Lat 35d 45m N, 128d 15m W COG 220 d mag, SOG 7.7 kts TWS 18 kts, TWD 335 deg mag. Full main and 120% genoa.
We had a great run yesterday, racking up 181 miles from 8:00AM to 8:00AM. We have gained a little on the competition, and the current conditions are good for us. We aren’t the most northern boat in the fleet, but it looks like we want to dive just a little deeper to stay out of the developing light-wind Pacific High. This means sailing a few more miles, but not many as the course adjustment is minor. If we sail much further south (the “traditional” Hawaii run) we also get lighter predicted conditions, so we are threading the needle. This looks like another rhumb-line race. Of course, the forecasts are just that, and are subject to change…
The sky is patchy overcast, but we have blue sky overhead now (and we are getting +15 Amps into the batteries from the solar panels). The seas are smaller today, and the ride is almost comfortable. We are all in good spirits. For the first day we were avoiding spicy food, but we tonight are already looking forward to a Chicken Fajita dinner!
Aloha, Paul / VALIS

Day two of our Pacific Cup– 5:40PM PDT Lat 36d 43m, Lon 125d 40m SOG 7.8 kts @ 230d mag Wind 20 kts
Yesterday was a struggle to find wind. We bobbed around between Pt. Bonita and the Farallones, and finally managing to get a little south when the wind filled in around 8:00PM. This let us sail a little south of the South Farallon Islands, and we continue on a course of 230deg mag, which is essentially pointing straight to Hawaii.
We’re living at a 25-degree angle, and it’s pretty wet up on the foredeck. We’ve had a few splashes into the cockpit, but nothing major. Early this morning our genoa furling line chafed through at the furling drum (the drum has sharp edges where the line feeds in, requiring a precise line lead angle). The genoa unfurled and we had to drop it on deck while we replaced the line. This slowed us down for a while! It all looks good now.
After that excitement, VALIS conducted the radio roll-call. We’re getting a lot of radio reports — not everyone has switched over to satphone/email. Yesterday’s and today’s 5:00PM “Children’s Hour” was quite enjoyable, with lots of boats participating. Michael on Cayenne is master of ceremonies, while I chime in with the Fleet Standings report and amusing banter.
Lin is preparing dinner, which is a good-smelling Chinese food assortment, pre-frozen by Phil.
We are next-to-last in our division, but we did have a very slow first day. Most of the other division boats did find their wind before us. Perhaps tomorrow’s roll-call will show some improvement! We are definitely moving right along.
Regards, Paul / VALIS

July 7, 2014 — 1:20 PM PDT Lat: 37d 49.6m N, Lon: 122d 40.0m W (about 6.5 NM west of Pt. Bonita) Speed Over Ground: 2.2 kts, Course Over Ground: 280d magnetic. True Wind Speed about 6kts from 230d magnetic.
We need to get out well past the Farallones before the wind shuts down completely. I don’t know if we’re going to make it.
But we’re sure trying! Our day started with the crew converging on VALIS in her Sausalito slip. Linn, Rich, and Paul C. had spent the night aboard, and John, Phil, and Paul Elliott (me) arrived, with friends and family, by 8:00AM. We did some final stowing, said our good-byes, and cast off the docklines around 9:15AM, heading for our 10:40 appointment with the starting line.
On the way, I went below for the 9:30 morning roll-call with the Cruiser’s division, who had started yesterday. I had no contact with any of them, but did get a good signal report from Green Buffalo, who was preparing to start with the doublehanders at 10:55. I was also unable to get the 8:00AM tracker reports — I hope we can work out the bugs in this!
We arrived at the line with enough time to do some test runs, and put together out plan. We had Rich at the helm, and Phil working on our tactics. Everything was going to plan until I had a nasty override on the genoa sheet winch. By the time I unsnarled that we had to throw away our clever plan and just sail for the line. We were last to the line (I think Cayenne was first, but it could have been California Girl). On the way to the Golden Gate Bridge we managed to get by Blue Mist, but we’re much larger than her.
We tacked our way out to sea in good winds (on the nose), but once beyond Pt. Bonita the winds gradually fell to the light conditions we are in now. The fleet is spread out, and the doublehanders have mostly sneaked through. We are still moving, slowly, in a good direction, so we shall see what tonight and tomorrow brings.
-Paul / VALIS

Our race starts on Monday (July 7) at 10:30 AM PDT.
We are in the “Alaska Airlines” division (Div A), and we will be battling it out with some old friends. Of particular note is “Cayenne”, skippered by Michael Moradzadeh who has crewed aboard VALIS in two previous Pac Cups. Michael has also raced Cayenne in past Pac Cups and has taken first place in his division (as did we in 2012). This is going to be interesting.
The Pacific Cup race tracker ( http://paccup.info/track.html ) will have a six-hour delay, but you should be able to watch our starting-line antics live via AIS: http://sailvalis.com/AisTracking.htm . Cayenne, and possibly other Div A boats also carry AIS transponders. Please remember that the AIS signals will probably disappear by the time we get to the Farallones (12 miles offshore), but they should reappear when we get close to Kaneohe. For that matter, our Pac Cup trackers have been known to malfunction, so please don’t worry if that happens.
As I type this, the Pac Cup Cruising Division fleet has just crossed under the Golden Gate Bridge. All five of these boats have AIS transponders, and you can watch them, at least for a few more hours, on any AIS viewing site such as http://www.marinetraffic.com/ .
By the way, VALIS was featured in the latest newsletter from Pacific Seacraft ( http://www.pacificseacraft.com/ ). Here’s a direct link to the newsletter: https://t.e2ma.net/webview/4qipl/29a93695b89e7677a0a46b089c46d931

More photos from the Friday Harbor to San Francisco delivery:
Jim’s: https://plus.google.com/photos/110063282655447047546/albums/6024495066593165857
Lee’s: http://www.leeyoungbloodphoto.com/2014sites/ValisDelivery/index.html

Here are some photos from our trip down the coast to San Francisco. We had a great time, with a little excitement thrown in. We left Friday Harbor around 10:00 AM on Sunday, June 1, sailed well over 800 nautical miles, and arrived in Sausalito at 5:30 AM Saturday, June 7 — slightly under six days. The crew was Rich Jones, Jim Watts, Lee Youngblood, and Paul Elliott (me).
VALIS was in pretty good shape for the trip, having just come home from the boatyard in Anacortes where we had a thorough rig inspection, replaced some of the running rigging, scrubbed and painted the bottom, had brightwork varnished, gelcoat patched, and a general cleanup. A few days before we were to leave, I moved VALIS over to the dock at our house. Rich and the rest of the crew helped stow provisions and load gear:

(© Jim Watts 2014 )
As we left Friday Harbor we were watching the conditions and forecasts off the coast between Cape Blanco (Oregon) and Cape Mendocino (California). This is typically a problem area in the summer, due to the inland low-pressure and offshore high-pressure systems. This “squash zone” sometimes extends south beyond San Francisco, and gale conditions can persist for weeks at a time. Getting around the capes requires a compromise — close to shore the winds are usually lighter, but the seas can be pretty confused. Offshore the winds will be stronger, but the seas more regular. The offshore seas may be bigger, but this may be preferable to the jumbled-up waves caused by the shallow waters, uneven seafloor contours, and waves reflecting off the shore.
We had to pick a date to start, and as of June 1 the forecast wasn’t getting any better. In fact, it looked like the longer we waited, the worse it would get. The forecasts predicted gale conditions offshore, but within 20 miles of the shore the winds would be lighter, probably not exceeding 30 kts. 30 Kts and 12 ft seas aren’t particularly enjoyable, but we’ve sailed through worse with no issues. So on June 1 we started south. Here’s the track we sailed:

Here we are leaving Friday Harbor:

(© Jim Watts 2014 ) That’s Mary, Edie, and Ben on the dock, seeing us off.

(© Jim Watts 2014 ) Lee, Rich, and Paul. Jim is taking the picture.
We initially headed offshore, but the forecasts we were getting convinced us to move back closer to shore. The sailing was good, and the wind was gradually building. But the gale conditions were established much closer to shore than we had anticipated. The wind gradually picked up, from 25 kts, to 30, to 40, and eventually spiking to 60 kts. Here is a windspeed plot, taken near the height of it all:

You can see a solid 45 kts average windspeed, with gusts hitting 60. This was well in excess of the forecasts (GRIBs, and human-generated).
The seas were 15-20 ft, with constant whitecaps and breaking wavetops. The spray was being blown flat and flying across the water as a white mist. The rigging was howling during the gusts:

(© Lee Youngblood 2014 )

(© Lee Youngblood 2014 )

(© Lee Youngblood 2014 )

(© Jim Watts 2014 )
The High Seas forecast was declaring gale warnings further offshore, but merely small-craft warnings and smaller seas within 20 miles of land. At this point we were heading slightly offshore. Actually, our heading was the same, but south of Cape Blanco the shoreline tends east. We were only 20 miles offshore, but we decided to try our luck closer to shore so we jibed, taking us closer in.
Things did calm down. The waves were a bit more confused, but in most cases we stayed about ten miles offshore, and off of the 100-fathom line. The winds were still in the high 20′s (and more sometimes), but by comparison, it was a gentle sail. Once south of Point Arena we tucked further inshore until the wind fell to practically nothing.

(© Jim Watts 2014 )
For the rest of the day we jibed inshore and offshore, trying to stay in good wind — not too weak, not too strong.

(© Jim Watts 2014 )
We sailed until the Farallon Islands, and sunset, when the wind died to less than 5 kts. We then motored the rest of the way, through the Gate and into the bay, arriving just around sunrise in our slip (just one dock away from our old Sausalito slip).

(© Jim Watts 2014 )
This was a good trip. The crew did well in challenging conditions, and we had a great time sailing together. It was an excellent shake-down for the Pacific Cup.

VALIS tied up in our Sausalito slip at 5:30 AM, all hands accounted for. Details to follow!
Regards, Paul / VALIS

We are on our final approach to the Golden Gate Bridge. Well, there may be some tacks and jibes along the way, but we’re pointing at the Bridge, about 50 miles off. We had a great run all day, and jibed over to a beam reach that will take us between Cordell Bank and Rittenberg Bank (Cordell Bank is offshore of Pt. Reyes). We will sail past the north Farallon Islands, and then alongside the shipping traffic lanes until we get to the channel into the Bay. We are currently sailing fast (7-8 kts), but the wind will probably get very light further in and we will most likely end up motoring.
We have up the main (one reef), the genoa (one reef), and the staysail. This is the prettiest sail configuration, and that’s reason enough to set them.
Dinner was Chow Mein and chicken, from cans, over rice. We ate in the cockpit and watched whales breech and spout in the distance. The sun shining on the swells and whitecaps made for a spectacular view.
I expect us to make a morning arrival in Sausalito, but the winds may have a say in this. We have been showing up on AIS, and while there are gaps in coverage here you should have a good chance track us as we enter the Bay.
p.s. – Radio Check Net: talked with Scaramouche on 4A. Weak signal, I got perhaps 70% of what they transmitted. No other contacts. That’s it for the radio checks, we should be in the slip tomorrow AM.
Best, Paul / VALIS

It’s 10:00 AM Friday Morning, and we are just south of Point Arena! The winds are *light*. We are about 20 miles west of the Pt. Arena light, are sailing at 4kts on a course of 170 deg mag. We had to do some motoring just to get here, running the engine for almost two hours. Now, we hope the wind will pick up and let us sail south, turning east after Pt. Reyes. There is/will be a region of dead air inshore that we want to avoid.
Just now the wind has given us what we were expecting: 15 kts! we are now sailing 162 deg @ 5.5 kts. Much better.
Last night we jibed in and out, avoiding the strong winds offshore, and the light winds inshore. As sunrise approached the wind got even lighter and we were ultimately forced to motor. We have enough fuel to just motor directly to San Francisco, but we don’t want to do that. Motoring will probably be necessary for the final 30 miles or so. We have about 120 miles to go before we arrive in Sausalito, I expect us to arrive tomorrow.
Radio Check Net: nothing heard.
Regards, Paul / VALIS

Good evening from Chez VALIS. Tonight’s dinner menu started with a crisp and spicy Mexican Salad, followed by a Chili main course. The meal was completed with Peanut Butter Slices for desert. A hearty meal for a hearty crew!
But it wasn’t all fine dining aboard VALIS. Today we passed Cape Mendocino and Punta Gorda. We began the day with a tack offshore to clear the point. Eventually the wind and seas were building to what may have become a repeat of our previous offshore excitement, so we jibed back in before things got too interesting. With that jibe we cleared the Cape by a comfortable margin in good winds and slightly lumpy seas. Once around Punta Gorda (a southern part of Cape Mendocino) we sailed into smoother water and lighter wind. Indeed, once we had sailed south of Shelter Cove the winds dropped to around ten knots. While we were waiting for wind, a gull landed on the solar panels, and later mover over to the Lifeslong attached to the stern rail. The bird seemed to be having a good conversation with Rich. But our new friend flew off once we started to hunt for more wind. We jibed back out and almost immediately found a nice 20 kt wind. We have jibed again, pointing slightly east (but mostly south), and should reach Point Arena tomorrow morning.
Today was another sunny one. We played with sail configuration, shaking out some of the deep reefs we had been carrying. We had sliced meat, cheese, and lettuce sandwiches for lunch, and I think I can safely say we have our appetites back.
Radio stuff: 8:00AM – nothing heard. 8:00PM – brief contacts with Nomadness (Friday Harbor) on 4A and 8A. I heard Med Viking calling VALIS on both frequencies, but he couldn’t hear me. The signals were generally weak.
At 9:00PM our position is 31d 51.9m N, 124d 23.4m W (20 miles north of Ft. Bragg, 20 miles offshore). We are sailing 6kts @ 145 deg mag. Wind is 20 kts from 340 deg mag.
We are getting close!
Regards, Paul / VALIS