400 mile qualifier, done!

I'm back from my qualifier. Yaaay. It went from 1:15 Wednesday, off the dock in Alameda...to 8:06, Monday night.

Goods and bads....

Good:
Sailing along with Richard Rollins on "Libations, Too" and the radio chats for the first day and a half
The dolphins that came and played, twice!
The easy conditions the first day and a half...breeze out of the South@about 10, no swell
NO FOG.....no fog at all, during the entire trip. You gotta love that.
The Navik windvane that I am coming to swear by, once again. The thing is fantastic. It steers just great and never burns a single electron.

Bad:
The three ships within an hour and a half that came out of the north in the lane about 90 miles out.
The 11 hours I sat going absolutely nowhere while the system that generated the south breeze was replaced by the NW wind.
Coming in to the Gulf of the Farallones in the middle of the night, but from further south that I have before so that everything seemed to be in the wrong place.
The pinched nerve that is making my left foot/ankle kind of numb...*grr*


However, it's done....DONE. I covered about 406 miles total, and gotten more than 100 miles offshore. Hanalei, here I come!

Congrat's Alan!

I know you've done it before on other boats but it's always nice to get it out of the way.

Bob J.

I second that, Congratulations Alan! No oilcanning or bulkheads breaking loose this time I hope. ;)

- Mark

Hey Alan:

You probably don't remember the encouraging email you sent me when I completed my first Singlehanded Farallones race in 2003. I held onto that positive message with so much energy that it propelled me to the Singlehanded Transpac in 2004.

So, my friend, good on you for getting your qualifier out of the way. The hardest part is now done. I hope you have an amazing SHTP in 2008!

BTW, that Celtic music festival that you switched us on to in Sebastopol has a cousin here in NZ. We took in a days music and remembered your bodram like it was yesterday.

Fair winds and following seas.

Surfing Anvil

Alan,

I'm just back from my trip south. Congratulations on your success! It was a good outing and a great sail. I am glad to hear that all went well for you after we were no longer able to connect by radio.

I made my 400-mile turning point about 220 miles straight west of Morro Bay at a little past 11:00 pm on Friday 9/14. I was able to complete the 400 miles by about 11:30 am on Monday when I sailed past the Morro Bay RW buoy.

Highlights for me included successful resolution of my seasickness problem. The prescription Scopace tablets worked just fine in all but the very worst of the conditions that I sailed through....and even then all was manageable. Another highlight was reaching toward Morro Bay in 30 knots and 10-foot seas with no headsail and the third reef set in my main. Libations was still going 7 knots and even though I was still 50 miles out I wanted to slow my approach so that I would arrive in daylight. It turned out that I was becalmed just 12 miles from the RW buoy, and spent about 10 hours covering those last dozen miles.

I'll be watching your progress to Hanalei in 2008 with great interest!

Richard

Good job Alan.

Paul Woodward