Would you like to test your marine SSB? While VALIS is sailing from Friday Harbor Washington to San Francisco to prepare for the Pacific Cup we will be conducting a twice-daily SSB radio net. All boats are welcome to participate, especially those in the Pacific Cup, Singlehanded Transpac and Vic-Maui races. Here is the schedule, […]

We spent a spectacular night making our way through the Strait, sailing for a while, but eventually motoring, cutting across the shipping lanes to our mark at Race Rocks near Victoria. With dawn approaching we then headed towards Cattle Pass at the southern tip of San Juan Island. The currents there can be fierce (over […]

August 22 PDT At about 6:00 this morning we sighted land in the brightening pre-dawn sky. Vancouver Island and the Washington State mainland were roughly 55 miles to the east, but the dark profile under the low clouds was unmistakable. We watched the sun rise over the Strait of Juna de Fuca, and the golden […]

Date: Tuesday, Aug 21 Time: 6:10 PM PDT Latitude 48d 10m N, Longitude 127d 26m W Course 062 d magnetic, Speed 7.2 kts. By this time tomorrow, we will be in (or at least approaching closely) the Strait of Juan de Fuca. From there it’s about 85 miles to our first stop in Friday Harbor, […]

Boat, lat, lon, course, speed, wind direction, windspeed, comment VALIS, 47 44, 130 13, 060, 6.5, 315, 12, ETA Thursday (Friday Harbor) Bequia, 37 54, 138 22, 001, 6, 324, 11, ETA 4 days Cassiopeia, 36 49, 129 46, 062, 5.1, 320, 1, motoring ETA Thursday mid-day Kotuku, 47 53, 129 24, 065, 6.7, 315, […]

Monday, Aug 20, 6:00 PM PDT Latitude 47d 41m N, Longitude 131d 06m W Course 060d magnetic, Speed 6.3 kts Today we had sunshine! We’re sailing well in moderate winds and minimal seas. Hair was washed, clothes changed and washed, and we’re feeling much more human. Last night after the radio net, the wind dropped […]

Boat, lat, lon, course, speed, wind direction, windspeed, comment VALIS, 47 34, 138 18, 060, 5, 340, 8, ETA Friday Hbr Thusday(?) Bequia, 38 31, 141 01, 055, 5, 300, 8, Cassiopeia, 36 16, 132 13, 060, 5.2, 170, 3, motoring ETA Golden Gate Thurs midnight Kotuku, 47 27, 132 57, 060, 5, 000, 6, […]

Sunday, Aug 19, 7:15 PM PDT Lat 47d 26m N, Lon 133d 56m W. Course 055d mag, Speed 6.9 kts As of midnight last night I was just about ready to start motoring again. The wind had dropped, and we were barely ghosting along. But, as usually happens, things changed. The wind picked up and […]

Boat, lat, lon, course, speed, wind direction, windspeed, comment VALIS, 46 48, 13, ETA Friday Hbr Weds (?) Bequia, 37 47, 143 36, 018, 8.2, 260, 14.5, Cassiopeia, 35 36, 134 31, 057, 5.1, 170, 3, motoring Kotuku, 46 42, 136 42, 068, 5.2, 015, 5, Tiki Blue, 37 28, 129 58, 070, 6.4, 270, […]

This evening, after a dinner of tuna, rice, and salad, we passed the 500-mile distance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The Tiki Drummer let everyone know with his musical announcement, and there was much clapping and dancing among the crew. We’re getting close! Today we encountered light air that pretty quickly dropped below […]