Saturday, February 27, 2010

10.46.12, -127.09.08

Hello All,
By the time you guys read this we will be past the half way point to the islands YEAH! It has been a 60 hour grind to get here threw the trades. We encountered more confused seas and the wind picked up to 30 knots at one point. The boat handled itself well but we were getting tossed so badly it was hard to cook or do even simple tasks. Yesterday morning I made ham and cheese omelets, when I was finished I handed the the first plate to Tobias who was sitting out on deck. He was about to ask for the salt when we took a wave over the side, when I looked up he was soaked and he was pouring the salt water off his plate, I asked, did you say something? He said yeah but never mind I am good now. Two nights ago I got showered 4 times, one wave made a bath tub out of the cock pit. It has been getting better everyday. The swell is a little less and the wind let up to 15 knots. The boat is still rolling a lot but its much better than it was. The outside temp is 80 today and the sea temp is 79, we should be well done by the time we get there. All is well and we are having a good time.
That's all I know for now so I will talk to you soon.


PEACE

Thursday, February 25, 2010

13.49.53N, -122.09.60W

Hello all,
I know I just did a blog yesterday but I have some good news. The wind let up a little and the seas started coming from one direction so we got the working jib up and the double reefed main sail. My working jib I haven't used in years as it is smaller than the big yankee jib. In this application it's perfect for the wind we have. We are making 5.5 knots up to 6. Life is good, the sun is shining and it's a cool 78 degrees, the sea temp is 78 also. Well I better get back to it here so I will talk to you all soon.

PEACE

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

15.41.09N, -124.39.59W

Hello All,
Here we are on the high seas and lately they have been a little high. We got into the trade winds about mid way through my birthday and all was good then the wind came up to about 25 knots which was to much for my yankee jib so we had to get it down and of coarse it happened right after dark. We managed to get it down and got the main sail up with a double reef in it, to those who don't know what a reef is, basically it is making your sail shorter so it catches less wind. We have been under that sail ever since. It's not really the wind that is an issue it is the north west swell meeting a north east swell right where we are at. I always wondered what clothes felt like in a washing machine. Well now I do, sucks to be the clothes. I am hoping this will change in the next few days. Besides all that, all is well, we are well fed and the boat is a real trooper or maybe we are, well no matter lol. I figure if we keep up the pace we will be half way in 3 and a half days. That will keep us going for a while. That is all I know for now so I will talk to you all soon.

P.S.Thank you to everyone who thought of me on my birthday and sent an email.
Love to all

PEACE

Monday, February 22, 2010

19.48.03.N - 122.38.75W

Hello All,
We are still sailing right along. The wind has come up to 20 knots and the seas are manageable. We are making 6 knots at the moment. If this keeps up we should be able to make 120 miles today. It is still partly cloudy but it is 70 degrees already this morning. It never got below 67 degrees last night which was nice. We are in a following sea so the boat rolls from side to side a lot. You have to have a good grip on things and it really wears you out holding on all the time. Who was it that said that sailing is Mararitas and Hoola girls,I haven't seen either yet LOL The water out here is so clear and a very deep blue. It is really amazing. We are sailing in over 17,000 feet of water right now, I must say that is another first for me. I figure at this rate we have about 20 days to go yet. Historically this is suppose to be a 30 day crossing,I guess we will see. I am celebrating my birthday today, The big 43. What better a place to be on your birthday.
Well that's all I know for now so will talk to you soon.

PEACE

Saturday, February 20, 2010

22'57.95 N - 121'25.26W

Hello All,
We have been up and sailing since I talked to you last. They call this area I am in the variables. There is very little wind here but its enough to get between 4 and 5 knots. The first few days spoiled us, I had this thing going 6.5 knots the second night we were out, we made 120 miles that day but that hasn't happened since. The swell is very calm, reminds me of sailing on the lake years ago. The sun came out today and it is about 70 degrees. It has been getting gradually warmer as we go. We are about 180 miles north of the same latitude as Hawaii so it should just keep getting warmer.
Weather has been overcast and partly sunny at times but haven't seen a drop of rain yet. I have got some really cool sunset pics the last few nights. I was thinking this morning about people asking me if I would be okay not seeing land for so long. Actually with the cloud banks that have been around us on the horizon and pulling a watch at sunrise they almost look like land mass in the distance, so i just imagine it is land and feel just fine about it. We made 64 miles yesterday woo hoo. It looking like we will make 100 this day.
We I better get going here. I am going to enjoy the sunshine.
Talk to you all later.

PEACE

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

26'59.67 N - 120'19.69 W

Hello All,
I am writing this to you adrift 378 miles south of San Diego. For 3 days straight we were sailing right along with a beautiful westerly breeze. Yesterday morning was looking like another in sailing paradise when the wind turned more to the north, meaning it started to come from behind, which is ok, I just pulled down all the sails but the jib so it could get all the wind with out getting smothered by the other sails and carried on till the wind just came down to just a few knots. I tried several different sails I have on board for light wind work but in the end there was nothing I could do. We were both very tired after exhausting every effort to make the boat go so I said, lets get the sails on the deck and go to bed. We lied a hull in 4 foot swell all night but slept like a baby. At 0700 this morning we tried all over again and had good sailing for about an hour. We are not far from the northern trades and my weather fax shows me there is wind down there. We just need to get there lol. My old thought would be to just fire up the iron sail and lets go but I don't have the fuel to make it all the way but I do have enough for part of the way so this may be the part , we will see.
Talk to you all soon.

PEACE

Monday, February 15, 2010

Long 29'51.76N - Lat 118'59.73W

Hello all,
I am finally getting to cruise the high seas. I am currently heading south west at 210 degrees with 10 foot seas and a 15 knot winds.we are about 200 hundred nautical miles from San Diego. We made 120 nautical miles our first day out. It's going on 3 days now and all is well.We haven't eaten a whole lot yet just getting used to being out at sea again. Mostly fruit and a few veggies. We did have bacon and eggs yesterday morning, sure was good. The weather has been great so far, mid 60s in the day and high 50s at night. It should get warmer as we go, sure will be nice. The boat is doing great. We shut off the engine Saturday afternoon just outside of the bay and haven't heard it run since.
I will try to keep you guys updated every other day and let you know what has been happening.
That's all I know for now.I will write again soon.

PEACE

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Shelter Island public marina


Hello All,
We made it up to the Public Dock last night.We are hanging here till the wind picks up about noon or so.I am taking this time to write you guys while I am here.We had a really cool send off party yesterday.Tobias's band friends that he met here offered to do this gig for us.It was really awesome,thank you fellas for doing that for us and the next door neighbors brought over champagne.
I uploaded some new pics of the band and a video of them playing on my boat so check it out.
We need to get going here so I will write again soon.

PEACE

Friday, February 12, 2010

So long San Diego

Hello All,
I must make this brief because I need to get back to the boat to finish getting ready to go.We will be leaving at 2pm today to head up to the Harbor Police dock at the mouth of the bay.I plan to start making our way across the pond tomorrow.If all goes as planed we should make landfall in French Polynesia in about 30 days.The boat is extremely heavy with provisions we bought the other day.We should be good for a few months for food.I will keep the blog up dated with my email system I have on the boat so you guys wont have to wonder how every thing is going.
I made a little video of my self and posted it.I never realized how camera shy I am so just bare with me ,HAHA
Ok thats it for now.I will talk to you all soon.

PEACE

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Mission Bay and sailing


Hello All,
It has been a while since I have wrote you guys.A lot has been happening here the last 10 days.We got to take the boat up to Mission Bay last week.I waited for a good southerly wind to get out the bay and it worked out pretty good in till we got outside the bay then the wind shifted to a noreaster which was not to favorable for our direction.I just bit my lip and started tacking our way up the coast.I wanted Tobias to get used to how all the sails work on the boat so we just battled it out for about 9 hours.
We arrived at Mission Bay about midnight,got the anchor set and sacked out for the night.We spent the next day just relaxing and went to shore to take a look around.We had a good sail back,it was light winds but we didn't fire up the iron sail till we got all the way in the bay.
On Friday we took the boat just out side the bay to go play with my new storm sails.It was blowing about 20 knots all day so we got some really good sailing in.The weather here has been blowing and kinda rainy,today was the first nice day we have had since Friday.
I am adding some new pics to the Long Beach,San Diego photo album so take a look.
I must get going so will talk to you all soon


PEACE