1:00 PM PDT position: 31d 30m N, 141d 41m W. Course 225d magnetic, speed 7kts.
Good afternoon from VALIS! The sky was cloudy all night, and remains completely overcast so far today. The wind has been in the 20′s, and last night while sailing under a darker patch of drizzle we saw it hit 28 kts. Yesterday we went to the white sails (main, genoa) but it was still a chore to keep the boat on course as the swells pushed us around. Everything went fine, but after your turn at the helm you had received a real workout!
This morning we poled out the genoa to windward, and are running “wing and wing”. This is slower, but lets us run more or less dead downwind towards Hawaii, and in the heavy wind and sea conditions is much easier to keep under control than the spinnaker would be. We are preparing to hoist the spare genoa and run twin poles (sometimes called the butterfly configuration). This will (should) increase our speed and still be easy to handle.
We’re seeing flying fish! These will become much more common as we approach Hawaii.
Dinner tonight will be Mongolian Beef with Pork Fried Rice.
Regards, Paul / VALIS