Ahoy VALIS fans…We are looking forward to noon today. That’s when the latest GRIB says we are on the highway to home. Forecast calls for winds from 12-25 knots most of the way toward the Strait, on a heading of 030*m. As for now…we are at 36*13′N 150*18′W…Hdg 033*m…SOG 5.3 kts…Winds 12 kts from 150*m. […]

As promised, here is a recap of our 2014 Pacific Cup. We had a great time, got to know a lot of boats and crews through our communications duties, and provided assistance to another Pac Cup boat on the high seas Our start on Monday, July 7 was typical:  good winds and overcast. If I […]

Apologies…forgot to add we were dropping the spinnaker for the night and instead of poling out the genoa we are going to beam or broad reach tonight to make sure we stay as close to a 030*m heading as possible. The new GRIB shows us threading the needle with 15-20 knot winds for the next […]

Sail vessel VALIS is moving right along. At 0600 this morning we were 1545nm from the Strait of Juan De Fuca. This evening at 1800, we are 1473 nm away. We have been sailing under the big blue 1.5 oz spinnaker on a heading of 030 doing an average of 6.5 to 7.5 knots with […]

Ahoy from VALIS, 1545 nm from the entrance to the Strait of Juan De Fuca… We are at 34*37′N 152*23′W…heading 025*m…SOG 6 knots…Wind 8 knots @ 129* m Smooth night of sailing wing-on-wing. Seas mostly calm with an occasional wind shift to keep the trimmers trimming. Today’s GRIB was a pleasant surprise. Expedition is now […]

Sorry for the delay, but VALIS did finish the race, crossing the Kaneohe Bay line in light headwinds around 1AM Tuesday (July 22) Hawaii time. After redress for the time spent assisting Sweet Okole, we finished in a fourth-place tie. Details and photos to follow when I don’t have to use the phone to do […]

Last night VALIS received a request for assistance from Pac Cup boat Sweet Okole. We were about 30 miles away we were both sailing towards Kaneohe Bay, so we plotted an intercept course and reached their location in the early morning. We were unable to establish radio contact until 9:30AM. At that point they confirmed […]

3:30 PM PDT, Sunday, July 20 Lat 24d 05m N, 155d 05m W Speed 7.7kts, Course 220d mag. 215 miles to go! Today we heard a whale! We saw it too, a small dark one pacing the boat as we raced along, 8 kts towards the finish line. But the first indication was a strange […]

Saturday, July 19, 11:30 AM PDT Lat 26d 26m N, Lon 152d39m W Speed 7 kts, Course 215 deg mag (straight towards Kaneohe, 408 miles to go) We had a nice night. It wasn’t fast, but we kept up a decent speed and general course. There were a few small squalls, with rain, wind shifts, […]

3:00PM PDT, July 18 Lat 28d 04m N, Lon 151d 01m W Speed 7 kts, Course 210 deg mag. Wind 19 kts 540 miles to Kaneohe! It’s a pretty lazy day here on the ocean. Last night we had a bright half-moon and occasional cloud cover, but were able to see many stars, as well […]