Since we didn’t send out a report yesterday, this one will cover the last two days.

We are all doing fine, and the boat is sailing well. As of Aug 24, 10:40 AM PDT, we are at lat 28deg 24min north, lon 159deg 34min west, and are sailing due north at 5.7 kts. Winds are about 8 kts from the north east, and seas are 3 ft. Skys are mostly clear. It is a beautiful morning. We are sailing with full jib, stays’l, and main.

Friday evening, just before dinner, the “oar” assembly on the Monitor windvane autopilot broke. This is a stainless steel oar, or rudder, that sits in the water and pulls on the lines that turn the boat’s wheel. The oar assembly broke at a stainless tube that is supposed to break away in case the oar hits something. As far as we could tell, we hadn’t hit anything, but in any case we were carrying a spare tube, and the safety lines on the oar prevented us from losing it. It was getting dark, so we decided to eat dinner (crab-stuffed salmon on rice) and make the repair the next morning. We sailed that night on the B&G autopilot.

Saturday morning, we were able to put together the oar and re-attach it to the Monitor, while breakfast was being prepared. Paul Grossman had to make breakfast twice, because the first batch of scrambled eggs got loose before it could be cooked. The second batch was very good, though, with onions and sausage pieces mixed in.

The rest of the day we sailed and enjoyed the weather. The wind has been gradually falling, so by the end of the day we had unfurled all our primary sails to maintain boatspeed. Saturday evening was mostly clear, with the boat pointing towards the North Star, and a brilliant red Mars keeping us company.

Sunday morning has just started for us here. Before we left Kauai, we made a trip to a used bookstore and brought back several bags of books. Today we will continue to work on them. We have been tracking the boats ahead of us, and their weather reports are encouraging. Still, we will sail in the weather we get. Today’s looks great.

Sincerely,
Dan, Jim, Paul, and Paul.

Greetings from the sailing vessel VALIS, en-route from Hanalei Bay, Kauai, to San Francisco. We are on the second day of our run, and are now about 150 nautical miles north of Kauai. As of 9:00 PM PDT, our position is lat 24deg 48min N, lon 159deg 26min W.

We spent the few days before our departure doing some minor repairs, inspecting the boat from top to bottom (literally), and getting our provisions for the trip. In San Francisco, we had stocked enough staples for the round trip, so in Kauai we mostly had to purchase perishables. We also topped off the boat’s diesel tanks and purchased four 6-gallon “Jerry” cans which we filled with diesel and lashed to the shrouds.

Thursday, Aug 21 was the day of our departure. It seemed that we would never actually weigh anchor, as we all seemed to be able to find one more thing to do — phone calls, laundry, etc. Finally, one of the cockpit cushions blew into the water, and since we had already deflated and stowed the dinghy, we had to make a move. Daniel put on fins and began to swim after it, but since it was about 300 yards downwind we decided to raise the anchor and motor after both Daniel and the cushion. When they were recovered, we decided to keep on going. Next stop, San Francisco! Time of departure: 1:20 PM Hawaii time. The VALIS is now running on Pacific Daylight (California) time.

Leaving Hanalei Bay, we pointed the boat due north. Winds were strong; about 20 kts from the north east, and swells were about 6-8 ft. We hoisted the stays’l, and a reefed main. This gave us a comfortable ride for the first night, although not as fast as it could have been. We had turkey sandwiches for dinner, and began our three-hour watches, with Daniel on from 10:00 PM (or 7:00 PM Hawaii time), Jim on at 1:00 AM, Paul Elliott on at 4:00 AM, and Paul Grossman taking the 7:00 AM watch. During the night, a large bird (probably a booby, but possibly a shearwater) landed on our bimini, then moved to the starboard lifeline. Our guest kept us company until daybreak, when he woke up, stretched, and flew away.

We have started participating in the “Pacific Seafarer’s Net”, an amateur radio net that provides communications for cruisers. The net runs daily, starting at 8:25 PM PDT, on a frequency of 14.313 MHz, Upper Sideband. Our callsign is WB6CXC. There are several other boats ahead of us on the Hawaii – Mainland run, and we are listening to their weather reports to see what we have in front of us.

The morning of Aug 22, we decided to unfurl the jib to the reef point — this increased our speed from 5 kts to over 7 kts, with bursts up to 9 kts. The seas and winds have been fairly constant, with the occasional rain squall to wash off the salt water. The ride is a bit bumpy after our stay in Hanalei Bay, but we are all getting used to life at sea again. Today we did a lot of sleeping. We are starting to eat the fruit we brought on board — fruit lasts much longer in the cooler climate of northern California.

Best Wishes,
Paul E, Paul G, Daniel, and Jim

VALIS arrived Lahaina, July 26, 3:00PM Hawaii Time

We are peacefully swinging at anchor here near the Mala Wharf, about one mile from Lahaina. We are about to motor to shore in our Avon, and set foot on dry land for the first time in 14 days. Details on our last day and a half will be sent sometime tomorrow (we are sure that you will understand the delay).

Aloha!
Andrew, Daniel, Jim, Paul

Report from Sailing Vessel VALIS
Noon July 24 to Noon July 25

Current position: Lat 21deg 46.22min, Lon 153deg 13.18min Heading 263 deg magnetic, speed 6.5 knots under spinnaker (7 knots through the water). Distance run Noon to Noon: 157 nautical miles over the ground. The winds are blowing about 15 knots, from the east.

We still have the spinnaker flying on the port side, running with the B&G autopilot. We are approaching the point where we will want to jibe the spinnaker over to starboard, to be able to point closer to our waypoint at the northwest end of Maui. From there, we will sail southwest between Maui and Molokai, then southeast between Maui and Lanai, until we reach Lahaina. Since the Lahaina anchorage is going to be very crowded (a fishing contest is going on), we plan to anchor about a half-mile north near the Mala Wharf. The bottom there is supposed to have better holding as well.

No boats sighted, but we have seen some vapor trails from the airliners heading to Hawaii. Birds are becoming regular visitors now, with at least three different kinds spotted. boobie The evening luminescence in our wake is still beautiful, and as the waning moon rises later and later, we have had some clear dark nights ideal for stargazing (in between the clouds).

For dinner, we had a new dish: chicken, cooked with sun-dried tomatoes, and picante sauce, served over rice. During dinner, we were discussing the space program, so the film for the evening was “Apollo 13″. Andrew had first watch.

The winds remain generally good, but with spells of light air. We now have just over 200 nautical miles to go, but we will no doubt sail a bit farther than that as we tack and jibe to maintain favorable wind angles. At the current rate, we should arrive in Lahaina the evening of July 26, or very earily hours the next morning.

Best Wishes,
Andrew, Daniel, Jim, Paul

Report from Sailing Vessel VALIS
Noon July 23 to Noon July 24

Current position: Lat 21deg 06.00min, Lon 156deg 38.19min Heading 255 deg magnetic, speed 6 knots under spinnaker (6+ knots through the water). Distance run Noon to Noon: 163 nautical miles over the ground — significantly faster than yesterday’s run.

Since Noon yesterday, we have had the spinnaker flying. Yesterday the chute was out to starboard, now we have it flying on the port side. We have been running with the B&G autopilot, as it does a better job than the Monitor windvane.

This morning at first light, we furled the spinnaker, and re-set it to port. We are not running directly downwind, but keeping the wind on the quarter, giving us a faster and more comfortable ride. Even so, the motion of the swells occasionally swings the wins around from side to side. The spinnaker seems to be handling the conditions well. As we were having breakfast, a rain squall caught up to us, and the wind abruptly went from an easy 15 knots to 30-knot gusts. Our granola went flying all over the cabin, and Jim hand-steered us until the squall had passed. Since then, more rain has passed through, but no winds as violent as those this morning.

Chicken chili over rice, and salad were our dinner last night. The evening’s film was “O Brother Where Art Thou”, while Paul had the first watch. As the sun was setting, Paul saw our first bird in many days; a dark seagull-shaped creature who circled the boat for several minutes. This morning we had two more feathered visitors pay us a visit, as well as the ever-present flying fish.

Still no other boats sighted. We all are losing track of time (have to look at our log to decide what day it is), and we have the feeling that we are in a completely self-contained universe, about 20 miles in diameter. While we ponder the meaning of our tiny universe, we do manage to find time to work on our tans.

The weather charts are continuing to tell us that we are moving into an area of light and variable winds. With the spinnaker up we continue to do well, but our daily run will probably be reduced as we approach Maui, which is about 329 miles away now.

Best Wishes,
Andrew, Daniel, Jim, Paul

Report from Sailing Vessel VALIS
Noon July 22 to Noon July 23

Current position: Lat 22deg 54.13min, Lon 147deg 52.02min
Heading 239 deg magnetic, speed 7 knots under spinnaker (7+ knots through the water). Distance run since Noon yesterday: 124 nautical miles, which is our shortest run yet.

Since Noon yesterday, we have sailed with the jib poled-out, with main, and with main furled, and under spinnaker. We had a good spinnaker run through sunset, then we dropped the kite and poled out the jib for the evening. At midnight, wind and boat speed were down so far that we decided to put up a full main and sail a broad reach. Even if this took us somewhat off course, the additional speed more than made up for it, and the boat’s motion was much more comfortable.

We divide the evening, into four watches. Last night, Jim had the 9:00PM-12:00 watch, then Paul had Midnight-3:00AM, followed by Andrew from 3:00-6:00, and finally Daniel from 6:00-9:00AM. Every day we rotate watches, so tomorrow Paul will have the first watch. The boat is still on Pacific Daylight Time, so this close to Hawaii the local time is two hours later (Hawaii doesn’t have daylight savings time). In effect, we are standing watch from 7:00PM to 7:00AM, local time. Last night, we had patchy clouds, with many bright stars. Every so often, a dark cloud would pass over, bringing light rain and stronger winds. As it moved on, the winds would drop again. Even under the clouds, the
temperature was comfortable enough to let us stand watch in shorts and short-sleeve shirts, and the ever-present lifejacket/harness. When on-deck, all crew are connected to the boat with a short tether — one end snapped to the harness, and the other snapped to a strong point on the deck.

This morning at first light, we furled the main and jib, and hoisted the spinnaker to starboard. We are making decent speed and course in this configuration, and may run all night under spinnaker if it looks like we can get away with it. We are using the Monitor wind-vane auto-pilot to steer the boat, and running under spinnaker is not something it likes to do very much. We get better performance by using the electrical/hydraulic B&G autopilot, but this consumes a lot of power (and the Monitor uses only the wind and sea for power). So far, the Monitor is doing the job well-enough, but it calls for careful
monitoring (no pun intended).

Spaghetti with chicken sauce and salad were served for dinner. Because of some late sail changes, we decided to skip the evening’s movie presentation, so Daniel gets to pick one tonight. Breakfast this morning, breakfast was buffet-style (translation: grab whatever you can find).

We are seeing more and more schools of flying fish, and we had two unlucky ones on deck this morning, The display of luminescence continues to enthrall the night watch. We really wonder about the basketball-size creature that lights up like a flashbulb deep under our rudder. A jellyfish, perhaps? Sometimes we see these a hundred feet astern,
suddenly lighting up as if a depth-charge were going off.

Best Wishes,
Andrew, Daniel, Jim, Paul

Report from Sailing Vessel VALIS
Noon July 21 to Noon July 22

Current position: Lat 23deg 49.31min, Lon 145deg 51.36min
Heading 245 deg magnetic, speed 5 knots under power (5.5 knots through the water). Distance run since Noon yesterday: 147 nautical miles, which is a below-average run for us, but may be an indication of days to come as we enter a lighter wind pattern.

Yesterday we sailed with the jib poled-out to port, and the reefed main to starboard. The wind speed has been gradually dropping, and today, after briefly flying the spinnaker, we ended up under power with all sails furled, as the wind dropped below five knots. While we were rigging the spinnaker, we finally got that rain we were hoping for. The crew took full advantage of this and washed up in the warm rain. Flying fish remain our only visitors, and yesterday Daniel saw a large school of them take flight as we startled them.

For dinner last night, we had more of the chicken curry over rice, prepared by Andrew and Jim. After dinner, we watched the movie “The Year of Living Dangerously”, which was chosen by Andrew. Daniel gets to pick the next film. This morning, breakfast was scrambled eggs, hash-browned potatoes, and sausages (prepared by Daniel).

We have now sailed 1619 nautical miles, and are only 634 nautical miles from Lahaina, on Maui. Our arrival date obviously depends on our speed, and the lightening winds make this difficult to predict. We will keep you all informed as to our progress.

Just a glimpse of what it was like on Jim’s midnight to 3AM watch this morning:
It’s cloudy overhead, no moon, so the night above is dark. But as you look at the water you see the white of the waves foaming as it streams along the sides of VALIS. And as you look closer you see these brilliant bursts of phosphorescent light energy like explosions of diamonds some on the surface and some deeper in the clear dark water. These diamonds are speeding past the boat and trailing behind in the wake. And looking even closer you see a dim white haze down deeper than the brilliant bursts of light following the boat. This white haze is carving small lazy S’s in that beautiful clear dark water below. It runs out behind and disappears into the waves behind. This continues on for the hours to watch or not, to think about life, relationships, anything or not think at all or to just have a timeless moment.

Best Wishes,
Andrew, Daniel, Jim, Paul

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

Report from Sailing Vessel VALIS

Noon July 19 to Noon July 20

Current position: Lat 24deg 49.15min, Lon 140deg 15.19min
Heading 248 deg magnetic, speed 7.2 knots (7.8 knots through the water).
Distance run since Noon yesterday: 174 nautical miles, which is our second-best run to date.

Yesterday we continued to run with the poled-out jib and reefed main. Early this morning we completely furled the main, which let us point further south towards Maui. Even under jib alone, we are making good speed, although there is quite a bit of roll to the ride.

Last night, we had strong winds, averaging 25 kts and gusting to well over 30. VALIS hit a new speed record through the water: 11 kts (for a moment, as we rode down a wave).
Yesterday, we definitely saw a flying fish, but no more squid came on board. Once again, we saw a small dark bird flying low near the boat.

The skies have been partly cloudy, but we are managing to work on our sunburns none the less.

For dinner last night, Andrew and Jim cooked Indian food, which set off the smoke alarms. This morning, we had Indian food all over the cabin sole (floor), this caused by a pot which went airborne during the night. Breakfast was pancakes, eggs, and sausages, courtesy of Chef Daniel.

At Noon, we continue on our course, pointing directly at Maui, which is 933 nautical miles away, on a bearing of 245deg magnetic.

Best Wishes,
Andrew, Daniel, Jim, Paul

Report from Sailing Vessel VALIS, Noon July 18 to Noon July 19

Current position: Lat 24deg 51.67min, Lon 137deg 03.13min
Heading 253 deg magnetic, speed 7 knots (8 knots through the water).
Distance run since Noon yesterday: 160 nautical miles

As promised, yesterday afternoon we jibed over towards Maui. We ran all night with a reefed main, and a full jib, both on the port side. Our heading is almost exactly along the great circle route to Maui, which according to the weather predictions (and current conditions) will keep us in 15-20 knot winds. This morning we put out the pole to help keep the jib full, as the swells cause us to slew around enough to occasionally let the main blanket the jib. With the pole, the jib stays (mostly) full, giving us more speed, less noise, and less wear and tear. We are making good speed, and the wind is strong, so the spinnaker will remain safely below-decks for now.

The flying fish we mentioned yesterday may have actually been squid. Yesterday we found several of these inky creatures on deck, each about six inches with tentacles stretched out. No more stowaways found this morning though.

Yesterday, Daniel has his rematch with the sea. The first kite had an appropriate skull and crossbones motif, and things looked good for a moment. Then, as we watched in horror, the kite spun around and plunged into the drink. The string was no match for the pull of the submerged kite, and the score was now The Sea: 3, Daniel: 0. Undaunted, Daniel tried once again, this time with a jaunty eagle design. Alas, the end result was the same.

Last night, another block (pully) self-destructed, briefly disabling the Monitor windvane. We switched over to the B&G electronic auto-pilot while we lashed together a temporary (?) repair the the windvane. Once that was again operational, we reefed the main, which, honestly, had been a bit much for the conditions.

The skies have been completely overcast for the past 24 hours, but the air has been pleasant. The moon shining through the clouds is bright enough for good visibility at night, but not so bright that we can’t watch the phosphorescence, with hundreds of tiny creatures glowing blue-green like stars in our wake.

For dinner last night, we decided to use some of our spaghetti, with a salad on the side. Breakfast was fresh fruit (we have to eat it before it goes bad — had to jettison the grapes yesterday), yogurt, and granola.

We are now approximately halfway to Maui, and seven days out from San Francisco. It looks like we will probably make up for the delayed departure, if we can keep going like we have been.

Best Wishes,
Andrew, Daniel, Jim, Paul