From the fat fingers of the racers

[Philpott]

06.19.21 @ 1858 from Green Buffalo

The brisk breeze at the start carried well offshore... most of the way to the lightship.
Doing my best to stay on the south side of the course and fleet... where "maybe" the light air is "narrowest".

A wee bit past the Farallones as I write this.
There were a LOT of fishing boats around the rocks... a bit of weaving to avoid getting to close to them... and only some of them some of them show on AIS.
Passed about 3 miles south of the rocks...

Wind now 7k (changed from #3 to #1 just past the lightship)...

Wind oscillating from 185mag to 210mag. Hard to sleep when the wind has the big oscillations every 10-20 minutes.

Ate Mary's Peunut Butter & Honey sandwiches... mmm mmm good!

Anyone catch my needing to raise the main 3 times before the start? A long story... I had to raise the main 3 times just before the 2012 start too.
A story for Tree.

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Now&Zen]

Go Jim Go!

[bobwalden]

Is this where all the racer’s reports will be posted?

[Philpott]

Is this where all the racer’s reports will be posted?

Hi, Bob. It is where I will post the reports that come my way as a member of the race committee. As you may have noted from the luncheon, everything is evolving. That's what happens when you have a sailing club that is dependent upon the kindness of strangers. Good thing there is a lot of kindness out there.

[Philpott]

06.20.21 @ 0624 from Will Lee s/v Sea Wisdom

Good morning SHTP. My wife, Chloe, posted on Facebook for me already. Here is your personal copy.

William Lee is at Pacific Ocean, Public

Day 1, June 19, "You got a spare?"
The first day was full excitement. Many thanks to my family and friends sending me off from StFYC to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was blowing 20-25 knots at the starting line. I put on a reef and and started my race. The initial passage was a wet one. I had water coming in through the closed hatches. I decided to head west and aiming to pass Farallon on starboard. Along the way, a whale came up and took a deep breath. I could feel the vibration from her spout. Just when I get to enjoy the ocean at the Farallon. I noticed on the current gauge that something was drawing 6 amps when I was not using any electricity. I shut down the breaker and saw that bilge light was on. But the bilge pump was not pumping any water. The bilge pump was relatively new. Good thing that I carried the old bilge pump as a spare. There is no way I would want to keep sailing if there is no electric bilge pump. Changing the bilge pump at sea at the Farallon was not an easy task because I haven’t gotten my sea legs yet. The pump was buried deep in the boat that I had to do some acrobatic move to replace it. The whole ordeal took 3 hours to fix. Lesson learned here is that there is never too many spares. Once I passed Farallon, I kept sailing on the same closed haul port tack on a WSW direction. The wind is light, 8 to 13 knots from the SSW. I’m hoping I can get to the NW synoptic wind soon, may be Sunday night? I haven’t had anything to eat for 24 hours, I’ve been drinking water. Through out the first night, I saw about 5 commerical ships. So there wasn’t much sleep either. I set my alarm every hour to 2 hours.

Today is Father’s Day. Best wishes to all the dads out there.

1) You can follow along via the satellite trackers for each boat. I’m Sail #42, SEA WISDOM.
https://www.jibeset.net/tv.php
2) Live tracking with weather information:
https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SeaWisdom

Signing off
Will
S/V SEA WISDOM







Good morning SHTP. My wife, Chloe, posted on Facebook for me already. Here is your personal copy.

William Lee is at Pacific Ocean, Public

Day 1, June 19, "You got a spare?"
The first day was full excitement. Many thanks to my family and friends sending me off from StFYC to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was blowing 20-25 knots at the starting line. I put on a reef and and started my race. The initial passage was a wet one. I had water coming in through the closed hatches. I decided to head west and aiming to pass Farallon on starboard. Along the way, a whale came up and took a deep breath. I could feel the vibration from her spout. Just when I get to enjoy the ocean at the Farallon. I noticed on the current gauge that something was drawing 6 amps when I was not using any electricity. I shut down the breaker and saw that bilge light was on. But the bilge pump was not pumping any water. The bilge pump was relatively new. Good thing that I carried the old bilge pump as a spare. There is no way I would want to keep sailing if there is no electric bilge pump. Changing the bilge pump at sea at the Farallon was not an easy task because I haven’t gotten my sea legs yet. The pump was buried deep in the boat that I had to do some acrobatic move to replace it. The whole ordeal took 3 hours to fix. Lesson learned here is that there is never too many spares. Once I passed Farallon, I kept sailing on the same closed haul port tack on a WSW direction. The wind is light, 8 to 13 knots from the SSW. I’m hoping I can get to the NW synoptic wind soon, may be Sunday night? I haven’t had anything to eat for 24 hours, I’ve been drinking water. Through out the first night, I saw about 5 commerical ships. So there wasn’t much sleep either. I set my alarm every hour to 2 hours.

Today is Father’s Day. Best wishes to all the dads out there.

1) You can follow along via the satellite trackers for each boat. I’m Sail #42, SEA WISDOM.
https://www.jibeset.net/tv.php
2) Live tracking with weather information:
https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SeaWisdom

Signing off
Will
S/V SEA WISDOM

[Philpott]

06.20.21 @ 12:04 from Kyle Vanderspek aboard Aloha

good afternoon on sunday the 20th, all is well and fine aboard aloha.

[Philpott]

1209 pm on 062021 from Robb Walker s/v Nozomi

Nozomi checking in. So far so good...

As check-ins, these are good for us to get. However, pre-programmed responses won't be posted here any more.

[Philpott]

although this message from Falk, s/v Shark on Bluegrass suggests some kind of mayhem

Wind and food from directions. Light weather 5-8 kn. All good
Falk

[brianb]

NEarly all the boats are checked in today, waiting on two but hours to go.

A note from Seawisdom:

Dear SHTP RC,
Confirming receipt of position report. I’m doing well. Slowly getting adjusted to life aboard. You probably have seen my log on replacing a burnout bilge pump south of the Farallon. Seems like I’m the southern most boat. Everyone else are up north and further west than me. I hope I’m making the right decision, LOL!
Thank you!

[Philpott]

From Jamie Wylly

20 Jun Northern Star manual daily check in. Northern Star in good condition; Jamie alive, healthy, and in great spirits. Many thanks for the great start and sendoff yesterday

[Philpott]

1435 on 6.20.21

Saw a number of water spouts as the sun set last night... but not close enough to see the whales.
Gentle 6k-9k breezes all night. Still oscillating so having to tweak autopilot all too frequently.

Near other entrants... Perplexiy in sight the whole race so far... passed 500 feet astern mid day (setting off AIS alarm). Nozomi is a mile or two away off the starboard bow. Suspect you all know this from the trackers. but its unusual to be in this tight a pack of boats after 120nm.

Flaked the #3 this morning on the foredeck... likely will not need it again (but maybe... if the wind is strong enough exiting the Low).

Water, grapes, brownie bar... debating making cup a soup for dinner. Been popping Bonine twice a day so feeling good - but that may say more about the modest sea state.
I try to hold off for "real food" to day 3 when I know seasickness will have passed.

Overcast. Warming up a bit... took jacket off this morning.
Slept in my boots and foulies last night... maybe tonight too... before pulling out the jammies and sleeping bag (depends on how much wind we see as we exit to Low).

Should I hank on the Jib Top now or tomorrow? hmmm

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

From Jame Wylly s/v Northern Star, whose fingers might not be as fat as the rest of 'em:

Northern Star Daily Check In. Typed report, not automatic. All good aboard Northern Star. Jame alive and in good health. Morale high.

[Philpott]

1240 on 06.21.21 from Falk on the Olson 25: All well on the shark

[Philpott]

From Reed Bernard s/v Mountain: Loving life!

[Philpott]

from Kyle Vanderspek aboard s/v Aloha: good afternoon on monday the 21st, all is well aboard aloha. cheers, Kyle

[Philpott]

1357 062121 from Kyle Vanderspek aboard s/v Aloha, and the more impressive knowing how squirrelly that boat is:

aloha day 1 report to the correct email this time: Day 1
As many of you have maybe read or seen by now, the bay area delivered on its typical summer days of wind cold and some fog. Though i did cross the line well, my pre start decision making was clearly clouded by the lightening forecast as i held off putting a reef in the main as i believe ever other boat had done. after getting walloped by the express and the j109 long before even reaching the golden gate, I finally threw in a reef and was off to the races as it were. Being an early ULDB, Aloha does not excel beating to windward in big breeze and chop, a fact that is made substantially worse with the subtraction of any weight at all from the rail, because of this I was probably one of very few in the fleet to feel a sense of relief as the wind eased up and the reefs came out not too far past Point Bonita. The cloudy overcast bay tried to clear in spots as we eased on towards the Farallons, but unfortunately I haven't really seen the sun break through as of yet and I get the feeling that trend may persist for quite a few more miles. As the evening set upon the fleet, the wind backed off even more giving me the opportunity for the first headsail change of the race to the code zero, sadly shifty winds and large swells made this sail difficult to keep pulling through the night so it was back with the jib just before it got dark. The thick cloud cover of the day brought in a cold dark night with just a small glimmer of the moon glowing through, at times the light winds nearly shut off completely making a bad sleep situation even worse as sails needed near constant attention and courses needed changing to keep up with the shifting winds. Speaking of shifting winds, the southerly surge that we sailed into at the beginning of the race is still here for all of us I believe as we continue on port tack in a mostly westerly direction. Most recent models that I retrieved this morning indicate this should let up by mid afternoon and we might be transitioning into a strong synoptic flow by late this evening at which point it might slowly begin like were actually sailing towards Hawaii. Until then I'll continue trying to get as much rest as possible before the next few days ahead of windy reaching.

[Philpott]

Received 1341 on 062121 from Jim Quanci on s/v Green Buffalo

Whats up on Green Buffalo today Monday the 21st at 10pm

Busy last 24 hours.
gribs made it clear I needed to head north a bit to clear the low - while most of the fleet was heading south. Roll the dice.
Dropped the #1 (a beast to flake... will need to reflake at some point) and hoisted the code zero... at sunset the wind went aft... before midnight a jibe and building wind. Finally heading south in the "real" ocean winds... out of the coastal low,

Went to sleep...
Only to wake up with a bit of thrashing as the wind had increased quite a bit a blew up the code zero (I bought it used and it was a bit worn out so not much of a loss).
Had hanked on the Jib Top early in the evening knowing the wind might increase. Dousing the tattered code zero and raising the jib top was strenuous but straight forward.

Noticed a ring ding on the deck when "cleaning up"... and saw it had fallen off the main tack pin... and the main tack pin was half way out (this happened two weeks before resulting in the main slugs pulling out of the track)... couldn't get the pin fully back in so jammed in a screwdriver and some sail tape to get me till morning (too damn dark to sort out... sorted out at daylight).

Flew Jib Top all night... set up preventer as the boom was banging a bit.
Now when do I raise the kite? Now? Later today? Tomorrow morning?
About to get fresh gribs to help me decide (kits up after just two days is "pretty early"... but there is a high building on the track we need to head south to get under).

No more bonine... feeling good... went to bathroom a few times... everything "working".
Maybe some real food tonight?

Still overcast. Warming up a bit... though I did run the diesel space heater this morning to take the edge off the chill.

With the solar panel, turns out I just need to run the engine twice a day for just an hour each to keep the batteries up.

Cheers,
Jim

[Philpott]

Received 1727 on 062121 from Kyle Vanderspek aboard s/v Aloha:

As you all may have noticed last night was a pretty big turning point in the race for most if not all of us out here. I began the evening firmly on port tack with the code zero up. through the night several times the southerly wind attempted to die and give way to the synoptic northerly, for me this happened at i believe around 1 am PST when I slowly headed more and more south before committing a gybe to starboard tack that was taking me north at a heading of around 300.

Not much later the wind went forward and i was able to continue on a course of about 250 as the wind slowly began to build. During the night after the transition, I was very happy to have popped my head out and noticed some stars attempting to poke through the wet marine layer which had soaked the boat with a light drizzle for a few hours before the sun came up.

At day break, the clouds persisted but were beginning to show signs far off on the horizon. Not long after, i made the decision to change headsails to the A5 spinnaker which is the smallest I have onboard. Though winds were not too high at the time, they were forecasted to increase as the day went on and this spinnaker would provide me the best opportunity to make good progress in the direction I want to sail without getting pushed too low.

With morning winds in the low to mid teens and the sun making an appearance in a blue sky, I was able to put together a few good hours of boat speed with the waves lining up well with my course and surfing waves from a steady 8 knots u to about 12.5. Noon time brought some lightening winds which although frustrating at times certainly could have been worse and as we ease into the third evening underway the winds from this morning seem to have returned. Not present however is the agreeable sea state that had allowed for surfing before, but now I am seeing a bit of a swell well forward of the beam making for a somewhat bumpy ocean.

Once again, the sun is unfortunately long gone, but the temperature seems to have gotten maybe a little warmer since yesterday and the night before so that a small gain. Tomorrow will likely see the beginnings of the freeze dried selections as I intend to finish up the last slice of pizza for dinner this evening. For those curious, I haven't seen any whales since the first afternoon which has been somewhat pleasant as they gave me quite a few scares early on. I have seen a few jelly fish and a sun fish today along with a couple balls of discarded mooring or fishing lines.

[Philpott]

Here's ALOHA at the start: https://vimeo.com/565896485

[SFBaysailor]

Here's ALOHA at the start: https://vimeo.com/565896485

I spied an Alabama battle flag…Roll Tide Roll!!!

[Philpott]

1146 on June 21, 2021 this from Bill Stange on s/v Hula:

There's a bird spending the night on the ship's bell. He's a very good listener.

[Philpott]

1203 on June 22, 2021 from Brendan Huffman on s/v Siren:

Great day on siren.

[Philpott]

From Reed Bernard on s/v Mountain 06.22.21 @ 1230

Hello. Mountain daily checkin groovy.

[AlanH]

Thanks for passing these along.

[Philpott]

1724 on 06.22.21 Green Buffalo sent this

Another busy last 24 hours.
After reaching all night under the big (155%) jib top... come morning the wind went aft... "aha now the wind swings toward Hawaii" - but I was wrong.

Flew the kite 8 hours only to be steadily headed. Strange... looked at gribs a second time... aha, the wind turning east around the bottom of the low.

Time to drop the kite and back to the jib top. I am getting too old for this... back and forth several times between cockpit, mast and bow... dragging sails, dragging lines, getting everything ready for the kite hoist and jib top douse. Oh and don't forget untangling and hoisting the spinnaker net... and then reversing all this late in the day.

Good thing I went back to the jib top... over night the wind varied from 14k to 24k from 80 to 110 degrees apparent. Perfect for jib top... ugly for a kite.
So reaching along under jib top for 20 hours making great time straight to my "waypoint".

Am I going to far south or not south enough? Time will tell. Getting a grib as I sent this email that will tell me more...

Food... grapes, raisins, about to cook another 2 cups of rice plus a ramen cup of soup. "Real food" will need to wait till we get off tis "bumpy" reach. Tomorrow? Maybe Tortellini? Cheese and crackers?

Still overcast.

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

So there I am in the Safeway parking lot when I get a text from Will Lee. Yeah, that Will Lee. The sailor out there on that pretty red boat. The one who replaced his bilge pump at the Farallones in significant wind.

His expensive equipment has flaked out, so he's texting the race committee? Which is fine. This is so SSS: resourcefulness and problem solving required: McGyvering it. These stories. They’re something.

From Will Lee s/v Sea Wisdom @ 1654 on 06.22.21

Hi Jackie, good afternoon. This is Will from Sea Wisdom. My email system is acting up and takes me hours to send and receive email msgs. So I’m switch to texting as my primary way of communicating with other people. I informed Brian about this already. Just in case if you don’t know it yet. Thanks for your email. Because you don’t have Facebook, I can text you my daily blog entry.

Day 3, June 21, "It’s getting hot here in the doldrum."

Day 3 began with light wind, and the sun came out for the first time since last Saturday. The wind was so light, there were actually more work on the boat. I had to make every slight adjustments to the sails in order to take advantage the occasionally rare but short lived breeze. For example, spending 30 minutes to set up the whisker pole to only use it for a few hours before taking it down.

I made some fresh water today using the water maker, and was able to make sparkling water from the ocean with my Sodastream! I don’t need to carry any plastic water bottles. I even added some EmergenC to the homemade sparkling water, then I get to drink soda that is healthy.

I started the morning with a nori ginger soup to warm up my body. The ginger helps me getting my sea legs. To celebrate the change to warmer weather today, I modified the Beef Stroganoff to have Cajun spices. At noon, the color of the ocean is deep and dense blue, amazing to watch each of the 10 foot swell goes underneath the boat ever so quietly. I went from wearing 5 layers of fleece and foul weather gear to just wearing a think base layer.

Around noon time was when I receive the position report from the race committee on where all the racers are. Oh boy, was I wrong about picking the southern route. Here I was getting stuck and trying to figure out a way out of the doldrum. I am in one of the last places in the race.

The NW wind finally came in the late afternoon. I could not be happier. There are still 1900 miles to go, so anything could happen. My number 1 priority is to get to Kauai safely.

I have more gear issues to deal with. The Iridium Go system is not able to send and receive email reliably. I spent hours trying and I got lucky a few times. But texting works. Also, the Gsrmin inReach is my spare satellite communicator and tracker. It decided not to work anymore. At least I still have 2 independent satellite devices that work, Iridium text and a handheld Inmarsat.

The block holding the starboard jib sheet is showing some metal fatigue because when there was no wind, things get banged around. If that block fails, I have a few other blocks that can do the work. Having redundancy and spare parts are so important when I need to be self sufficient.

6557

[Philpott]

062221 @ 2207
Reed Bernhard s/v Mountain sends this:

Greetings from Mountain, where the ship smells of feet and the Captain wishes he smelled half that good.

All is well here - Mountain and I are working hard. According to the latest fleet position reports though, so is everyone else! Really fun race so far- just hitting my stride. Taking naps, tweaking the sails, making repairs, enjoying the view.

Many thanks to all who helped with our prep the last few days leading up to the start.

Hi Grady!

[Philpott]

1050 on 062321 from John Wilkerson s/v Perplexity:

All well on board the good ship perplexity.

and later in the day

Hi Brian

I was having some email issues but was also sending the go track message everyday. Anyway, things are going well out here. I haven't received competitor updates in a few days but I've never looked at them and don't think I will. I am just going to sail my race. I have a mast sail track issue at the moment, but checking with the company. I'm hoping it's not a problem and I'll be able to shake the reef out soon.

Still cloudy and cld at night but its warming up!

[Philpott]

from Falk @ 1202 aboard Shark on Bluegrass:

All well, smooth sailing 12 kn, beam reach, sunshine ...

[Philpott]

From Bill Stange aboard Hula

No spinnaker, no 7 knots, and alas, no more bird companion. For two days we shared music, stories, and hemp seeds..

[Philpott]

1352 from the Buffalo Man

First... took me over an hour to send email via Iridium GO! yesterday. Something was "amiss" with the Iridium satellite network. After a lot of patience and retries it all went through. Maybe less satellite coverage over the ocean... or maybe older slower satellites over the ocean? Just guessing.

Things that go bang in the night.
Wind was in the 20k's - peak 29k - most of the night reaching along under jibtop. "Bang!" That didn't sound good but nothing obvious. An hour later "bang" again. hmmm

When the sun rose... the boom vang bracket to the mast had broen two of its four "wings/tabs". Unreliable butt welds... sign.
A few spanish windlasses with spectra and looks "good enough" - but time will tell. Broke these same welds in the 2018 PacCup. Time to talk to the fabricator (Robb of Nozomi told me so back in 2018).

Four days and still nor running under chute... unusual. Due to the High being so far south have not yet made it to its southeast quarter where the wind swings (and I swing west). Tonight or tomorrow for sure "kite up".

The sun peaked out today and then went away... 4 days overcast... getting old.
It is getting warmer... after 4 days in the same long johns, today was a "wipey" shower below deck - and a fresh pair of long johns... boy does that feel good! Boy did I stink! Maybe tomorrow or more likely the day after a real fresh water shower in the cockpit?

Sardine sandwich for lunch. Thinking tortellini with red sauce for dinner.

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

from Will on Sea Wisdom @ 1205 today, June 24, 2021

Greetings SHTP RC, It seems like my email system likes to function in light wind area! But I need wind, please send me some :)
This is for June 24 POL.

Wish everyone the best,

Will

Response from SHTP RC: Dear Sir, We have escalated your complaint to those with higher pay grades.

[Philpott]

From Falk on SOB today @ 1245

Shark POL 06/24 all well, found the pacific night ! Slow progress. Might send another POL version that is suck in my email outbox. Messing around with my iridium go

[Philpott]

1312 from Bill Stange on Hula:

Hey,. I was going 7 knots an hour ago, and now I can row my El Toro faster than this!

[Philpott]

From Kyle aboard Aloha today at 1318

im alive! now if only the wind had as much energy as lunch just gave me.... cheers, Kyle

[Philpott]

Oh dear. Time for that shower. Time to read War and Peace.

6563

[BobJ]

Over on Faceplant, Will posted that he's already taken two hot showers. Maybe three by now.

[Daydreamer]

Looks like there is going to be a re-start mid course.
Animation shows a couple more light days.
Frustrating!!!

[Philpott]

From Bill Stange on Hula @ 0116

To pre-answer some of my Seattle friends: Yes I did go for a quick walk on the gyre but I didn't buy anything.

[Philpott]

1225 on 062521 from Brendan Huffman s/v Siren

Siren is chillin on a gorgeous day out here

[Philpott]

From Falk Meissner s/v Shark on Bluegrass @ 1238 062521

SHTP 2021 log Shark On Bluegrass
Transcription of my hand written notes.

Saturday 06/23
Nice send-off: Vanessa , Malina, Tom, Brian, Tibu thank you!
Windy sail to the start.
Light wind outside the gate, change to Genoa, moving at4-5kn.
Sleep in the evening to catch up on my sleep deficit from last week (a lot of work-work finishing and starting a project and the packing prep.)
Change down to #3, don’t want to get caught at night with the Genoa up. Expecting shift to north -which never came as the coastal south Eddie moved between me and the synoptic wind.
Saw a grey whale splashing his fin on the water. He must have been in love with the Shark. Crossing to the north of the north farallones. As predicted fleet split into north and south

Useful:
Solar cells seem to have plenty of power
Figured out some menu items on the chart plotter. -finally.
Seems I am using the chart plotter as primary navigation tool. INavX app only as cross check. Also keep the chart plotter running most of the time ( despite power consumption)
Dodger: just the way to the start was worth the hassle of getting it. ( overtime, really LOVE the dodger, it allows to keep the companionway open and gives a holding point.) - Thanks Thomas, Brian, Aaron.
Better: dodger with handles on the side and stiffer front. Aaron was right, the natural tendency is to grab the higher point and not the handles on the deck.

Sunday 06/20
Somewhat cold during the night, lucky I brought the additional blanket. Gloomy day, calm. Worried that solar cells do not charge enough, but they do, even on overcast day.4.5-5 knin7-8 kn of wind.
Put the Genoa up. Fast but more stress. Autopilot can’t handle the puffs. Worried to get caught in big wind. Genoa requires a trip to the foredeck to get it down. Big heavy sail. Spin can be doused from the cockpit. ( after a few more days I am now convinced that hanks are the better option for this type of sailing. Jib / Genoa comes down by itself while staying attached without the need to go forward. It’s a Safety feature in heavy wind or seas... Can put up second sail without the need to take the first one off as well)
Decide to keep direct route northerly seems plenty of wind. Find out later that this was the wind circling the hole bringing me dead into the middle of the anti clock wise Eddie. Well second most west boat for tonight, did not last long so.
Still seasick, all the pasta with tomatoe sauce is coming out again. Together with all the water.
Still cold at night , need blanket and sleeping bag.

Useful:
Additional light blanket (Delta ~ Westin business class blanket for the connoisseurs ) additional layer when needed or as light blanket for naps.
Sleep most of the time in the windward berth. Lee cloth work! Faster into the cockpit. Fore peak is for quiet nights w.o. Foulies, even has a proper sheet.

Monday 06/21
Sailed into the wind hole, the only way around is to gybe, go north and put the spin up.
Light winds, so mostly slept through Sunday and Sunday nights,still working off the sleep deficit. Turns out I don’t need the alarm to wake me up to check. I wake up when the noises change:
Bow wave splashing = speed
Trim = flogging sails
Balance = autopilot only working short bursts not long side to side moves
Overpowered = heel
Traffic - AIS beeping - this one works beautiful I am happy I installed the transponder after Long Pac
Well and once in a while take a peek around of course.
First sunny day

Useful
Buckets without flimsy handles. Took the handles off on both buckets and cut holes near the rim to pull string through.

Tue 6/22
Found the wind last night. Making 8kn on a beam reach with the spin up under autopilot, while sleeping!!!.
It got too windy so needed to take the spin down. Manage to shrimp it which tore one clew off the spin. That’s why you use old sails for this. This was a 2011 spin. RIP. Change to #3 as we finally got into the wind.
Slept 6 hrs straight, nice, woke up to a dead main battery. Switched to backup. Let’s see; over discharged li Ion batteries go into sleep mode, manual says solar charger will wake them up. Tried to “jump start’ with the second battery before .... bad idea cable got warm quick. Let the charger do it’s work. Measured the voltage as the battery , creeping up from 11,80 to 12,40 over two hours or so. Battery comes back to life. Nice to see theory in practice....
First sunny evening. Beam reaching, with cross waves. Not quite comfortable.

Useful:
tool box with voltmeter.
Buying the autopilot one size up ( st 2000 tiller pilot) able to handle a lot. Thanks Rufus for the recommendation.
Less useful: mast instrument, boat speed, and digital compass. I sail mostly after COG and SOG. So take them off the MEMA network to save 0.4A in the power budget .
Useful: camomile tea, no appetite for any of the sodas or power drinks I brought. Drinking lots of water from then jar. The Lee cloth really work (not a common equipment on an Olson 25) allows me to sleep near the cockpit. Also noticed that I am very diligent to keep the cabin and cockpit orderly and clean.

We 06/23
Made 70 or so miles over night on a beam reach at7-8 kn. Slept from 9 pm to 7am with few interruptions.
One AIS alarm. Build into my dream. DCA 1.4 miles in 20 min. Hail the freighter that I see him amd change course slightly to pass his tern more clearly.
Main battery all well at 12.6V in the morning. Once the backup is charged combine both solar panels to charge the main. Getting 6-8A out of 150W solar. Compared to 2-3A use, depending on what is running. Very happy with the solar set up.
Decide against going to Genoa in the morning wind is about 12-13kn. It’s getting lighter rapidly.... I am about 50nm south of the rump line. So the calm of the High is in the way. Keep.going South_West around 215-220 on a beam reach under spin ( my other older spin, likely 20 years old, came with the boat - 1.5 oz cloth so this should hold.). Don’t want to go even more south. The gamble is how much distance to add to go south. I have a short light boat so Minimize additional distance while keeping moving in lighter winds vs the bigger boat. Well see.... from the standings I am in the middle of the field.

Washday, head to toe wet wiping and fresh cloth - very nice - spa experience

Not useful: not bringing hand soap. The bottle I grabbed is shampoo plus conditioner - too oily. Socks; I am basically barefoot all the time. Except when I go forward I put the boots on.
Useful: the Spinlock harness, comfortable, and less bulky than the inflatable. So much easier to keep on all the time.

Ahh, officially managed 1/4 of the to go distance. Let’s s celebrate - freeze dried pasta in tomato sauce, check, apple check, bell pepper check.

Thursday 06/24
Good spin run yesterday evening amd last night. Wind calmed down over night. 5-6kn under autopilot in 7-9kn of wind - autopilot is able to handle it. So go to bed.

Found the Pacific high! It’s where the weather models say it would be.... contemplating or the last two days . Running SW at 210-215 for three days now. Going more south? I am not going to make 200n, to get into the strongest trades. From the position reports none of the competitors went that far south staying north see,s risky as the high sits there. Same conclusion, keep reaching amd keep the boat moving. Making 5kn in little wind...

Have been keeping up with the family amd friends. Amazing that the Sattelite modem works re;active;y seamless even for casual calls. I also opened the first messages in the bottle. A jar full of wishes from friends amd family. Thank you Vanessa f-r organizing. Thanks to all who wrote so,etching. Today I found messages from Fran amd the cousins...

Useful:
Knee pads - finally started wearing them all the time, who would have thought what a useful invention. Chafe control - probably a know. One to he experience sailor. Manage to nearly cut through a spin sheet rubbing on the life lines on Tuesday. Caught it early enough. Very careful now to keep everything separated

Despite the annoyingly slow progress, this is the first fully enjoyable and comfortable day. It’s warm. The boat does not roll and keeps a steady pace. Finally go to do some house keeping amd to type up my notes from the last days no promises I will keep that up....

[Philpott]

1332 from John Wilkerson s/v Perplexity on 062521

This is the first 'race' report from Perplexity. I hope others have wind - well, not really! I haven't had it since I congratulated myself on having crossed the high without having to jibe south. Oops. I worked really hard to do that and then let my guard down when I thought I made it. Rookie mistake #12.

On the other hand, it is beautiful out here and I think I'll go swimming this afternoon.

The race itself has been a real adventure. The sail out the gate was marvelous and the first couple of days were also intense with so many boats in contact. The next few days were great in terms of ideal reaching conditions with a blast reacher, storm jib and reefed main.

Getting used to going with little sleep and taking an hour to change a sail because of all of the back and forth crawling on the deck were also new adventures. The light wind conditions since then have been less great -except I am no longer crawling and getting lots of sleep. But - yesterday 10 days to finish, today 10 days to finish.
Just checked my fresh water...

Big thanks to all of the volunteers who make this 'race' possible!

S/V Perplexity

[Philpott]

1412 on 062521 from Jim Quanci s/v Green Buffalo

Whats up on Green Buffalo today Friday the 25th at 200 pm

Slatting, slatting, slatting.
With an occasional sail change and tack.

Saw Mountain on the chartplotter on and off (not sure why most entrants keep turning their AIS transmitter off... what's the point, its not like one is going to "cover them"... and two large ships have passed by in the last few days and I sure want them to see me).

Spinnaker hoisted and dropped 3 times last night as wind came, went, and came back again from a 90 degree different direction. So dousing chute in forehatch, waiting 10-15 minutes for wind to come in from other side, swapping spinny gear and poles, and rehoisting. Crazy? Yes crazy. Crazier yet, hoisted the #1 this morning beating to the southwest (had the #1 on deck for flaking so was pretty easy to just hoist it). But beating southwest going to Hawaii? Really?

Maybe another two days of this slatting/light variable winds to deal with before the High heads back north to where its "supposed to be"?

Finished last of tortellini for late breakfast, and then a sardine sandwich for lunch. Its getting warm in the afternoon... so maybe dinner tonight is cabbage salad with chicken (not use the stove)?

Chatted with Mary by sat phone... was good to hear her voice! And check how the tomatoes, peppers, and my "baby fern palm tree" are doing up in Napa (and what is up with the boys too). :-)

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

1414 from Reed Bernhard s/v Mountain on 062521

Hello from Mountain! All is well.

[Philpott]

From Bill Stange s/v Hula June 25, 2021 @ 1425

Is it true that the most awesome vounteer SHTP race committee ever just got penlized 2 hours for not providing position reports?

[Philpott]

1441 from Kyle Vanderspek s/v Aloha on 062521

unlike the current wind status for most (all?) of us, I am quite alive.

cheers,
Kyle.

PS I don't think anyone is getting these as every time i send one i get some sort of error about it not forwarding to Brian? if this is actually getting received could you confirm it? thanks

[Philpott]

1512 on 062521 from Bill Stange

Mid ocean photo op with Sea Wisdom! I can't wait to see my near useless flopping spinnker try to wrap around the headstay!

[Philpott]

from Robb Walker s/v Nozomi @ 1529 on 062521

Brian, recd postn report by SailMail. Pls add date reference to your reports.
thx

[Philpott]

1533 from Bill Stange on 062521

The good news is my wife made a 600 song iPod for me. The bad news is if the wind doesn't pick up, I may hear the same song twice!!

[brianb]

anything else Robb ? Ice cream ?

[Philpott]

062621 from Brendan s/v Siren @ 1205

Yes siren is still here

[Philpott]

All well on the shark. It’s “Shark On Blue Glass” right now. 57nm in the last 24 hrs. Who said during the skippers meeting “ the pacific high is not going to be in your way?”
Falk

from Falk s/v SOB @ 1215 on 062621

[Philpott]

All is fine, so calm that I flew the drone for some area shot of the SHTP doldrum! Hope everyone is well. I think we should get wind soon. All the best, Will

from Will s/v Sea Wisdom @ 1218 on s/v Sea Wisdom

[Philpott]

WDC7036@sailmail.com
1:16 PM (38 minutes ago)
to A, Mary

Today mark's one week on the water... and with the slow going and expected high to head back north tomorrow... likely 8 more days in front of me (if not 9). Slowest of the 19 Hawaii races I have done. C'est la vie. Just be thanful I am not on one of the smaller heavier boats which are doing the math and being unsure if they will make it to Hanalei for the Banquet.

After 20 hrs of a decent run (a decent run is staying above 2k boat speed and not "triple zeroing"), the wind died this morning... 5 hours of slatting with no headsail up. Heard Siren call a freighter passing nearby as he wanted to be sure the freighter knew with so little wind he wouldn't be able to get out of their way.

Now slatting is good for something... a busy morning... flake and bag the #1, cut the jib halyard back 12 inches to remove a chafe point, and drum roll please... take a shower on the foredeck!
Yes after a week with two clothes changes but no showers, I was starting to smell myself. It was time. Pull out the SunShower, canvas bucket (salt water wash and fresh water rinse), and the Prell (which lathers great in salt water). Boy did that shower feel great!

What else?
I did make that cabbage salad with chicken yesterday for dinner. And had enough left to add some tuna and have for lunch today.

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo


from Jim @ 1316 on 062621 s/v Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

1348 from Reed Bernhard s/v Mountain

Happy 26 june from mountain!

[Philpott]

Dr. Frankenstein has successfully re-attached the head of the half ounce spinnaker. It's ALIVE!!!!!

From Bill Stange s/v Hula 1532 on 062621 and at 1548

and @ 1548: For those of you flying to Hawaii today, Hula is no longer bright pink, but neon yellow!

Note from RC: An Intervention May be Needed for This One

[Philpott]

1709 on 062621 from Kyle on Aloha, our token Millennial - https://vimeo.com/565896485

who do i talk to about a refund? these "trade winds" are not what i signed up for!?!?!?!? cheers, kyle

[Philpott]

and here, @ 2000, from the iphone of someone named Brian Vanderspek, is a missive from Kyle s/v Aloha:

Not a whole lot to convey about the day and night as of right now. I’m not sure I mentioned it in yesterday's report, but it was up and down three or four times between the code zero and the A2. I climbed in bed at around 11 I believe, west coast time, with the code zero up as the wind had been tight most of the late evening, but not ten minutes after getting in bed the wind backed and I had to swap back to the A2.

With the moon as bright as it has been out here the last few nights, a headlamp was hardly necessary during the maneuver - lack of visibility is always the most difficult thing about sail changes between sunset and sunrise. Since then it has been all A2 doing its best to keep the boat rolling.

Most of the night from what I could tell we had fairly okay wind, but with the autopilot in wind angle mode, I did wake up to notice a lift had taken us all the way up to a heading on 300 which is quite a long ways off from Hawaii. So while I got ready for a gybe in the wee hours of the morning, the wind fortunately returned to its previous direction just as I was ready to throw the helm over.

Speaking of gybing, most of the morning was spent very much on starboard in a little bit of wind keeping the boat moving, however watching the plotter and my heading, I noticed the boat slowly heading up from about 235 the night before to about 270. With the autopilot in wind angle mode, this had indicated a fairly sizable shift which is what is expected about now on the course as we should begin to enter the trade winds. With that shift I decided it may be time to gybe over to port and start heading towards Hanalei with the filling trades wind slowly heading me down towards the ultimate destination. But, after maybe two hours on the port board, fate would kick in and the wind out of nearly due west would vanish in favor of the hole that we have been sitting in for the past few days out of the north west. So it was back to starboard tack on a heading of about 250 trying to keep the boat moving in the general direction of Hawaii.

Thinking postive thoughts and hoping to be out of the hole and surfing my way to Hawaii in a few hours. Almost halfway there, Aloha to you all. -Kyle

[Philpott]

From Brian Vanderspek, Kyle's brother @ 2135 on 062621

Looking forward to seeing the video. Here are the other 7 reports from Kyle if anyone is Interested in reading them.

Day 1

ALOHA and good evening from Team Aloha. Day 1 of the 2021 Singlehanded Transpac. It was an emotional morning getting underway from Richmond Yacht Club at 9:00 it was nice to have great support from the shoreside team as I motored out the harbor into a freshening breeze. Wind was heavy inside the bay for our start off The St. Francis Yacht Club, we saw about 20 knots, I opted for my new Ullman number 3 jib because that’s all I have onboard, I made the game time decision to leave the genoa on the dock which, benefits my rating giving me 3 seconds a mile. Having had success on the mark end of the last two Hawaii race starts I opted for that technique again and was rewarded with the first look of the entire fleet behind me. Much to similar fashion in the Pacific Cup start I watched the heavy boys sail by me in the chop and breeze of San Francisco. It was a very noticeable difference today sailing for the first time in heavy breeze with my new Water Rat rudder, absolutely incredible instead of the boat rounding up it just pressed forward. The goal now is to battle hard in the chop and slop to stay close enough to attack when the WHOMPER goes up and we start planning. That heavy breeze in the 20s on the way out the bay have given way to much lighter conditions at 5 knots currently with a decent chop and swell indicative of the bigger breeze offshore. Just short of the Farallons the sun had tried to break through a few times without much luck making it for a somewhat chilly afternoon and what will probably be a cold and dark night under the layer of clouds. Its days like today that every penny of good foul weather gear pays off. I’ve probably seen at least twenty whales so far with four of five of them having come in real close for a look, most about 100 feet off, but I believe I startled one earlier when he barrel rolled out of the way about 10 feet to leeward of the jib, not sure who was more scared, me or the whale, but it was probably me. Hoping to see the wind veer to the west and then north as I pass through the southerly surge and into the synoptic breeze. Hard to say for sure when this may happen, but I’m very much hoping for it to happen this evening. At about 2000 I put up the CODE ZERO and built speed, hoping to pike into the header and get back to the jib later tonight. Just had a slice of deep dish pizza from earlier this week, can’t say why, but man do I love cold pizza. That’s about it from Aloha. Hoping for a pleasant first night. –Kyle



Day 2

Good evening All! After spending most of the day with the jib up the wind backed a bit further south and I was able to once again put up the code zero this time with some success pushing me along a course nearing 230 which is the rhumb line. I have been able to make good progress to the west without giving up too much room to the pack that’s pushing further south which I think is going to pay big dividends in the long run, (I wonder if the pros would agree with my decisions).



At the 7 oclock hour the backing wind had me attempt to put up the A2 spinnaker which was very short lived as the light wind and waves made it struggle to pull the boat nearly as well as the code zero was. On a side note For those of you who don’t know the first 150-200miles of this race are not Aloha’s favored conditions, as soon as we can crack off put up the spinnaker and start surfing we should be able to make nice gains on the heavier boat. So right now I continue to battle hard for every mile to stay close enough to make my move. So it was back up with the code zero in the diminishing evening breeze.



Though still not into the synoptic wind, I am once again looking to see the area of light wind pass (or more accurately me pass through it) to the building northerly sea breeze on the other side. From what I can tell on AIS, I am the most western boat at the moment and I hope to utilize that to be the first to poke into the new wind.



Everything Is working well onboard, occasionally the GPS drops signal for a few seconds, maybe 4 seconds an hour, but I believe its because of the new solar panels that are covering the gps puc. Once I get onto starboard tack I plan to organize the interior, it is absolutely insane the amount of equipment that is onboard this boat, I do not know how we ever did this race with 4 grown men down here. I wish all the Dads out there a very Happy Fathers Day.



That’s all for now from Aloha hopefully by morning the A2 will be up and we will be blasting to the finish line.



Day 3



From Kyle-As you all may have noticed, last night was a pretty big turning point in the race for most if not all of us out here. I began the evening firmly on port tack with the code zero up. Several times through the night the southerly wind attempted to die and give way to the synoptic northerly. for me this happened at i believe around 1 am PST when I slowly headed more and more south before committing a gybe to starboard tack that was taking me north at a heading of around 300. Not much later the wind went forward and i was able to continue on a course of about 250 as the wind slowly began to build.



During the night after the transition, I was very happy to have popped my head out and noticed some stars attempting to poke through the wet marine layer which had soaked the boat with a light drizzle for a few hours before the sun came up. At day break, the clouds persisted but were beginning to show signs far off on the horizon. Not long after, i made the decision to change headsails to the A5 spinnaker which is the smallest I have onboard. Though winds were not too high at the time, they were forecasted to increase as the day went on and this spinnaker would provide me the best opportunity to make good progress in the direction I want to sail without getting pushed too low.



With morning winds in the low to mid teens and the sun making an appearance in a blue sky, I was able to put together a few good hours of boat speed with the waves lining up well with my course and surfing waves from a steady 8 knots up to about 12.5. Noon time brought some lightening winds which although frustrating at times certainly could have been worse and as we ease into the third evening underway the winds from this morning seem to have returned. Not present however is the agreeable sea state that had allowed for surfing before, but now I am seeing a bit of a swell well forward of the beam making for a somewhat bumpy ocean.



Once again, the sun is unfortunately long gone, but the temperature seems to have gotten maybe a little warmer since yesterday and the night before so that is a small gain. Tomorrow will likely see the beginnings of the freeze dried selections as I intend to finish up the last slice of pizza for dinner this evening. For those curious, I haven't seen any whales since the first afternoon which has been somewhat pleasant as they gave me quite a few scares early on. I have seen a few jelly fish and a sun fish today along with a couple balls of discarded mooring or fishing lines.



Day 4



From Kyle- Today has been a trying day to say the least, full of ups and downs. To begin the day, we saw some good jib reaching into warming temperatures after what ended up being a fairly pleasant night. Good wind in the morning led to some lighter air in the low teens around mid day which threw me back into decision time as to if I could and should fly a spinnaker. After much internal deliberation I decided to go ahead and put one up, the wind had lightened and backed a little and the sun was shining, it was obviously the right call.



Again I chose the smaller A5 spinnaker which went up without a hitch, I bumped up the gain to the maximum on the autopilot and it had no issues holding with the kite today for about an hour. Unfortunately the wind had other plans as it steadily built and I had to continue to fall off on angle to keep the autopilot in control. This process continued until I reached an angle where I felt I had to take over to maintain some height. So I hand steered for a bit in some really good conditions through mostly sunny skies with a few of what I could only describe as mini squalls rolling through with dark clouds and more breeze.



After some time and still falling to leward of the course I wanted, I decided to take down the spin in favor of the jib. This is where things got a little sideways, the spinnaker came down without a hitch but unfortunately it brought down the shiv at the top of the mast with it (the shiv is a wheel at the top of the mast that allows the halyard line to move freely whiteout chaffing.) All 8 rivets had sheared and the turning block exited its hole and had decided it was done being up there. The only consolation is that I do have a spare spinnaker halyard, though it is somewhat undersized for some of the conditions out here and will likely only see use once the wind’s back and loads on the spinnaker halyard is reduced. Till that time I will be stuck with the jib hoping to make the best of it, and for the mean time, the jib is for sure the right sail (as I type surfing to 14 knots at a great angle). It’s going to be a good night. Aloha!



Day 5



After yesterday’s debacle with the main spinnaker halyard mast shiv coming out, the mood onboard between me, myself, and I had become a tad bit gloomy - due to the prospect of not being able to continue to run a spinnaker with a primary halyard and having to utilize the backup as a primary. But, these worries were cast aside as I was able to get a good night's rest last night running under the rather benign jib, and day broke on another beautiful day on the Pacific. Plenty of sun today made for a very welcomed change as winds slowly eased back behind us and are now pushing us along under the guidance of the trusty A2 spinnaker.



This morning I broke into my first freeze dried and jetboiled meal of the race, Mountain House breakfast hash was just the warm meal the doctor called for after a chilly night, seasoned with salt and pepper to taste and a dash of Cholula hot sauce it's as if it was fresh out of a gourmet 5 star kitchen. The biggest disappointment of the day came when I realized that all five of the avocados I had brought magically and mysteriously ripened at the exact same time, so lunch time called for an avocado with salt and pepper of course, some beef jerky and a little dried mango, not exactly your typical meal, but it sure hit the spot.



The afternoon and early evening consisted of lots of sunshine and hand steering to pass the time and the miles away. As some of you may have noticed, I spent a good portion of the day making progress to the south of the general track of the fleet and of rhumb line. My reasoning for this is that over the course of the next two days, a rather large hole of no wind will develop right in the middle of the rhumb line course between SF and Hanalei. By taking a dive to the south it is my hope that I can just skirt around this hole without getting sucked up into miserably light winds. I do suspect that over the next 48 hours I will come be into lighter winds, but I hope to power through them with the leverage that I have gained by making moves to the south over the last 24 hours.



Having officially passed over the quarter way marker this morning and noticing right now as I type how sunny it still is for 8:40 west coast time, I am actually feeling like there's some significant markers of my progress towards the islands. Of note as well is that I have now passed the lattitude of Aloha’s home port of Mission Bay with my current lattitude being 31* 50 and Mission Bay being 32* 45.



Additionally having passed a quarter of the way this morning, I was afforded the opportunity to open a envelope that contained a whole bunch of hand written cards from some of the MBYC juniors, mostly well wishes and some very sound advice including “don’t luff, ” “check for kelp,” “don’t drop your main sheet” and my favorite “pay attention.” Just the coaching I need as I cleated off the main sheet, threw on the autopilot and headed back inside for some lunch and time out of the sun.



The Simrad autopilot has taken over piloting duties while I rest and do all the other million things to do onboard when I'm not driving. So far using the apparent wind angle function, it has been steering pretty well under the A2, I sure hope this trend can continue as we progress forward.



Dinner this evening will surely be some mysterious yet-to-be-decided-upon freeze dried food and I must say I'm quite looking forward to it. Hope anyone reading this is enjoying as much as I am out here but I can't wait to make it to Hanalei. Until tomorrow, ALOOOHHAA!



Day 6



Today is Thursday the 24th, I only know that because I checked my phone three times while I typed it to confirm it, and life onboard Aloha is just as one might expect it to be if you have been following along with the last couple updates or have looked into the weather for the part of the ocean I'm currently sailing on.



For anyone interested, i would highly recommend the "Windy" app, i use it on my phone quite often when I'm back home and has a very good user interface to look into forecasts for anywhere in the world using some of the same models we use out here while sailing as well as other nifty features like looking into cloud cover or Doppler radar and such. If you happen to check on Windy with my current position (31* 05N 135* 55W) you might notice that there isn't a whole lot of wind out here. Happily I can say that I am not the only one in this boat when it comes to this rather large hole as its basically unavoidable for this fleet shy of sailing perhaps to the Aleutian islands or maybe via the equator.



With that being said, last night was a fairly calm night with the Simrad Autopilot following the dying breeze along its course and I was able to get a considerable amount of rest till about 2:15 (PST) when a puff came along and tried to round the boat up a bit, the autopilots reaction was of course to pull the tiller all the way towards it which in turn somehow made the lever of the auto pop off the little knob on the tiller, not a problem at all, but with the tiller and the autopilot no longer attached, the boat continued to steer as it pleased till i climbed out of bed and rectified the situation. At the time the wind was still a pleasant 10 to 12 knots and it was a beautiful night so I decided to hand steer the boat for a bit under a somewhat clear sky that was illuminated beautifully by a full or nearly full moon. A couple hours of hand steering led me into the path that i knew was coming of sailing slowly into dying winds.



As winds backed to around 6 knots, I decided it was time to pack it in and get some rest and let the autopilot do some more driving. The morning broke and mercifully there is a little more wind than i had expected there to be, almost all morning i have had around 8 knots of wind with puffs to 10 and 11. for the junior sailors out there, that may seem like plenty wind in your sabot, but having come off of 18 to 20 knots, and still having over 1300 nautical miles to go, I could surely use a bit more wind, couple that with it being nearly right on my transom, and the apparent wind speed is down to a few knots across the deck.



Brian had mentioned there was some curiosity about my water onboard as well as how i am getting electricity. For water, the race requirement was that we start with 21 gallons of water, this is far more than I could or would consume on a race of this duration with a pretty easy rule of thumb being or about a gallon of water per day. To satisfy this requirement in the most logical manner, I have two small tanks that have been onboard for previous races of 3 and 6 gallon capacities each, I supplemented these two with two Waterport tanks, one is a 5 gallon that is mounted on the stern pulpit and the other is the 8 gallon Weekender which is situated under the port bunk.



Both the Waterport tanks have hoses on quick connects and pulp caps so that i can pressurize them for onboard showering and wash down, and with the pulpit mounted one sitting in the sun, it gets nice and warm as an added bonus which we took advantage of upon finishing the Delta Ditch Run in Stockton two weeks ago, nothing beats a nice warm shower after a long day of sailing. For those of you interested you can learn more or buy yourself one of these great units at

thewaterport.com



Should I somehow run out of water, we also have an onboard water maker which runs off of 12 volt power or manually in case of an emergency, during normal racing, this would be employed to keep up with the larger water requirements of a full crew.



Electric power to power everything from the autopilots to the navigation system to the running lights and this laptop I'm typing on is all powered through a Watt & Sea Hydrogenerator. During the day when its sunny, two solar 100 watt solar panels feed juice into the Watt & Sea convertor which charges the batteries. At night when there is no sun, should I need to charge the batteries additionally, i can deploy the hydrgenerator off the stern, its hinged and looks a bit like a little electric motor back there and when deployed makes anywhere from about 50 to 300 watts of power depending on boat speed.



In addition to the obvious power it provides regardless of the cloud state, when deployed the hydrogenerator provides a nice whirling sound which is directly related to speed through the water and at this point I can just about gauge to within a half a knot what the boat speed is based on the pitch of the whirling, as far as drag is concerned, i have done lots of testing with it and have never noticed any speed differences although I'm sure there must be some minute drag. More later unless the wind happens to pick up. Think windy thoughts for me out here and let’s hope my five to the south pays dividends like I have planned. ALOHA!



Day 7



I really do wish that I could tell you today has been an eventful day of sailing, but sadly it really has not been, with that said, it has however been a good day aboard the good ship Aloha with some not particularly sailing related happenings to share.



The day started off rather early on in the evening as I was dragging the watt and sea hydrogenerator overnight, atop the power converter which convert the electricity to charge the batteries is a glowing pad which indicates the status of the incoming power when charging or when no charge is coming in it indicates the status of the batteries. If I recall correctly, the blue glow is used to indicate that between 100 and 200 watts is being fed into the batteries, however in my dazed status, I saw that the inside of the boat was glowing with a faint blue light and I thought "gee, it must be the morning, I feel like I just fell asleep, I can't believe I slept through the whole night!" after getting out of bed and crawling over to my phone on the charging pad, i realized that it was not in fact morning, but rather it was 1130 at night and between the very bright full moon illuminating the outside and the blue light glowing the inside, i had been completely fooled. Luckily however it wasn't long before i was able to resume my evening rest after a quick scan of the horizon and the chart plotter.



For those who may be wondering what the sleep/rest schedule in fact is, it's not a whole lot different from that. I have generally been doing my absolute best to set the boat up under the helm of the autopilot for the conditions which we are in at the moment and the conditions I expect to be in within the next few hours, then I will scan the horizon for any signs of anything and also check the chart plotter for AIS targets. If none are present, and there have been very few, I will rack out as best I can usually with a quick check of the chart plotter for speed, heading and if there are any contacts every so often till I actually fall asleep.



With the size and weight of Aloha, nearly any change in trim, heel, speed (by the noise of the water on the hull, or the pitch of the watt & sea) I can feel in my light state of sleep and will get out of bed and at the very least check the plotter or check sails and helm if need be. If all is satisfactory then it's back to bed. This process in not just exclusive to the night time, because rest is generally so short and interrupted at night time, I will try to extend this process after breakfast and in the early evening/late afternoon as well to maximize my rest hours.



Speaking of breakfast, this morning was consumed by Mountain House's Southwest Spicy Breakfast Hash, which is quite good if not very sneakily spicy! lunch consisted of my very first PB&J onboard this crossing coupled with a Fuji apple which made me feel like I was straight out of elementary school setting my PB&J on my knee while I take a bite out of my apple and drink my bottled water, all I was missing was the dried mangoes which I had for an afternoon snack. With the progressing time change as I make my way west, I can't quite say its dinner time nor do I have any idea what I will be getting after for dinner.



As far as the actual sailing has been today, it has been a mixed bag for sure. All night I had the trusty A2 spinnaker up and had done quite well with it for some time. Come about mid morning the wind had dropped some and shifted forward a bit and after heading down to a course lower than I want to be sailing, I dropped the A2 and put up the Code Zero for a few hours, this sail did phenomenal in the very light air which i have been dealing with all day and was generally able to keep the boat moving at very near the wind speed in much of the lighter 3 to 5 knot conditions when the wind was forward of about 130 degrees true wind angle. Then as of about an hour ago at 5 west coast time, the wind moved back aft and it was time to switch back to the A2. Not long after swapping to the A2 I decided it might finally be time to fold and bag the jib as I very much hope it won't be seeing any more action for the remainder of the race.



Winds continue to be very light and boat speed is still sadly quite low although on the bright side we are pointing in the right Hawaiian direction and there should be better breeze in the days to come. With that small bit of optimism, I bid thee farewell from the trusty Aloha.


Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 27, 2021, at 06:20, Jacqueline Philpott <jacqueline.philpott@gmail.com> wrote:


Too bad about the SSS Forum. It's a bit finicky. Ok. It's real finicky. Thanks for the reports. I have a video of the start with Aloha and the other three boats in his fleet. Will get that out maybe tomorrow on my vimeo account.

On Sat, Jun 26, 2021 at 9:14 PM Brian Vanderspek <brianvanderspek@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hi Jacqueline,
I’m Kyles brother, unfortunately I am stuck at work in Europe but my parents, Hugh and Cindy will be flying out along with a few other friends from our yacht club for Kyle’s Finish. I will pass along your contact info to my parents. I have been trying to log into the shss forum to post Kyles daily reports but I have not been able to register. I will keep sending his reports to this email. Aloha!

Kind regards,
Brian Vanderspek

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 27, 2021, at 06:10, Jacqueline Philpott <jacqueline.philpott@gmail.com> wrote:


Thanks for this report. Are you Kyle's brother? Uncle? Will you be in Hanalei Bay, too? If so, call us if you like, come by Race Control Central @ Pali Ke Kua #203 in Princeville. My phone is 510.681.5440 - Jackie

On Sat, Jun 26, 2021 at 8:51 PM Brian Vanderspek <brianvanderspek@yahoo.com> wrote:
Not a whole lot to convey about the day and night as of right now. I’m not sure I mentioned it in yesterday's report, but it was up and down three or four times between the code zero and the A2. I climbed in bed at around 11 I believe, west coast time, with the code zero up as the wind had been tight most of the late evening, but not ten minutes after getting in bed the wind backed and I had to swap back to the A2.

With the moon as bright as it has been out here the last few nights, a headlamp was hardly necessary during the maneuver - lack of visibility is always the most difficult thing about sail changes between sunset and sunrise. Since then it has been all A2 doing its best to keep the boat rolling.

Most of the night from what I could tell we had fairly okay wind, but with the autopilot in wind angle mode, I did wake up to notice a lift had taken us all the way up to a heading on 300 which is quite a long ways off from Hawaii. So while I got ready for a gybe in the wee hours of the morning, the wind fortunately returned to its previous direction just as I was ready to throw the helm over.

Speaking of gybing, most of the morning was spent very much on starboard in a little bit of wind keeping the boat moving, however watching the plotter and my heading, I noticed the boat slowly heading up from about 235 the night before to about 270. With the autopilot in wind angle mode, this had indicated a fairly sizable shift which is what is expected about now on the course as we should begin to enter the trade winds. With that shift I decided it may be time to gybe over to port and start heading towards Hanalei with the filling trades wind slowly heading me down towards the ultimate destination. But, after maybe two hours on the port board, fate would kick in and the wind out of nearly due west would vanish in favor of the hole that we have been sitting in for the past few days out of the north west. So it was back to starboard tack on a heading of about 250 trying to keep the boat moving in the general direction of Hawaii.

Thinking postive thoughts and hoping to be out of the hole and surfing my way to Hawaii in a few hours. Almost halfway there, Aloha to you all. -Kyle

[Philpott]

1215 on 062721 from Falk on SOB: Wind finally picked up, 105 miles in the last 24 hrs. Nice tropical breeze....
falk

[Philpott]

1219 on 062721 from Will on Sea Wisdom

Hi RC,

The wind die down last night and this morning. It started pick up again, blowing 8-10 knots from NW. Better than no wind!

Hope everyone is well.

Will

[Philpott]

1354 on 062721 from Bill on Hula

I wish glass balls were still made of glass...

[Philpott]

1302 from Reed on Mountain 062721

Life exists on Mountain!

[Philpott]

1704 on 062721 from Kyle on Aloha

i think i can see Hanalei!!!!! very small of course..... cheers, Kyle

[Philpott]

from John Wilkerson aboard Perplexity on 062721 @ 2359

What a long strange trip its been...

[Philpott]

From Falk Meissner @ 1204 on 062821

All well, light winds, still made 134 miles in 24hrs. Crossing half way point today !
Falk

[Philpott]

1204 from Brendan Huffman: Siren Is ready for the second half.

[Philpott]

From Jami at 1222 on 062821

Northern Star Daily Report, 28 June. All good aboard Northern Star. Jamie is alive, well, and in great spirits.

Wishing the race cmte safe travels tomorrow to Kauai.

Jami

[Philpott]

From Reed @ 1253 on 062821

Mountain soldiers ever onward!

[Philpott]

From the Buffalo @ 1330 on 062821

More of the same... 10k-12k wind from astern. Sun, blue skies and white clouds. Saw 16k of wind a few times last night - but mostly a very relaxing last 24 hrs.

Siren called this morning... just 3 miles or so ahead on the opposite jibe. So for fun, jibed to stay near her. :-)
Its nice having a bit of company for today's "half way party". Though I must confess I have cracked into some of the half way stashes already. A few folks dropped off half way "bags" in the "leaving the dock rush" - and in some cases leaving me unsure which bags came from who.

Now the bag with the Christmas Card from 2016 was close to the heart (Mary, the kids and I at our nieces wedding in Washington).

The race... its a drag race now... maybe jibe once or twice a day running down the rhumb line.

Mac and Cheese... one full Kraft package goes a long way (with tuna thrown in for a bit more protein)... for dinner, breakfast and brunch... its all gone now... what to do for dinner tonight?

Yesterday afternoon's music was a bit of Bowie, Ga Ga, and Neil Young. Maybe Springsteen and Diana Ross, with a bit of Puccini this afternoon? Saving the Stones for closer in to Hanalei.

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

From Kyle @ 1403 062821

its Monday and i a still with us on this side of the ground. Sure do hope the autopiilot keep on kicking as well. cheers, Kyle

[Philpott]

072921 From Northern Star

Northern Star Daily Check-in. Passed the halfway mark last night, thank you for the party goodies from Randy. All is well aboard Northern Star. Jamie is alive and healthy.

[Philpott]

from Hula After a terrible beginning to the relationship, the spinnker sock and I are now the best of friends! He saved my butt twice last night. 3 hour class paid off!!

[Philpott]

2233 on June 29 from the Buffalo Man:

Smooth sailing... 12k-14k... saw 17k a bit (which makes napping a bit "edgier"... going to take some time to acclimate too sleeping under chute in the increasing winds... yes you would think I would be used to it... but not yet).

Read a book yesterday... "Beneath a Scarlet Sky"... great book about a teenager living in Milan in WWII... the brutality, the camaraderie, tragedy, love story (exactly what one would expect from an Italian story/opera).
Not that I planned to read a book. But things are so "steady" - getting a bit bored.
Luckily I had at some point downloaded a few books off Amazon onto my mobile.

And then book #2... what I found in the SHTP goodie bag... half way thru Jackie Philpott's "Not a Yacht Club" novelette... great fun reading about old friends! And getting to know some old friends a bit better!

Running down the rhumb line...

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

Quality of life super keen on Mountain From Reed Bernhard

[Philpott]

from Jamie aboard Northern Star @ 9:03 am aboard Northern Star. 070121

Northern Star Daily Report, all well aboard Northern Star. Spinnaker snuffer has tangled itself tightly on headstay both preventing me from getting it down and from unfurling jib, so the pace will be slow until/unless I can clear it. The spinnaker was presenting a danger and I cut most of it away so will be without for remainder of trip. All material and lines on boat, nothing was left in the ocean.

All said though, things are fine.

Jamie

[Philpott]

10:39 am from Reed

Hello friends,
It"s been a busy few days aboard Mountain. Aside from the routine small maintenance chores that popped up (they always do) I had the distinct pleasure of fishing a couple of my sails out of the sea. This type of thing happens from time to time, one prefers it not to happen in a race though. Nothing damaged, just a bruised ego and a loss of a few miles to my competitors. We will bounce back! I remind myself that each of the other ten yachts is also having their share of minor misfortunes. It"s how we handle them that makes the difference .
Ever onward!


Intelligent life on Mountain?

[Philpott]

from Hula @ 10:40 am; Today

..and suddenly the sea surface burst to life as hudreds of flying fish took flight to avoid the hard charging (ok, chugging) bow of the Westsail 32!

[AntsUiga]

Thanks to the folks that are making this possible. With the combination of the tracker and the skippers’ messages, following this race has been fun!

Ants

[Philpott]

from Kyle early this morning Day 13 Update
Today is the first report I never hoped to have to type, at least not from a moving boat anyway. Generally, most predictions for a Hawaii race onboard a Hobie 33 have you finishing on day 12, not still being a couple hundred miles away (just under 350 as I type). But that’s not the case with this crossing, thanks to two adverse weather patterns that slowed the initial push away from the west coast with the "southerly surge" and then the very pronounced and unavoidable hole in the middle of the course.

Thankfully after all the trials and tribulations of the beginning parts of the course, Hawaii has finally delivered on the champagne trade wind sailing which we all sign up for these races eager to do.

Last night after MH spaghetti and meat sauce, I turned in early with an eye towards building winds throughout the night likely pulling me from my rack to hand steer when the auto would get overwhelmed by the winds and the waves. This did indeed happen not too long after midnight when the autopilot had finally rounded up after threatening to do so a number of times throughout the earlier hours of the evening. For the rest of the night I was either standing by in the cockpit to take over at a moment’s notice and eventually just steering myself.

With winds slowly building into the low 20s, boat speed was good and the headers that I had hoped for and expected were beginning to roll down with them each puff of wind and squall pushing me lower and lower towards Kauai. Not too long after day break I saw the highest winds of the day coupled with the highest boat speeds with a velocity made good towards Hanalei bay of 15.5 knots in short bursts while riding down the face of some good Hawaiian waves. The size of the waves unfortunately is not quite large enough to really sustain extended surfing nor connecting of multiple waves to keep speeds up in the mid teens for extended periods of time, but it is always nice when the boat gets powered up and comes screaming down the face of a wave.

A couple waves caused me some issues as I plowed the bow into the backside of one while surfing the one behind it sending water all the way back to the cockpit and with the hatch wide open, quite a bit made it inside Aloha. Fortunately I had taken the time to move all the family heirlooms up to dryer areas of the boat as the companionway has been ground zero for water splashing in from any and every conceivable angle.

Around 9 or 10, winds eased up and i was able to do my morning breakfast routine of eating and downloading the latest weather files as well as getting the position information of the rest of the fleet. Not long thereafter the sun broke through and with the decreased wind speeds i felt it might be a good time to try to get some rest. Try of course being the opportune word as i lay in my bunk for seemingly forever without a wink of proper rest. That being said, any time horizontal when not consumed by worries of sail trim and heading are still considered quite restful in my book. Even as I write this email I am able to take my mind off of sailing, enjoy a snack of beef jerky and rest my mind if not my body. Again tonight I suspect an early dinner and more rack time to follow as winds will surely build through the night and keep pushing me ever faster towards a cold drink, warm shower and soft bed in Hanalei.

With that I bid thee farewell. Alooohaaa!
Kyle

[Philpott]

9:20 am on the Shark

Windy night, squalls amd following seas. All good on the shark

[Philpott]

9:18 am 070221 from Green Buffalo

After a bit of an uncomfortable night with wind direction and velocity shifts, was run over by a day time squall this morning. Nothing dramatic but it was drizzly (flet good) saw 30k of wind - at the very upper limit of the autopilot when the big kite is up. Its a warning... time for me to shift down to the shy kite before sunset tonight (forewarned is forearmed). Now Siren is right on my tail... so gearing down may "hurt" but c'est la vie as I try to avoid any "night time dramas".

Two days and change to go... about the length of the LongPac. Will likely finish an hour or two after sunset Sunday - but I can hope its at sunset - or at least I see the island before sunset!

Sunday is going to be a busy one for the race committee... 3 or 4 of us finishing.

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

1254 from Kyle
I am Alive! aloha is a bit worse for the wear but we will make it! cheers, Kyle

[Philpott]

3:22 pm 070221

from John Wilkerson beautiful day with lots of wind. starting to figure the squalls out but nights are a nightmare - can't see anything!

[Philpott]

from Kyle Vanderspek


Day 14 Update

Today has been a very rough and tiring day aboard Aloha, and though we will make it out the other side alive, today has proven that at times we have done so by nothing more than endless will power and at times a heavy dose of sheer luck. This will be a brief update as the weather is not exactly conducive to typing out extended articles, but i will gladly fill in the details tomorrow from what i hope to be the shores of a calm harbor or pool.



After an early chicken and dumpling dinner (think home made chicken pot pie), it was an early night in fairly moderate winds. i proceeded to fall asleep a little too soundly and woke short of midnight to the unsettling sound of silence coming from the spinnaker., once again it had gotten wrapped around the forestay and the staysail, this time i was lucky and was able to get it freed without too much effort, however about 45 minutes later it decided to happen again. The second time was a bad one which required lots of effort and the lowering and eventual re rigging of both sails before they could be re set about a half an hour later. In that time after about midnight west coast time, the wind had begun to pick up and the autopilot could no longer keep up with the building wind and wave. This meant it would be me who would be driving for the remainder of the night and morning.



A large number of squalls brought building winds into the mid 20 knot range and some light rain which was just enough to make it a bit chilly on deck as i was very much underprepared to be on deck driving all night. Not too long after day break, i was steering along and noted that i was at 217 miles to go when much to my surprise the forestay came tumbling down from the top the mast, this left the only think keeping the mast from falling back into my lap being the continued wind pressure on the main and spinnaker. To help with this situation, i threw it on auto for a sec and ran forward to attach a spare jib halyard t the deck and act as a stand in for the now gone forestay. At the time the staysail was on that halyard and it was hastily dropped on deck to be dealt with later as and prolonged absence from the helm would lead to catastrophe as the boat would surely round up and the sails would no longer be keeping the mast held forward. Then 17 miles later at exactly 200 from home the spinnaker that i had up exploded leaving me no choice but to once again surrender the boat to the auto pilot and collect the bits of spinnaker and shove them down the companionway.



Not had much sleep in the last few days and being up solidly attentive to the needs of the boat since before midning (it was around 8 or 9 by now) i needed a rest. So i turned the boat straight downwind under the auto, rigged up the second standby jib halyard to again act in place of the forestay along with the other one and i went inside to collect my thoughts and clean up the mess of spinnaker and staysail that was littered throughout the cabin. After getting myself sorted and pointing straight at the finish line, i laid down for a few minutes and weighed my options.



First and foremost is of course to get there in one piece, preferably with the mast still pointed in the vertical direction. With that in mind and having taken some time to recupperate, i decided that setting the smallest A5 spinnaker would both help speed up the process of getting home as well as stabilize that ride and perhaps keep me in contention while not adding any stresses or strains to the jury rigged forestay situation. So i set the A5 which is hoisted in a handy sock to fascilitate setting and dousing in al conditions and have been following it towards the finish line for the past few hours.



An added bonus of this spinnaker and these conditions at present is that the autopilot seems up to the task of keeping a straight course in the heavy sea state and decent winds. With everything back to running well for the time being, i took the time to handle my first pre arrival task which was to shave my face, and without a proper mirror onboard, it will be interesting to find out how i did tomorrow when i get in. Not too long ago I ticked past 150 miles to go and expect to be safely into Hanalei bay sometime during the daylight hours of tomorrow barring another serious catastrophe.



So with that, i ask everyone please hold their breath and cross all their fingers in hopes of a uneventful night and morning aboard Aloha. And for those wondering, i have pre decided dinner tonight will be beef stroganoff and breakfast tomorrow will be biscuits and gravy, two of my personal favorites for last meals onboard. I love you all and let’s hope for a safe last few hours onboard this rocket ship. ALOHHHAAAA!

[Philpott]

from Falk on SOB

All well wild ride reefed main - more manageable who would have thought, still broke spin pole, took a while to sort that out have spare back in business

[Submarino]

Kyle, congratulations to you and Aloha on your charge to the virgin Finish. I am impressed that despite a jury rigged forestay under a sleep deprived state, you were still making decisions (A5 sail choice) that would keep the throttle rolled on.

The warmth of Hanalei, a safe anchorage, your family and sleep will be both a Balm to your recovery and a High to your spirits. You will Glow for a long while. Enjoy it, bottle it and remember it for a long time!

Commodore Joe

[jamottep]

Kyle, congratulations to you and Aloha on your charge to the virgin Finish. I am impressed that despite a jury rigged forestay under a sleep deprived state, you were still making decisions (A5 sail choice) that would keep the throttle rolled on.

+1 Impressive racer determination! Rational decision making in a very rough spot. That's what I'm striving for. "Well done" doesn't even cut it ...

[Philpott]

From Bill on Hula on the Fourth of July

Happy Independence day! Yup, I feel pretty independent out here!

[Philpott]

9: 32 am from Jim on Green Buffalo

Green Buffalo Proof of Life
1230 pm Sunday the 4th of July! Our nations holiday!
And see you later today... 630pm? 7pm? (Hawaii time)

[Philpott]

from John Wilkerson s/v Perplexity

Hey everyone.

I expect to arrive by midnight tonight, weather and gear cooperating.

I have a request - would it be too much trouble to ask the people of Kauai to celebrate my accomplishment with fireworks? I think it would make for a spectacular arrival. I do understand the effort and cost involved. Thank you for considering my request!

[Philpott]

9:13 this morning from Falk 70 miles to go. Overdid it last night, shredded another spin ....... all safe

[Philpott]

Uh oh. That Will. He's snakebit.

something's up with his rudder bearing. Brian suggested any kind of oil, or that squeegie butter. RC standing by.

6599

[Philpott]

From Northern Star @ 9:30 Monday July 5

Northern Star Daily Report. All well aboard Northern Star. Jamie is alive and healthy. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow evening, hopefully before sundown. And for the record, looking forward to your meeting me and coming aboard to celebrate and help with anchoring!

[Philpott]

9:24 am on July 6
Jamie is the next boat in. His jib is apparently wrapped around the forestay of Northern Star and has been for days. He's due in this afternoon @ 4:47 pm, just in time for Tree Time.

[Submarino]

Will, congratulations to you and Sea Wisdom on finishing the Singlehanded Transpac! Your perseverance and capable management of your boat’s systems was on display and we see that nothing short of a sinking was going keep you from sailing across that Hanalei finish line. Damn Fine Job! Your Buckle is well earned! - Commodore Joe

[Rainbow]

This from Rainbow, not really a reply to Submarino's post, but I couldn't figure out how to start a new thread:

After several days of slow, cold sailing under a gloomy overcast, well West of L.A now, the sun comes out to warm and lighten life and illuminates the heart wrenchingly deep indigo blue color of the sea.
Running deep off wind, full main and Kermit, the big green spinnaker, pulling steadily. 20-25 knot winds and long smooth 8-12’ seas quartering from starboard. Rainbow pauses in the troughs as the sea draws in a breath, then begins to lift her stern and dip her bows in a curtsy as the next wave slides under. On the crest the adrenaline rises as the wind gets a grip on the sails, Rainbow lifts her bows and her skirts and surfs up to 10, 12, 15, 18 knots throwing spray from both sides of both bows as the ocean exhales in a whoosh. Then pause, take a breath, lift and run again. And again. It’s perpetual motion.
There ahead, a powerful red steel hulled ketch, running free and unfettered. It’s Joshua, and there on the stern Bernard waves me on; “Why stop? Take The Long Way. Save your soul. Sail on.”
Breathe in, breathe out; Let the sea cleanse the mind, the heart, and the soul. Let it never end.

[Philpott]

Shark on Bluegrass notes from the first quarter
Date: 2021-06-25 12:33
From: "Falk Meissner"

SHTP 2021 log Shark On Bluegrass
Transcription of my hand written notes.

Saturday 06/23
Nice send-off: Vanessa , Malina, Tom, Brian, Tibu thank you!
Windy sail to the start.
Light wind outside the gate, change to Genoa, moving at4-5kn.
Sleep in the evening to catch up on my sleep deficit from last week (a
lot of work-work finishing and starting a project and the packing
prep.)
Change down to #3, don’t want to get caught at night with the Genoa up.
Expecting shift to north -which never came as the coastal south Eddie
moved between me and the synoptic wind.
Saw a grey whale splashing his fin on the water. He must have been in
love with the Shark. Crossing to the north of the north farallones. As
predicted fleet split into north and south

Useful:
Solar cells seem to have plenty of power
Figured out some menu items on the chart plotter. -finally.
Seems I am using the chart plotter as primary navigation tool. INavX app
only as cross check. Also keep the chart plotter running most of the
time ( despite power consumption)
Dodger: just the way to the start was worth the hassle of getting it. (
overtime, really LOVE the dodger, it allows to keep the companionway
open and gives a holding point.) - Thanks Thomas, Brian, Aaron.
Better: dodger with handles on the side and stiffer front. Aaron was
right, the natural tendency is to grab the higher point and not the
handles on the deck.

Sunday 06/20
Somewhat cold during the night, lucky I brought the additional blanket.
Gloomy day, calm. Worried that solar cells do not charge enough, but
they do, even on overcast day.4.5-5 knin7-8 kn of wind.
Put the Genoa up. Fast but more stress. Autopilot can’t handle the
puffs. Worried to get caught in big wind. Genoa requires a trip to the
foredeck to get it down. Big heavy sail. Spin can be doused from the
cockpit. ( after a few more days I am now convinced that hanks are the
better option for this type of sailing. Jib / Genoa comes down by itself
while staying attached without the need to go forward. It’s a Safety
feature in heavy wind or seas... Can put up second sail without the need
to take the first one off as well)
Decide to keep direct route northerly seems plenty of wind. Find out
later that this was the wind circling the hole bringing me dead into the
middle of the anti clock wise Eddie. Well second most west boat for
tonight, did not last long so.
Still seasick, all the pasta with tomatoe sauce is coming out again.
Together with all the water.
Still cold at night , need blanket and sleeping bag.

Useful:
Additional light blanket (Delta ~ Westin business class blanket for the
connoisseurs ) additional layer when needed or as light blanket for
naps.
Sleep most of the time in the windward berth. Lee cloth work! Faster
into the cockpit. Fore peak is for quiet nights w.o. Foulies, even has a
proper sheet.

Monday 06/21
Sailed into the wind hole, the only way around is to gybe, go north and
put the spin up.
Light winds, so mostly slept through Sunday and Sunday nights,still
working off the sleep deficit. Turns out I don’t need the alarm to wake
me up to check. I wake up when the noises change:
Bow wave splashing = speed
Trim = flogging sails
Balance = autopilot only working short bursts not long side to side
moves
Overpowered = heel
Traffic - AIS beeping - this one works beautiful I am happy I installed
the transponder after Long Pac
Well and once in a while take a peek around of course.
First sunny day

Useful
Buckets without flimsy handles. Took the handles off on both buckets and
cut holes near the rim to pull string through.

Tue 6/22
Found the wind last night. Making 8kn on a beam reach with the spin up
under autopilot, while sleeping!!!.
It got too windy so needed to take the spin down. Manage to shrimp it
which tore one clew off the spin. That’s why you use old sails for this.
This was a 2011 spin. RIP. Change to #3 as we finally got into the
wind.
Slept 6 hrs straight, nice, woke up to a dead main battery. Switched to
backup. Let’s see; over discharged li Ion batteries go into sleep mode,
manual says solar charger will wake them up. Tried to “jump start’ with
the second battery before .... bad idea cable got warm quick. Let the
charger do it’s work. Measured the voltage as the battery , creeping up
from 11,80 to 12,40 over two hours or so. Battery comes back to life.
Nice to see theory in practice....
First sunny evening. Beam reaching, with cross waves. Not quite
comfortable.

Useful:
tool box with voltmeter.
Buying the autopilot one size up ( st 2000 tiller pilot) able to handle
a lot. Thanks Rufus for the recommendation.
Less useful: mast instrument, boat speed, and digital compass. I sail
mostly after COG and SOG. So take them off the MEMA network to save 0.4A
in the power budget .
Useful: camomile tea, no appetite for any of the sodas or power drinks I
brought. Drinking lots of water from then jar. The Lee cloth really
work (not a common equipment on an Olson 25) allows me to sleep near the
cockpit. Also noticed that I am very diligent to keep the cabin and
cockpit orderly and clean.

We 06/23
Made 70 or so miles over night on a beam reach at7-8 kn. Slept from 9 pm
to 7am with few interruptions.
One AIS alarm. Build into my dream. DCA 1.4 miles in 20 min. Hail the
freighter that I see him amd change course slightly to pass his tern
more clearly.
Main battery all well at 12.6V in the morning. Once the backup is
charged combine both solar panels to charge the main. Getting 6-8A out
of 150W solar. Compared to 2-3A use, depending on what is running. Very
happy with the solar set up.
Decide against going to Genoa in the morning wind is about 12-13kn. It’s
getting lighter rapidly.... I am about 50nm south of the rump line. So
the calm of the High is in the way. Keep.going South_West around 215-220
on a beam reach under spin ( my other older spin, likely 20 years old,
came with the boat - 1.5 oz cloth so this should hold.). Don’t want to
go even more south. The gamble is how much distance to add to go south.
I have a short light boat so Minimize additional distance while keeping
moving in lighter winds vs the bigger boat. Well see.... from the
standings I am in the middle of the field.

Washday, head to toe wet wiping and fresh cloth - very nice - spa
experience

Not useful: not bringing hand soap. The bottle I grabbed is shampoo plus
conditioner - too oily. Socks; I am basically barefoot all the time.
Except when I go forward I put the boots on.
Useful: the Spinlock harness, comfortable, and less bulky than the
inflatable. So much easier to keep on all the time.

Ahh, officially managed 1/4 of the to go distance. Let’s s celebrate -
freeze dried pasta in tomato sauce, check, apple check, bell pepper
check.

Thursday 06/24
Good spin run yesterday evening amd last night. Wind calmed down over
night. 5-6kn under autopilot in 7-9kn of wind - autopilot is able to
handle it. So go to bed.

Found the Pacific high! It’s where the weather models say it would
be.... contemplating or the last two days . Running SW at 210-215 for
three days now. Going more south? I am not going to make 200n, to get
into the strongest trades. From the position reports none of the
competitors went that far south staying north see,s risky as the high
sits there. Same conclusion, keep reaching amd keep the boat moving.
Making 5kn in little wind...

Have been keeping up with the family amd friends. Amazing that the
Sattelite modem works re;active;y seamless even for casual calls. I also
opened the first messages in the bottle. A jar full of wishes from
friends amd family. Thank you Vanessa f-r organizing. Thanks to all who
wrote so,etching. Today I found messages from Fran amd the cousins...

Useful:
Knee pads - finally started wearing them all the time, who would have
thought what a useful invention. Chafe control - probably a know. One
to he experience sailor. Manage to nearly cut through a spin sheet
rubbing on the life lines on Tuesday. Caught it early enough. Very
careful now to keep everything separated

Despite the annoyingly slow progress, this is the first fully enjoyable
and comfortable day. It’s warm. The boat does not roll and keeps a
steady pace. Finally go to do some house keeping amd to type up my notes
from the last days no promises I will keep that up....

[Philpott]

July 13, 2021 Green Buffalo's notes during return to the Mainland

Just over two days into the trip home. The first two days were quite rough... 18k-22k of wind and big seas. Warm, wet and uncomfortable. One reef in the main and the working jib (85%). One could sit in the companionway but the whole cockpit and most of the space under the dodger was in the "splash zone".

Everyone working on their sea legs meant not much food. Just sleeping and going to the head is real work.

That said, making good progress... 160nm per day (2.5 degrees of latitude) including "some" easting.

Now today it mellowed a bit... wind down to 15k... so we had a chicken and cabbage salad dinner. And I took a quick shower in the cockpit (yes I was starting to get a bit "ripe"). Now maybe saying it mellowed is a bit premature as its back to 18k as I write this.

Weather forecast looks pretty good... wind should continue to mellow over the coming next two days - and allow us to get a bit more easting... and then comes the "big motor" across the southeast corner of the high.

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

July 14

Just when we thought the wind might temper a bit, it didn't. Last 24 hours have been 18k-20k - with occasional 24k when clouds pass.
That said, "bow banging" has decreased quite a bit... as we fine tune our direction and sail trim to best "meet the waves". Did I mention the wave state is a bit of a mess?

After successful cabbage salad with chicken last night, tonight its mac and cheese with string beans and chicken.

Still looking forward to the wind and waves mellowing... maybe by late tomorrow (we are already at 31 degrees North Latitude and the center of the high is maybe 36-37 degrees).

Crew hanging under the dodger chatting... clear blue skies... just looking forward to less bump and less water on deck.

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

July 16, 2021

From Buffalo Man

Busy morning after a pretty up and down night (winds from 10k to 20k oscillatingup to 20 degrees).
Shook the reef out of the main. Put the boat hard on the wind - that the quiet sea state makes quite okay (no "wave drop off" banging at least for the next several days).

Threw out the fishing line... and before we had it tied off to the stern pulpit it was "fish on" - a 5 lb or so albacore tuna... but it shook the hook just as it reached the rail. But a great sign there are fish out here to be caught!

Both crew took showers, and opened the forehatch and lazerette so a cool stream of fresh air flowing through the boat... drying out all the nooks and crannies holding moisture. So the boat and crew "smell good". Makes for great crew spirits/morale!

Wind dropped below 6k just recently... bobbed around sailing "too north" for two hours at just 4k boat speed... so its "engine on". 2200rpm making 6k (mostly motor but a wee bit o push from the sails). Not quite heading down GCR (Great Circele Route)... going maybe 10 degrees north of GCR to optimize engine+sails+desire to get north "enough" to come out of the side of the High in a few days on a beam reach to San Francisco.

Now we start monitoring fuel usage closely. We started with 100 gallons... with the solar... maybe used 2 gallons in the first 5 day. So now every 24 hours we "dip the fuel tank" (yes a dip stick... I like reliable low tech)... expect to use 15 gallons every 24 hours but time will tell. Likely we refill the main tank from the bladder tanks every 30 to 36 hours. How long will we be motoring? Maybe 4 days/96 hours/580nm/60 or so gallons. Need at least 15 gallons "left" in case we have to motor the last 100 miles into SF (happens more often then one might think).

Looks like cabbage salad for dinner tonight (unless we catch an albacore in case its sushimi, poke and ceviche).

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

7.17.21 from Green Buffalo. Brian Boschma has promised Jim that the "fishing gets better", but then, Bob Johnston promised Will Lee that boats never have rudder problems twice. Promises Promises. For now let's just hope the crew of Green Buffalo catches something to eat soon or it's all we'll read about :-0 over the next week.

Well we are in the High. Wind varying from 2k to 8k from every which direction. Sometimes out of the North, sometimes from South, sometimes from astern. At the momemnt its clear blue skies for as far as you can see (though we had clouds this morning). We have been motoring over 24 hrs now making 5.8k straight down GCR (Great Circle Route) to SF. Clicking off the longitude lines. Doing some fuel use calculations... having left with 100 gallons of diesel and getting 9 or so nautical miles per gallon, we have plenty of fuel (which we may need depending on how elongated this High gets). We shifted 16 gallons of diesel from the bladder tank in the cockpit into the main fuel tank - so we are good for another 30-35 hours of motoring without having to fill up.

Jeff - the young guy on the crew - spotted a classic Japanese glass fishing float this morning - so he has a "perpetual" of his voyage across the Pacific. A nice blue glass float about 8 inches in diameter. Curious is it has some water in it. I believe (and may be wrong) these glass floats were last use near 40 years ago - so how it gets a bit of water in it but doesn't sink over all that time is a mystery. This is the first glass float the Buffalo has picked up in the last two rides homes (they are getting rarer).

We really want to catch a fish... after the near miss yesterday... but the sun is going down... maybe tomorrow.
Vegetarian curry dish with rice for dinner tonight. Though if we had fresh fish...

Maybe stars tonight? Milky Way? Need to pull out my star chart app on the iPad... refamiliarize myself with the night sky.
And tomorrow is Sunday... our one week at sea mark... maybe time for a prayer on the foredeck as a "Sunday service"? :-)
And maybe time to stop tomorrow for a swim (while we let the engine cool so we can check the oil level)?

How long will we be motoring east for? Good question... inquiring minds want to know. 2 days, 3 days? Now time for me to grab the latest GRIBs and run Expedition to see what the coming week has in store for us.

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

Sunday July 18 from Green Buffalo

Lot happened the last 24 hours.

In the middle of a curry dinner last night we caught a net in the propeller. Thump thump thump and boat speed drooped a half knot. Sun was setting and it was getting dark fast. Our young crew member Jeff threw on the wet suit and mask as Ian and I we set up the boarding ladder. Jeff jumped in and confirmed we had a real rats nest with a net wrapped around the prop and shaft. Knife in hand he did a few dives - but found it hard going and asked for help. Now I may be too old for this but while thinking about Robb Walker of Nozomi's (Cal 40) story of clearing a net from the prop at sea...I jumped in with a second knife (the water was great... not warm but not cold... refreshing). We took turns doing a few dives each cutting away the net (the ceramic knife really came in handy being able to cut anything quickly). After a combined dozen plus dives we had the prop cleared. Just as it went "dark". Just in time.

Now during one of the dives Jeff bumped his head on the boarding ladder and was bleeding "more then a little" (it was just a nick, but head cuts tend to bleed). So it crossed all our minds - but no one said it to well later - we were sort of chumming for sharks.

In any case, all now well and motored along all night long.

Today has been a bit of motoring, motor sailing and sailing as the northerly wind fades, builds and shifts. During one lull after sailing an hour we took the time to check the engine oil (all good, no oil needed since last top off 3 weeks before) - but we also notice a bit of water in the fuel filter bulb - so took the time to drain the bulb.

We also caught a mahi mahi just in time for lunch! Being north of 35 degrees Lat, I thought we were too far north to catch mahi mahi - and our fishing prayers were for albacore. Well learned something new today. So started with sahimi for lunch, made a ceviche for later, and have fillets left for pan frying tonight (maybe put into baha quesidalla's?).

At the moment we are sailing along in 10k of wind from the north making 6k to 7k. Full main and working jib. Down right peaceful. Will we need to mor sail or full on motor tonight? Time will tell.

Half way tomorrow? Maybe?

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

Monday July 19, 2021

Back sailing!

Been making 6k-7k due east the last 24 hours under full main and working jib. Wind out of the north at 11k-15k. Its getting downright bumpy - and a bit dangerous making one's way around the cabin without getting thrown around. After two days of motoring we got used to a quiet existence... but no longer. The head water intake is now out of the water (yes we are heeled that much)... so when going to the head one fills up a few pint bottles with salt water in the galley and brings to the head to "lubricate the flush".

This wind and sailing fast east is really helping with our fuel budgeting... we thought we might have to motor 4 to 5 days... with 5 days motoring about all we have fuel for... though we still might as the weather is supposed to go light in another day or two... we now are confident we have all the fuel we'll ever need to make it home in a reasonable time (maybe 16 days?).

Something at lunch or dinner yesterday didn't hit me right... had a case of the runs much of the night and stomache "not quite right". Being "laying low" today as my stomach comes back online.

And we are half way! Now days and time will tend to "accelerate" as we count down the miles to San Francisco... tomorrow we'll be under 1000 miles to home... a real emotional milestone.

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

Tuesday July 20

Still sailing!

Nice 12k-16k breeze. Though we are all getting tired living on a 20 degree angle that makes going to the head something that requires strategy and tactics. Have been headed a bit so losing a slight bit of Latitude - but mostly going east - burning Longitude.

Wind is supposed to die sometime tonight... so expect motoring tomorrow and maybe the day after. Crew hoping to stop for a swim (we could all use a shower). Then 2 or 3 days from now the northerly will fill in with a nice comfortable broad reach to San Francisco (I am dreaming... nothing is comfortable in 20k-25k wind and big seas from abeam).

We are just about to pass under 1000 miles to SF. Yes under a 100 miles is starting to feel "close" - given we have already gone over 1300 nm thru the water.

Just finished a Mac and Cheese with corn and chicken dinner.

We plan to put the fishing line out tomorrow - praying for tuna (albacore).

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

Thursday July 21 from the Buffalo Man

6733

6734

photos by some high tech method

Busy busy day!

Over night the wind went due east - so though it was blowing 8k-11k - it would have us heading to Mexico or Alaska. So engine on at sunrise making a slow 5.2k (direct into wind and waves and fuel conservation opposing needs). Come 7am the wind went back north and we sailed to 11am - when the "2nd" High became a reality. We have been motoring ever since - and expect to motor all tonight and all tomorrow.

Refueled and emptied the cockpit bladder tank (shifted 24 gal from bladder into main 33 gal tank). So we have enough fuel to motor another 40 hours (240 or so nautical miles). Nice having leg space back in the cockpit. We have another 30 gal of fuel in a bladder in the bow - so looking good we'll have enough fuel to get home expeditiously (16 days? Monday night or Tuesday morning?). Though its a ways off, the California coastal forecast looks mild... a day or two of 20k and might have to motor in the last 100 nm.

Then the chart plotter started acting up...sonar alarm going off - but the boat has no sonar transponder. Loud beeping every few minutes (really loud... its the same beeper as the AIS alarm... wake the dead volume). After a bit of debugging, looked like a stubbed cable must have got some salt water on it maybe a "ghost" connection. Cut cable, added sealer, no more beeping. Time for a nap.

With the arrival of this second High/dead zone, we stopped and went swimming. It was time for all of us to shower - so what better then to jump in, back in the cockpit to lather up, back in the water to rinse, and then a last fresh water rinse in the cockpit. Swimming in the unbelievably blue and clear water is a "real trip". The water is crystal clear. And boys will be boys... "in the buff". :-)

Then...
Our second glass ball! Big one... 12 inch or so diameter... green glass... with net still around it. Quite an ecosystem on it... had us chasing crabs down the deck.

For dinner tonight... its chick pea and lentil curry with boil a bag rice and a can of chicken thrown in.

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

This from John Wilkerson s/v Perplexity. I asked him about the zigs and zags in his track, and sent him Jim Quanci's latest note. Here is his response:

Nice long note from GB - obviously not single handing!

The most recent big zig was possibly my only tack of the trip - to get on the right side of the second high. We'll see. The smaller zag was reflective of a frustrating night where the winds did not accord with what I was expecting from the grib files (again). I was getting wind shifts of 60 degrees and didn't know where to go. It was very frustrating and confusing.

But the good news was that I managed to squeeze ahead of the encroaching high and am now ripping along at 7 kts - hopefully for many days.

Jamie said they got caught in that high and have been motor sailing today. Poor Jamie - if he would have left two days earlier he would have had a much easier trip. But they have caught two dorado whereas I have only lost two lures.

[Philpott]

Thursday July 23 From Green Buffalo

Motoring On

Been motoring the last 24 hours... wind mostly 4k-5k... with sails up and wind out of the north, we are making 6.4k - across calm seas.
Though the breeze is cool... the water is warm... and sitting in the cockpit is "quite warm". Broken skies... some blue... some low clouds... some high clouds.

Filled the fuel tank today from the fore peak fuel bladder... so out of the 100 gallons we started with, we are now down to 47 gallons (give or take a wee bit). Enough to motor 350+ nm. Which we shouldn't need as the wind should come in by late tomorrow as we make the final dash for the coast. Though need to keep a bit of fuel "in reserve" as looks like a cut off Low on the coast which may have us motor the last 50-100 nm. One of my crew has never seen the Farallon's so hoping to pass them by in daylight... time will tell.

Gale alley is looking "clear" with a forecast "relatively pleasant" 20k northerly for our last few days - Saturday till some time Monday.
Looks like a Tuesday arrival... maybe mid-day (still too early to really predict)... which would be a 16 day passage (last 6 trips home have been 5 at 17 days and 1 at 16 days).

Cabbage salad for dinner tonight.

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

July 23 From John Wilkerson s/v Perpexity

Still pretty slow going but supposed to improve tonight or tomorrow as a front with rain comes through. Jim is still stuck. Jamie is hopeful he'll finally be able to turn W. I can go W or N (but not NW) and will probably go N to play it same in terms of avoiding further highs.

Current projections say 8 day at least, which is what they said yesterday and the day before :( But very comfortable on board.

Caught a tuna but it wasn't the tasty kind. :( Almost finished with 'the count'. Great book if you like soap opera kinds of stories. Great story and writing.

[Philpott]

From Jim Quanci on the Buffalo Friday July 23

Sun, Moon, Ship, Tuna and... Wind!

Yesterday was a beautiful day and evening motoring across the high. Clear skies made for a great sunset and then the fulll (near?) moon made for a bit of a "magic carper ride" as we crossed the placid seas.

We passed 4 boat lengths from a bulk cargo ship from Korea heading too the Canal (4 boat lengths of 700 feet each... but it was quite close).

Then this morning, fish on! Big albacore. We debated... 20 lbs or nearer 25 lbs? So sashimi it was, tuna steak (lightly seared) tonight on a bed of rice.
It was way too much fish... even with sashimi, steaks and precooked morsels for tuna sandwiches tomorrow, we had to throw much of the tuna back to Neptune.

Now we had planned a refuel for late this afternoon... emptying the last 15 gallons out of the forepeak bladder for this afternoon. Leaving us with "just" a full main tank with 30 gallons. We thought we might have to motor another 12-18 hours to get to the wind, but to our delight, at 5pm the wind came in! We are now sailing at 7k in 12-14k of wind. We expect this to build to near 20k over the next two days making for a quick re-entry into NorCal. And with a now full fuel tank, plenty of fuel to motor the last 100 miles or so across the cutoff low (a Monday night task).

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[sleddog]

July 23 From John Wilkerson s/v Perpexity
Still pretty slow going but supposed to improve tonight or tomorrow as a front with rain comes through. Jim is still stuck. Jamie is hopeful he'll finally be able to turn W. I can go W or N (but not NW) and will probably go N to play it same in terms of avoiding further highs.

One hopes Jamie will be choosing to turn East, not West, or his return passage is going to be much extended. :confused:

[Philpott]

Saturday July 24
Rolling down the highway

Yesterday I "thought" we had broken out of the high and with the end of motoring. Turned out to be a bit of a head fake. We motored and sailed on and off last night... wind varying between 4k and 14k. Had me a bit unsettled knowing we were down to our last 30 gal of diesel - and now likely down to our last 20-22 gal. But with the wind "really in" since this morning (11k-16k), and our rolling down the rhumb line at 7k+ boat speed, all is good. We have enough fuel to motor over 150 nm, and with this wind (and likely more... maybe 20k+ in the next day or two), we are good to "re-enter" civilization - likely mid afternoon to early evening this Tuesday (which would make this a 16 day passage... relatively short for the Buffalo).

Its still t-shirt and shorts on deck... but there is a chill in the air. Crew debating if we pull out the long johns tonight or tomorrow.
We are starting to get a bit of water across the foredeck - but not all that much as we beam reach through modest seas.

Mac and Cheese with string beans and albacore for dinner tonight (lunch today was albacore tuna fish sandwiches :-) ).

Last...
Finished electronic book #8... none (electronic) left... so borrowed a paper book on Winston Churchill from Ian (one of the crew) today that should keep me busy till Monday.

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

This from Green Buffalo on Sunday 6:37 pm

Swerving thru the Moguls

Its bumpy.
16k-22k of wind and irregular seas/swells of 8 feet or so with another 2 to 3 feet of wind waves on top. Cooking has become a high risk position on the boat.
Making near 8k - so good speed toward the coast. We likely have another 24-36 hours of this "rough riding" - and then the wind will die for the final 12 hr or so motor in past the Farallons and to the Golden Gate.

Not much one can do in these "wet and bumpy" conditions. The cockpit is wet - and more wet with a good wave coming through cleaning the decks every few minutes. Though given we are in gale alley, these are pretty mild conditions - allowing us to have a full main and working jib (funny we have used the same two sails the whole trip... never changing a headsail since hanking on the working jib in Hanalei.

Dinner was miniature ravioli's via Chef Boy R Dee mixed in with some stray pasta and red sauce.

320 miles to the Gate... under 48 hours... maybe to the dock Tuesday in the late afternoon?

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[Philpott]

Monday/Today @ 4:23 pm from Mr Quanci

Burgers and Burritos on our Minds

Its still bumpy. And windier. 18k-27k. Thankfully we put the first reef in last evening expecting the wind gods to give us a spanking before letting us enter the Golden Gate. The wind is helping bring us home swiftly... about 190 nm under the keel in the last 24 hours... and still charging ahead. Only 150 nm to the Gate - and at this 8k (boat speed) clip - less then 20 hours. But... the cut-off Low is still ahead of us... so speed will drop... maybe hit the Gate at 3pm or so - and dock at RYC an hour or two later?

At midnight last night a tanker bound for LA based us close by... within 6 boat lengths... now this ship was 397 meters long... so 1.5 nm astern. :-)
The AIS is so nice to have... alarm when we got close, providing CPA (Closest Point of Approach) and much more.

Crew is chomp'in at the bit to get home... its been 15 days at sea and the last few so so bumpy and wet. Everyone mentioning their wives... Mary, Rene and Evelyn.
Talk of food... Ian wants a burrito and Jeff and I are going for the cheeseburgers (In 'n Out or Super Duper?). Dinner tomorrow night on the hard!

Dinner tonight - "The Last Supper" - is Chili on a bed of rice. A little strange? Yes ones appetite changes at sea.

Last...
We have started getting VHF traffic on channel 16. Hearing the Coast Guard in Monterey and San Francisco from 150 nm out. Makes one feel right at home.
And we plan to pass closely by SE Farallon Island tomorrow morning so Jeff can get hits first good look at the "Devil's Teeth".

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo

[waliwiw]

Fresh sea breeze and sandwiches made with love by a woman - yes, this is an indescribable feeling. I am an avid yachtsman and I tell you that this is a great description of a yacht trip. I quite often use miami boat rental (https://www.vistayachts.com/) and like to sail towards the sun at dawn, and then, when the water around me does not allow me to see the shore, drink morning coffee with sandwiches from my beloved wife. It's really an indescribable feeling! This is how I 'm going to spend my day next weekend ! Write more about it!