August 8 — Waiting for the Northerlies
Greetings from VALIS this Tuesday, August 8. Our position as of 1:20PM PDT is:
Latitude 40deg 25min N, Longitude 140deg 17min W. We are sailing 085degrees true at 6.4 knots. Winds are from the west at 13 knots. Seas are from the west at 3 feet.
Yesterday afternoon we decided to run “wing and wing”, using the spinnaker pole to hold the genoa out to port, and the main out to starboard. This let us run almost directly downwind, and closer to our destination.
John had the first watch, and had to endure a light drizzle. The rest of the evening was mostly cloudy, but there was no more rain until sunrise. Visibility was occasionally limited, so we ran the radar from time to time.
This morning we jibed, switching sides on the main and genoa, in order to sail a bit more south (still slightly north of due east, though). We expect the winds to shift to the north later today, or perhaps tomorrow, and then we will steer directly for San Francisco, with all sails to starboard.
After breakfast (cereal, with our first batch of powdered milk), Phil was contemplating the prospect of dining on canned chicken for the rest of the trip, so he decided to put the fishing line back in the water. Within five minutes he had a strike: a medium tuna. We got the fish on board, gave it a drink of rum, and then Phil filleted it. We now have fresh fish for at least two meals.
Not much more to say — we are dozing, reading, checking the weather charts, and generally enjoying a nice day. Our track for the last 24 hours (with a gap – bad software), is in the attached google earth file.
Regards,
VALIS