A Brush with a Whale As we were approaching San Francisco on Friday, August 22, about 40 miles due west of the Golden Gate Bridge we encountered a very friendly pod of dolphins.  They swam alongside, crossed our bow, and jumped regularly.  We were taking photos and this video when we brushed against the side […]

Heading for the barn! Since we made such good speed last night, averaging 8-1/2 knots for several hours, and over 8 kts overall, we have decided to sail between the North and Middle / South Farallon Islands then steer for the Golden Gate Bridge. We expect to pass under the span a little before sunset, […]

It is now 4:00PM PDT, we have 215 miles to go, we are making good speed towards San Francisco, and we’re wearing sunglasses. Last night we sailed under the twin headsails until about midnight, but the wind finally dropped to where we couldn’t stand the slatting of the limp sails in the swells. So, we […]

Theme for the day: Relaxed. Yesterday’s run (midnight to midnight) was the fastest yet: 172 miles. But we did it without breaking a sweat, all downwind, and much of it under our twin-genoa setup. We kept both sails flying through the night, and the calmer conditions made for a very pleasant ride. Now that we […]

In our last episode, the valient crew of VALIS was about to partake of a spaghetti dinner. What amazing exploits are in store for them in the next exciting episode? Actually, not much happened today (sound familiar?). We had some minor squalls in the night, but nothing that required any sail-changes. We are sailing under […]

Major wind shift! We spent several hours motoring last night and early this morning, waiting for the wind to pick back up and begin coming from the west. Around sunrise it did just that, and we have been sailing since then. It has been totally overcast all day, and a little cool. Dinner last night […]

Not much to report here. We are currently (6:00PM PDT) at latitude 38 deg 24min N, longitude 129deg 04min W, sailing seven knots on a course of 060deg magnetic. We are about 750 miles due west of Occidental (Hi, Mary!). The winds are favorable and moderate, and the seas almost pleasant. It has been a […]

We caught a fish today. It was another Mahi-mahi. We wanted a tuna, but we ate it anyway. Fish burritos are not as good as fish tacos. Besides that, not much happened. Yesterday we prepared a message in a bottle commemerating our halfway milestone, but we decided to seal the cork with caulking. Today it […]

Halfway Home! Today at 3:13PM PDT we crossed the halfway point: 1116 miles to Kaneohe Bay, and 1115 miles to the Golden Gate Bridge. Our position at the crossing of this line was lat 38deg 01min N, lon 156deg 00min W. The skies were blue with mixed clouds, the seas were moderate, and the winds […]