Attached is the trackfile for the previous 24 hours (more or less). We had a very nice run of 179 nautical miles from 9:00AM yesterday to 9:00AM today. We need to keep up this pace! -Paul valis-jul09.kmz

Good afternoon from VALIS, going faster. Position at 3:00 PM PDT: Lat 30deg 19min N, Longitude 133deg 14min W. Course is 225deg magnetic, speed is an encouraging 7.5 kts. Wind is about 13 knots out of the northeast. We are still sailing around the southeast corner (ridge) if the Pacific High. Weather forecasts look encouraging, […]

Good afternoon from VALIS, going slow. Position at 2:00 PM PDT: Lat 31deg 56min N, Longitude 130deg 17min W. Course is 225deg magnetic, speed is a frustrating 5.5 kts. Wind is about 8 knots out of the northeast. We are sailing through the southeast corner (ridge) if the Pacific High, trying to balance wind speed […]

Today, we are flying our new light-air symmetrical spinnaker. Here is a photo of Daniel and Ville, keeping an eye on the sail (uh, it’s on the other end of the boat, guys!).

VALIS Position July 6, 8:00 AM: Latitude 33deg 25min N Longitude 126deg 55min W We are still heading southwest, under ligtht winds and calm seas. With the asymettrical spinnaker up, we are sailing at 6 knots in seven knots of wind, but more wind would be nicer, All day yesterday we were under full main, […]

Aloha from VALIS! Time: 1:48 PM PDT Position: 35 deg 12 min N, 125 deg 13 min W Speed: 8.2 kts Course: 204 deg magnetic We are truly underway. We finally started our race a day late, crossing the start line at 11:09 PDT. The winds were good, the current favorable, and we crossed the […]

VALIS and her crew are heading to Hawaii! Our position on July 5, 8:50 PDT is Latitude 35deg 44min North, Longitude 124deg 42min West. We did fix our problem, and crossed the starting line on July 4, 11:09 PDT. We are sailing at 8+ knots in a southwest direction. The seas are moderate, the winds […]

As you may know, VALIS was unable to start The Pacific Cup Race today (Monday) due to a mechanical problem that was discovered at the last minute (and this was after two significant shake-down sessions). We believe that we have correctly analyzed the problem and fixed it, and we have performed initial testing with good […]

On Thursday, May 11, Ville and I took VALIS over to Anderson’s Boatyard in Sausalito. There, she was hauled out, power-washed, had all the rough spots sanded down, and then was given a couple coats of new bottom paint. We also replaced the zincs, lubed the Max-Prop, and gave everything below the waterline some careful […]

The propane stove has been repaired by Ville and me. We now have a new regulator, but that wasn’t the problem (as it turned out). The real culprit was the electric shut-off valve, which was only opening the slightest bit, and seemed to close off as the solenoid coil heated up. We replaced the valve […]