Monday, Aug 20, 6:00 PM PDT Latitude 47d 41m N, Longitude 131d 06m W Course 060d magnetic, Speed 6.3 kts
Today we had sunshine! We’re sailing well in moderate winds and minimal seas. Hair was washed, clothes changed and washed, and we’re feeling much more human.
Last night after the radio net, the wind dropped to where we were practically drifting. So, at 1:25 AM we started the engine, and motored for about five hours. At 6:00 AM the wind came back (weakly), and we decided to unfurl the sails again. We sailed fairly slowly, but this was vastly preferable to listening to the diesel-consuming, noisy, engine. At noon the wind again died, and we furled the genoa and fired up the engine. At 1:00PM the wind came back, so off went the engine and out came the genoa. Since then we’ve been sailing with full main, full genoa, and full staysail. The Monitor windvane is steering, and we’ve been enjoying the sailing immensely. The wind is gradually “lifting” us (moving aft from from forward of the beam) and we adjust the Monitor and sail trim to compensate. We’ve been looking forward to this wind shift as it lets us sail comfortably towards our destination.
Best wishes, Paul / VALIS