Attached is the google earth track file for the last 24 hours or so. I understand that some of the previous track files may be missing or incorrect — I will upload a corrected and combined trackfile when I get to Hawaii. Aloha, Paul valis-jul12.kmz

The last 24 hours has been frustrating, not that we’re complaining… Current position as of July 11, 2:58PM: Latitude 27deg 46min N, Longitude 140deg 50min W. Sailing at 5 knots, southwest towards Hawaii (you were expecting somewhere else?) During our 9:00AM rollcall, our reported position gave us a day’s run of 110 miles, our worst […]

Greetings from VALIS,sailing slowly towards Oahu. (My name is Paul Elliott, and I am writing this in third-person to gain much-needed objectivity.) Our position at 6:60 PDT is 28deg 243min N, 139deg 22min W We are sailing at about four (Ouch!) knots, pointing a little south of the Islands. We are trying to keep from […]

Here is our July 9-10 trackfile: valis-jul10.kmz

Here is a picture of Ville, steering by compass. When the spinnaker is up we have to steer very carefully to keep it flying. By the way, we have *no* idea who was steering at the time of the rip, so you should not infer anything from this photo (nor from this disclaimer). About our […]

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

Greetings from VALIS on the high seas! Our position at 2:37 PM PDT is: Latitude 29 deg 14 min North, Longitude 136 deg 19 min West. We are sailing towards Hawaii at about 8 knots in 13 knot winds. Today after the morning race position reports (a radio schedule where all vessels in the race […]

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!).