6:30 PM PDT, Friday, July 30 Latitude: 26 deg, 32 min N Longitude: 155 deg 47 min W Speed: 7.5 kts Course: 350 deg magnetic Wind: 17 kts from 100 deg magnetic Location: about 325 miles north of Kaneohe

Latitude: 23 deg, 34 min N Longitude: 156 deg, 51 min W It is now 3:30PM PDT on our second day of the return voyage. Skys are mixed clouds and sun,and the seas remain relatively calm. Wind is about 15 kts from the west. We are sailing on a course of 010 degrees magnetic, at […]

VALIS finished the Pacific Cup. We had a great time and I will write about it all soon enough. Our stay in Kaneohe Bay was a real pleasure and the folks at the Kaneohe Yacht Club couldn’t have been nicer. But now it’s time to return home. VALIS left her KYC slip about 12:50 HST, […]

It looks like VALIS will be crossing the finish line tomorrow (Monday), in the afternoon or early evening. The wind forecasts look favorable, and the current conditions are great. We’ve had mostly sunny skies, with a few mild squalls thrown in. None of us is too interested in dealing with the aftermath of catching a […]

We’re getting close! It’s about 335 miles to Kaneohe, which makes a Monday evening arrival a distinct possibility. It might be Tuesday if we get lighter winds as we approach the finish. Conditions are great. We’ve had sunny skies, good wind, and nice waves for most of the day. Music filled the cockpit again, and […]

Blog posts aren’t going through for some arcane reason. Here’s a simple one, let’s see how this works. We’ve been sailing directly towards Hawaii for the past few days. Conditions have been great, and with the exception of a “spinnaker event” yesterday that resulted in the snapping of a carbon-fiber spinnaker pole, we have made […]

The last several days have been difficult for the Pacific Cup fleet. The good news is that all are safe and sailing. Here’s the bad news: Friday, July 9 – Tiki Blue retiring due to electrical system failure. Now safely back in San Francisco. July 10 – Plus Sixteen and Sea Reign retire, schedule issues. […]

Yesterday was a special day aboar VALIS: We passed the halfway mark on the way towards Hawaii! Determining when you are halfway can be tricky. Is it halfway in time? No, that wouldn’t make sense, we couldn’t figure that out until we cross the finish line. In our case, we certainly hope the second half […]

This is mostly a test posting, as my last blog entry seems to have been lost. Early this morning (4:00 AM) we jibed and are now sailing towards Hawaii. The seas have dropped, and the winds are a comfortable 17-20 kts. Still no sun, though. Yesterday we started fishing. No bites yet, but when we […]