 am. Bob gets up and takes over and I hit the sack. For some reason the last two mornings at 5:50 am Bob has decided that it is time to do something with the sails. This morning he determined there was enough wind and went to roll out the jib. No big deal normally. This morning, however, the jib sheet decided it didn't want to stay attached to the jib so when he pulled it just fell loose. This of course meant it was time to wake Paul and drop the jib part way so we could reattach the sheet. I told him afterwards that tomorrow morning at 5:50, if he has an urge to make a sail change or adjustment, to pour himself another cup of coffee and think about it for another couple of hours.
The big news for today is that we are no longer on a starboard tack! We are still pointed pretty much north, with just a little easterly heading, but we are now on a port tack. This is a big deal because that means we have hit westerly winds, the one which will push us home.
We had a nice 12 - 14 knot wind today and smooth seas for much of the day so we were making very good time, about 7+ knots for most of it. The wind and seas started picking up this afternoon and I called Bob up from below to reduce sail a bit. Just was we were working on that the windvane decided to snap a line. Oh joy, everything at once. We got it all straightened out, the line repaired and continued on. We are settling in for the night. We still haven't seen anything significant as far as tsunami debris but lots of little stuff floating by. I did see a sandal float past the boat, it made me stop and think for a moment. We have shortened sail and slowed the boat up for the night just to be prudent. (That's for you Mom and Becky, want you to know that we are thinking about safety)
That's about it for tonight. The boat is rocking and rolling on the new tack and we are finding all of the loose items that seemed fine when we were leaned the other way. I wouldn't mind another smooth night to spend in the cockpit, not looking real likely at this time though.
Last evenings calm held steady all night. We had a beautifully calm night, the ocean was like glass and the stars were out in full. We even had a little bioluminous over night. The break off of the bow had a nice green and sparkly glow, made for pretty night on watch. We motored all night, a total of about 16 hrs straight. It was the first night that we took our full watches in the cockpit. All of the other nights it has just been too wet with all of the spray coming into the cockpit.
I'm beginning to see a disturbing pattern in our routine. I stand watch from midnight until 4 am. Bob gets up and takes over and I hit the sack. For some reason the last two mornings at 5:50 am Bob has decided that it is time to do something with the sails. This morning he determined there was enough wind and went to roll out the jib. No big deal normally. This morning, however, the jib sheet decided it didn't want to stay attached to the jib so when he pulled it just fell loose. This of course meant it was time to wake Paul and drop the jib part way so we could reattach the sheet. I told him afterwards that tomorrow morning at 5:50, if he has an urge to make a sail change or adjustment, to pour himself another cup of coffee and think about it for another couple of hours.
The big news for today is that we are no longer on a starboard tack! We are still pointed pretty much north, with just a little easterly heading, but we are now on a port tack. This is a big deal because that means we have hit westerly winds, the one which will push us home.
We had a nice 12 - 14 knot wind today and smooth seas for much of the day so we were making very good time, about 7+ knots for most of it. The wind and seas started picking up this afternoon and I called Bob up from below to reduce sail a bit. Just was we were working on that the windvane decided to snap a line. Oh joy, everything at once. We got it all straightened out, the line repaired and continued on. We are settling in for the night. We still haven't seen anything significant as far as tsunami debris but lots of little stuff floating by. I did see a sandal float past the boat, it made me stop and think for a moment. We have shortened sail and slowed the boat up for the night just to be prudent. (That's for you Mom and Becky, want you to know that we are thinking about safety)
That's about it for tonight. The boat is rocking and rolling on the new tack and we are finding all of the loose items that seemed fine when we were leaned the other way. I wouldn't mind another smooth night to spend in the cockpit, not looking real likely at this time though.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
July 7
July 7, 1900 hrs, postion N 32.53 / W 158.40 127 miles last 24 hrs.
Well, I guess I spoke too soon about nothing exciting going on in yesterdays post. Early last night Bob noticed a small tear in the jib about 4 ft. up from the clew. The tear was only about 3 - 4 inches and he mentioned that we needed to keep an eye on it. Shortly there after we decided the smart thing to do would be to not take the chance and roll the jib up for the night. We hoisted the staysail and later shook a reef out of the main. The boat stayed fairly well balanced and we managed to keep moving at around 5 knots. At about 6 am Bob woke me from my beauty sleep (believe me I need it) after I had been down for a couple of hours and decided it was time to make repairs. The wind had died down and it was a good time to drop the jib. We fired up the motor and turned into the wind. We got the jib on deck and Bob did his Betsy Ross impersonation and stitched her up. Took about an hour overall, not too bad. We got the jib back up, killed the engine and got back to sailing. Our distance covered over 24 hrs. dropped about 13 miles from our average but we were happy with that considering all the messing around and the less than ideal sail configuration.
This afternoon it appears that we found the north pacific high. The wind shut down and the motor started up. Bob decided that the repair job on the jib wasn't quite good enough so we wrestled her back onto the deck and he did some more stitching. He also had noticed another small tear, approx. 1 inch in size, further up the sail so he threw a patch on that one while he was at it. He is now a bit worried that this sail may be a little suspect for the rest of the trip. If this jib falls apart the only other option for the roller furling is the small Yankee sail. It will get us home but we will lose some speed.
As of right now we are still motoring with no wind in sight. May be this way for a couple of days until we get above the high. We'll be downloading some weather gribs a little later this evening to see what the predictions are for wind locations. The upside of the motoring is that it is flat and smooth out here. The weather is gorgeous and warm and the ocean is a beautiful blue. Obviously we won't be making as many miles per day this way though.
We talked to another sailboat during the Pacific Seafarers Net roll call that is about 200 miles North and about 120 miles east of us. So far they say as far as tsunami debris, they are seeing lots of junk but nothing significant. That is good to hear. We are seeing patches of crap floating around but all small stuff. I'm certain I saw a big glass float but Bob said I couldn't pick it up. Damn.
Most importantly, today was SHOWER DAY!! Much needed. You know we were bad when the fish came to the surface after we were done to say "thank you". Sheesh.
Well, I guess I spoke too soon about nothing exciting going on in yesterdays post. Early last night Bob noticed a small tear in the jib about 4 ft. up from the clew. The tear was only about 3 - 4 inches and he mentioned that we needed to keep an eye on it. Shortly there after we decided the smart thing to do would be to not take the chance and roll the jib up for the night. We hoisted the staysail and later shook a reef out of the main. The boat stayed fairly well balanced and we managed to keep moving at around 5 knots. At about 6 am Bob woke me from my beauty sleep (believe me I need it) after I had been down for a couple of hours and decided it was time to make repairs. The wind had died down and it was a good time to drop the jib. We fired up the motor and turned into the wind. We got the jib on deck and Bob did his Betsy Ross impersonation and stitched her up. Took about an hour overall, not too bad. We got the jib back up, killed the engine and got back to sailing. Our distance covered over 24 hrs. dropped about 13 miles from our average but we were happy with that considering all the messing around and the less than ideal sail configuration.
This afternoon it appears that we found the north pacific high. The wind shut down and the motor started up. Bob decided that the repair job on the jib wasn't quite good enough so we wrestled her back onto the deck and he did some more stitching. He also had noticed another small tear, approx. 1 inch in size, further up the sail so he threw a patch on that one while he was at it. He is now a bit worried that this sail may be a little suspect for the rest of the trip. If this jib falls apart the only other option for the roller furling is the small Yankee sail. It will get us home but we will lose some speed.
As of right now we are still motoring with no wind in sight. May be this way for a couple of days until we get above the high. We'll be downloading some weather gribs a little later this evening to see what the predictions are for wind locations. The upside of the motoring is that it is flat and smooth out here. The weather is gorgeous and warm and the ocean is a beautiful blue. Obviously we won't be making as many miles per day this way though.
We talked to another sailboat during the Pacific Seafarers Net roll call that is about 200 miles North and about 120 miles east of us. So far they say as far as tsunami debris, they are seeing lots of junk but nothing significant. That is good to hear. We are seeing patches of crap floating around but all small stuff. I'm certain I saw a big glass float but Bob said I couldn't pick it up. Damn.
Most importantly, today was SHOWER DAY!! Much needed. You know we were bad when the fish came to the surface after we were done to say "thank you". Sheesh.
Friday, July 6, 2012
July 6th
July 6 1915 hrs. Position N 30.58 / W 158.51
Not much to report today. The wind finally backed off a bit by this afternoon so the seas settled a bit. It made for much smoother sailing. We've been running with a double reef in the main and adjusting the jib on the roller furling as needed. Today we were able to shake one reef from the main and fly the full jib. Much smoother sailing and we were still moving along at at 6.5 to 7 knots. The wind has picked back up a bit this evening, blowing about 18 knots.
We've been getting little squalls a couple times a night. Small rain showers with the winds building to about 30 knots or so. Not terrible, just gets bouncier for a while. Routine was pretty lazy today, read, nap, cook, eat, repeat. We are listening in on the Pacific Seafarers Net and there is one boat about a day or so ahead of us and a little east of us. He is heading to Alaska. So far we haven't heard him say anything about debris sightings but we are glad to have someone up there so maybe we get a better idea of when we might start seeing stuff. Nothing else to report from this end. Still sailing, still pointing due north. Only about another 600 miles before we look and making a right turn. :)
Paul
Not much to report today. The wind finally backed off a bit by this afternoon so the seas settled a bit. It made for much smoother sailing. We've been running with a double reef in the main and adjusting the jib on the roller furling as needed. Today we were able to shake one reef from the main and fly the full jib. Much smoother sailing and we were still moving along at at 6.5 to 7 knots. The wind has picked back up a bit this evening, blowing about 18 knots.
We've been getting little squalls a couple times a night. Small rain showers with the winds building to about 30 knots or so. Not terrible, just gets bouncier for a while. Routine was pretty lazy today, read, nap, cook, eat, repeat. We are listening in on the Pacific Seafarers Net and there is one boat about a day or so ahead of us and a little east of us. He is heading to Alaska. So far we haven't heard him say anything about debris sightings but we are glad to have someone up there so maybe we get a better idea of when we might start seeing stuff. Nothing else to report from this end. Still sailing, still pointing due north. Only about another 600 miles before we look and making a right turn. :)
Paul
Thursday, July 5, 2012
July 5
July 5th, 1920 hrs. Position N 28.34 / W 158.59
Looks like we have averaged 140 miles per day the last couple of days since we were able to turn more north. Or better described as about a 2 1/2 drive on the highway. Not the fastest way to travel.
Today was pretty pleasant. The seas settled down for much of the day so the ride was much more comfortable. I spent a large amount of time in the cockpit reading and just enjoying the blue water. I know this is the same ocean I have at home, but the color here is amazing, I can stare at it for hours. Nothing exciting today, saw lots of flying fish skimming across the ocean, fun to watch for a bit. I started to see misc. garbage float by, not convinced that it is tsunami debris yet but it got me watching for more. The seas picked back up this evening just in time for cooking dinner, go figure. Nothing like having a moving target for a pan on the stove. We are still moving along at about 6.5 knots, the wind is still blowing around 20 knots. I can feel us getting more into a routine. After dinner and doing dishes, I usually sit down and send this update and order weather gribs. Wait a bit and log back on and download the gribs. I hit the sack around 8ish and get up at midnight to relieve Bob on watch. He gets back up at 4:00 and I go back to bed for a couple hours. Either of us is up at any time that something needs adjusting or checking. The weather is still pretty warm but with 20 knots off of the ocean it gets cool in a hurry. Nothing else to report for tonight, I hope everything is going well at home. Bob says "hi" and Becky, he want to know if you have remembered to get the electricity canceled at the marina in Honolulu?
Rachel and Kyle, hope you guys are reading these. I keep thinking about you guys, miss ya.
Looks like we have averaged 140 miles per day the last couple of days since we were able to turn more north. Or better described as about a 2 1/2 drive on the highway. Not the fastest way to travel.
Today was pretty pleasant. The seas settled down for much of the day so the ride was much more comfortable. I spent a large amount of time in the cockpit reading and just enjoying the blue water. I know this is the same ocean I have at home, but the color here is amazing, I can stare at it for hours. Nothing exciting today, saw lots of flying fish skimming across the ocean, fun to watch for a bit. I started to see misc. garbage float by, not convinced that it is tsunami debris yet but it got me watching for more. The seas picked back up this evening just in time for cooking dinner, go figure. Nothing like having a moving target for a pan on the stove. We are still moving along at about 6.5 knots, the wind is still blowing around 20 knots. I can feel us getting more into a routine. After dinner and doing dishes, I usually sit down and send this update and order weather gribs. Wait a bit and log back on and download the gribs. I hit the sack around 8ish and get up at midnight to relieve Bob on watch. He gets back up at 4:00 and I go back to bed for a couple hours. Either of us is up at any time that something needs adjusting or checking. The weather is still pretty warm but with 20 knots off of the ocean it gets cool in a hurry. Nothing else to report for tonight, I hope everything is going well at home. Bob says "hi" and Becky, he want to know if you have remembered to get the electricity canceled at the marina in Honolulu?
Rachel and Kyle, hope you guys are reading these. I keep thinking about you guys, miss ya.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
July 4
July 4, 1900 hrs. position N 26.06 / W 159.11
Happy Independence Day! Funny thing, I don't think we will see any fireworks from here. Hope everyone is or has enjoyed the holiday. Not much to report from this end. We are still sailing as close to North, 360 deg. as we can. The wind works its way around but its been pretty consistent. Winds have stayed pretty steady at about 20 knots all afternoon. We had a squall this morning that dumped a lot of rain in a hurry. Of course that was the time that stuff happened that required us both on deck and working so we got a fresh rainwater. We lost a jerry can overboard, I had just popped up on deck and was looking at a cushion that I was afraid might wash overboard when we buried the rail and the deck was awash. One can went over and two more were loose on deck. We caught the other two but just couldn't get to the one that was over. Bob says that this is the first time he's ever had a can wash off deck. We've spent most of last night and today down below, the cockpit has been just too wet to spend much time there. Only a couple of showers but we are bashing into the waves at times and getting a lot of spray. Don't know if its a bad sign that Bob is quoting Becky and saying that "This is a stupid way to travel"?
They say it is lonely out on the ocean but we got a couple visitors last night. I saw a lovely pair of boobies!! Of course they were of the blue-footed variety and kept trying to land on the bow sprit. They never did settle in but they stayed near the boat for several hours. I last saw them towards the end of my watch at about 4 am, they were swooping along and just seemed to be staying nearby. We had a squall a couple of hours later and I'm assuming that they were the smarter of the two parties and turned and went the other way.
We are hoping that the wind settles down just a bit so the seas settle down. Cooking in these condition is an acrobatic endeavor so the meals are staying very simple. (I can almost hear Becky snickering right now). Not much more to report right now. It is an interesting time for me to adjust to not having information and news at my fingertips. Someone please send an email and let us know if anything drastic happens, such as Canada invading Mexico or if the cast of Jersey Shore gets deported. You know, the important news. :)
Happy Independence Day! Funny thing, I don't think we will see any fireworks from here. Hope everyone is or has enjoyed the holiday. Not much to report from this end. We are still sailing as close to North, 360 deg. as we can. The wind works its way around but its been pretty consistent. Winds have stayed pretty steady at about 20 knots all afternoon. We had a squall this morning that dumped a lot of rain in a hurry. Of course that was the time that stuff happened that required us both on deck and working so we got a fresh rainwater. We lost a jerry can overboard, I had just popped up on deck and was looking at a cushion that I was afraid might wash overboard when we buried the rail and the deck was awash. One can went over and two more were loose on deck. We caught the other two but just couldn't get to the one that was over. Bob says that this is the first time he's ever had a can wash off deck. We've spent most of last night and today down below, the cockpit has been just too wet to spend much time there. Only a couple of showers but we are bashing into the waves at times and getting a lot of spray. Don't know if its a bad sign that Bob is quoting Becky and saying that "This is a stupid way to travel"?
They say it is lonely out on the ocean but we got a couple visitors last night. I saw a lovely pair of boobies!! Of course they were of the blue-footed variety and kept trying to land on the bow sprit. They never did settle in but they stayed near the boat for several hours. I last saw them towards the end of my watch at about 4 am, they were swooping along and just seemed to be staying nearby. We had a squall a couple of hours later and I'm assuming that they were the smarter of the two parties and turned and went the other way.
We are hoping that the wind settles down just a bit so the seas settle down. Cooking in these condition is an acrobatic endeavor so the meals are staying very simple. (I can almost hear Becky snickering right now). Not much more to report right now. It is an interesting time for me to adjust to not having information and news at my fingertips. Someone please send an email and let us know if anything drastic happens, such as Canada invading Mexico or if the cast of Jersey Shore gets deported. You know, the important news. :)
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Day 2
July 3 1930 hrs N 23.47/W 159.06
Last night was a bit rolly with winds not cooperating. The island influence on the winds had us making a NW course and watching to make sure that we cleared Kauii. By mid morning the trade winds finally took over and we were able to adjust to a northerly course. We are currently sailing due north at 360 deg. The wind has been constant, holding pretty steady around 20 knots. We're holding about a 6.5 knot average, but we are a little harder on the wind than Bob would like so we are bouncing around quite a bit.
I'm trying to settle into this cruising routine. I feel a bit like an observer more often than I like while I try to figure out the boat, the systems and Bob's methods. Hopefully I will have it down soon enough to feel like I'm more of a help.
I got an education in cooking while underway tonight. Bob made spaghetti for dinner. It was fairly smooth when he first started but sure enough, once he was committed the winds picked back up to about 20 - 25 knots and we started bouncing all over. He informed me that this was standard operating procedure and the Becky could always tell the wind speed by how much the stove was rocking back and forth. I think this trip without her is a good thing for him. I have heard him express wonder in how she managed to do things more times than I can count. Sounds like he is appreciating what she has dealt with for the last umpteen years more with each passing day. I have a suspicion that we both might lose a little weight on this trip.
We are working on getting our watch schedule down and trying to get enough sleep. We're a bit concerned that once we hit the tsunami debris area that our sleep will be less and our watches more concentrated. Bob thinks we will be in the area in about 5 days so we will see what that brings for changes
Becky, Bob asked that you forward these emails to Wings. They are planning on leaving Hawaii around the 6th and want to hear what we are seeing for debris sightings.
Last night was a bit rolly with winds not cooperating. The island influence on the winds had us making a NW course and watching to make sure that we cleared Kauii. By mid morning the trade winds finally took over and we were able to adjust to a northerly course. We are currently sailing due north at 360 deg. The wind has been constant, holding pretty steady around 20 knots. We're holding about a 6.5 knot average, but we are a little harder on the wind than Bob would like so we are bouncing around quite a bit.
I'm trying to settle into this cruising routine. I feel a bit like an observer more often than I like while I try to figure out the boat, the systems and Bob's methods. Hopefully I will have it down soon enough to feel like I'm more of a help.
I got an education in cooking while underway tonight. Bob made spaghetti for dinner. It was fairly smooth when he first started but sure enough, once he was committed the winds picked back up to about 20 - 25 knots and we started bouncing all over. He informed me that this was standard operating procedure and the Becky could always tell the wind speed by how much the stove was rocking back and forth. I think this trip without her is a good thing for him. I have heard him express wonder in how she managed to do things more times than I can count. Sounds like he is appreciating what she has dealt with for the last umpteen years more with each passing day. I have a suspicion that we both might lose a little weight on this trip.
We are working on getting our watch schedule down and trying to get enough sleep. We're a bit concerned that once we hit the tsunami debris area that our sleep will be less and our watches more concentrated. Bob thinks we will be in the area in about 5 days so we will see what that brings for changes
Becky, Bob asked that you forward these emails to Wings. They are planning on leaving Hawaii around the 6th and want to hear what we are seeing for debris sightings.
Day one
1900 Hawaii time, position N21 30.99, W158 29.42
We headed out about 10:00 am local time this morning. The wind was favorable and we were soon sailing along at about 5.5 knots on a broad reach. It was pretty rolly early on which allowed Bob to pick up on all the little noises that weren't supposed to be there. He kept hopping up and running below to find whatever was rolling around in the cabinets and wedge something in there to stop the banging. We had a beautiful sail for the first few hours. Eventually the wind shifted due to the bend around the island so were weren't able to hold the direction we wanted and then we hit a hole in the wind and had to fire up the engine to work our way through. We found the wind and now have 20 - 25 knots and have had to reduce sail.
Thinking about getting some dinner made and then I'm going down for a nap so I can relieve Bob at midnight.
We did manage to connect up with the Pacific Seafarers Net and get checked in for the voyage.
We headed out about 10:00 am local time this morning. The wind was favorable and we were soon sailing along at about 5.5 knots on a broad reach. It was pretty rolly early on which allowed Bob to pick up on all the little noises that weren't supposed to be there. He kept hopping up and running below to find whatever was rolling around in the cabinets and wedge something in there to stop the banging. We had a beautiful sail for the first few hours. Eventually the wind shifted due to the bend around the island so were weren't able to hold the direction we wanted and then we hit a hole in the wind and had to fire up the engine to work our way through. We found the wind and now have 20 - 25 knots and have had to reduce sail.
Thinking about getting some dinner made and then I'm going down for a nap so I can relieve Bob at midnight.
We did manage to connect up with the Pacific Seafarers Net and get checked in for the voyage.
Monday, July 2, 2012
And we're off!
Got the jib up, the wind vane steering and picking crap up off the floor that is flying off of the counters. :).
Next stop, Columbia River.
Casting off tomorrow
Tomorrow morning ( Monday) we will top off our water tanks and shove off. We're hoping for favorable winds and smooth sailing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)