A slow last couple of days. A high passed over me killing all the wind for a day. Spend one night just drifting....but at least I can sleep longer. And yesterday motoring east with the hopes of getting to the east edge of the high. Not a lot of extra fuel to keep that up. In the late afternoon, there was a light ENE breeze, so I could start tacking to the east. This is definitely not a windward boat, very wide tacks but did make a few miles progress and a least the boat was driving itself. This morning the wind is more NE and I can make 3-4 knots to the east so I'm happy.
Now about 180 miles from the coast of Vancouver island.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
July 29 2014
Sunny and warm today. Had to take off the long underwear. Very nice.
Downside is this is part of a high pressure system moving very near my location and so killing the wind. Very light 5 knot sw wind and very slow speed of 1 to 2 knots to the NE
Downside is this is part of a high pressure system moving very near my location and so killing the wind. Very light 5 knot sw wind and very slow speed of 1 to 2 knots to the NE
Sunday, July 27, 2014
July 27 2014
Light west to sw winds continue to push us along. Just a few sun breaks over the last couple of days. Mostly cloudy and cool. No good solar charging going on so I'm going to run the engine for an hour or two and charge the batteries. Picked up one ship yesterday on AIS and another last night. Both passing about 6-8 miles away heading west.
Friday, July 25, 2014
July 25 2014
Winds have been pretty good now, but the swell built up last night to 6 to 8 feet. It's not like they crash or anything but they can roll the boat around some and anything not secured goes flying. Also had to do some sail repair this morning as several of the sew-on jib hanks had chafed through.
About 640 miles to Neah Bay now......Yahoo
About 640 miles to Neah Bay now......Yahoo
Thursday, July 24, 2014
July 24 2014
Well I've moved up to the latitude of Neah Bay. Still want to get some north of that so I can approach the entrance to the strait from the north. But I have quite a bit of longitude to go, so I'm not there anytime to soon. The winds are a little more consistent
now at 10-15 but still hard to make a prediction.
Pretty cool out here. I'd say mid to upper fifties. The sea temp this morning is 56.5F
Last night was a misty rain most of the time, but this morning is partly sunny with good visibility out to the horizon.
Sailed all time with the staysail and jib winged out and made reasonable progress. Wind veered to the NW so now I'm back to main and jib and NE course.
now at 10-15 but still hard to make a prediction.
Pretty cool out here. I'd say mid to upper fifties. The sea temp this morning is 56.5F
Last night was a misty rain most of the time, but this morning is partly sunny with good visibility out to the horizon.
Sailed all time with the staysail and jib winged out and made reasonable progress. Wind veered to the NW so now I'm back to main and jib and NE course.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
July 19th Wind
Today it seems like I may have gotten through the low wind area of the high and out to the north enough to pick up 10 knot winds. Getting boat speed of 4 to 4.5 for most of the afternoon. It was cloudy and then cleared off. Now toward 3:00pm HST its clouding up again with some mist to the east.
Earlier this morning, I got north of the Oregon, California border....Yahoo, but this 1200 miles out.
Tracey said Jerry Andre, my buddy from Boeing has left some comments on the Blog. Thanks for following along Jerry and we'll sure get a hold of you for beers at the dock.
Speaking of beers......the sea temperatures gone down to 64.8F....the beer in the bilge
is feeling down right cool.
Earlier this morning, I got north of the Oregon, California border....Yahoo, but this 1200 miles out.
Tracey said Jerry Andre, my buddy from Boeing has left some comments on the Blog. Thanks for following along Jerry and we'll sure get a hold of you for beers at the dock.
Speaking of beers......the sea temperatures gone down to 64.8F....the beer in the bilge
is feeling down right cool.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Slow but nice day, July 18
Today started out with some mist and fog but then cleared off to a nice sunny day. Not too warm and not chilly. Mornings are getting kind of cool and it may be time to find the fleece jacket. I did layout a fleece blanket.
Light winds today so I put up the drifter and poled it out. There's not enough wind to keep the sails full, so they slat back and forth with the small swell...noisy.
Moving north at a snails pace.
Light winds today so I put up the drifter and poled it out. There's not enough wind to keep the sails full, so they slat back and forth with the small swell...noisy.
Moving north at a snails pace.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
//WL2K July 16
Well the pacific high has moved right on top of me. Up until now it has been well east of here. I'm slowly trying to make my through it by going NW and hoping to get improved winds at the edge. Very slow going with the drifter flying and doing about 2 knots.
On a positive side, I'm now north of San Fransisco. Although I experienced some of that San Fransisco fog this morning. Haven't seen fog in a while.
Ed
On a positive side, I'm now north of San Fransisco. Although I experienced some of that San Fransisco fog this morning. Haven't seen fog in a while.
Ed
Sunday, July 13, 2014
//WL2K Sunday July 13
I've been right on this stationary weather front for the last couple of days. Heavy clouds with sun breaks. This morning I got a nice shower for about 30 minutes. They usually don't last much longer.
It rinsed the boat off good and I collected a little water for rinsing out cloths.
This afternoon I cleared the front and got into some high pressure moving north. This path home is not as straight forward as sailing to Hawaii. The highs and lows are moving around right now and I'm guessing on the right course.....I not thrilled with the guess factor..
But this afternoon I've been able to run twin headsails and although the winds are still only 8-10, make ok headway north.
Can't remember if I mention this, but I must see a floating piece of plastic or foam, one time a cooler lid, bottles, at least every hour.
I guess all that is from the Japan and Indonesia tsunami's. Never saw a bit of that stuff on the way to Hawaii.
It rinsed the boat off good and I collected a little water for rinsing out cloths.
This afternoon I cleared the front and got into some high pressure moving north. This path home is not as straight forward as sailing to Hawaii. The highs and lows are moving around right now and I'm guessing on the right course.....I not thrilled with the guess factor..
But this afternoon I've been able to run twin headsails and although the winds are still only 8-10, make ok headway north.
Can't remember if I mention this, but I must see a floating piece of plastic or foam, one time a cooler lid, bottles, at least every hour.
I guess all that is from the Japan and Indonesia tsunami's. Never saw a bit of that stuff on the way to Hawaii.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
//WL2K July 10
Dolphins today !! Pod of dolphins came by the boat today. I was going pretty slow so they couldn't play in the bow wave, but instead they crisscrossed just in front of the boat, back and forth. About 4 pair of them. Swimming really fast and looking back at the boat as they crossed in front. Pretty fun to watch.
Got up north of the high pressure cell today and the wind has really died off. It's coming from the SW now. Forecast says it should improve as I get a little more north.
Got up north of the high pressure cell today and the wind has really died off. It's coming from the SW now. Forecast says it should improve as I get a little more north.
Monday, July 7, 2014
//WL2K Whales !! July 7 2014
Just after sunrise this morning saw what at first I thought was splashing but then clearly whale spouts. Couldn't see much at first and I thought they submerged, but then even on the starboard side, even with the stern a sperm whale raised his head to take a look. Not more than 40-50 ft off the side. Then has I got a little past them, two others appeared on the surface, just laying there rolling around. Side fins and tailfins out of the water. They continued doing that until out of sight. I guess they were resting or sleeping. Pretty Awesome !
Just before dawn, got the boat washed in nice heavy shower for 10-15 minutes. The deck is nice again without the salt dusting.
Otherwise slow day with light winds and seas.
Just before dawn, got the boat washed in nice heavy shower for 10-15 minutes. The deck is nice again without the salt dusting.
Otherwise slow day with light winds and seas.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
July 6 2014
Hello All,
Hope you all had a great 4th of July and still have all the fingers you started out with.
Yesterday was beautiful sailing with a ENE wind at about 10 knots. The boat was going about 4 most of the day. Not fast but the sea was very flat and had a beautiful horizon of puffy clouds. Sunset was pretty good, only partially obcured by horizon clouds. I've only seen two or three clear sunsets so far on the entire trip.
A nice light breeze continued into the night with flat seas. I think the moon sets are even prettier than the sunset. Last nights was a half moon with some clouds around it but really nice.
This morning dawned with little to no wind and I motored for about 2 hours until the sun rose a little higher and the wind filled in.
Very slow for most of the day. I getting out of the trades and into the area where winds are driven by the highs and lows. Unfortunately the highs have sort of broken down so over the next two days, I'll just try to keep the boat moving north, northwest, northeast as the wind allows.....Anything but south....
I flew the light air drifter for part of the morninging until it looked like a squall was coming. No squall or rain appeared but a little wind did so I could move along NW at about 2 knots. Was hoping for a little rain...everything outside has a dust of dried salt all over.
This afternoon, the wind has picked up slightly and I'm moving at 3.5 knots to the north. Hope it holds throught the night so Thor the Monitor self-steering can do his thing.
Ok, until next time,
Ed
Hope you all had a great 4th of July and still have all the fingers you started out with.
Yesterday was beautiful sailing with a ENE wind at about 10 knots. The boat was going about 4 most of the day. Not fast but the sea was very flat and had a beautiful horizon of puffy clouds. Sunset was pretty good, only partially obcured by horizon clouds. I've only seen two or three clear sunsets so far on the entire trip.
A nice light breeze continued into the night with flat seas. I think the moon sets are even prettier than the sunset. Last nights was a half moon with some clouds around it but really nice.
This morning dawned with little to no wind and I motored for about 2 hours until the sun rose a little higher and the wind filled in.
Very slow for most of the day. I getting out of the trades and into the area where winds are driven by the highs and lows. Unfortunately the highs have sort of broken down so over the next two days, I'll just try to keep the boat moving north, northwest, northeast as the wind allows.....Anything but south....
I flew the light air drifter for part of the morninging until it looked like a squall was coming. No squall or rain appeared but a little wind did so I could move along NW at about 2 knots. Was hoping for a little rain...everything outside has a dust of dried salt all over.
This afternoon, the wind has picked up slightly and I'm moving at 3.5 knots to the north. Hope it holds throught the night so Thor the Monitor self-steering can do his thing.
Ok, until next time,
Ed
Friday, July 4, 2014
Happy July 4th !!
Hello All,
I cleaned up a few things on the boat after Tracey flew home and then left Lahaina on July 2nd. I left at first light, thinking I would go up and cross the channel and pass the east side of Molokai and head north. But by the time I got into the channel there was good east wind and 3-4 ft chop, so decided it wasn't worth the 3 hour bash across. Going down the south side of Molokai and around toward Honolulu did add about 39 miles more, but I had good downwind sailing at 6-7 knots to the western end.
Out past the west end of Molokai I could see Diamond Head across the channel. There was considerable haze so it was just peeking through.
Trades were not too strong as I cleared the islands, but with the boat on a beam reach there was lots of boat motion. Speed was about 6 knots for the rest of the day and evening. Swell and wind waves seemed NNE, so lots of spray across the deck. Sometime during the night a wave hit the starboard lee cloth and ripped it apart. Oh well, I think it was sun weaken anyway.
The 3rd continued with good wind and again lots of spray. I had gotten a little queasy from all the motion, so did do much but hang on. During the night, the wind eased up and the seas flatten out.
Today has been mostly a 3 knot day with light winds and 1-2 foot waves. Very pretty out if a bit slow. The wind has shifted to the NE some, so I'm running close to the wind so keep a northly coarse. Even so I'm going northwest a bit.
It wss nice to have a slower day with less motion and I got some cloths rised out and dried. Tomorrow the winds should be about the same or less.
Happy 4th of July to all !!
Ed
I cleaned up a few things on the boat after Tracey flew home and then left Lahaina on July 2nd. I left at first light, thinking I would go up and cross the channel and pass the east side of Molokai and head north. But by the time I got into the channel there was good east wind and 3-4 ft chop, so decided it wasn't worth the 3 hour bash across. Going down the south side of Molokai and around toward Honolulu did add about 39 miles more, but I had good downwind sailing at 6-7 knots to the western end.
Out past the west end of Molokai I could see Diamond Head across the channel. There was considerable haze so it was just peeking through.
Trades were not too strong as I cleared the islands, but with the boat on a beam reach there was lots of boat motion. Speed was about 6 knots for the rest of the day and evening. Swell and wind waves seemed NNE, so lots of spray across the deck. Sometime during the night a wave hit the starboard lee cloth and ripped it apart. Oh well, I think it was sun weaken anyway.
The 3rd continued with good wind and again lots of spray. I had gotten a little queasy from all the motion, so did do much but hang on. During the night, the wind eased up and the seas flatten out.
Today has been mostly a 3 knot day with light winds and 1-2 foot waves. Very pretty out if a bit slow. The wind has shifted to the NE some, so I'm running close to the wind so keep a northly coarse. Even so I'm going northwest a bit.
It wss nice to have a slower day with less motion and I got some cloths rised out and dried. Tomorrow the winds should be about the same or less.
Happy 4th of July to all !!
Ed
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