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 deserves mention: The two Pauls prepared a pot roast, using some pre-cooked beefalong with a mixture of spices, potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery, all cooked in a french onion soup base. This was a great meal to have in the now-cool evening.
Early this morning, just after the midnight Pacific Cup Return (radio) Net for which we perform the net-control duties, we had a call on our satellite phone from the Coast Guard at Alamed, to inquire about an activated PLB (Personal Locator Beacon). One of the emergency beacons in our lifevests had been triggered! After a quick headcount verified that all hands were still on-board, we tracked down the offending unit and disabled it br wrapping it in aluminum foil. While this was a nusance for the Coast Guard, they handled it with courtesy and professionalism. It is good to know that the system works!
Today we hauled out the spare genoa, and rigged things for a twin-headsail configuration. Of course once we started working on deck it started pouring heavy rain and the wind really picked up. Finally things calmed down and we set our repaired whisker pole to port, holding out the primary genoa. The repair promptly gave out, and the pole is once again a short one. It is still useful, but I have plans for a better repair job once we take the pole down.
We then hoisted the spare genoa,one sail to port and the other to starboard, and it definitely adds to boat speed. Since we don’t have a pole for each sail it requires careful steering to keep the sails filled, but it sure is nice to look at! We will drop the second sail before it gets dark.
Aaron is now serving salad and spaghetti for dinner – another good meal as the nights grow cold here in the Pacific.
Our position now (6:50PM PDT) is 38deg 10min N, 136deg 10min W, and we are sailing downwind at 8 knots on a course of 060deg magnetic. The wind is blowing at 18 kts. We are 646 nautical miles from the Golden Gate Bridge, and we are due west of the coastline between Stewart’s Point and Point Arena. An arrival this coming weekend is looking likely.
-Paul