VALIS keeps rolling along! Today we added two more hours to our lead, and we are very pleased. The blue spinnaker was up all night, and remains flying now. Last night we had starry skies, with a nearly-half moon over Hawaii, giving us a sparkling path to our finish. There were no big squalls overhead, […]

Another beautiful day of sailing here on VALIS. We added a few miles to our division lead, and have been sailing under spinnaker since morning. Last night was a little boisterous and wet, but since sunrise we’ve had nothing but blue sky and flying fish. We’ve continued to sail at our good pace, and of […]

Another glorious day of sailing here aboard VALIS. We are currently under blue skies with the sun low in the west and sparkling on the tradewinds swells. The wind is moderate and we are flying our big blue spinnaker, sailing towards Hawaii. We’ve finished our in-the-cockpit dinner of salad and BBQ ribs and chicken. Quite […]

July 26, 3:30 PM PDT Position: 27d 57m N, 147d 24m W Speed / Course: 8 kt @ 223d Magnetic Today has been a wonderful sunny day, with great wind and moderate seas. Halfway through last night we took down the spinnaker (which was over-powering us in the squalls), and sailed until morning with main […]

4:00 PM PDT, July 25 29d 53m N, 144d 57m W Speed 8.5 kts @ 200d Magnetic Good afternoon from VALIS on the high seas. Today we have sun and clouds, and a perfect wind that we are riding to Hawaii. The seas are moderate and after a night of running with the twin jibs, […]

July 24, 3:14 PM PDT — VALIS crosses the halfway point! We now have 1035 miles to go before we reach the Kaneohe Bay finish line. Our well-traveled “Tiki God” drummer sprang into action and started playing his lively tune, announcing our milestone to the crew. Presents were opened and shared, and a good time […]

1:00 PM PDT position: 31d 30m N, 141d 41m W. Course 225d magnetic, speed 7kts. Good afternoon from VALIS! The sky was cloudy all night, and remains completely overcast so far today. The wind has been in the 20′s, and last night while sailing under a darker patch of drizzle we saw it hit 28 […]

Latitude 31d 48m N, Longitude 138d 31m W. This is the kind of sailing the brochure promised! 20 kt winds, blue sky, puffy white clouds, the occasional dark cloud with rain. And we’re not even in the tropics yet! This morning we put the spinnaker back up and have been making great speed towards Hawaii. […]

Good morning from VALIS! We’ve been sailing under starry skies, watching the jetliners fly to and from Hawaii, and seeing the occasional meteorite streak overhead. Our wake is glowing a phosphorescent green, and we can see the distant whitecaps by starlight. The air is warm. The sea is warm too, as Michael and I discovered […]

8:00 PM PDT, July 22, 2012 Latitude 32 deg 29min N, Longitude 135 deg 39 min W Speed 8kts @ 240 deg magnetic 1348 miles to Kaneohe Bay. I am told that our tracker may not be updating our position. Please don’t worry — we’re doing great. We may be able to get the tracker […]