Today we celebrated our fastest 24-hour run: 193 miles made good towards Kaneohe (from 9:00AM Saturday to 9:00AM today). As it turns out, this was the fastest Saturday-Sunday run in our division, as well as in divisions B and C! This didn’t do much to help our overall standing, but it sure didn’t hurt, and […]

Today is Saturday, day five of our Pacific cup, if you count the day we started as “Day Zero”. This seems to be the thing to do, so please mentally re-number the previous postings. Regardless, I’m still pretty sure today is Saturday. It is easy to lose track when one day leads into another and […]

Greetings from VALIS! We are about 600 miles west of San Diego, and heading a little north of Hawaii. We still haven’t put up the spinnaker, since the angle isn’t right – it will be soon, though. Winds have been great, usually between 15 and 20 kts. We have been sailing 7-8 kts, with bursts […]

Aloha from VALIS! It is Wednesday evening, and we have just had a great dinner of Macaroni and Cheese (Thank you, Noelle!) This pre-cooked meal plan is very nice indeed! Michael has prepared a per-day meal plan, and we are (mostly) sticking to it. In the morning we have a “buffet-style” breakfast (grab whatever you […]

Greetings from VALIS! We are currently at lat 36 deg 46 min N, lon 125 deg 04 min W, (about 150 miles due west of San Simeon). Now that the wind has picked up we are making good speed on a southwest course, averaging between 7 and 8 knots. The crew is in good spirits, […]

..very slowly. It is just after 8:00PM PDT, and I have come off watch. The Pacific Cup race started with a bang (literally) when the starting gun fired and our division (div A) crossed the starting line. We had great windspeed and direction as we headed under the Golden Gate Bridge and out to sea. […]

As announced on the Sailing Anarchy site, VALIS is throwing down the gauntlet: We hereby challenge any and all of the Pac Cup fleet to a fishing contest. The winning fish will be determined by length (or the longest dimension: for example, octopi may be measured arm-to-arm), not weight, and must be documented by photograph […]

There has been a crew change aboard VALIS. I was disappointed to learn that my good friend Daniel Terhune will not be able to race to Hawaii with us this time, due to family commitments. Fortunately, we have a great new crewmember: His name is Steve Hill, he lives in San Rafael, is a member […]

On Friday, May 16, Alan, Michael, and I took VALIS out for a spin. The day was warm, with light to moderate winds. Our goal was to give Alan more helm-time, and to familiarize Michael with the boat and her quirks. Leaving Sausalito, we sailed past the north side of Alcatraz, then tacked out under […]

Meet the Pacific Cup Crew It has taken some scrambling, and a little gentle arm-twisting, but VALIS now has her full crew for the Pacific Cup. In 2006 we sailed with four, and discovered that long-distance racing is a bit different than cruising. For example, when cruising we have one person on watch, and the […]