Ahoy VALIS Fans… We are 7 nm west of Race Rocks, which means another 23 miles after that and VALIS will be home in Friday Harbor. Without getting all sentimental and stuff, let’s just say it has been an honor and a pleasure to be trusted to bring the sailing vessel, VALIS, back to her […]

Entered the Strait of Juan De Fuca at 11:22 HST. Tiki Drummer and the entrie cast…Travel Tiger, Sponge Bob, Fred the Turtle, Barbie and Tiki’s girlfriend…put on quite a show. We launch the VALIS drone and video’d the performance. Then the wine came out…now the crew is casting their eyes toward the bottle of rubbing […]

First off…the subject line was left off the last transmission…it was the Aug15 AM Log. This adendum is to announce that we spotted our first humpback whale at 08:08 HST. It was approx. 75 yards off our starboard quarter moving south. Nice fluke wave as the giant animal swam away. VALIS, out…

We are close VALIS fans…like 25 nm to the Strait, 93 nm to Friday Harbor. Mountains off to the right. A swarm of fishing boats and tonnage in front of us. We have at least 12 targets on our AIS screen. The alarm is keeping us well advised of vessels near rather than far. None […]

Ahoy VALIS Fans…we are 99 nm from buoy 2D at the entrance to the Strait, and 164 nm from Friday Harbor. Batts @ 12.45v, 72% charged Our position WSW of the Strait is 47*32′N 126*52′W…heading 040…SOG 6.5 knots…seas calm will a gentle swell on the beam giving us an occasional push forward toward home. Sky […]

We are rocking here on VALIS. Not so much forward as up and down. We are beating against a really confused ocean. Waves from every direction. Speed is not so hot, but it’s better than if we tried to motor. We are now 178 nm from the Strait and 242 nm from Friday Harbor. Batts […]

Ahoy VALIS fans…Big Whoops on the AM Log. It was dated Aug12 instead of Aug13…sorry. Batts 12.75v, 91% charged… We are at 46*04′N 129*46′W…hdg 029*m…SOG 7 knots…winds 15 knots from 258*m…sea calm to moderate with swell still on our beam mostly. Fun day of sailing. Still grabbing as much north as we can above the […]

Ahoy VALIS fans… Another rocking and rolling night on a close reach. We continue to fight the push south and it looks like we might win it. Our mark at the Strait has a bearing of 037*m and our target heading is 030-035*m. Reaching Friday Harbor by Friday is looking more and more doable…especially if […]

Attention, Attention! Mia Culpa coming… There’s been a data entry error on VALIS. All previous reports of miles to the Strait of Juan De Fuca are inccorrect. Those are miles to Friday Harbor. The real numbers this evening are 414 nm to the Strait, 478 nm to F.H. Friday Harbor on Friday? Maybe So, maybe […]

Batts at 12.60v, 81% charged Current position 44*07′N 134*49′W…Heading 047*m, SOG 7.0 knots, wind 19 knots on the beam from 270*m, seas moderate with 6-8′ swell on the beam. We did 88 nm since 1800 last night, and 170 nm for the past 24 hours. A few more days like that, light patches (one in […]