Report from Sailing Vessel VALIS
Noon July 20 to Noon July 21

Current position: Lat 24deg 17.52min, Lon 143deg 12.64min
Heading 254 deg magnetic, speed 6.8 knots (7 knots through the water).
Distance run since Noon yesterday: 164 nautical miles, which is an average run for us.

One more day sailing with the poled-out jib and furled main. We are making good speed, and are becoming accustomed to the roll in the ride. Last night, we had variable winds, averaging 20 kts but dropping to under 10 kts around sunrise. We are now back up to 22 kts at the moment. On several occasions we had rain pass near us, but so far we haven’t had enough to do more than get things damp. We are hoping for a bit of a shower as the boat (and crew) are getting quite crusty.

We continue to see the occasional flying fish, but otherwise not much sign of life. At night the luminescence still lights up our wake. Although we are keeping a lookout, still no boats sighted since the freighter many days ago. The skies remain partly cloudy, with light rain moving through to the west.

For dinner last night, Jim created a concoction of mushroom sauce over chicken, over pasta, complemented by a green salad. Both Andrew and Paul had very bizarre dreams last night, and they suspect the chicken (unless Jim used his “special” mushrooms in the sauce?). After dinner, we watched the movie “Bladerunner”, which Jim had never seen. Andrew was on watch during the screening, so he gets to pick the next film.

This morning, breakfast was granola with sliced fruit and yogurt. Before breakfast, Andrew, Daniel, and Paul all got out their portable GPS receivers to make sure that we were still in the Pacific Ocean. Apparently, we are. At Noon, we continue to point directly at Maui, which is 768 nautical miles away, on a bearing of 245deg magnetic (this
waypoint is actually in the channel to the west of the island). We are expecting the winds to lighten, and become more easterly over the next few days as we approach the Islands. We may get to fly the spinnaker again! We continue to receive weatherfaxes and predictions by radio, and things look good for our passage.

For those who are trying to track our position via the internet, look at the “Yotreps” website, as this is the one that we have been able to reliably connect to. You can find it by going through our boat’s website, or you can go to Yotreps directly here:

http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=wb6cxc

Best Wishes,
Andrew, Daniel, Jim, Paul