We have been planning to take VALIS out on an overnight sail for several months, to give the crew a chance to regain (or gain) their sea-legs, and do some open-ocean spinnaker practice. We had agreed on the weekend of April 12-13, and if the weather wasn’t appropriate we would stay in the Bay. As […]

VALIS is getting ready for the Pacific Cup!   On Friday, Apr 11, Daniel T, Alan B, and I met onboard VALIS to review the systems and rigging, and any changes necessary.  We were joined by our rigger J.P. (J.P. Boatworks, Sausalito – whom I highly recommend).  We went over the boat from stem to […]

As I promised, some more musings: During the ’06 race, we made some decisions that in hindsight could have been better. I allowed my optimism to take us too far northwest and into the southeast ridge of the Pacific High. I was following the guideline that “slower boats should sail closer to the rhumbline”, and […]